Röszke, Hungary / AFP On the Serbian side of Hungary’s razor-topped border fence, the smell of burning rubbish hangs in the air, clothes hang on trees and the wait to get into the European Union goes on. “We go to those trees over there,” said Amir, 17, one of a seven-strong Afghan family including two children and an exhausted …

  Ankara, Turkey / AFP Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Bangladesh for consultations after strongly protesting the execution in the country of a top extremist leader, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. Motiur Rahman Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-E-Islami party, was hanged at a Dhaka jail late Tuesday for the massacre of intellectuals during the 1971 independence war with …

Can Americans work longer? Or, are we so broken down by our 60s that extending work life would be cruel? These questions stalk the debate over Social Security and Medicare. Critics of current policy, including me, have long urged that eligibility ages slowly rise to reflect longer life expectancy. Not so fast, counter others. Just because people live longer doesn’t …

  With suspension of Brazil’s first woman President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday, a curtain will be rolled down on 13 years of leftist rule over Latin America’s biggest nation. Throughout these years, Brazil’s economy improved but nosedived in the last two years. Rousseff was suspended by the Senate for up to 180 days pending an impeachment trial on charges of …

  Narayana Kocherlakota Have the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policies contributed to wealth inequality? Probably, but not in the way the central bank’s detractors think. Critics of the Fed’s efforts to support economic growth often argue that policies such as low interest rates and asset purchases have disproportionately benefited the rich. After all, they work in part by pushing up the …

  Jean-Michel Paul The dilapidated state of infrastructure in Belgium, home to the European Union’s main institutions, has become emblematic of a lack of investment that blights the whole continent and, according to the EU itself, is creating “lasting bottlenecks that undermine productivity growth.” This problem can be fixed, but probably not without reforming the bloc’s destructive restrictions on government …

Trade policy has taken a beating on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It’s been blamed for the United States’ economic troubles and for creating the social strife and unease that has driven an unusually populist presidential campaign season. It’s a difficult context in which to pitch the Trans Pacific Partnership, one of the most ambitious trade agreements in history. But …

  Prashanth Parameswaran SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On May 6, Singapore and Australia announced a series of moves that they had undertaken to boost their defense relationship. While much of the initial media coverage has focused narrowly on a new, multi-billion dollar agreement to jointly develop military training areas and facilities in Australia and what it says about China’s regional …

  Gary Sands SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On May 1, residents of Ho Chi Minh City, still commonly referred to as Saigon, were waking up after marking the 41st anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam. Fireworks the previous night gloriously celebrated the victory of a steadfast army of communist North Vietnamese over the crumbling government of South Vietnam and the …

  Havana / DPA Tourists from the United States love it in the restaurant with Soviet-style decor in Havana. They even enjoy it when the lights go off, as is frequent in Cuba because of power cuts. The manager of Nazdarovie said that visitors are amused when they have to dine by candlelight in the Russian restaurant with Soviet motifs …