Christine Cumming of the New York Fed joins Andrés Rozental from the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations to discuss current economic trends and the role of the Fed in the financial regulatory system. Cumming expresses her concern that the financial system is failing in its mission to efficiently allocate capital to the most productive investment opportunities. She is optimistic about future growth prospects in the United States and explains why the current gradual approach to the tapering of monetary stimulus is appropriate.

A specter is haunting Washington, an unnerving vision of a Sino-Russian alliance wedded to an expansive symbiosis of trade and commerce across much of the Eurasian land mass — at the expense of the United States. And no wonder Washington is anxious. That alliance is already a done deal in a variety of ways: through the BRICS group of emerging powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa); at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Asian counterweight to NATO; inside the G20; and via the 120-member-nationNon-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Relations between Indonesia and Malaysia have been marred by issues relating to the treatment of migrant workers, border disputes, the environment and cultural claims. Despite ups and downs during 57 years of relations, the two nations have committed to forging better understanding. Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Herman Prayitno talks to The Jakarta Post’s Yohanna Ririhena on the issue on the sidelines of a seminar on Indonesia-Malaysia relations at the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Kedah, Malaysia, recently.

China has evacuated more than 3,000 of its nationals from Vietnam, state media reported on Sunday, after a wave of anti-China unrest following Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in contested waters.But the anti-China protests planned for Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City, originally sanctioned by the Vietnamese government, were quickly stopped by scores of uniformed and secret police. The government has bee

In a rare public acceptance of responsibility, the North Korean government announced Sunday that an apartment building under construction in its capital of Pyongyang collapsed, potentially killing hundreds of people. The collapse occurred last week, and rescue operations were suspended Saturday, according to state news agency Korean Central News Agency.Analysts said North Korea's disclosure of the accident may be intended to draw a contrast toSouth Korea's response to the deadly ferry accident in April that killed hundreds of people, many of them students.

NATO formally opened its liaison office in Uzbekistan on Friday, a year after it started working and amid heightened Russian rhetoric about the western alliance encroaching on its backyard. Uzbekistan is unmistakably taking a different path than that of its neighbors. While Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are all (to varying degrees) participating in Russia's economic and military integration schemes, Uzbekistan has resisted.

Malaysian government intends to encourage local companies to increase investments in Russia, Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed said after a bilateral meeting with Russian Minister of Economic Development Aleksey Ulyukayev in this Chinese city on Sunday. “We had a good meeting. We have made major progress and intend to sign a memorandum on setting up a joint committee to develop Russian-Malaysian co-operation,” Mohamed said.

Two bombs killed 10 people and wounded 70 others Friday, at a market in Kenya’s capital, while hundreds of British tourists were evacuated from the coastal resort of Mombasa after warnings of an impending attack by Islamic extremists.  President Uhuru Kenyatta, appearing at a previously planned news conference soon after the bombings, offered his condolences.  But he dismissed the tourism warnings from the U.S. and Britain that led to the evacuations, saying terrorism is a common problem and not unique to Kenya.