Debt limit damage

The debt ceiling impasse in Washington is not harmless. The risk of financial dislocation is affecting decisions and doing real economic damage

• Business lobby hits the ropes
• Rush to rein in Republican debt rebels

Berating agencies

The rating agencies themselves are asking to be freed from their quasi-regulatory role. How to do so must be policymakers’ aim

• Opinion: How European funds can help Greece grow
• Berlin push to invest in Greece raises doubts

Arrogant Vatican

Ireland’s child sex abuse scandal exposes severe failings. As far as the cover-up of sexual crimes against children is concerned, the root of the problem lies not in Ireland but with the Vatican

Britain still needs smart deficit cuts

If George Osborne should stick to his script, it does not follow that he should do nothing. Bravery without flexibility is not sufficient

Ending eradication

Few ideas are as powerful as the eradication of a disease. But the euphoria around the defeat of smallpox has led to costly efforts to do the same for polio

Britain in Europe

The creation of a two-tier Europe is unlikely to make the UK’s relationship with Brussels any smoother. Indeed, it may pave the way for even more trouble

Central America’s dirty drug wars

The region badly needs help, such as a Nato-style force to contain the threat of well-armed and abundantly-financed drug cartels

The world mourns a paradise lost

It is worth attempting to ensure that the victims did not die entirely in vain by pulling lessons for the future from the horror of the present

A year of Dodd-Frank

Serbia sets its sights on Europe

Behind the veil of ignorance

A step forward for the eurozone

Cyprus awash in a tide of troubles

Famine in the Horn of Africa

Ageing gracefully

Building defences for Europe’s banks

Defusing the US debt time-bomb

Cameron, judgment and the media