After dinner one recent night, family an friends were discussing their views on global warming. With clarity and wisdom beyond her 15 years, my daughter said, "Dad, I'm scared and angry. Your generation created this problem. What are you going to do to fix it?" California's legislators rolled up their sleeves last week and got started on an answer, passing the most important legislation of the year, possibly of the decade: the California Global Warming Solutions Act. With any luck, its ...

A great day for the United States of America? A reminder of what a great power can do when its back is against the wall? A historic move by a lame-duck administration many thought could no longer solve any problems? It will be some time before we know whether this week will go down in history as all, or even some, of those things. But as the largest bailout in government history unfolded in almost dizzying waves over recent days, a very different view prevailed ...

In 1985, when the first rumblings of Gorbachev's thunder disturbed the moldy Soviet silence, the holy fools on the street--the people who always gather at flea markets and around churches--predicted that the new Czar would rule seven years. They assured anyone interested in listening that Gorbachev was "foretold in the Bible," that he was an apocalyptic figure: he had a mark on his forehead. Everyone had searched for signs in previous leaders as well, but Lenin's speech defect, Stalin's mustache, ...

Just past noon, Anna Chernova, a 68-year-old retiree, pushed her black metal shopping cart into an Aldi store here. After arriving from Russia 16 years ago, Chernova regularly shopped at conventional supermarkets like Dominick's and Jewel, but no more. "They're too expensive," Chernova says, clutching her shopping list with one hand. Now she visits Aldi once a week, drawn by the deep discounter's $2.69 1-gal. jugs of milk and 33-cent boxes of salt. "I've got to save ...

Oil prices dropped below $100 a barrel Monday after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, denting demand for crude from the world's third-largest economy. Officials estimate a 33-foot wall of seawater triggered by an 8.9 magnitude quake off the coast of northern Japan on Friday killed at least 10,000 people and severely damaged the country's energy infrastructure. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell more than 6 percent Monday. "This disaster has in effect temporarily ...

As we reach the end of a miserable 2009, signs continue to mount across the globe that the world economy is stirring back to life. The U.S. finally returned to growth in the third quarter, with its strongest showing in two years, India posted inspiring 7.9% growth and the results out of tiny Taiwan, one of the economies slammed the hardest by the global recession, were so impressive one economist beamed that the island "got its groove on." Stock ...

The journalist Hu Shuli has often been called "the most dangerous woman in China." And she may become even more so. As the pioneering editor of China's most influential business magazine, she managed to publish groundbreaking stories on official ineptitude and financial malfeasance despite China's tight control of the media. She may be on the verge of even greater freedom after cutting her ties with the owners of her magazine. On Monday, Hu announced that she was resigning ...

David Letterman may be under attack from some quarters after the revelations that he had sexual affairs with staffers, but he still has the support of a number of notables, as well as TV viewers. On Monday, "Late Show with David Letterman" pulled in 5.7 million viewers, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which is a 19 percent increase over the show's average of 4.8 million. It was one of the most widely watched shows of the season. (One of the ...

Banks round the world have still to reveal about half of their likely losses resulting from the financial and economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, warning that there was still a "significant" risk of another downward lurch in the global recession. The IMF described credit risks as remaining "elevated" even though financial conditions have improved significantly since spring. It said these risks, alongside weakened banks, were likely to depress the availability of new credit and damp the ...

As the leaders of the world's industrial powers gather this week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, their economies are starting to emerge from the shadow of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. A year ago, global markets were in free fall as governments moved to prop them up, sometimes nationalizing financial institutions and automakers. At this year's Group of 20 summit, the leaders will begin looking at an exit strategy for the programs that were considered necessary, but often added ...