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PARIS is the most expensive city to live in according to the latest survey from Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company to The Economist. The survey assesses the cost of living by comparing housing, food, clothing, transport and utility bills and[...]

IT IS a fair bet that one of Barack Obama’s new-year’s resolutions was to rattle Wall Street. A week after hitting America’s largest financial firms with a “responsibility” fee, to recoup up to $120 billion in bail-out losses, on Thursday January[...]

Designers decide on the smart option as N Brown outlines the broader picture

Chinese Gardens

• AMERICA’S Senate is poised to vote on a sweeping overhaul of the country’s health-care system proposed by Barack Obama. Backers of the bill need 60 votes to ensure that opponents cannot block its passage. They should be able to muster exactly[...]

In his stylish, sleek and sparkling white Manhattan salon, hairdresser Cristiano Cora is trying to do his bit for those less fortunate. A top-of-the-range snipper, he usually charges $300 for a cut. But every Tuesday morning, at his minimalist Greenwich[...]

IT HAS become known as the “Great Recession”, the year in which the global economy suffered its deepest slump since the second world war. But an equally apt name would be the “Great Stabilisation”. For 2009 was extraordinary not just for how output[...]

China is preparing to build three times as many nuclear power plants in the coming decade as the rest of the world combined, a breakneck pace with the potential to help slow global warming.

Relieved investors sent shares in London surging this morning after Abu Dhabi rode to Dubai's rescue with a $10 billion bailout package after almost three weeks of brinkmanship.

There has been mounting speculation in recent months about the personal wealth of the leading figures in the Conservative Party. Interest has heightened after the Tories announced that they would implement an austerity budget, slashing public services,[...]