Higher taxes being stuck on cigarettes will help some folk stop smoking, but the rest will just cut their spending on other, more useful, products. And the US government will have more cash to burn on non-useful stuff that IT

United States Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's ambivalent testimony regarding a "safe exit strategy" can only exacerbate instabilities. Not least, when such a strategy would knock what are already unprecedented deficits out of the ballpark. - Hossein Askari and Noureddine

Iran expects to deploy its first deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig - the "Iran-Alborz" - in the Caspian Sea next month. The rig's very name points to Tehran's even more bitter view of Azerbaijan's claims on the Caspian's energy wealth than

The ambitions of business mogul Telman Ismailov may have played a bigger role in the closure of Moscow's vast Cherkizovsky market than the official excuse of health and immigration issues. More certain is that the shutdown will add a complex

You won't find an Adolf-Hitler-Platz in Germany, yet public reminders of criminals like Anatoly Zheleznyakov and Feliks Dzerzhinsky can still be found throughout Russia. A failed attempt by a former spy to change the name of Moscow's Leningradsky railway station

Some pundits compare the rise of Wilhelmine Germany and modern-day China and predict major conflict between the United States and the Middle Kingdom. Yet, such oracles do not account for vastly different international environments between the two periods. - Sebastian

With important progress made in talks, the time seems ripe for a long-awaited normalization in diplomatic ties between China and the Vatican. Beijing's acceptance of Rome's request to postpone a local Catholic congress and bishops' conference also highlights the radical

As Iran continues with its nuclear-enrichment program, Israel seethes in frustration. Unlike the days when the United States, with its Israeli cheerleaders, was easily led to unleash a war against Iraq, today Washington is far too busy to do much

Former Pakistani president, retired General Pervez Musharraf, failed to show up in court in Islamabad on Wednesday to explain why he fired the judiciary and imposed emergency rule in November 2007. Musharraf, now living in England, may yet decide to

Myanmar's junta leader Senior General Than Shwe is expected to follow Friday's verdict in the case of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by forming a civilian-led interim government to hold power until elections next year. It's a move, analysts

As the United States marks the 10th anniversary of a landmark report on covert Chinese attempts to steal nuclear weapons and missile technology secrets, the capture of two Chinese spies in the US has hung a question mark over its

According to a report by China Daily, Obama dispatched his top economic officials - Geithner, Summers, White House budget director Peter Orszag and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke - to try to reassure China that the US will not let

The current market access threshold for real estate enterprises is too low, said Zhu Zhongyi, vice chairman and secretary-general of China Real Estate Association (CREA) recently. China must improve real estate tendering and bidding systems, regulate access standards, and strengthen

Japan's three big carmakers all reported falls in production for the month of June due to the global financial crisis which sapped demand overseas. Toyota Motor Corp.'s domestic year-on-year output declined by 31.2 percent in June. In the same period

As long as land for guaranteed housing is ensured and land for general commercial housing is regulated, there is no need to fear "prime land" as far as high-end real estate projects are concerned, said Zhu Zhongyi, vice chairman and

The first round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) ended in Washington Tuesday, with the two countries pledging to intensify bilateral ties and expand cooperation on major international issues and shared global challenges. In a joint press release,

Kambaiti, a Myanmar-China border trading point in the northernmost Kachin state suspended about two years ago, will be reopened early next month for normal trading activities, the local weekly Yangon Times reported Wednesday. The reopening of the Kambaiti border trading

According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, Admiral Keating, head of the US Pacific Command, disclosed on July 28 after the first China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) that the two countries were planning an exchange of visits by

Current real estate policies should be stabilized while credit should be differentiated according to circumstances, said Zhu Zhongyi, vice chairman and secretary-general of China Real Estate Association (CREA) recently. Central bank statistics show that incremental mortgage loans issued by China's

He Di switched off the cell phone alarm clock, and wolfed down the meal. He left his friends at the dinner table and rushed back home. Time to harvest "vegetables," and tend to his online garden, as the clock reminded