WORLD

Richard Holbrooke, a top U.S. diplomat who was a key figure in negotiating peace to end the war in Bosnia 15 years ago, and was the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Monday.

After some seemingly hawkish moves in the past few weeks, Chinese policy makers adopted a dovish tone on Tuesday by easing the consumer inflation target to 4 percent for 2011.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that airlines will earn net profit of $15.1-billion this year – a 70 percent jump from its previous forecast made only three months ago when it forecast profits of $8.9-billion. But the group warned that net profit margins in the airline industry are pathetic

Richard Holbrooke, 69, U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Monday while undergoing a surgery for a torn aorta.

U.S. retail sales continued to rise in November for the fifth month, boosted by holiday shopping as well as fuel prices, the U.S. Commerce Department said.

China on Tuesday criticized a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling yesterday that upheld the U.S. decision last year to slap duties on Chinese-made tires and said it will appeal to the global trade body. The Chinese commerce ministry repeated that the safeguard measures adopted by the U.S. on Chinese tire imports were protectionist and counter-productive.

An escalation of trade tensions between China and the U.S. may involve protectionist measures on the U.S. side and the creation of exclusionary Asian trade walls on China's side.

Allied Irish Bank (NYSE: AIB) has bowed to government pressure and cancelled plans to shell out back-dated bonuses totaling 40-million euros to its executives. The bank’s board decided to abandon the payments after Ireland’s finance minister Brian Lenihan intervened by threatening to withhold state funding for the troubled lender.

As Congress considers a broad tax deal proposed by President Barack Obama and Republicans, high tech and manufacturing businesses are particularly favorable to a provision that would extend research and development tax credits.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter sparked controversy with his response to gay rights groups' criticism of FIFA, when he joked that the gay fans travelling to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup should refrain from any sexual activities.

The British pound strengthened on Tuesday on a higher-than-expected inflation reading for November, with the sentiment also supported by a view that the US Federal Reserve may expand its bond buyback program at its monetary policy later in the day, supplying more dollars into the system.

France will levy a 1 percent what it dubbed as ‘Google tax’ on online advertisements, effective January 1.

A survey conducted by Association for Financial Professionals showed the executives do not believe that additional fiscal stimulus is necessary or desirable at this stage.

The EUR/USD distanced itself from a falling channel ahead of the Fed policy and rose to a three-week high on Tuesday. The single currency, however, pared some of its gains after data at 10:00 am GMT showed the region's industrial output rose at a lower-than-expected pace in October.

Though a change of guard at the Saudi oil ministry looks more certain than otherwise, the fact that Iran will assume the revolving chairmanship of the OPEC next month can potentially impact the timing of Saudi Arabia's long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi's retirement.

The foreclosure prevention program of the Obama’s administration is expected to aid far fewer homeowners than initially targeted, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Inflation continued to rise in the U.K. during November, remaining above Bank of England's (BoE) target for the ninth month, spurred by a hike in food and non-alcoholic drink prices, the Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said he has directed cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar to suggest measures to prevent leakages of recorded telephone conversations outside the government while looking into the issue of telephone tapping.

USD/CHF fell below a channel support as concerns of the US Fed expanding its $600 billion bond buyback at a policy announcement later Tuesday. The pair extended its losses to hit its lowest in more than a month early in the day in Europe before recovering partly.

The U.S. Senate today passed, 83 to 15, a procedural measure that allows the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010 to come to the Senate floor for a vote. The measure also allows a limited time for debate before the vote, which could take place later this week.

Germany should raise wages in order to provide demand for struggling peripheral European economies. It should do so not only to show responsible European statesmanship, but also out of its own self-interest.

The finance minister of debt-troubled Portugal is in Beijing, China to try to convince Chinese government authorities to purchase Portuguese government bonds.

The partisan tensions surrounding the healthcare and compensation bill for sick Ground Zero workers today broke into an open war of words between U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-WY, and two of the bill’s authors.

The government of Bolivia has passed a new pension law that reduces the retirement age for most men to 58 from 65, in stark contrast to many other countries which are seeking to hike the retirement age in order to deal with climbing life expectancy rates.

Accompanied by Cabinet members, members of Congress from both parties, parents, teachers, students and the First Lady, President Barack Obama today signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 into law.

Dealing a blow to a key part of the recently passed U.S. health care reform law, a federal judge ruled Monday it is unconstitutional to require individuals to buy health insurance or face a fine.

‘Tis the season for the annual crackdown on drunk driving.

The euro has a one-in-five chance of surviving in its current form, according to a research paper published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), the UK economic consultancy.

British people in mid-career (those between the ages of 35 and 49) are losing out on new jobs and younger or older workers obtain the bulk of newly-created positions, according to s study from the UK’s The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).