LONDON (Reuters) – The bold policies promised by Japan’s new government look ill-suited to reverse a relative decline that has turned a leading actor on the world economic stage into a bit-part player in less than a generation.

With Japan mired in its fourth recession since 2000, incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe campaigned on a platform of ‘unlimited’ monetary easing by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) as well as a splurge in public-works spending.

LONDON (Reuters) – The bold policies promised by Japan’s new government look ill-suited to reverse a relative decline that has turned a leading actor on the world economic stage into a bit-part player in less than a generation.

With Japan mired in its fourth recession since 2000, incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe campaigned on a platform of ‘unlimited’ monetary easing by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) as well as a splurge in public-works spending.

LONDON (Reuters) – Frank Vogl, who co-founded the anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) in 1993, believes campaigners have reached base camp in their fight to end the abuse of public office for private gain.

TI has offices in more than 100 countries and its annual rankings of clean government are widely used by investment analysts to help gauge political risk.

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Frank Vogl, who co-founded the
anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) in 1993,
believes campaigners have reached base camp in their fight to
end the abuse of public office for private gain.

TI has offices in more than 100 countries and its annual
rankings of clean government are widely used by investment
analysts to help gauge political risk.

LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) – Here’s a fairly safe bet for
uncertain times: the U.S. economy will once again show the euro
zone and Japan a clean pair of heels next year.

Forecasts for 2013 that are now landing thick and fast show
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is not alone in believing
it could be a very good year for America if politicians can
avoid tumbling off the so-called fiscal cliff.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Signs across Athens advertise property for rent or sale. One in three shops has closed. At those still open for business, turnover has slumped.

So it is one of the mysteries of Greece’s economic depression that prices of some things – milk and the new iPhone, for example – are among the highest in Europe.

ORCHOMENOS, Greece (Reuters) – To understand why milk costs more in Greek shops than anywhere else in the European Union, Stathis Aravanis’s farm is a good place to start.

Tall elm trees screen the 4 hectares (10 acres) of land that Aravanis farms outside the small town of Orchomenos in central Greece, not far from the ancient city of Thebes. The silence is broken only by the sound of grazing cattle and a passing tractor.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Signs across Athens advertise property for rent or sale. One in three shops has closed. At those still open for business, turnover has slumped.

So it is one of the mysteries of Greece’s economic depression that prices of some things – milk and the new iPhone, for example – are among the highest in Europe.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) – With every year that passes,
fewer and fewer people lead a life that is poor, nasty, brutish
and short. So it is only right to step back, as America does
this Thursday, to appreciate the bounties bestowed by economic
progress.

Yet this Thanksgiving, with the impact of the 2008 global
financial crisis refusing to fade, will not feel like a time to
celebrate.

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) – The global economy faces an
uneasy end to a difficult year as widespread policy uncertainty
that is blunting the benefit of an ultra-loose monetary stance
shows no sign of lifting.

To be sure, the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama
has answered one critical question. And consumer sentiment in
America is at the highest level since the onset of the great
financial crisis.