U.S. President Barack Obama may have made his name peddling hope and change, but his aspirational politics concealed a ruthless streak now being turned on the man who wants his job: Mitt Romney.

As Facebook officials traveled the country to talk up the company's US$16 billion initial public offering this month, the social networking giant advised analysts for underwriters to reduce revenue and earnings forecasts, said people with direct knowledge.

Gulf countries are channeling billions of dollars into airport expansions, betting on a sharp rise in passenger traffic and competing to strengthen their positions as regional hubs for global travel.

From a chilly perch in Burnsville, Minnesota, Tim Zemanovic has an usual perspective on the global aircraft market, which is booming — some say overheating — as the world's largest plane makers pump out jets as fast they can.

NATO put on a brave face at its Chicago summit but the reality is that the alliance has been weakened by the eurozone crisis and faces an identity crisis about what its role will be once it ends its intervention in Afghanistan in 2014.

In the run-up to Facebook's US$16 billion IPO, Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients: The bank's consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, was reducing his revenue forecasts for the company.

On the road to Egypt's Djoser step pyramid at Saqqara there's not a trace of a tourist anywhere, and a handful of trinket and souvenir salesmen sit on a metal railing hoping for a lucky break.

When U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Canada and the European Union first issued public calls for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to step down, the death toll in Syria stood at 2,000. That was on in Aug. 18 last year.

Europe is rapidly approaching one of the most critical decisions in its post-war history.

Many market observers are now heralding Asia, led by China and India, as the new global economic locomotive as the powerhouses of Europe and America crumble under crushing debt.