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As work on the $5.25 billion Panama Canal extension project continues and the completion of the project nears, there are growing concerns about the negative environmental impact of the expansion and whether the project will deliver the economic benefits promised before construction began. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to the Occupy movement and information easily disseminated on the Internet, Americans are better informed about the rich-poor gap. The issue will continue to figure prominently in this election. Case in point: The hoopla over Mitt Romney's tax return. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As violence rampages across northern Nigeria and the capital city of Abuja faces renewed terror threats, questions are being raised about the true motivation of Boko Haram, the Muslim group responsible for the hostilities. Since Friday, Boko Haram has killed more than 100 people, the group's most audacious display of violence to date. Boko Haram is now threatening attacks in Abuja, and the US government has warned that hotels frequented by foreigners are being targeted. According to the Associated Press, the group has now killed 361 people this year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier this month, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was forced to move a large outdoor celebration marking the 51st anniversary of Nigeria's independence from British colonial rule from Eagle Square, a large public space in the capital city of Abuja, to his presidential residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As leaders of Nigerian militias promise to restart their war against the government in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, one young commander weighs life as a rebel vs. life as a computer engineer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A modestly higher financial transaction tax, or FTT, could discourage speculation, lead to less price volatility, and encourage long-term investment. One estimate projects such a 'sales tax' on Wall Street may raise $175 billion a year, even if it cut the total number of transactions in half. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On Sept. 17, a popular Nigerian blogger named Linda Ikeji wrote that she was in possession of an hour-long tape of five students from Abia State University gang-raping a young woman. Ms. Ikeji is a widely followed and popular writer known for her accurate celebrity gossip and entertainment reporting. Her claim to be in possession of such a tape drew immediate attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier this week, lawmakers, aides, and journalists in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja rushed into the streets after word spread that a bomb was planted in the National Assembly. Frantic calls to loved ones with reassurances of safety could be heard while police scrambled to find the explosive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There's something missing in the Washington political scene -- a genuine populist, a prominent politician persistently pointing out a decades-long drift of income and wealth to a tiny fringe at the top. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before President Obama's State of the Union message Jan. 25, Social Security supporters were "really scared," as one Washington pundit put it. They worried that Mr. Obama would suggest cutting Social Security benefits as a way to trim the massive federal deficit. One liberal analyst, Robert Naiman, even called for citizens to occupy the offices and dog public events of members of Congress who refused to protect the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baby boomers, the oldest just now reaching retirement age, can expect to receive inheritances equaling more than $8 trillion over their lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congress is going to have to tackle rising health-care costs in Medicare and "Obamacare." House Republicans can try to repeal Obamacare or starve it for funds. Democrats can beat back such attempts. But the laws of economics still rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Recession has badly damaged the "American dream" – the national ethos that everyone can move toward a richer and fuller life according to their work and ability, regardless of social class and circumstance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US slips from 19 to 22 in latest ranking of perceived public corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Federal Reserve is under attack – again. If 2010 seemed tough for the central bank, 2011 holds the prospect of even more criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tax deal negotiated by President Obama and the Republican congressional leadership has been called a "stealth stimulus package." By maintaining all the Bush tax cuts, renewing unemployment insurance benefits, adding a payroll tax cut, and so on, the deal will probably boost the speed of the economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bankers from Lehman Brothers to Ireland and beyond are increasingly unpopular, but that hasn't impacted their salaries much. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

America is whipping itself into a frenzy because of debt. Listen to the chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission and other deficit-cutters and you're likely to hear an "underlying moral tone," as economist John Irons puts it. The debt-cutters say Americans need to: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does America face a "lost decade," such as Japan suffered in the 1990s? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why is it that economists don't understand – at a deep and scientific level – how the economy works? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One in 10 South Americans – about 38 million people – escaped poverty during the past decade. That's remarkable progress by any measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a recent patrol convoy that lumbered across the barren, rocky fields of Malajat, an area located on flatlands on the eastern outskirts of Kandahar City, Afghanistan, soldiers from the US Army's Charlie Company spotted a D-cell battery hidden under a pile of rocks – a telltale sign of an improvised explosive device, or IED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First came the nightly rocket bombardments, targeting abandoned mud houses about 30 miles southwest of Kandahar City, where Taliban insurgents stored 82mm antitank guns, grenade launchers, and rifles, and where they made bombs and staged attacks on NATO and Afghan forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Recession has had many victims, including the stock market, housing, and the jobs market. There's also a lesser-known casualty, yet one important to American economic revival: world trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States spends far more on health care than any other nation. Those high costs pinch American consumers, but they're a boon to providers of those medical goods and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world needs new rules to keep nations from manipulating their currencies to get an export trade advantage. If rules don't get written, today's escalating trade frictions could heat up into a debilitating trade war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past decade, the Taliban has held firm control over the small farming village of Malajat, located on the green flatland along the eastern outskirts of Kandahar City. NATO forces and Afghan police refused to enter the area, knowing any attempt to clear the town of military threats would be met with fierce resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the poor get social programs worth $365 million, the rich get more. Subsidies to help the prosperous build wealth added up to $384 billion last year. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To promote its exports, China has been cheating economically by keeping the value of its yuan artificially low. For years this has made Chinese goods relatively cheap in the United States and given Wal-Mart and other import retailers a huge sales boost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinion polls find that the public has far more confidence and trust in small business than in Congress – around 59 percent versus about 7 percent. It's no wonder that Republicans and Democrats want to make allies of small business proprietors as they consider changing tax policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States faces a prolonged "jobless recovery" -- its third such flabby recovery and perhaps its weakest yet in terms of employment growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A microsecond -- a millionth of a second -- is all it takes superfast computers to trade New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks on any of nine stock exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many economic forecasters see nothing but further sinking, but with a rising number - if not percentage - of people employed, there are grounds for optimism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When the Puritans sailed from England in the 1630s to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, they imposed a ban on "games of chance." For a short time, the Pilgrims couldn't even possess dice or cards – a moral stance that still colors American attitudes today. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Arizona can arrest illegal immigrants now, but then what? Prison and deportation are both too expensive to sustain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Americans aren't paying nearly enough federal taxes to afford the government they have. To bring the budget closer to balance, Congress will have to raise taxes, cut spending, or both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, the millionaires in the US Senate (probably a majority) have not recused themselves from considering estate tax legislation that could, depending on how they vote, save their own heirs hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes – and possibly make a significant positive or negative difference in the federal budget deficit in the years ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]