Month: August 2024

Stocks plunged on Wall Street Aug. 5, with the Dow Jones Index closing at 1033 points down, for a 2.6% drop, the worst in two years, while the Nasdaq Composite lost a daily 3.43%. The trend had started in Japan, where the Nikkei nose-dived more than 12%, the worst one-day loss since Black Monday in 1987. European stock markets followed […]

The vast sums of money which flowed into the campaign warchest of Vice-President Kamala Harris, beginning hours after Joe Biden’s withdrawal announcement July 21, are reported as proof that dumping the latter was necessary for Democrats to have a chance to defeat Donald Trump. Her campaign raised $310 million in July, a record amount for a campaign, which dwarfed the […]

On July 17, Ukraine abruptly stopped the transit of Russian oil via the Druzba pipeline, which connects to Eastern Europe, effectively cutting off the supply to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In the case of the Hungarian and Slovak economies, that affects up to 40% of their national needs. The three countries instantly protested against the Ukrainian move, which […]

The economic decline in Germany is taking its toll on the labor market: In July, 2.809 million people were unemployed, 82,000 more than in the previous month. In annual terms, there were 192,000 more unemployed in July than one year earlier, while the figure forJune was 172,000. more. The labor market “remains under pressure”, commented Leonie Gebers, State Secretary in […]

According to a new report commissioned by the Norwegian Church Aid and published July 31 by Debt Relief International, the debt service paid by developing nations is at an all-time high, with dramatic effects on their development perspectives. The outlay for the debt far exceed social costs. The summary of the report makes that clear: “In 2024, debt service is […]

It is a fool’s errand to pretend that the international uproar over Venezuela’s July 28 presidential elections has to do with the allegations of “election fraud” loudly proclaimed by the U.S.-NATO bloc. It has become more blatant by the day that this is an all-out drive for bloody regime-change in Venezuela, one of the many nations of the Global South […]

The Third Plenary Meeting of the CPC Central Committee is always a much-awaited event as it lays out every five years the policy directions for the period head. It was of special interest this year given the extreme turbulence in the global environment. With the determination of NATO to continue the conflict in Ukraine and the tensions in the Middle […]