Libya

September 18 2012 10:05 AM

Crude oil prices hit a four-month high this week on the back of rising tensions in the Middle East and North Africa and the unfortunate murder of the U.S. ambassador to Libya. Added impetus on the upside was given to oil by the announcement of more money printing (QE3) by the Federal Reserve which said it would launch an open-ended commitment to purchase $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities monthly.

September 18 2012 7:37 AM

Protests in Indonesia over an alleged anti-Muslim movie made in the U.S. continued for the second day Tuesday, a day after demonstrations outside the U.S. Embassy turned violent, even as Google censored the video in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation to comply with the local law.

September 17 2012 12:20 PM

Proud panda mother Mei Xiang has shown similar signs of pregnancy five times since 2007, all of which turned out to be false alarms. But on Sunday night, she delivered.

September 17 2012 6:32 AM

Hundreds of demonstrators attacked the security personnel and burned cars early Monday during protests in the Afghan capital against an anti-Islamic film that has been creating ripples in the Middle East, North Africa and some parts of Asia.

September 17 2012 4:02 AM

People often ask me why the West doesn't attempt a Libya-style intervention in Syria. After all, things are going so well in Libya. Oil production is up. But oil production is merely a mirage, as is security in Libya, which was doomed from the day one PG (post-Gaddafi) because of the way it was "liberated". Last Wednesday, US envoy to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed along with three other American diplomats in a rocket attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

September 15 2012 4:25 PM

Financial markets rallied last week as mainly driven by the Fed's announcement of QE3. While commodities had benefited the most among the asset classes in QE1 and QE2, we think the positive impacts this time would reduce due to higher price levels now compared with a few years ago, less supportive macroeconomic outlook and deteriorating impacts that quantitative easing would have on the economy and asset prices. Among the commodities under our coverage, we believe precious metals would get th...

September 15 2012 2:49 AM

Google Friday refused to comply with the White House request to reconsider its decision to not remove an anti-Islam film from YouTube, Reuters reported.

September 14 2012 4:41 PM

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Lebanon Friday amid heightened tensions in the Muslim and Arab world as protests spread, some violent, in response to an anti-Islam movie produced in the U.S. The pope's three-day visit is focused on expressing support for Christians throughout the region who increasingly feel threatened amidst the rising influence of Islamists following the Arab Spring.

September 14 2012 1:53 PM

The poll, conducted a week before the wave of attacks on U.S. consulates in the Middle East, found voters believe Democrats are just as formidable as Republicans when it comes to protecting the U.S. from terrorism.