Because Economics is Sexy...

The US “fully” backs Georgia’s hopes of joining Nato, US Vice-President Joe Biden has told the country’s parliament on a visit to the capital, Tbilisi.
Mr Biden is addressing fears in Georgia that the US might sideline its ally in favour of improved ties with Russia.
In a speech to Georgian MPs, he insisted that was not [...]

In a slight easing of China’s tight family planning policies, authorities in the city of Shanghai are to actively encourage some families to have more than one child, state media has said.
Officials in the Chinese financial hub are to urge some “eligible” couples to have two children, the China Daily newspaper reported on Friday, citing [...]

The Iraqi prime minister has admitted US troops could stay in the country beyond 2011.
Under the US-Iraq Status of Forces agreement, which sets out a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, American troops must exit the country by December 31, 2011.
But Nuri al-Maliki said at the US Institute of Peace in Washington [...]

Honduras’s deposed president appears close to attempting another risky return home, having arrived at a Nicaraguan town near the border with his country.
Manuel Zelaya drove in to the northern town of Esteli, about 40km south of the Honduran border on Friday.
Before setting out from Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, Zelaya told supporters: “I hope you’ll join [...]

When Im Chun-yong made his daring escape from North Korea, with a handful of his special forces men, there were many reasons why the North Korean government was intent on stopping them.
They were, after all, part of Kim Jong-il’s elite commandos – privy to a wealth of military secrets and insights into the workings of [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp posted the first-ever drop in annual sales of Windows and its quarterly revenue fell a steeper-than-expected 17 percent as its business continued to be hurt by the weak global PC and server markets.
The news sent Microsoft shares down 8 percent and took the shine off a big U.S. stock [...]

German luxury car maker Porsche has said chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter have resigned “with immediate effect”.
The news comes as the boards of Porsche and Volkswagen (VW) meet over competing plans for takeovers and new investors.
Earlier Porsche, which owns 51% of VW, said it would increase its capital by at least [...]

Arab health officials have agreed to restrict certain groups from performing the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year amid growing concerns about the H1N1 flu pandemic.
Those considered high-risk such as the elderly, young children and the chronically ill have been advised to avoid making the hajj or the lesser umrah pilgrimage to the [...]

Voters in the former Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan have begun casting their ballots in an election widely expected to return Kurmanbek Bakiev, the incumbent president, to power.
Some 2.7 million people from the country’s nomadic settlements in the north to the ethnically divided south started voting at 02:00 GMT on Thursday. Polling will end at 14:00 [...]

YAMAGUCHI (Kyodo) The bodies of three elderly people were found Wednesday in Yamaguchi Prefecture, bringing the death toll there to eight from mudslides and swollen rivers triggered by heavy downpours the day before, police said.
Rescue workers were still searching for nine people, assisted by police officers, firefighters and personnel from the Self-Defense Forces.
Meanwhile in Kofu, [...]