Geopolitical Monitor - Economy - Geopolitical Analysis on Economic Issues Facing Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East

May 1, 2008 (London Independent) - Destitution and food insecurity among Gaza's 1.5 million residents has reached an unprecedentedly critical level, according to unpublished UN findings that they now need "urgent assistance" to avert a "serious food crisis" in the occupied Palestinian territories.

LA PAZ May 1, 2008 (Carlos Quiroga, Reuters) - Bolivia's President Evo Morales deepened state control of the economy on Thursday, the second anniversary of his energy nationalization and days before an opposition-led autonomy vote that challenges his leftist reforms.

May 1, 2008 (Fiona MacDonald & Matthew Brown, Bloomberg) - Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency's decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said.

WASHINGTON April 30, 2008 (AP) - The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point, a smaller move than the aggressive easing it undertook earlier this year.

BERNE April 29, 2008 (Laura MacInnis, Reuters) - agencies and the World Bank pledged on Tuesday to set up a task force to tackle an unprecedented rise in global food prices that is threatening to spread social unrest.

SEOUL April 29, 2008 (Jon Herskovitz, Reuters) - Soaring global food prices and reluctant donors are pushing North Korea back towards famine, which could see the secretive government turn even more repressive to keep control, a paper released on Wednesday said.

WASHINGTON April 28, 2008 (Heide B. Malhotra, Epoch Times) - Studies indicate that credit card defaults and related write-offs increased drastically since 2006. Today, lenders write off 33 percent more in credit card debt than they did two years ago.

April 27, 2008 (IHT) - Just ahead of a meeting of Federal Reserve policy makers this week, the widely shared consensus is that the Fed will most likely cut its benchmark short-term interest rate to 2 percent from 2.25 percent, signaling that while financial markets have stabilized somewhat, concerns about an U.S. economic downturn remain paramount.

Washington and London’s concerns about escalating violence amid Zimbabwe’s election crisis are being used as a pretext for regime change.

PORT-AU-PRINCE April 24, 2008 (Joseph Guyler Delva, Reuters) - The World Food Program lacks crucially needed funds to help feed Haiti's poor, and international donors must provide urgent and massive aid, a spokesman for the United Nations agency said on Thursday.