Britain to start sale of Lloyds soon, review RBS split
LONDON - Britain is ready to start selling its shares in Lloyds Banking Group and will examine whether to break up Royal Bank of Scotland, Chancellor George Osborne said, admitting the re-privatisation of RBS remains a long way off. | Video
Bank of England's King makes last call for more stimulus, bank reform
LONDON - Britain's economic recovery is not yet secure and more needs to be done to ensure the country's banks no longer pose a threat to taxpayers, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said in his final speech on Wednesday.
Obama challenges Russia on nuclear weapons
BERLIN - U.S. President Barack Obama uses a speech in Berlin to call on Russia to revive the push for a world without nuclear arms. Full Article | Video
Afghans to shun U.S. talks with Taliban
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his government will not join U.S. peace talks with the Taliban until they are led by Afghans and adds that they will suspend negotiations with the United States on a troop pact. Full Article
Half-way to lost decade, Europe's growth task
Half-way towards a lost decade for Europe's economy, pessimism persists about the political will to halt a worrying slide in the region's potential growth. Full Article | Related Story
Orders top $100 billion at Paris Airshow
PARIS - Orders at the Paris Airshow surpassed $100 billion, as rivals Boeing and Airbus cash in on demand for fuel-efficient jets. Ryanair finalises an order for 175 Boeing 737-800 aircraft worth around $15.6 billion at list prices. Full Article | Video
Drug industry business model needs overhaul
Pharmaceutical companies need to boost the benefits of drug research by working with regulators and healthcare providers to overhaul the way medicines are approved and paid for, a think-tank backed by investors says. Full Article
Dozing prince a hero for disenchanted Czechs
PRAGUE - It was a moment of high drama: the Czech prime minister stood up in parliament to try to salvage a political career torpedoed by the arrest of an aide, and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, sitting next to him, had dozed off. Full Article
Putin basks in isolation over Syria
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland/MOSCOW - Few expected any diplomatic breakthroughs from this week's G8 meeting in Northern Ireland, but Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed positively to relish his isolation on Syria. Full Article | Related Story
Europe's attractive, it's certainly cheap
It may be a contrarian call, but low valuations in Europe make stocks an attractive proposition, says Investec's Charles Newsome. Video
Child sex suspect held in Mexico
June 20 - A U.S. former university professor just added to the FBI's most-wanted list is detained in Mexico. Paul Chapman reports.
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World Bank watching U.S. Fed
The World Bank is concerned about the spillover effects on developing countries of a slowing of U.S. money creation and will move to provide affordable capital when borrowing costs rise, its president says. Full Article | Full Coverage
Rate rigging costs more than money
In cash terms, the manipulation of supposedly objective reference rates and prices is a petty crime: relatively small gains for a few and microscopic losses for many. Ethically, though, the tolerance of untrustworthy behaviour makes the industry look particularly bad. Commentary
Economic worries and the global elite
Here’s one sign the global elite is starting to get worried that capitalism isn’t working for the Western middle class. At the TED Global gathering in Edinburgh this week, much of the spotlight was on what’s going wrong with the 21st-century economy. Commentary
Turkey’s economy is vulnerable
PM Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh actions against protestors could backfire economically. Turkey depends on foreign investors to fund its big current account deficit. If they turn tail, interest rates will rise, hurting the economy and undermining one of Erdogan’s sources of popularity. Commentary
Obama’s ‘best bad choice’ in Syria
There is broad agreement on what should not happen in Syria: If Assad crushes the rebels, remains in power and hands Iran a strategic victory that boosts its regional influence, it would be a destructive setback. Commentary
Surveilling a double standard
Why are we willing to give private corporations data, but refuse to offer government agencies the same courtesy? That contradiction highlights a muddled, overwrought and inconsistent attitude towards privacy and freedom. Commentary
When illogical policy seems to work
It’s cynical, manipulative and hypocritical - and it looks like it is going to work. How often do you hear a sentence like this, to describe a government initiative or economic policy? Not often enough. Commentary
UK banks report pulls its punches
A long-awaited UK parliamentary report into the banking industry fails to hit the mark - it pulls more punches than it lands. Video
Syria's Islamists seize control
ALEPPO, Syria - As the Syrian civil war got under way, a former electrician who calls himself Sheikh Omar built up a brigade of rebel fighters. In two years of struggle against President Bashar al-Assad, they came to number 2,000 men, he says. Then, virtually overnight, they collapsed. Full Article




















