U.S. Blog

WASHINGTON — Primaries are a wonderful thing — or at least that’s the standard line among Republican leaders these days. “Primary campaigns can be healthy,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, “because they prepare the eventual nominee for how to aggressively campaign in November and provide the candidate with an opportunity to familiarize himself or herself with the electorate.” What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Let democracy flower! Read more at NYT Read More

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank and the Bank of England left their benchmark rates at historic lows on Thursday. The European Central Bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 1 percent, where it has been for more than a year, as the euro area’s sovereign debt crisis pushed any inkling of monetary tightening far into the future. And the Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent to support a weak economy as the government ... Read More

BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Wednesday rebuffed claims from Germany and France that it was moving too slowly to regulate risky financial practices and said that a consensus was needed among all members of the 27-nation bloc before a decision was made. In a joint letter to the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said that Europe needed to speed up proposals on financial regulation, including the possibility ... Read More

Good Morning! If you search ja henckel knives - you are in right place. We have some Reviews, Prices for JA Henckel Knives. Ok. Let's Read. We purchased these knives...and think they've been worth every penny. They're sharp, comfortable to grip, aesthetically appealing, and come in a nice assortment. Certain knives like the Chef's knife and the table/steak knives have become the proverbial 'work horse' of the set while the tomato knife hasn't really seen the light of day since it left the box. The ... Read More

Microsoft caught hell from anti-trust regulators for bundling its browser and software during the 1990s. A new report being distributed to US and European antitrust regulators today shows how Google has been using its greater than 70% share of the online search market to muscle its way into domination of other Internet businesses. The Inside Google study found that since adopting "Universal Search" in 2007, which favors Google's properties with prominent listings in its results, traffic to Google's sites has ... Read More

American shoppers, uninspired by cool weather and feeling new concerns about the economy, spent with caution in May after a tepid April. Retailers’ sales reports for May, released Thursday, underscore how fragile the consumer spending recovery remains. A mix of stores found business challenging during the month. The Target Corporation’s chief executive, Gregg Steinhafel, said in a statement that the company’s recent performance reinforces his belief that the nation will continue to “experience volatility in the pace of economic ... Read More

Wall Street stocks faltered in morning trading on Thursday, largely giving up early gains that had echoed an upturn in markets in Europe and Asia. After starting the session solidly higher, stocks dipped after a Commerce Department report on factory orders fell short of expectations. The government said orders rose in April for the eighth consecutive month, showing a 1.2 percent rise, but that trailed a median projection of a 1.8 percent rise in a Bloomberg News survey. An ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, said Wednesday that the United States would urge the world’s largest economies to pursue a financial overhaul agenda that would “restore fiscal sustainability over the medium term.” “That is a shared imperative,” Mr. Geithner told reporters at a briefing. “We all recognize it.” Mr. Geithner, who will meet on Friday and Saturday with finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 ... Read More

PARIS — A positive mood on Wall Street carried over to Europe and Asia on Friday, as the still-solid earnings and economic outlook offset, at least temporarily, underlying nervousness about Europe’s debt troubles. Matthieu Giuliani, a fund manager at Palatine Asset Management in Paris, said the gains represented a natural rebound after the sharp falls and “panic selling” of recent sessions, related in particular to Europe’s budget woes and tensions in Korea. European stock markets were cautiously higher. The ... Read More

PARIS — The failure of investors to treat the euro area as a unified market could set a dangerous precedent for the bloc’s future, according to the chief of the giant European cross-border lender UniCredit. “If I say I am not funding a company because it’s a Spanish company or a Greek company, we have a problem,” Alessandro Profumo, the chief executive, said during a recent interview in Paris. “This is a way of thinking on the topic that could ... Read More