THE Colombian government had expected student protests, Molotov cocktails and even a few minor explosions to take place on May 15th, when the country’s free-trade agreement with the United States came into effect.

AS TELEVISED debates go the performance was lame. Two elderly men in dark suits and ties scrapped like shopkeepers, seeming keener to discredit each others’ goods than to plug their own.

IT'S been a long time coming, but America's housing market finally seems to be normalising. Construction has been so low since the beginning of the bust that many markets are experiencing increasingly tight conditions.

A RARE slip-up by lawyers has helped to shed some rather interesting light on a high-profile legal battle, the details of which some of the largest Wall Street firms have been fighting to keep under wraps.

IN THE end, Pakistan had to eat a bite of humble pie. But for its light serving it has won an agreement with America that should let their battered relations start to mend.

HAVING based much of his recent re-election campaign on strident anti-Western rhetoric, President Vladimir Putin has decided to boycott this weekend’s G8 meeting at Camp David and is only sending a mid-ran

COMMON CAUSE, a left-leaning advocacy non-profit, has filed a lawsuit against the Senate on the grounds that the filibuster defies the constitution.

AFTER a strong rebound in 2010, growth in auto production in the world’s biggest markets slowed from around 30% to 3% last year.

NOT again.

MENTION Jasmine Lee at the Philippine market in Seoul’s Hyehwa-dong district, and faces instantly brighten.