Just the fact that I’m asking this question shows how bad off the 17-nation currency actually is. As the euro-zone debt crisis enters its third, uncertain year, the euro could face its biggest challenge yet. Italy’s bond …
More than three years have passed since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, and the economic downturn feels like it may never end. Optimism had run high that 2011 would see a sustainable economic upswing. But those hopes were …
I was recently in a tiny group of islands in eastern Indonesia called the Bandas, remote even by the standards of that far-flung archipelago nation. They are the ultimate storybook stereotype of the isolated, tropical paradise …
I’m in Seoul, South Korea, the perfect place to reflect on the goings-on across the border, in Pyongyang. In the wake of Kim Jong Il’s death, North Korea is proceeding with business as usual – or at least that seems to be …
Stock markets may have soared after central banks around the world, led by the Fed, got together in a rare coordinated action to provide more dollars to Europe’s strained financial sector. But we also got an indication of just …
Over the past couple weeks, the hopes of the euro zone have been pinned on two Marios – Mario Draghi, the newly installed president of the European Central Bank, and Mario Monti, the newly installed Prime Minister of Italy. …
Reading about developments in the euro zone these days makes me recall the old American TV sci-fi show Lost in Space. Every time the Robinson family got itself into trouble, their robot would swing its arms and flash its lights …
Over the past few days, we’ve witnessed the economic crisis in Europe become a political crisis, and what is emerging from the mess are two new governments of “national unity,” in the two most beleaguered countries – …
You know the old saying: It ain’t over until the fat lady sings. Well, in the case of the euro zone debt crisis, that lady is Italy, she’s plump enough to cause quite a bit of trouble, and the orchestra looks to be tuning up.
We’re in the middle of yet another global financial rout, with stocks plunging around the globe, the …
No, one of them is not Silvio Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” parties. Silvio himself isn’t among those reasons, either. The prime minister said on Tuesday that he’d resign once he ushered some economic reforms through the legislature. It is true that many inside and outside of Italy had come to see the scandal-ridden gaff-machine as the …
Talk about drama. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou emerged from an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening with a bombshell: Greece will have to decide if …
Talk about drama. Before Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Thursday backed away from plans to hold a controversial referendum on the bailout for Greece, he, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy emerged from an emergency meeting on Wednesday with a bombshell: Greece will have to decide if it wants …
