Section: The Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
Obama takes foreign policy risk, but on his own terms
President Barack Obama has been criticized as cautious on foreign policy, but the secret negotiations on Cuba suggest a willingness for bold and risky action, if he can keep tight control and rely on a few close aides.It’s a pattern Obama followed during clandestine talks with Iran that led to an interim nuclear deal and in under-the-radar...
Russia sees harsh crackdown on independent media
Among the five TV journalists interviewing Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the odd one out was easy to spot. Mikhail Zygar’s questions were sharper than those of the others, who headed back to spacious television studios while Zygar broadcast his piece from a Moscow living room.The Dozhd news channel, whose editor-in-chief Zygar was...
Top news of 2014 left public grasping for answers
More than nine months after searchers began scouring the seas for a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that vanished with 239 people aboard, the catastrophe defies resolution.The long hunt for clues to Flight 370’s fate set the tone for many of the headlines that defined 2014. It was a year that often left the public and its leaders grasping for...
Putin: West wants to defang, declaw Russian bear
Sternly warning the West it cannot defang the metaphorical Russian bear, a confident-looking President Vladimir Putin promised Thursday to shore up the plummeting ruble and revive the economy within two years.While he issued a litany of sharp rebukes against the West, Putin struck a conciliatory note on Ukraine, saying that the rebellious east...
Fed rate wording boosts world stock markets
World stock markets powered higher Thursday, sweeping aside worries about a flagging global economy after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would remain “patient” in its approach to raising interest rates.KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 jumped 2.2 percent to 4,200.83 and Germany’s DAX surged 1.9 percent to 9,727.83....
Fed rate wording boosts Asian stock markets
Asian stock markets powered higher Thursday, sweeping aside worries about a flagging global economy after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would to remain “patient” in its approach to raising interest rates.KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 2.5 percent to 17,242.33 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.1 percent to...
Stocks gain most in more than a year on Fed, oil
A pledge from the Federal Reserve to remain “patient” when deciding when to lift interest rates gave the stock market its biggest gain in more than a year.Stocks rose from the open on Wednesday, led by gains for the energy sector, as oil prices showed signs of stabilizing after their big slump in recent months. The market’s...
Russian ruble is mixed after Tuesday’s collapse
Russia’s embattled ruble extended a week of catastrophic losses by dropping 4 percent at the opening of trading in Moscow.The world’s worst-performing currency along with the Ukrainian hryvnia, the ruble has lost more than 50 percent of its value this year. It traded at 70.7 per dollar Wednesday morning, or 4 percent lower than at the...
Asian stocks mixed after Wall Street slide
Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday after Wall Street slid and oil prices tumbled while investors waited for a U.S. Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy.KEEPING SCORE: China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent to 3,040.88 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.4 percent to 16,825.21. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 0.6...
Obama backs bill imposing new sanctions on Russia
President Barack Obama will sign legislation imposing new economic sanctions on Russia, the White House said Tuesday, as the U.S. claimed some credit for sparking Moscow’s roiling currency crisis and moved to deepen the pain.Still, White House officials acknowledged there were no guarantees Russia’s economic woes and another round of...
