BANGKOK ― Uncertainty and volatility have quickly become the “new normal” of the global economy. For several reasons, this turbulent external environment poses the most significant threat to Asia-Pacific growth in 2012.One of this environment’s main features is the ongoing weakness of major developed economies. The expected V-shaped global recovery, from the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, proved short-lived. The world economy entered a second stage of crisis in 2011, owing to eurozone’s so

ATHENS ― Renewed turbulence in the eurozone bond market underlines the need to reappraise the policies now being pursued in order to overcome Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis. Indeed, the recent election results in France and Greece, reflecting a much broader anti-austerity mood, leave Europe’s authorities with little choice.The European Union, the European Central Bank, and private-sector lenders have spent more than 1 trillion euros over the past two years, but the eurozone remains in no better

On May 1, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its highest peak since December 2007. But April’s jobs report was a disappointment ― only 115,000 new jobs were created. At least 125,000 are required each month just to keep up with the growth of our working-age population.What’s going on?Shares are up because corporate profits are up, and profits are up largely because companies have figured out how to do more with less.One of the most striking legacies of the Great Recession has been the decline

PARIS ― When Francois Hollande, fresh from his election as France’s next president, was asked by a journalist which language he would use when he meets U.S. President Barack Obama for the first time, his answer was revealing. “I speak English more fluently than the former president,” the Socialist leader insisted, referring to the outgoing Nicolas Sarkozy. “But a French president must speak French!”In proclaiming his mastery of the lingua franca of global affairs, Hollande was asserting himself

WASHINGTON ― Whenever the CIA uncovers a new plot overseas, like al-Qaida’s latest scheme to blow up civilian aircraft using advanced, hard-to-detect explosives, people breathe a sigh of relief. But this is a multifront war, and almost by definition, the attack that gets you is the one you didn’t see coming. For the past few months, I’ve been hearing private warnings about another threat to commercial planes ― namely, the spread of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles from Libya after the overt