Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with presidential scholar Annette Gordon-Reed discussing "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" on the Special Programs stage at the 2015 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with crime writer Patricia Cornwell discussing "Red Mist,” her 19th Kay Scarpetta novel, on the Fiction & Mystery stage at the 2012 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with young adult and fantasy author Leigh Bardugo discussing "Crooked Kingdom" on the Genre Fiction stage at the 2018 Festival. This post includes prompts for writing and thinking that young readers, families and teachers can use to explore the author and the author’s work—recommended for ages 13+.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussing "Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom" on the Main Stage at the 2017 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead discussing "Zone One" on the Poetry & Prose stage at the 2012 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with historian Michael Beschloss discussing “Presidents of War” on the Main Stage at the 2019 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with crime and mystery writer Karin Slaughter discussing "Broken," part of her Will Trent series, on the Fiction & Mystery stage at the 2010 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with actor and author Neil Patrick Harris discussing "The Magic Misfits: The Minor Third." The event, part of the new year-long National Book Festival Presents series, took place in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium. This post includes prompts for writing and thinking that young readers, families and teachers can use to explore the author and the author’s work—recommended for ages 8+.

The mullahs are cold calculators.

The memento mori of two friends.

Britain exits Europe. It will be poorer, above all in its shriveled heart.

The eerie inhumanity of Donald Trump.

We are connected to one another and to generations past and future.

How could I ever begrudge you your restlessness, your lip, your effrontery, your impatience? Forgive me, as I forgive you.

Trump is Mark Twain’s king, the great American con man.

The battle for humanity and solidarity in the post-American world.

We are all in a box, and in those boxes we are grieving.

The monster of modernity must be slowed.

Saudi Arabian equities slumped on concern the U.S. may take measures against the kingdom if it’s linked to the disappearance of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi.

United States President Donald Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes that he would added pressure on Saudi Arabia, vowing "severe punishment" should the kingdom’s leaders be linked to the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

United Kingdom and European Union negotiators were working through Sunday as the outcome of Brexit talks hung in the balance.

The UK and the European Union are on course to miss a key milestone on the road to a Brexit deal after talks hit a roadblock. Negotiations are now paused, putting pressure on leaders to step into the breach later this week.

Saudi Arabia has begun an internal investigation into the disappearance of a prominent journalist at its Istanbul consulate and could hold people accountable if the evidence warrants it, according to a Saudi official.

US President Donald trump has suggested that 'rogue killers' may be behind the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

An op-ed in Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news has warned of repercussions should the US impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabian stocks retreated as US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo arrived in the kingdom to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz over the disappearance of writer Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

The heads of Deutsche Bank and Siemens, two of Germany’s biggest companies, are among a dwindling number of high-profile delegates still scheduled to attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Riyadh’s account of the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, saying the murder was the result of a meticulously planned plot and calling on the Saudi king to hold all culprits to account.

The founder and chief of his eponymous investment bank traveled to Riyadh to extol the virtues of friendship. He stood out as many of the titans of U.S. finance sat out the kingdom’s signature investment summit amid international outrage over the killing of government critic Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has “blood on his hands” in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a top aide to Turkey’s president said, in his country’s first direct accusation against the power behind the Saudi throne.

It took rickshaw driver Mohammad Rasheed a year to save 300 rupees to buy his daughter a bike, so when he found three billion rupees ($22.5 million) had passed through an unused bank account in his name, he was stunned ... and scared.

US President Donald Trump says he plans to sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorised immigrants born on US soil.

Political power is a slippery thing. Even in an absolute monarchy, it can get away from you with one wrong move.

For a moment, Wall Street seemed to be inching away from Saudi Arabia. Now, it’s already inching back.

Permanently-drawn curtains on the city’s empty luxury high-rises and dust gathering over shuttered storefronts in the Beirut Souks mall offer a glimpse of the economic gloom gathering over one of the world’s most indebted countries.

Finance ministers meeting in Brussels will try to push forward a legislative proposal for a levy on the European sales of companies with a global annual revenue of $853m or more, such as Facebook, Alphabet and Amazon.

President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping will sit down for a highly anticipated dinner with investors and allies eager for a truce in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Indonesia was rattled by more than 11 500 earthquakes last year, almost double the annual average of the past decade, according to the nation’s meteorological agency.

एन्रॉन असो की सत्यम, ग्लोबल ट्रस्ट बँक असो की शेरेगरसारखे मध्यमवर्गीयांच्या दामदुप्पट स्वप्नांचे सौदागर.. वित्त क्षेत्रातील हे सारे गुन्हे भांडवलावर आधारलेल्या कोणत्याही व्यवस्थेत घडतच

कमी श्रमात जास्त धन कमावण्याच्या लोभाला धर्म, आध्यात्म, ‘गुप्तविद्या’.. पसरवलेल्या माहितीवर लोकांचा व प्रसारमाध्यमांचाही अंधविश्वास, असे अनेक अवयव असतात.

एकोणिसाव्या शतकाच्या अखेरीच्या दशकामधील ही कहाणी. बॉस्टनमधल्या ‘फर्दिनान्द बोर्जेस’ याची. परिस्थिती हलाखीची; मिळेल ते काम करणारा.

झटपट धनप्राप्तीचे किंवा मोठय़ा बचतीचे, किफायतीचे आमिष दाखवणाऱ्या सरसकट सर्वच योजनांना 'पाँझी स्कीम' म्हटले जाते.. पण या पाँझीच्या अगोदरही असे वित्तीय गुन्हे झाले होते. तरीही पाँझीचेच नाव या गुन्ह्यच्या प्रकाराला मिळाले, कारण त्याने केलेली फसवणूक आंतरराष्ट्रीय होती!  त्या धूर्तपणाचा इतिहास …

पोस्टल कूपन विनिमय-व्यवहारातील नफ्याचे प्रमाण २३० टक्के असल्याचे पाहून पोन्झीने कंपनीच स्थापली आणि ४५ दिवसांत ५० टक्के नफ्याची जाहिरातही केली. गोणी भरभरून पैसे जमू लागले..

पत्रकारांना हाताशी धरून, एक बँकही स्वतकडे ठेवून चार्ल्स पोन्झीचा गोरखधंदा सुरूच राहिला होता.. वासे फिरले, पोन्झीची फसवाफसवी उघड होऊ लागली,

मॅडॉफची अशी तटबंद निधी कंपनी होती का? तर नाही. तो फार तर गुंतवणूक सल्लागार म्हणून अनधिकृरीत्या काम करत असणार! पण मग तो पैसे गुंतवतो कुठे? खरेदी-विक्री कुठल्या खात्यावरून करतो? एवढय़ा मोठय़ा रकमेची उलाढाल होते तर ती नजरेस यायला हवी?

‘हा फक्त शेलक्या विश्वासू श्रीमंतांना आर्थिक सल्ला देणारा माणूस, तो आपल्याला सल्ला देतो आहे’ अशा भावनेतून लोक बर्नार्ड ऊर्फ बर्नी मॅडॉफचे सल्ले ऐकत.

बर्नी मॅडॉफने देऊ केलेला गुंतवणूक-परतावा फसवाच आहे, याचा संशय अनेकांना आला खरा; पण तो बोलून दाखवणाऱ्यांना परस्परच गप्प करण्यात आले. एकाची तर नोकरी गेली. तत्कालीन अमेरिकी सिक्युरिटी एक्स्चेंज कमिशनही इतके निर्बुद्ध की, त्यांनीही याकडे लक्ष दिले नाही. अखेर डोलारा कोसळला. जाळे दिसत असूनही त्याकडे दुर्लक्ष केल्यामुळे, कित्येकजण त्या अडकले होते!

गुंतवणूक स्वत करा आणि गुंतवणूकदारही आणा, मग लाभच लाभ अशी बहुस्तरीय विक्री-यंत्रणा राबवणाऱ्या ‘पॉन्झी जाळय़ा’चा फटका भाबडय़ा गुंतवणूकदारांना बसतो, हा झाला या जाळय़ाच्या कलंकशोभा-दर्शकाचा एक भाग.

शेअर बाजारात दोन छावण्या असतात. एक छावणी बाजार वर नेणाऱ्यांची आणि वर जाणार असा होरा मानून व्यवहार करणाऱ्यांची.