There used to be two gossip columns, "Lex" and “Men and Matters.” Neither was particularly authoritative and anyone who invested based on these columns deserved all the losses of money which ensured. Why I miss them

Today I face what the locals call an “embarras de richesse”, a pot of cash from mySunday profit- and loss-taking (both because of taxes; I don't want to go into hock to Obama, Cuomo, and de Blasio, all off whom tax my earnings plus capital gains outside my IRA.

Russia wants $485 per 1000 cubic meters, up from the old price of $268.50 which included offsets for use of ports in the Crimea, which Russia has now seized.

Thailand is now under martial law which may be an improvement over red- and yellow-shirts killing each other on the streets of Bangkok. The baht had fallen along with the SET (stock market) before the central bank intervened to support the currency. Thai Fund (TTF) is down.

More international news follows from around the globe covering the Netherlands to Hong Kong, from Britain to Canada, from Ireland to Singapore, from Israel to Thailand.

News updates today from China, Japan, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Israel, Finland, The Netherlands, Thailand, Ireland, Singapore, and Panama.