G20 and APEC fail to deliver enforceable deals of currency and protectionism; Obama returns to US to face unfinished business; Suu Kyi urges reconciliation and rule of law; Netanyahu wants to return to peace talks (and billions of dollars); Is Ireland negotiating an EU bailout?: and more
Read MoreJaundiced towards the Junta: what freeing Suu Kyi really means
Burma's military thugs undoubtedly want something in return for releasing perfect hostage Aung San Suu Kyi, but world leaders who have used her fame to preach democracy must now make sure the generals find no reason to re-arrest her
Read MoreDavid Suzuki: an elder’s vision
David Suzuki says by ignoring warnings of over-consumption and its dire consequences, we are following 99.9999% of our fellow animal species to extinction; and the Greens convene a cross-party economic conference, populated mostly by Greens
Read MoreWelfare reform: Do we get tough or take the 'corduroy' option?
As the welfare debate again rises from the grave over the next few weeks, it'll pay to remember that life is messy and keep asking 'where are the jobs?'.
Read MoreTwo (growth) roads diverged in the woods...
In Robert Frost's poem, taking 'the road less travelled' made all the difference, and so it is with the economic choices we face as a country. Will it be growth for growth's sake, or a more sustainable growth?
World News Brief, Friday November 12
US and South Korea fail to settle free-trade deal due to car, beef disputes (+ analysis of US trade policy); Iraqi leaders finally form government; Pakistan attacks India's UN record; Bi-partisan panel suggests radical cuts to US budget; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday November 11
Obama urges cooperation as G20 opens amidst finger-pointing and stalling tactics (+ analysis); Thousands protest Japan's plans to join TPP; Kenyan court rules it has no jurisdiction over pirates; EU to work together on energy security and efficiency; and more
Read MoreDo not go gently into that good night ...
The sight of a Minister reading a speech to Parliament about a Bill he clearly hadn't even read has done what not even the Electoral Finance Act could: it's killed off a vital part of political discourse in New Zealand.
Read MoreThe last and least loveliest: lignite
When global crude oil sources are ranked and graphed by size and production cost, lignite coal is among the biggest, the most expensive, and the last one on the list. Lignite and Solid Energy need peak oil; it’s a lifeline for them, not a threat
World News Brief, Wednesday November 10
Criticism of quantitative easing grows over concern for falling dollar and inflation (+ analysis); Is South Korea finally to get its FTA?; Iran open to nuclear talks – so long as they're in Turkey; Obama arrives in Indonesia as favourite son; and more
Read MoreRepublicans, be careful what you wish for...
The Republicans may still be in full victory dance mode, but the realities of their new Tea Party compatriots should scare the hell out of them.
Read MoreIt's only deranged when it's not me
The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Tuesday November 9
US does $15 billion business in India, pledges support for UN seat (+ analysis); China vs. the US currency wars continue; Iraqi leaders meet for reconciliation talks; David Cameron heads to China to take care of business; and more
Read MoreRichard Peacocke on the Mackenzie Basin cubicle farming row
Why debate the greening of the Mackenzie Basin when in reality it is being overrun by weeds and wilding pines and the topsoil is being blown away?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday November 5
The US Fed's last-ditch attempt at recovery – printing money (+ analysis); Obama takes responsibility for mid-terms loss, but divisions remain; Fears of military clashes in Asia grow; Iran's historic protests; and more
Read MoreWhat I learnt from the US mid-terms
In which I absorb the lessons of the mid-terms, am confirmed in my belief that it should have been Madam President, and advertise some good telly
Read MoreFamily First & Winston Peters the last to wake up on s59 - latest court decision irrelevant
Supreme Court decision in James Mason case nothing to do with s59 law change; NZ First heading backwards, with support for Family First's demands. Time to give it up, Bob.
Read MoreAl Morrison’s conser-vision
DOC’s Director-General has a new ‘bluegreen’ conservation vision: follow the money to business partnership, because the country’s broke, and along the way further downsize his own little threadbare empire. What kind of Chief Executive is this?
Read MoreThe Hobbit exposes the failings of NZ Inc.
National arrived in government promising a unified approach to economic growth, but two years into its term The Hobbit debacle revealed a reality at odds with the rhetoric
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Tuesday November 2
Leftist guerilla turned dour technocrat wins Brazil presidency (+ analysis); Clinton has China warning for Cambodia as she tours Asia-Pacific; US Fed to make crucial stimulus decision this week; What to do about Yemen?; and more
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