The Great Debate
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July 2nd, 2009

Get ready for the IOU market

Tags: Great Debate US, , ,

– Agnes T. Crane is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are her own –
Let the trading begin.
California will be mailing out its first batch of IOUs today after the state’s stalemate over how to close the more than $24 billion hole in the budget leaves it with insufficient funds.
The IOU market could swell to [...]

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July 3rd, 2009

A Visit to Hebron

Tags: UK News, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,
There’s no pretty way to describe what I saw in Hebron, no tidy conceit to wrap it in. I visited as a participant in the Palestine Festival of Literature, the brain child of the great British-Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif. I was in the company of many wonderful writers and publishers, among them Python and traveller Michael Palin, best-selling crime novelist Henning Mankel, Pride and Prejudice. Join Discussion

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July 3rd, 2009

Is Iraq stable enough to cope without U.S. troops?

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For the U.S. military, it's the million dollar question -- or rather the $687 billion question, according to a recent estimate of the Iraq war's total cost. Is Iraq now stable enough for them to take a permanent back seat? Join Discussion

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July 1st, 2009

A dark and windy night

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A lot of travelers boarding an Airbus today might be thinking twice. After all, yet another Bus is at the bottom of yet another ocean – and another 153 souls have gone west. Join Discussion

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July 2nd, 2009

Citizen journalism, mainstream media and Iran

Tags: For the Record, , , , , , , ,
The prominent role of citizen journalists in covering the aftermath of the Iranian election has raised a number of ethics, standards and legal questions for mainstream journalists. My colleague John Clarke, Reuters Global Television Editor, found himself in the middle of the issue as images became available and clients demanded coverage of the election's aftermath. Join Discussion

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July 2nd, 2009

China risks overcooking the economy

By: Wei Gu
Tags: General, , , , ,
While China has been outspoken in expressing concern about the United States printing too much money, those worries might be better focused at home. No country beats China when it comes to effective monetary easing. Join Discussion

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July 2nd, 2009

America’s spies and a language crisis

Tags: General, , , , ,
The reasons for America's problems of coming to grips with Iran are manifold: a 30-year absence of diplomats on the ground, an opaque political system difficult to penetrate, wishful thinking, a perennial temptation to "mirror-image," that is to expect others to think and behave like yourself. Last but not least: an acute shortage of Farsi-speaking analysts and agents. Join Discussion

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July 1st, 2009

China’s Web filtering starts in the West

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However controversial and unworkable China's plan to require Internet filters on PCs proved to be, Western firms have largely themselves to blame for creating and selling such filters in the first place. Join Discussion

Featured Comment | Read All (10) Post a comment
July 1st, 2009
4:55 pm EDT
So... because the Internet exists, so does the security censoring software tools required to censor the porn and malicious code... therefore, the Internet shouldn't have been built.... right? It's all our (the West's ) fault. What a ridiculous article. Anybody with a brain knows that with great power comes great responsibility -- just ask Spiderman. The real issue here is the cowardly Chinese government who can't be faced with their own corruption and power-hungry dweebs, so they do whatever they can to "save face" and stop any possible route for political progress or taking responsibility. The "porn" blocking is merely a front they hoped the rest of the world would accept as reasonable -- that's why they stole the code -- they didn't write that part, they wrote the part which spies on their own people in order to squash anything threatening their comfortable nation-robbing lifestyles.
-Posted by Bill
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July 1st, 2009

California must be dreaming

Tags: General

– Agnes T. Crane is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are her own –
Don’t underestimate the power of California, and its ability to suck in a reluctant federal government to bail it out of a fiscal mess of its own making.
But the Obama administration and Congress should resist. Not only is the federal [...]

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June 30th, 2009

Cap-and-trade a short-term win for Dems

Tags: General
California's Henry Waxman and Massachusetts' Edward Markey might rightfully be called the "godfathers" of the cap-and-trade climate legislation that just passed the U.S. House of Representatives. But in the end, it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi who determinedly willed to life what President Obama described today as an "extraordinary piece of legislation." Join Discussion