Israel Is Now America’s Closest Ally
By MICHAEL B. OREN
President George W. Bush will soon make his second visit to Israel in less than six months, this time to celebrate the country’s 60th anniversary. The candidates for the presidency, Republican and Democratic alike, have all traveled to Israel and affirmed their commitment to its security. So [...]

Read Full Post »

Russia’s Medvedev takes power
By Neil Buckley in Moscow

function floatContent(){var paraNum = “8″ paraNum = paraNum – 1;var tb = document.getElementById(‘floating-con’);var nl = document.getElementById(‘floating-target’);if(tb.getElementsByTagName(“div”).length> 0){if (nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”).length>= paraNum){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”)[paraNum]);}else {if (nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”).length == 3){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”)[2]);}else {nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”)[0]);}}}}

Russia’s new president Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday held out the prospect of a thaw after the democratic restrictions of the Putin era, pledging to [...]

Read Full Post »

The European Union and Russia
Divide, rule or waffle
The European Union cannot agree over how to deal with Russia. That suits the Kremlin just fine
SEEN from outside, one might imagine that the European Union (population 495m, GDP of $16.8 trillion) was a rather intimidating neighbour for Russia (population 142m, GDP of $1.3 trillion). Yet the [...]

Read Full Post »

Argentina
Cristina in the land of make-believe
Dashing hopes of change, Argentina’s new president is leading her country into economic peril and social conflict

SHE romped to an easy victory in last year’s presidential election by promising to maintain Argentina’s impressive economic performance while easing its social tensions and rebuilding its foreign relations. Yet just five [...]

Read Full Post »

Clinton Plans to Campaign `Until There Is a Nominee’ (Update2)

May 7 (Bloomberg) — Hillary Clinton said she will remain in the Democratic presidential race “until there is a nominee,” and argued she [...]

Read Full Post »

European Retail Sales Drop by Record on Rising Costs (Update4)

May 7 (Bloomberg) — European retail sales declined 1.6 percent in March, the most since at least 1995 and twice as much as [...]

Read Full Post »

Oil Rises to Record as U.S. Productivity Gain May Boost Demand
May 7 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose to a record above $123 a barrel in New York after a government report showed that U.S. worker productivity accelerated in the first quarter, signaling stronger [...]

Read Full Post »

U.S. Stocks Decline on Concern SEC Plan Will Hurt Broker Profit
May 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined the most in a month, led by financial shares, on concern new disclosure requirements for investment banks will limit their profits.
Merrill [...]

Read Full Post »

In Ireland, New Leadership, New Challenges
Bertie Ahern has stepped down as prime minister of Ireland, to be replaced by current Finance Minister Brian Cowen. Later this week, his Northern Ireland counterpart, Ian Paisley, resigns as first minister of Northern Ireland, to be replaced by his finance minister and long-time deputy, Peter Robinson.
The quasi-simultaneous handovers [...]

Read Full Post »

Asia Getting Fed Up With Bernanke’s Rate Cuts: William Pesek
Commentary by William Pesek

– Chalongphob Sussangkarn knows a thing or two about volatile currency markets.
Until February, he was the finance minister of Thailand, which [...]

Read Full Post »