Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivered his first budget last week, outlining his plans to “balance the books” by 2016. Tax increases and benefit cuts are tough but “unavoidable,” said Osborne. Britian’s coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will raise the main value-added tax rate from 17.5 to 20 percent next year. Taxes […]
Well past their April deadline, House Democrats have yet to introduce a federal budget for the next fiscal year.
A corporate tax cut would improve Japan’s competitiveness among industrialized nations.
Former prime minister Dominique de Villepin announces he will run for president in 2012 on his own platform.
German media are urging Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition to give up.
Europe’s finance ministers agreed last week to review each other’s national budgets in the future to prevent one or several member states from imperiling the stability of the common currency as happened in Greece this April. The move may end being a step in the right direction but little more than that. The finance chiefs […]
Flemish separatists are on the rise while French-speaking Belgium remains mired in recession.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government led by Roza Otunbayeva has asked for Russian military support to suppress violence in the south of the country on Saturday. Dozens were reportedly killed in the city of Osh last week amid confrontations between native Kyrgyz and Uzbek youths. Mass riots in Osh escalated into violence on Thursday night, resulting in […]
British leaders are concerned about the American president’s criticism of the oil company.
Liberals and nationalists emerged as the largest political parties in the Netherlands.
For the first time in almost a hundred years, the Dutch right-wing liberal party may emerge as the country’s largest parliamentary faction from Wednesday’s election. But as results poured in on election night, the liberals were unexpectedly engaged in a fierce struggle for power with Labor. The outcome was anticipated by preelection polls which had […]
France and Germany have insisted that the European Union speed up its scheduled financial reforms, noting that “strong volatility” in the markets necessitates a quick ban on speculative trading against “certain” stock and government bonds. In a joint appeal, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel called on European Commission President José Barroso […]
Israel’s prime minister accuses critics of a “biased rush to judgement.”
After just nine months in power, Japan’s prime minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns.
The Israeli navy attacked half a dozen ships carrying activists and aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday. Some ten to fourteen people were killed in the confrontation that ensued. Many more were injured. The small flotilla, led by a Turkish ship with some 600 people on board, was carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid […]
