Both New Economist and MacroBlog seem very upbeat about the prospects for the German economy. Macroblog cites Bloomberg and says “Things are definitely looking up“. New Economist is rather more guarded, pointing to the IMF forecast, and the recent Federal Statistics Office announcement that second quarter growth came in at 0%. But New Economist find [...]

The usual title for this feature is “Silly German Regulations, Part Whatever” but this one isn’t silly at all.

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As you may have read, Germany has something of an [...]

In one of those strange coincidences the world’s second and third largest economies are both scheduled to have elections next month - Japan on 11 September, and Germany on the 18th. The coincidences go further, since these two societies are leaders in another, non-economic, sense: they are leaders in the great global ageing revolution. Japan [...]

Interesting news (via Randy McDonald) concerning a partnership between the European Space Agency and Russia to develop the Russians’ new Kliper reusable space shuttle.
It’s all but official?Russia and Europe will soon embark on a cooperative effort to build a next-generation manned space shuttle. Speaking at the Paris Air Show, in Le Bourget, France, in June, [...]

The SPD, in the shape of its President Franz M?ntefering, has opened the door - not to swarms of locusts, or hedge fund executives but to the CDU, and its leader Angela Merkel. M?ntefering said at the weekend he would back a grand coalition with the opposition CDU should the German chancellor Gerhard Schr?der lose [...]

All is not well in the Netherlands. That was obvious in the June referendum vote, and it is also obvious in the recent economic data. The Dutch economy has been struggling to gain traction of late with poor growth and an actual contraction of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2005. Unemployment too has risen [...]

In the internal political life of the EU the Common Agricultural Policy seems guaranteed to hold and maintain pride of place as the topic which produces the highest level of acrimony and vitriol per paragraph of debate space. It has also featured of late as the hotspot which lead to the summer low-point in Franco-British [...]

With apologies to Mel Brooks, and Zero Mostel, this situation is now really getting out of hand. Not only bras, but blouses and T-shirts and mens trousers and pullovers. New Economist has the story here and here. And this on a day when readings of so-called headline inflation (including food and energy) hit the 2.2% [...]

While the more important part of Germany’s electorate seems to be treating the ongoing campaign as some kind of diversion from a rather rainy summer, there is also, according to a poll published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine today, a common understanding that the upcoming federal election - the one that will take place on September [...]

For more direct information on the Bangladesh bombings you can visit the Bangladeshi blog The 3rd world view. (hat tip to Sargasso)
BTW, remember last year’s bombings in Bangladesh. Haven’t had time yet to delve deeper into this, hence this small linkdump.