While it was still busy sorting out the mess that is the European economy, the European Commission last week could at least score a small victory: it issued a €561 million fine to Microsoft for breaching undertakings given in the software giant’s long-running antitrust dispute with the EU. The new fine brings Microsoft’s total contribution to the EU budget over the years to a total of €2.2 billion. Read more

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Back in December last year, there was a growing sentiment that the worst of the European crisis could be behind us. I did not believe these claims then, and few would believe them now. Read more

Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”) is written above the gates of hell in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Following last weekend’s elections, this gloomy admonishment might fit Italy as well. Read more

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Prime Minister John Key wants to change a constitutional settlement that has lasted 173 years. He proposes to extend parliamentary terms to four years, with a fixed election date at the end. Read more

Talk about the looming global currency war obscures an unpleasant reality: monetary policy remains the West’s only weapon to prevent imminent insolvency. Unfortunately, the medicine may kill the patient, rather than the disease. Read more

As the New Zealand dollar reached an all-time high against the British pound and keeps rising against the US dollar, the euro and other major currencies, New Zealand manufacturers are renewing their complaints about the damaging effects of our strong currency. However, currency movements usually produce losers and winners. Read more

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For decades, following German real estate prices was like watching paint dry. Well, actually it was even less exciting than that. Read more

Here’s a radical idea: Let’s think of houses as places where people live. Housing affordability is the big political issue of 2013. Read more

Broken windows and Warrant of Fitness (WoF) checks have more in common than first meets the eye. And no, we’re not talking about cracked windscreens. Read more

Even political leaders used to hopping from conference to conference do not often fly halfway around the world and back for a weekend meeting. It’s even more remarkable when most of Europe’s political leaders go on such a journey together – but it happened last weekend. Read more

When cyclist Lance Armstrong finally confessed to Oprah that he won all his Tour de France titles by using a cocktail of banned substances, he received widespread condemnation. Rightly so. Read more