EUROPE REMAINS IN THE SPOTLIGHT, WITH ONE EYE ON GROWTH AND THE OTHER ON GREECE: Headlines on Greece ’s next tranche of aid and how to meet the predicted shortfall again generated some volatility in markets overnight. Policymakers seem to be making slow progress, although no final decision about the disbursement of the next tranche of aid will be made until …

UNDP’s Helen Clark says it is not difficult to draw up an inventory of global institutions and mechanisms which are struggling to reach decisions: The veto power in the UN Security Council can be a block to decisive action. The annual meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have often struggled …

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Perth for a summit to deepen defence links between Australia and the United States. The annual summit is the first since President Barack Obama visited Australia a year ago and upset  China by announcing that up to 2500 US Marines would rotate through a joint military training hub in the northern …