World stock markets rose on Monday, with Tokyo hitting the highest level for almost two months.
Israel has yet to learn the US lesson, that the war on terror was a failure
Barack Obama stumbled in his quest for a smooth transition on Sunday when Bill Richardson withdrew his nomination for commerce secretary.
A visit to Havana by a black president ending the US policy of isolation would be as magical as events of 50 years ago.
No image available
/ 31 December 2008
In at least one obvious way, 2008 was a pretty good year in my country. We made history in electing an African-American president.
No image available
/ 30 December 2008
This week’s eruption of violence pitting Israelis against Palestinians in Gaza could be seen as a metaphor for the unpredictable year of 2008.
No image available
/ 29 December 2008
A racially tinged song entitled <i>Barack the Magic Negro</i> has become an issue in the battle for the leadership of the Republican party.
No image available
/ 27 December 2008
Stars of Hollywood and bosses of high-tech giants like Google and Microsoft are opening their wallets to help fund Barack Obama’s inauguration party.
No image available
/ 25 December 2008
Barack Obama is riding the crest of the best approval ratings of any president-elect in decades, a new poll showed on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 25 December 2008
In August 2006 United States president elect Barack Obama visited South Africa at the start of a five-country tour of the continent.
No image available
/ 23 December 2008
A report, due out on Tuesday, is expected to clear US President-elect Barack Obama’s staff of any improper dealings with the governor of Illinois.
No image available
/ 23 December 2008
Anyone tempted to feel sorry for the Republican candidates who lost in such spectacular style in the US presidential race can now relax.
No image available
/ 22 December 2008
Barack Obama’s administration signalled on Sunday that it was preparing the biggest economic stimulus in US history to avert mass unemployment.
No image available
/ 21 December 2008
Barack Obama ushered in a revolution in the US response to global warming on Saturday when he appointed a leading climate-change expert to his team.
No image available
/ 20 December 2008
President-elect Barack Obama signalled a major shift in trade policy and labour relations on Friday as he rounded out a Cabinet of "rivals".
No image available
/ 19 December 2008
Barack Obama was set to round out his Cabinet picks on Friday after moving with his promised ”deliberate haste” to get the faces in place.
No image available
/ 19 December 2008
President-elect Barack Obama has blamed a lack of "adult supervision" for scandals such as Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50-billion fraud.
No image available
/ 18 December 2008
Zapiro, South Africa’s most famous cartoonist, unleashed a storm of controversy in September this year.
No image available
/ 18 December 2008
Barack Obama’s White House team is to undergo a crash course in how to handle terrorist attacks and international crises.
No image available
/ 17 December 2008
Information about Obama’s grandfather could begin a strange game
No image available
/ 16 December 2008
Insisting on a need to develop new forms of energy, US president-elect Barack Obama on Monday chose as his energy secretary a Nobel physics laureate.
No image available
/ 15 December 2008
The White House campaign of Barack Obama has ensured that things will never be the same again, according to no less of an authority than Joe Trippi.
No image available
/ 14 December 2008
After a year in which it nearly lost its compass, the campaign against climate change heads into 2009 needing top-level political commitment.
No image available
/ 14 December 2008
By the time United States President George Bush he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record number of so-called ”midnight regulations”.
No image available
/ 11 December 2008
Obama has called on the Democratic governor of Illinois to resign after he was charged with trying to sell Obama’s US Senate seat.
No image available
/ 10 December 2008
The governor of Illinois was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to sell an appointment to Barack Obama’s recently vacated US Senate seat.
No image available
/ 8 December 2008
Barack Obama chose a general sacked by the Bush administration for doubting its Iraq war strategy for his Cabinet on Sunday.
No image available
/ 7 December 2008
The combination of recession and efforts to jump-start economies can be a headache. In recessions, vices like tobacco and alcohol win ground.
No image available
/ 5 December 2008
Barack Obama on Friday called for an "urgent" effort to stimulate the US economy after the release of the worst job loss figures in 34 years.
No image available
/ 5 December 2008
America seems much in need of Roosevelt’s maxim to stop fearing fear itself. Virtually all comment on the Mumbai massacre has mentioned 9/11.
No image available
/ 3 December 2008
Reflecting what’s on the minds of Americans, "bailout" and "socialism" have beaten "maverick" in a US dictionary word-of-the-year competition.
No image available
/ 3 December 2008
Former US president Bill Clinton on Wednesday praised the team president-elect Barack Obama has assembled.