The $40billion figure during the first year of the Obama administration is an increase from the last year of the Bush government in 2008, when the State Department licensed $34.2billion. The U.S. government approved $40billion in private arms sales to countries including Libya and Egypt in 2009 – before they both dissolved into unrest this year – the State Department reported. From 2008... 

Washington has come down with a case of fiscal fever as the Obama administration proposes everything from spending freezes on domestic programs to selling off unused government property to bring the budget back in line. Now, one study argues that the government can save billions of dollars simply by making a change to the currency itself. Earlier this month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office... 

Economic hole: President Barack Obama is struggling to find common ground with Republicans over how to bring the economy back on track. Government handouts now make up a record-breaking one third of the total amount of wages and salaries in the U.S., according to a bombshell new study. The payouts – including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance – are placing an increasing burden... 

Hinting: Ehud Barak, the Israel defence minister, told the Wall Street Journal that his country might ask America for a further $20billion. Israel are expected to ask for an additional $20billion in U.S. military aid in order to help the country deal with potential threats arising from the ongoing uprisings in the Middle East. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal defence minister Ehud Barak... 

March 4: President Obama gestures while speaking at Miami Central Senior High School in Miami. Leading advocates for the world’s poorest and hungriest are urging President Obama not to “overreact” to recent spikes in food prices, particularly by imposing export bans on U.S. agricultural products. In its February report, the World Bank noted “sharp increases” in the global prices of wheat,... 

Yikes! You won’t believe the real jobless numbers. Federal docs contradict 8.9% hyped by media. The real U.S. unemployment rate may be 22.1 percent for February, not the 8.9 percent reported by the government, according to economist John Williams, author of the “Shadow Government Statistics” website, who has argued for years that the federal government manipulates the reporting of... 

Attack: The report concludes that state or terrorist organisations contributed to the collapse of the U.S. financial system through a series of targeted financial attacks. Did China or Jihadists try to bankrupt America? Pentagon report reveals financial terrorists may have triggered economic crash. Two mystery investors ‘were number one traders in all financial companies that collapsed or are... 

The graying bear is getting a make-over. Russia’s military is launching its biggest rearmament effort since Soviet times, including a $650 billion program to procure 1,000 new helicopters, 600 combat planes, 100 warships, and 8 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Analysts say Russia, while already the world’s fifth-largest military spender, needs strong conventional forces to... 

3M's CEO George Buckley. The chief executive of diversified manufacturer 3M Co called US President Barack Obama anti-business in an interview with the Financial Times, arguing that manufacturers could move to Canada or Mexico as a result. “We know what his instincts are – they are Robin Hood-esque,” 3M CEO George Buckley told the paper. “He is anti-business.” Obama... 

The world is going to become richer and richer as developing economies play catch up over the coming years, according to Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup. “We expect strong growth in the world economy until 2050, with average real GDP growth rates of 4.6 percent per annum until 2030 and 3.8 percent per annum between 2030 and 2050,” Buiter wrote in a market research. “As... 

Protesters shout slogans against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a demonstartion at court square, in Benghazi, Libya, on Friday. After days of prevarication through the peak of the Libyan crisis, the United States government finally moved on Friday evening to impose unilateral sanctions against the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Obama administration’s latest move came even as the... 

In his interview with CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria, George Soros had some lamenting to do. He told Zakaria that Obama “has lost control of the [county’s ecnomic] agenda” and as a result it’s been left “in the hands of the Republican Party”. Though Soros thinks the GOP will be successful in its pursuit of cutting services and denying any tax increases, he thinks those developments... 

Confidential diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Hong Kong lay bare China’s growing influence as America’s largest creditor. As the U.S. Federal Reserve grappled with the aftershocks of financial crisis, the Chinese, like many others, suffered huge losses from their investments in American financial firms — from Lehman Brothers to the Primary Reserve Fund, the money... 

John Boyd In December, when President Barack Obama signed the “Claims Resolution Act of 2010,” which appropriated $1.15 billion to black farmers who said the U.S. Department of Agriculture had discriminated against them, many thought the matter had been laid to rest. Dr. John W. Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, has a message for America though: The black farmers need more,... 

Christine Lagarde wants changes on world's finance system. France will help the transition to a global financial system based on ‘several international currencies’, the French Economy Minister said today. France, as current head of the Group of 20 countries, will help the transition to a global financial system based on ‘several international currencies’, French Economy...