AFP Industrial production in Germany unexpectedly fell back sharply in July amid sluggish global demand, official data showed Wednesday, fuelling concern of a “further cooling” of the economy. July saw production 1.5 percent lower than the previous month in Europe’s largest economy, correcting for price, calendar and seasonal effects, the federal statistics office Destatis said. The figure fell far short ...

  The Group of 20 meeting last weekend received only light coverage from the press and market analysts. Imagine my surprise when I read the content-heavy 48-paragraph statement issued at the conclusion of the gathering by country leaders. Either few took the trouble to read the communique or, more likely, its contents were dismissed as wishful thinking that wouldn’t be ...

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel may have adjusted her policies after last year’s refugee influx. But on Sunday, she was punished anyhow by voters in her own constituency of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. That’s one sign that the EU migration crisis is far from resolved yet. Ever since March, when Merkel rammed through a European Union deal with Turkey under which undocumented ...

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a humiliating electoral defeat in her home state on Sunday. The result, driven by a growing backlash against her policy on refugees, calls for hard thinking not just on her part but also from Germany’s partners in the European Union. Voters in rural Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a tiny state of 1.6 million, didn’t just defeat ...

  Nearly one in every 200 children in the world today is a refugee. Kids now make up about half of all refugees. The stats may not appear as alarming as the ground situation is. Many miseries that the child migrants face are hidden from the view. Displaced undocumented children face the risk of abuse. A new UNICEF report reveals ...

  Despite Hillary Clinton’s recent slip in the polls, she has a big political opportunity, even though some of her advisers might regard it as a curse: She can run as the candidate who represents the “mainstream” leadership of both parties and knows how to fix our broken political system. In a year when anti-elitism has been a dominant theme ...

  Amid all the buzz about China’s hosting the G-20 summit in Hangzhou — all the accords, arguments and alleged snubs — another symbolically significant event was largely obscured. Last week, the World Bank issued bonds denominated in Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, in China’s interbank market. Beginning in October, the yuan will be included in the basket of currencies ...

E-books are not taking over the world! That seems pretty clear from a Pew Research Center survey released last week, which showed that the percentage of Americans who read digital books hasn’t risen since 2014. The survey didn’t show any real sign of a print resurgence either, though. Overall, the percentage of Americans consuming books in any form appears to ...

  London / AFP Europe”s stock markets rose on Wednesday on the eve of a key interest rate decision from the European Central Bank, which is widely expected to maintain its stimulative monetary policy. In afternoon deals, London”s benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.3 percent, as dealers also digested a raft of mixed official economic data. In the eurozone, Frankfurt”s ...

  Bloomberg U.S. stocks were little changed, with equities near records while investors brooded over the direction of Federal Reserve monetary policy after mixed economic reports. The S&P 500 Index slipped 0.1 percent to 2,183.41 at 9:32 a.m. in New York, following a two-day gain that brought the gauge within 0.2 percent of its all-time high. “Interest rates are off ...