Shadows that cast a spell
An opera placing a higher premium on philosophical symbolism than on the music of theatre should not work. But Karol Szymanowski's Król Roger (King Roger) works - in spite of the fact that the drama takes the form of a philosophical journey and the music extends little beyond exotic puffs of sound.
Recession worries send euro to new low
Mounting gloom about the German economy pushed the euro to a six-month low against the dollar on Tuesday as a closely watched survey showed business leaders in Europe’s biggest economy more nervous about the six months facing them than at any time in the past 15 years.
Why I had to recognise Georgia’s breakaway regions
On Tuesday Russia recognised the independence of the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It was not a step taken lightly, or without full consideration of the consequences. But all possible outcomes had to be weighed against a sober understanding of the situation – the histories of the Abkhaz and Ossetian peoples, their freely expressed desire for independence, the tragic events of the past weeks and inter¬national precedents for such a move.
Obama takes the fight to McCain
Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday night with a hard-hitting address at a 75,000-seat stadium that blended flashes of the Illinois Senator’s soaring rhetoric with a litany of policy proposals intended to ease the lives of a struggling middle class.
EU states consider delay to talks on partnership
European Union governments might react to Russia's attempted dismemberment of Georgia by postponing the next round of talks with Moscow on a long-term partnership agreement, EU diplomats said yesterday.
EU regulators probe BA’s Iberia/AA plans
European Union regulators are investigating a plan by British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines to co-operate more closely on transatlantic routes to see if it violates the EU’s antitrust laws, EU officials said on Friday.
Corporate India defends Tata’s Nano car
In a rare show of unity, India’s corporate leaders are rallying behind the Tata group in an attempt to rescue its project to build the world’s cheapest car.
Economic headwinds hit pound
The pound continued its recent slide this week as evidence mounted that the UK economy was headed for recession.
McCain picks Alaska’s Palin as running mate
John McCain shook up the US presidential race yesterday with the surprising announcement he had picked little known Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old governor of Alaska, as his vice-presidential running mate.
Victims of bank data loss can seek redress
Individuals who have become victims of identity fraud after a bank or business was careless with their personal data could be missing out on compensation for distress and the time taken to clean up their credit records.
Battle of the conventions
The Democrats had a good week. When you consider the difficulties that confronted Barack Obama as the party’s convention got under way, the result was something like a triumph. Whether it yields a bounce in support, and for how long, remains to be seen. Unusually, the Republican convention follows almost immediately, and John McCain’s surprising choice of running mate gets it off to an exciting start. The Democrats, it should also be noted, have failed to mend the holes in their policy programme: that work still needs to be done. But they have restored their momentum and Mr Obama has affirmed his authority over the party.
The meaning of September
So the end of summer has arrived. Actually, I know perfectly well it’s not the end of summer, at least defined by temperature. According to a friend who emailed me recently about the issue of shorts in the office, many of us are in for a sweltering September. But it is the end of summer as defined by the calendar: Labor Day [the first Monday of September] or the August bank holiday being the symbolic seasonal bookend when you pack away your sporty whites and get out your plaid skirts and V-neck sweaters in preparation for school and the autumn. It’s the end of summer in my head, and I’m not sure it’ll ever catch up with reality.
Russian pledges fail to reassure refugees
The Russian soldier felling poplars with a chainsaw did not hear when General Borisov, his commander-in-chief, hurtled up in a military vehicle at Kareleti, a checkpoint 13km from the town of Gori in central Georgia.
Russia anounces ‘spheres of interest’
Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday announced Moscow’s intention to preserve geographical spheres “of privileged interest” on or near its borders as part of a five point foreign policy statement in a television interview.
Now is the wrong time to demand a rate cut
Over the past year, a persistent gap has built up between Europe’s monetary policymakers and those who make a living watching them. This spring, various organised groups of central bank watchers were debating whether and when the European Central Bank would cut interest rates. In fact, the bank decided to raise its rates.
EU warning on new accord with Russia
European Union leaders warned Russia yesterday that they would postpone talks on a new long-term partnership agreement unless Moscow withdrew its troops in Georgia to positions occupied before last month's fighting.
Russia’s coming of age
Patrick Ricard, the man who has run French distiller Pernod Ricard for more than 30 years, first visited Russia in the early 1960s. He did not like what he saw.
Gurus to one-hit wonders
Maybe desperate times really do call for desperate measures. Have you considered booking a place at a London Business Forum event this autumn?
Google launches internet browser
Google is to release its own internet browser in what amounts to its most direct attack yet on Microsoft’s dominance of PC software.
Sterling drops to record low against euro
The pound dropped to a record low against the euro on Monday, as money markets digested warnings from Alistair Darling that the economic times the UK faces “are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years”.
McCain: a roll-the-dice commander
The world has been moving John McCain’s way over the past year. The success of the “surge” in Iraq has helped his cause. So has the Russian invasion of Georgia. On both issues, the Republican candidate for the presidency took positions that now look prescient and courageous.
Kremlin’s grip on troops tested
As Russian troops advanced further and further into Georgia last month, some officials within the Kremlin became concerned that frontline officers, or even the military high command of the general staff, were overstepping the limits of their authority.
Overbanked and overcrowded
After years of merger talk, Germany finally has a new heavy-weight bank: Commerzbank’s acquisition of Dresdner Bank from Allianz, the insurer, provides a rare example of consolidation in a sector still dominated by publicly owned small-scale banks. The deal, however, is unlikely to precipitate an overhaul of Germany’s banking sector soon. That is unfortunate.
The Fed is right to focus on providing liquidity
Aformer US Treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon, once said the solution to the crash of 1929 was to liquidate labour, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers and liquidate real estate. He thought, as many do today, that the biggest danger to the economy was not what we now call de-leveraging, but inflation. For him, the only solution to the crisis was to let inflation drop. However, R.G. Hawtrey, formerly of the UK Treasury, argued in A Century of Bank Rate that a similar economic policy in Britain in 1930-31 – to focus on inflation – was the equivalent of crying “‘Fire! Fire!’ in Noah’s flood”.
Crime and the credit crunch
Those walking the streets of London late at night may soon be at risk of being mugged by gangs of investment bankers, driven to acts of desperate violence by the travails of the credit markets. That was not exactly the message of a leaked document from the Home Office; it provides, instead, a catalogue of ways in which economic strains may or may not lead to crime.
The pen is mightier than high-tech gadgets
I rather like the first day of proper office life after everyone has come jetting back from their Tuscan villas and Turkish yachts or come crawling out from under soggy canvas in the wet English countryside. For me, September 1 is the proper beginning of the working year; much more so than January 1 when it is dark and everyone is grim, hungover and on a diet.
EU must be united and firm on Russia
The war in Georgia, short and bloody as it was, has called into question the whole relationship between Russia and its neighbours in the European Union, as well as relations with the US and Nato. Gordon Brown, the prime minister, says there should be a "root and branch" review of all aspects.
Vodafone hits back at Reding
Vodafone has vented its anger at Viviane Reding by making the extraordinary claim that 40m Europeans could be forced to ditch their mobile phones because of the European commissioner’s controversial plan for telecoms reform.
Threat to Poland’s energy prices
Poland faces crippling energy price rises which will threaten growth and employment unless the European Union rethinks its carbon trading system, officials in Warsaw are warning.
Hungary premier weakened after budget veto
Hungary’s minority government is facing an uncertain future after an opposition party decided at the weekend not to support the prime minister’s tax cut package.
McCain’s gamble on Palin is shrewd
So John McCain is no longer a maverick. Here is one Democratic talking point that will need some work, and it is by no means the only one. In naming Sarah Palin – the young and only recently elected governor of Alaska, a small-town mayor before that – as his Republican running mate in the US presidential race, Mr McCain has taken an extraordinary risk. It was certainly the act of an unorthodox politician. Was it, though, the act of a reckless and stupid one? I think not.
A firm west can prevent a new cold war
The European Union will meet in emergency session on Monday to discuss its response to the Russia-Georgia conflict.
Commerzbank on brink of buying Dresdner
Allianz was on the brink of selling Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank on Sunday in a deal that will re-shape the German banking industry.
What the presidential choice could mean for the world
We are all Americans now. By this I do not merely mean that the leadership of the US shapes the world in which we live. The world we live in is the world the Americans or, more precisely, the Anglo-Americans have made. The US will retain a huge influence. How will it use it? That is the question we should ask about the presidential election. The choice also seems clear: it is between those who expect a world of conflict and those who believe in seeking co-operation.
Helping retailers find a common language
US retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot advertise to America’s Hispanic consumers on Spanish-language television. Some, such as JC Penney, operate bilingual customer service centres that can take orders over the phone.
Russia and a new democratic realism
One idea that you will never hear expressed by either Barack Obama or John McCain in this presidential race is the notion that a chief task of US foreign policy in the next administration will be to gracefully manage an adversely shifting global power balance and significantly diminished US influence. this is not a hypothetical issue, but one that stares us in the face today.
Politicians cannot be trusted to set the fiscal rules
The fiscal framework set out for the UK in 1998 has two principal components. The golden rule states that current expenditure should match tax receipts over an economic cycle. The sustainable investment rule requires that net public sector debt should not exceed 40 per cent of gross domestic product.
Not safe as houses
When ministers announce a package of measures on an issue, this is often a euphemism for a motley bunch of policies that are only loosely related. So it was on Tuesday with the launch of plans on the housing market. Their only common purpose seems to be to enable the government to regain political momentum. In this, as in their economic effects, they look unlikely to make a significant impact.
Nato urged to bolster Baltic defence
The US called on Nato yesterday to be better prepared to defend the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - from military attack, after Russia's recent incursion into Georgia.
Recession alert hits Brown relaunch
Gordon Brown on Tuesday unveiled a L1.6bn package of measures to boost the collapsing housing market, even as his long-awaited economic relaunch was overshadowed by claims that Britain was sliding into recession.
Bush ratuje Detroit
Odsiecz przybyła ? bliskie bankructwa koncerny samochodowe Chrysler i General Motors dostały od amerykańskiego rządu pomoc
Fikcyjny król pozwał ministra
To jedna z najdziwniejszych spraw w historii czeskiego sądownictwa. Sąd w Ołomuńcu ma rozstrzygnąć, kto jest prawowitym władcą nieistniejącego królestwa
Udaremniono rekordowy przemyt heroiny w Hiszpanii
Nowy rekord w pobliżu Barcelony - hiszpańska policja poinformowała o wykryciu 316 kg heroiny o czarnorynkowej cenie 54 miliony euro
Zdzisław Krasnodębski: Obama. Czas próby
Między Polską a USA można dostrzec pewną analogię ? w psychologii mas. Mniej rozgarniętym wyborcom się wydawało, że jeśli Bush zniknie z Białego Domu, to znikną wszystkie problemy - pisze filozof społeczny Zdzisław Krasnodębski
Piraci uprowadzili trzy kolejne statki
Somalijscy piraci uprowadzili we wtorek w Zatoce Adeńskiej kolejne trzy jednostki: dwa statki handlowe i jacht - podano w Nairobi.
Site Search - zarobek na wyszukiwaniu od Adkontekst
Właściciele serwisów internetowych otrzymali dziś nową polską usługę, dzięki której mogą spieniężyć ruch na swoich stronach. Sieć reklamy kontekstowej Adkontekst wprowadziła Site Search - możliwość emisji przez partnerów linków sponsorowanych w wynikach wyszukiwarki Netsprint umieszczonej na ich stronach i zarabiania na kliknięciach.
W Moskwie zamordowano dwóch jezuitów
Dwaj katoliccy księża z zakonu jezuitów zostali zamordowani w Moskwie.
Numer 116 - jest porozumienie
Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej poinformował dziś o zawarciu porozumienia z operatorami w sprawie grupy numerów 116. Zgodnie z nim operatorzy nie będą pobierać opłat za korzystanie z tej serii numerów.
Rozgrzewka przed wyścigiem do europarlamentu
Kto do Strasburga. Partie już się szykują do wiosennego starcia o 51 mandatów w PE. O miejsca na listach z obecnymi eurodeputowanymi będą konkurować posłowie i byli ministrowie
US fiscal challenge is in the long term
The Congressional Budget Office has decreed: the liabilities of the two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, put into “conservatorship” over the weekend, should be incorporated on to the US government’s books. The CBO is right.
Cristiano Ronaldo odebrał Złotą Piłkę
Portugalski gwiazdor Manchesteru United, Cristiano Ronaldo odebrał na uroczystej gali "Złotą Piłkę" - nagrodę magazynu France Football dla najlepszego piłkarza roku grającego w Europie. Jest to najbardziej prestiżowe indywidualne trofeum w świecie piłkarskim.
ECB hints at action as outlook darkens
Eurozone interest rates will almost certainly be cut again next week, the European Central Bank signalled on Monday, as collapsing German business confidence confirmed the devastating impact the bank crisis has had on eurozone growth.
Mrówki nadal protestują na granicy w Medyce
Kilkadziesiąt osób drugi dzień pikietuje przejście graniczne z Ukrainą w Medyce. Ruch przez granicę nie jest jednak zablokowany. nie blokując jednak ruchu przez granicę. "Mrówki" protestują przeciw zmianom przepisów celnych
Macierewicz zabrał dokumenty?
Spośród 11,5 tys. dokumentów komisji weryfikacyjnej WSI nadal brakuje 18 - poinformował w Radiu ZET minister obrony narodowej Bogdan Klich. - Z pewnością oddałem wszystkie dokumenty - zapewnia szef komisji Antoni Macierewicz.
Piotr Gabryel: Platforma Telewizyjna Donalda Tuska
Platforma Obywatelska, której od miesięcy nie udaje się odpolitycznić mediów publicznych, czyli obsadzić ich swoimi niezależnymi fachowcami, postanowiła teraz za jednym zamachem spróbować odpolitycznić nie tylko media publiczne, ale także prywatne.
Sprawa Sawickiej na końcu
Rozmowa z Andrzejem Czumą, przewodniczącym sejmowej komisji śledczej ds. nacisków na służby
Stratowani w kolejce po pieniądze
- Co najmniej 23 osoby zostały zgniecione na śmierć, gdy czekały na wypłatę pieniędzy w mieście Pasuruan we wschodniej Indonezji
Aristo Prestige V200
Aristo zwiększa moc. Aristo wprowadza do swojej oferty nowy, zaawansowany technologicznie laptop Prestige V200.
Microsoft: Nie żyjemy w doskonałym świecie
28 listopada do Polski przyjechał z wizytą Ed Gibson, Chief Security Advisor w angielskim oddziale Microsoft. To wysokiej klasy specjalista w zakresie cyberprzestępczości, który ma również wieloletnie doświadczenie z pracy w FBI. Gibson znalazł chwilę, by z nami porozmawiać i odpowiedzieć na kilka pytań dotyczących bezpieczeństwa naszych komputerów oraz działalności Microsoftu.
Sąd bada, czy wydać Rosji Czeczena Borisa A.
W styczniu 2009 r. warszawski sąd zbada wniosek Rosji o wydanie jej Czeczena Borisa A., który według strony rosyjskiej jest Alikhanem M. - uczestnikiem zamachu na wicemera Moskwy w 2002 r. Sąd dostał już z Moskwy dodatkowe dokumenty, których wcześniej zażądał