A difficult summer for the White House: Crunch time
The next few weeks could determine the fate of Barack Obama's presidency.

America, Israel and Palestine: Get stuck in, Mr President
After making a good start in the Middle East, Barack Obama must now get directly involved.

Japan's elections: Demolition men
Breaking the mould of Japanese politics requires tackling the country's domineering civil service.

Commercial property: A concrete problem
Banks face another round of property-related bad debts: this time it will be flashy offices, not rundown homes.

Torture and intelligence: Spies under the thumbscrews
Torture, long a moral stain, is now hindering intelligence services' attempts to fight terrorism.

Spain's happy-go-lucky government: When good politics is bad economics
The prime minister's aversion to tough decisions risks prolonging the slump.

Shipping in the downturn: Sea of troubles
The recession is buffeting the world of shipping -- with even rougher waters ahead.

The collapse in commercial property: Towers of debt
Concerns are switching from the residential to the commercial sector.

Modern X-ray technology: Another look inside
The way medical X-rays are generated is over 100 years old. Time to update it.

The Arab world: Waking from its sleep
A quiet revolution has begun in the Arab world; it will be complete only when the last failed dictatorship is voted out.

Reversing Honduras's coup: Why and how to reinstate Zelaya
Restoring legitimacy in Central America will take pressure as well as persuasion.

Rebalancing global growth: A long way to go
The global recession is coming to an end, but the ingredients of a lasting recovery are still missing.

Pakistan and the Taliban: Better news from the frontier
A modest success against the Taliban in Malakand; now the battle must be taken to more powerful militants.

Central banks and regulation: Rulers of last resort
For good and bad reasons, central banks are being set up to fail.

A special report on the Arab world
The Arab world has experienced two decades of political stagnation. But there is a fever under the surface.

Monetising social networks: Tweeting all the way to the bank
Can virtual communities make billions of dollars from their millions of connections?

Germany's looming credit crunch: A reluctant patient
Europe's biggest economy has largely escaped the squeeze. Not for much longer.

Diagnosing comas: Unlucky for some
A newly published study suggests that a lot of people who have been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state are not in one.