China's Aircraft Carrier Plans

China has zero and the US has eleven, but China looking to build an aircraft carrier wouldn't exactly ease tensions over Taiwan. Hope you can find some holiday cheer somewhere else this week. Merry Christmas!

Plus Minus

Brazil did alright this year but growth could slow to half speed next year, the AP reports. Everyone is feeling the crunch and this country is no different.

Cut Happy

China cut interest rates again, in wake of the record Fed cut. Hopefully this isn't another case of too little, too late. The Hang Seng was off more than 3 percent today.

Can we Party?

China's economy is slowing, see what the president of the country has to say about it. There's clearly more to it than just numbers, as he indicates steady growth must be maintained to limit social unrest.

Terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Attacks in Mumbai at hotels and other sites... thoughts are with them.

Just go to Google News and you can see the latest.

Beijing Tea Party...

Came across a less than ringing endorsement of the interest rate cut in China. The tone of the NY Times article seems to question if the cut was even needed and would be effective. Scroll to the bottom where it was reported 2,000 people 'watched' another 500 ransack a factory they had just been fired from. Things seem a bit rougher there than what I had gathered from previous reports...

In The Name of Money

With gas prices falling, so integral to the Russian economy, they're looking to get friendly all over again with the EU. If the EU tries to leave them out of the picture, the Russians may get left behind... and not like being there.