After months of tortuous negotiations, Barack Obama signed America's financial-reform bill into law. The legislation grants the government new powers to supervise and break up companies it believes pose a threat to the economy. It also includes the creat… more »

The Dutch environmental agency published a report into mistakes in the 2007 assessment put out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The agency concluded that the science of climate change was sound, but found new errors in the IPCC’s work an… more »

Israel caused an international furore when its commandos shot dead nine protesters on a Turkish ship that was bound with humanitarian supplies for Gaza, which Israel has been blockading. The commandos boarded the ship before dawn in an effort to prevent… more »

The crisis surrounding Greece’s public finances deepened. After weeks of trying to convince the markets that it could finance its debt, the country saw its credit rating cut to junk status, a first for a euro-zone member. Greece had earlier asked for the… more »

Aircraft returned to the skies over Europe after the cancellation of almost 100,000 flights and the biggest-ever disruption to Europe's commercial airspace, caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Some carriers criticised the almost week-long shutdown,… more »

To nobody's surprise, a British general election was called for May 6th. The opening days of the campaign were dominated by rows over the Labour government's plan to raise national insurance (a tax on earnings) to fund public services. The opposition Con… more »