A globalised art market defies the doomsayers
When Roman Abramovich, the Russian metals and minerals tycoon, and Sheikh Saud al-Thani, from the Qatari royal family, both showed up this month at the Basel art fair, their presence caused a stir but no surprise. The commodities market and the art market have grown unlikely links.
Medvedev changes summit tone
The new Russian president Dmitry Medvedev marked his debut at an international summit on Friday with a different style and tone from his predecessor, as Moscow agreed with the European Union to launch talks on a new strategic agreement.
Global markets reel after first-half carnage
Global equities were on Friday heading for their worst first-half performance in 26 years after a week in which oil surged to a record and there were renewed worries about the health of the financial system and global growth.
Gazprom chief warns Ukraine on gas price
The price Ukraine pays for gas imported from Russia could more than double next year, the head of Gazprom warned on Friday.
Beijing unrepentant over Olympic motto
The Olympic motto of Citius, Altius Fortius – faster, higher, stronger – might have been intended as an inspiration for athletes but for this year’s Chinese hosts, it has also become a rallying call to suppress dissent in Tibet.
Oil hits record above $142 a barrel
Oil prices extended their record breaking run on Friday after pushing above the $140 a barrel level for the first time in the previous session, driven higher by a cocktail of supply concerns, dollar weakness, inflation fears and turmoil in equity markets.
Profit motive master-class
Like thousands of other Mastercard employees, Linda Kirkpatrick remembers where she was on the morning of May 25 2006.
Ségolene Royal in battle to lead party
The battle for leadership of France’s divided Socialist party will intensify this week as the last of the big contenders lay out their plans to bring the left back to the presidential palace after more than a decade.
The highest political bearpit in the land
When the US Supreme Court makes important rulings, discussion ensues on the intent of the constitution’s draughtsmen and how far their purposes should guide the court more than 200 years later. The designers of this miraculously durable constitution would have wished there to be such debate. But I do not think they would be impressed by much else they see. In fact I am sure they would be dismayed and even disgusted by what the court has become.
Shock of BPC: before personal computers
I am writing this column with a silver fountain pen. I had planned to bang it out on a manual typewriter, but I threw away my old Olivetti a long time ago and don’t know anyone who still has one.
A European crisis
Keen anticipation and a certain foreboding are greeting France’s six-month presidency of the European Union, which starts Tuesday. This is Nicolas Sarkozy’s moment, the hot seat he has been eager to occupy since he won the French presidential election in May 2007.
The options for a Europe without a script
Can a country be excluded from membership of the European Union? The answer is no. Does a non-ratification of a treaty by a single member state prevent a treaty from entering into force? The answer is yes. Both answers are as true as they are meaningless. I guess that I must have caused some consternation last week, when I wrote that it was possible to exclude a country from the EU as long as there was a political will. Let me explain today how this can be done, in all its gory detail.
Rwanda threatens Paris over genocide
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda says his country will consider charging French nationals who allegedly played a role in the country’s 1994 genocide if nothing is done to reverse a series of indictments of Rwandan officials in European courts.
LA Confrontational
Think of it as Kramer vs Kramer remade by Billy Wilder. An amicable break-up turns sour as two ex-partners battle to get what they want – at a moment of crucial change in the movie business. With a superstar cast, the intriguing tale of a possible strike by Hollywood actors is gripping Tinseltown.
Sarkozy: reckless and sometimes also right
The European Union is discovering what France has been experiencing for the past year: Nicolas Sarkozy is a politician in perpetual motion who combines radical promise with rash impulse.
Repsol chief calls for unified energy policy
The head of Spain’s biggest energy company has lambasted European politicians’ inability to formulate a unified energy policy. Antonio Brufau, executive chairman of Repsol, said on Thursday Europe needed to consider energy as an integral part of its foreign policy
Rise takes eurozone rates to 7-year high
Eurozone interest rates hit a seven-year high on Thursday but markets were relieved by a less hawkish tone from the European Central Bank, which damped fears of further rises to come.
The tie index can track the downturn
A year ago Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Barack Obama experimented in going without; now ties appear to be soldered to their necks. The switch from open-necked shirt to buttoned-up says, they hope, that they are serious-minded men who can be trusted. On this front, at least, they are in synch with their electorate.
British MPs to probe oil speculators
Concern over the possible role of speculators in driving record crude oil prices has prompted the House of Commons’ Treasury select committee to hold its first hearing into regulation of London’s oil markets, John McFall, the committee’s chairman, said on Thursday.
Japan goes missing: invisible host at the summit
I have a question. Where is Japan? The world leaders and accompanying media hordes heading this weekend for the shores of Lake Toya need not turn to their atlases. The question is one of psychology rather than geography. Japan is still the world’s second most powerful economy. Politically, it is all but invisible.
ECB claims citizens support rate rise
Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank president, claimed the backing of eurozone citizens on Thursday for the bank’s interest rates strategy, saying they could take confidence in its commitment to fighting inflation.
Closer ties to Russia will profit all of Europe
Will our expectations be fulfilled? When negotiations for a new agreement on future relations between the European Union and Russia begin in earnest on Friday, many business people will ask themselves this question.
American, Iberia and BA plan joint deal
American Airlines, British Airways and Spain’s Iberia are close to applying for antitrust immunity to form a joint venture that would be one of the most powerful forces in the transatlantic aviation market.
From baby steps to giant growth
In 1984 Mohamed Alshaya, the young scion of a wealthy Kuwaiti dynasty, educated at Wharton business school and working at Morgan Stanley in New York, received a telephone call from his father.
Health tourism plan put forward
Strengthened rights for patients to seek treatment in other countries were put forward by the European Commission on Wednesday – a move that dismayed the UK.
Merkel backing for France over EU treaty
Angela Merkel, German chancellor, has offered France her full support as Paris seeks to salvage the European Union’s Lisbon reform treaty.
Tentative deal for US missile base in Poland
The US and Poland have capped months of negotiations with a tentative agreement to station a US missile defence base on Polish soil, officials said on Wednesday.
A painful journey
Spanish politicians have been quick to tap into the euphoria of victory in Euro 2008, its first big soccer win in 44 years. The celebrations provided a welcome distraction from the gloom of an economic downturn that poses tough questions for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister. But the questions must be answered.
America’s president must back the Group of Twenty
One of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing the next US president will be how to modernise the main forums of global decision-making.
All the low-carbon fun of Formula One
It is disturbing to picture what the British Grand Prix would be like if it were environmentally friendly. Lewis Hamilton for McLaren and Felipe Massa of Ferrari would trundle grimly round the course in their 30mph hydrogen-driven go-karts.
Europe needs a sharp rise in interest rates
The 25 basis-point rise in interest rates that the European Central Bank is expected to announce on Thursday is nothing more than a token move. It will do little to calm expectations of yet more inflation over the summer.
Why the boom is not building a cool China
Atheist China is now the site of a very secular form of pilgrimage. Architects from around the world are thronging to Beijing to marvel – and occasionally snipe – at the epic new buildings springing up across the capital.
G8 faces pressure to raise food aid
The Group of Eight richest nations will come under strong pressure at their annual summit in Hokkaido next week to boost food aid sharply, after the Asian Development Bank added its voice to those warning that rising prices pose a grave threat to the world’s poor.
Global tourism defies slowing trends
Confronted with the gloom-inducing uncertainties of the credit squeeze, soaring food and oil prices, and global warming, anyone who can still afford to is opting to get away from it all.
Poles dent US missile deal hopes
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, put a dent yesterday in US hopes that a deal had been reached on locating a missile defence base in Poland, saying Washington's latest offer was "unsatisfactory."
Polish heirs pose fiscal threat
Anna Wolska, a dowager of 83, hardly looks like a potential threat to Poland’s government finances. But she is. That is because she is an heir to one the country’s pre-war aristocratic families, people who had their property confiscated without compensation by the communists after the war and are now trying to get either the property back or at least some kind of restitution.
Footsie nears bear market territory
The FTSE 100 index closed on Friday at its lowest level since November 2005 as it threatened to join counterparts in Asia, the US and Europe in bear market territory.
Man in the News: Bernard Arnault
These days, some of his senior executives refer to him as “God”. Like God, Bernard Arnault is omnipresent, respected and feared both inside and outside the LVMH luxury empire he has built over the past 25 years.
Barroso leaps to ECB’s defence
Europe’s divisions over how to fight inflation were put on full display on Friday when José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, leapt to the European Central Bank’s defence against its political critics.
Iran sends word on nuclear talks
Iran on Friday sent a written response to an offer from the world’s leading powers regarding its nuclear programme, amid hopes in the west that Tehran would give enough ground to allow formal negotiations to begin.
Fotyga nie jechała negocjować tarczy
Minister Anna Fotyga pojechała do USA, by spotkać się z przedstawicielami dyplomacji amerykańskiej
Remis, czyli porażka
Polska-Słowenia 1:1. Eliminacje mistrzostw świata rozpoczęliśmy w fatalnym stylu. Drużyna Leo Beenhakkera straciła punkty w meczu z bardzo słabym przeciwnikiem - pisze Michał Kołodziejczyk z Wrocławia
Indie: złodziej też musi umieć czytać
Co najmniej 15 indyjskich złodziei, którzy usiłowali ukraść transportowane pociągiem paliwo, zmarło po zatruciu się gazem ulatniającym się z uszkodzonej cysterny.
Opec agrees record production cut
The Opec oil cartel on Wednesday announced a further – and record – 2.2m barrels a day cut on top of the 2m b/d it had pledged since September in an attempt to shore up falling oil prices.
Dobre dla płuc, złe dla serca
Preparaty wykorzystywane do leczenia poważnych chorób płuc znacznie podnoszą ryzyko zawału i udaru mózgu ? wynika z badań. To bezpodstawne wnioski ? odpowiadają firmy farmaceutyczne
Masakra w La Marquesa
W meksykańskim parku narodowym La Marquesa koło Atlapulco znaleziono zwłoki 24 zamordowanych osób - poinformowała prokuratura federalna Meksyku
W majowym trzęsieniu ziemi mogło zginąć ponad 80 tys. osób
Liczba śmiertelnych ofiar majowego trzęsienia ziemi w Chinach może przekroczyć 80 tysięcy - poinformował w Pekinie chiński wicepremier Hui Liangyu.
Turniej ATP w Dausze - Polacy o krok od turnieju głównego
Dwaj polscy tenisiści: rozstawiony z numerem szóstym Łukasz Kubot oraz Michał Przysiężny wystąpią w poniedziałek w trzeciej i decydującej rundzie eliminacji, której stawką są miejsca w turnieju głównym turnieju ATP Tour na twardych kortach w Dausze (z pulą nagród 1,110 mln dol.).
Komitet Helsiński zaniepokojony publikacją IPN
Komitet Helsiński w Polsce wyraził "poważne zaniepokojenie tym, że Instytut Pamięci Narodowej publikuje opracowanie, którego współautorem jest aktualny dyrektor biura lustracyjnego IPN", dotyczące rzekomej współpracy Lecha Wałęsy ze służbami bezpieczeństwa PRL
Czukotka straciła Abramowicza
Prezydent Dmitrij Miedwiediew odwołał miliardera Romana Abramowicza ze stanowiska gubernatora autonomicznego regionu Czukotki.
Wall St crisis disrupts McCain’s campaign
Barack Obama fought to regain the initiative in the presidential race on Tuesday as the Wall Street financial crisis threatened to stall the recent burst of momentum behind John McCain.
14 zabitych w katastrofie słowackiego autobusu
14 osób zginęło, a 30 zostało rannych w dzisiejszej katastrofie słowackiego autobusu w Chorwacji na autostradzie z Zagrzebia do Splitu - poinformowały chorwackie media.
Trzej Królowie dzielą Platformę
Parlamentarzyści PO są oburzeni, że w głosowaniu nad nowym wolnym dniem ma obowiązywać dyscyplina ? tak wstępnie zdecydowały władze klubu
Microsoft daje programy za darmo... startupom
Microsoft chce wspomóc raczkujące firmy dając im darmowe oprogramowanie. W ramach programu o nazwie BizSpark przedsiębiorstwa otrzymają darmową licencję na produkty serwerowe i narzędzia dla programistów na okres trzech lat. Koncern nie ukrywa, że chodzi o konkurencję z produktami open source.
Prasa o wojnie
Trzeba zburzyć mur
Nie musimy się przyjaźnić poza boiskiem, ale cel mamy jeden. To nas powinno zjednoczyć. Ja ze swojej strony zrobię wszystko, by tak się stało - mówi Marco Bonitta, trener siatkarek w rozmowie z Januszem Pinderą w Tajpej
Fundacja Kwaśniewskiej - śledztwo umorzone
Śledztwo nie potwierdziło słów Marka Dochnala, jakoby Jolanta Kwaśniewska otrzymała trzy czeki wartości 180 tys. zł i nie wpłaciła tych pieniędzy na konto fundacji - twierdzi katowicka prokuratura.
Rosja się nie wycofuje?
Sztab generalny rosyjskich sił zbrojnych poinformował, że rosyjskie oddziały zaczęły wycofywać się z Gruzji. Szef gruzińskiej Rady Bezpieczeństwa Narodowego Aleksander Lomaja zdementował te doniesienia
Fotograf podpowiada, jak działać i nie zdławić marzeń
Sekrety sztuki, życia i anegdoty związane z realizacją zdjęć. Najpiękniejsza książka roku
Operetkowy spór o tarczę antyrakietową
Rezygnacja przez Polskę z amerykańskiej tarczy antyrakietowej nie wystarczy do automatycznego ocieplenia stosunków z Moskwą ? twierdzi polityk z prokremlowskiej partii Jedna Rosja w rozmowie z Andrzejem Pisalnikiem