Fast-action, grim and gritty Grand Theft Auto has kicked Microsoft's tedious tussle for Yahoo into the gutter of public attention. The game looks guilty of mugging mega-movie Iron Man at the box-office and has pumped some testosterone into the bank
In Japan, where the age of sexual consent can be as low as 13, the practice of an older man hiring a teenage schoolgirl for a "date" is about as firmly established as Mt Fuji. The time-honored custom of enjo
The receding fears of immediate downturn in the US has lightened a shadow over Asian markets. More national issues such as inflation or the attraction of regional stocks to Chinese investors found room to assert themselves. Confidence, however, remains in
The latest US version of that great statistical trick called a deflator means we can fall asleep peacefully knowing that inflation is still less than 3% - and dream of where US banks magically and silently "disappear" US$49 billion and
A breakdown of the US$70 billion President George W Bush requested from the US Congress for war funding makes interesting reading, from $3 billion for "classified activities" to $3 billion for the technology to battle explosive devices. At the same
Four decades ago, author Phillips showed how a coalition of the new Sunbelt and the old white South would come to create a long-term Republican majority. Two decades is long-term enough for him, and he now declares rebellion against the
Tehran has stepped up its initiative to forge closer links with the two other Farsi-speaking nations in the region, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Not only will the move kick-start slow trade ties, it signals a greater degree of Iran's integration into
Curbs by cyclone-hit Myanmar on overseas help for its devastated population is merely an extreme example of a government cowering in fear of information. At a more prosaic level, Asian authorities concerned with improving their citizens' well-being should let markets
The United States' brief reign as the world's sole superpower is over, its status crumbling as surely as the unlamented Berlin Wall. Last month's NATO summit is merely recent evidence of the decline. America's utter addiction to oil, which once
It is no coincidence that US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte chose the National Endowment for Democracy to deliver a key-note speech on Pakistan. For years, the US government-funded NED has specialized as a handmaiden of US policies by
Myanmar's people have again been forced to weather a catastrophe on their own, banding together with little help from the government. Food and water supplies are growing scarce, disease looms and power is expected to be out for months. The
If ever there was an opportunity for the United States to take out an "outpost of tyranny", as Washington likes to call Myanmar, it is now. The tardy response of the junta in allowing in foreign aid for its cyclone-devastated
