DEVELOPMENT: France Steps Forward With Robin Hood Tax

The decision by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to push ahead with a financial transactions tax (FTT) may be a political ploy ahead of elections, but it has the approval of many non-governmental organisations, even as support lags elsewhere.

EUROPE: Berlin Urged to End Austerity Measures

Bolstered by Germany’s strong economy, Berlin has become the unofficial capital of the battered European monetary union.

A Second-Term U.N. Chief Says His Convictions Remain the Same

As Ban Ki-moon launched his second-five-year term as U.N. secretary-general last week, the international community remained focused on a rash of unresolved political problems: war crimes charges in Libya and Syria, human rights violations and civilian killings in Bahrain and Yemen, continued Israeli political repression in the occupied territories, and the threat of a new nuclear weapon state in the Middle East.

U.S.: A Movement Evolves to Occupy the Future

With its encampments mostly destroyed, the nascent Occupy Movement in thousands of communities across the U.S. and dozens more around the world has not faded away.

ZIMBABWE: Chinese Become Unwelcome Guests

Alec Marembo has built his family fortune making bricks in Dzivarasekwa, a sprawling high-density suburb north of the capital of Zimbabwe. But due to the economic crisis of the last decade, his fortune started crumbling. Although he could break even when the downturn started, he finally gave in to competition from the Chinese.

NIGERIA: Police Crack Down on Fuel Protests

Police fired tear gas and beat protesters to force them out of a square they had occupied in an overnight sit-in in Nigeria's northern city of Kano as part of demonstrations over soaring fuel prices, an organiser said.

ZIMBABWE: Microcredit Aggravates ‘January Disease’

Thomas Dlakama has experienced what he calls "January disease" all his working life. This phenomenon afflicts millions in Zimbabwe, and its symptoms include an empty purse, rising blood pressure among irascible breadwinners, and a general inexplicable hope of manna from heaven.

Facing Budget Cuts, U.N. Readies for Austerity in 2012-13

Weighed down by a 260-million-dollar cut in its budget for 2012-2013, the United Nations is bracing itself for a major austerity drive, including possible layoffs, salary freezes, reduction in official travel and drastic cuts in printed documents.

KENYA: Inflation Deflates New Year Joy

Kenyans entered the New Year with less pomp and colour that has characterised previous new year celebrations. Due to the harsh economic situation and the fact that it is time for most students to go back to school, many families shied away from entertainment places to save that elusive shilling for their school-going children.

PORTUGAL: No Jobs? Just Emigrate!

Hounded by the economic crisis that shows no signs of letting up and by political leaders of all stripes, Portugal's conservative Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho sent out an unprecedented message to his fellow citizens: emigrate.

MEXICO: Youth on the Front Lines of Protest Movement

"We need to be the ones to provide the answers to the questions of our times, because we are the main victims of the voracious policies of capitalism," says Alexis Jiménez, a 23-year-old ethnologist who has spent the last two months camping out in front of the Mexico City Stock Exchange.

PORTUGAL: All-Out Privatisation Gets Underway

The most far-reaching programme of privatisation of state enterprises in the history of Portugal kicked off Thursday with the sale of almost all of the state's shares in the Energias de Portugal (EDP) utility to China's Three Gorges Corp.

R&D Weathers the Crisis

Research and development, unlike other branches of productive activity, is resisting the ravages of one of the worst financial and economic crises to affect the world in the last 80 years.

ECONOMY: Argentina Shows World How to Beat the Crisis

What is happening in the European Union and the United States today happened a decade ago in Argentina, when it was a hotbed of protest and the streets of major cities were seething with people telling their leaders they had had enough. And then a new story began to be written.

U.S.: Foreign Aid Spared Drastic Cuts for 2012

Despite the budget cutting and anti-U.N. frenzy that seized Republican lawmakers over the past year, U.S. foreign aid and support for multilateral institutions emerged in somewhat better shape than many observers had expected.

U.S.: Protestors Occupy Ports in Oakland and Beyond

Occupy movements in Oakland, California; Portland, Oregon; and Longview, Washington claimed victory Monday when they prevented workers from loading or unloading ships at the three ports.

Forging Bond Will Be Test for Co-ops and Occupy Movement

Canadian cooperatives may grow as the global Occupy movement raises the profile of their business model through boosting interest in credit unions over traditional banks, but uncertainty remains about the degree to which the two camps will join forces from here on.

U.S.: Homeless Play Key Role in Occupy Movement

Homeless people make up a significant proportion of participants in the Occupy Movement in cities across the United States, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, where at times they comprise an estimated third of the occupiers.

TUNISIA: Neo-Liberalism the Issue, Not Islam

On the verge of officially forming a coalition government to run the country and rewrite the nation's pre-revolution constitution, Tunisia's dominant, Islamist political party Ennahda has come under fire for its economic neo-liberalism, both from opponents and from coalition partners.

Brussels Summit Rejects EU-Wide Treaty Change

A bid to change the EU treaty to resolve the eurozone debt crisis has foundered at a crunch summit in Brussels, after Britain refused to sign up without major concessions in return.

HUNGARY: ‘Unorthodoxy’ Fails, IMF Returns

A year after slamming the door on the International Monetary Fund and announcing that a small country like Hungary could pursue an independent economic policy, conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been forced to kneel to the IMF and ask for help. Was there ever an alternative?