A woman passes a recruitment centre in London December 14, 2011. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

Jobless rate at 17-year high

The number of Britons out of work rose to its highest level in more than 17 years in November, but a slowdown in benefit claims in December provided some hope that the labour market downturn may be flattening off.  Full Article | Video 

IMF seeks to boost lending by up to $600 billion 4:59pm GMT

WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund is estimating it needs to raise up to $600 billion (389 billion pounds) in new resources to lend to countries struggling with the fallout from the growing euro zone debt crisis, IMF sources said on Wednesday. | Video

A man sells salepi beverage during the first day of the official sales season at a commercial street in Athens January 16, 2012. REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
Greece

Greek default possible without market mayhem

Europe still has a chance of safely shepherding Greece through an increasingly inevitable default, and could restore faith that investors can protect themselves against governments not repaying debt.  Full Article | Felix Salmon: Greece's endgame looms 

The Costa Concordia cruise ship (rear) that ran aground off the west coast of Italy is seen at Giglio island January 18, 2012. REUTERS/ Max Rossi
Business Travel

What you sign away when you book a cruise

WASHINGTON - It's all fun and margaritas when you first book a cruise. But that "ticket" is actually a contract that can run to more than a dozen pages, and gives away more rights to the cruise ship company than many people realise.  Full Article 

Demonstrators protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Jerjenaz near Idlb in this handout picture received January 17, 2012. REUTERS/Handout
Syria

Britain urges tougher Syria sanctions

BEIRUT - Britain calls for harsher sanctions on Syria, where an Arab monitoring mission has failed to halt bloodshed in a 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.  Full Article 

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. A policeman walks past the car belonging to Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan at a blast site outside a university in northern Tehran January 11, 2012. Ahmadi-Roshan was killed by a bomb placed on his car by a motorcyclist in Tehran on Wednesday, and a city official blamed Israel for the attack, similar to attacks on nuclear scientists just over a year ago. REUTERS/IIPA/Sajad SafarI
Iran

Not-so-covert Iran war buys West time

The proficiency of the latest assassination to deplete Iran's community of atom specialists suggests that violent actions by one or more of Iran's adversaries form an increasingly active - and public - element in a multifaceted international drive to impede Iran's nuclear programme.  Full Article | Related Story 

Houses are seen at a residential area of Pudong in Shanghai December 5, 2011. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
China

Housing slowdown to cut Chinese GDP growth

China's cooling property market could shave more than 2 percentage points off 2012 growth, forcing Beijing to decide just how badly it wants to keep the economy expanding at more than 8% a year.  Full Article 

A man walks past a coal plant amidst a dust storm in Lingwu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region March 29, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer
Environment

China spells out "grim" climate change risks

BEIJING - Global warming threatens China's march to prosperity by cutting crops, shrinking rivers and unleashing more droughts and floods, says the government's latest assessment of climate change, projecting big shifts in how the nation feeds itself.  Full Article 

BREAKINGVIEWS

A supporter of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare waves the Indian national flag after Hazare announced that he would end his fast later in the evening at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) grounds in Mumbai December 28, 2011. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Unravelling India: Part 1

By Jeff Glekin and Hugo Dixon

India is wasting a good economic crisis. Key reforms tend to follow economic slowdowns. Not this time. Instead of springing into action, the political system is paralysed. The best it can offer are handouts and subsidies, which will further exacerbate the country’s problems.  Full Article 

Opinion

John Lloyd

Why doesn’t unemployment create more crime?

By John Lloyd

A change in culture over the past half-century seems to have broken the link between high jobless and crime rates. But a new wave of long-term, chronic unemployment for young men with few prospects could reverse that.  Commentary 

Opinion

Mohamed El-Erian, CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer of PIMCO, is interviewed at the 2011 The Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California May 2, 2011. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

Davos at a distance

By Mohamed El-Erian

I’ve never been to Davos, despite attempts by many over the years to persuade me to go. The organisers want their event to influence policy at the national, regional, and global levels. Yet, over the years, and in the context of an increasingly unsettled world, Davos has not had much impact.  Commentary 

opinion

Hugo Dixon

Europe’s Sisyphean burden

By Hugo Dixon

Watch Athens more than Standard & Poor’s. The biggest source of immediate trouble for the euro zone could be the one country the ratings agency didn’t examine in a review that led to the downgrade of France and eight other states.  Commentary 

Opinion

Robert Cyran

Yang’s goodbye finally frees Yahoo

By Robert Cyran

Yahoo's co-founder has quit its board and those of valuable Asian properties. That gives Scott Thompson, the new CEO, fresh flexibility. Yang once got in the way of a high-priced sale to Microsoft; disposal or dismemberment of Yahoo is now that much more likely.  Commentary 

Insight

Farmer Bernie Winter drives his cattle to the low field for grazing on Clare Island, County Mayo, Ireland September 23, 2009. Ireland's cities are festooned with posters for and against a treaty to reform the EU, but in the countryside the battle is waged at farm shows and churches. Picture taken September 23, 2009. To match feature IRELAND-EU/RURAL. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton (IRELAND POLITICS ELECTIONS ENVIRONMENT)

As EU banks shrink, everybody hurts

EU banks continue to withdraw lines of credit to customers, sending businesses of all types scrambling. Colin Hadden’s farm in Ireland’s Wicklow Hills may be a far cry from the ship yards of Denmark or the gas fields in the deserts of Qatar but small businesses and industrial conglomerates alike are all feeling the pain.  Full Article 

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