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  Is HSBC's $1.9bn (£1.2bn) fine enormous or a drop in the ocean? Well, it's a record for the offence of money laundering and breaking sanctions, which could be said to underline the gravity of the bank's actions. On the other hand, the sum represents about four weeks' earnings given the bank's pre-tax profits of $21.9bn last year. The financial pain is …

US breeds a Chinese-style inmate labor scheme on its own soil. Both state and some of the biggest private companies are now enjoying the fruits of a cheap and readily available work force, with tens of millions of dollars spent by private prisons to keep their jails full. Posted December 09, 2012 Mumia Abu-Jamal interview on prisons  Mumia Abu-Jamal is an …

  The historic transition towards an Asian Century is generating a treasure trove of both symbolic and real images of the shift from swords-to-plowshares. One of the most thought-provoking is the conversion of Sri Lanka’s former military headquarters in a prime location on the Colombo seafront into an area for mega-projects. Once dotted with grim, heavily-fortified garrisons and gun barrels …

  For several decades now, the Hong Kong dollar has been ‘pegged’ to the US dollar at 7.80 plus/minus a very narrow band (7.75 to 7.85). This means that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has to mirror whatever the US Federal Reserve does. If Bernanke prints, Hong Kong has to print. And as you have probably noticed, Mr. Bernanke has …

  Iran’s currency virtually collapsed last week, and the public protests that followed in Tehran stirred memories of the massive anti-regime protests of 2009. This has caused excited speculation in the United States and its allies about the imminent fall of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the abandonment of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, or even the end of the whole Islamic regime. …