1. CANADA

1. CANADA

The Toronto Star June 2: It was one of the most closely watched news stories in Canada, and yet the story line was entirely predictable: For the first time since 2008, the Bank of Canada raised its key lending rate.

The actual increase of 0.25 percent was modest, nudging the overnight lending to 0.50 percent — still a very low level. Coming against the backdrop of a recovering Canadian economy, the bank’s move was hardly surprising: “The economy grew by a robust 6.1 percent” in the first three months of 2010, the bank noted.

But not all the indicators are encouraging. While that growth spurt was welcome news there is another figure that looms large as the bank looks ahead: the unemployment rate remains at a historically high 8.1 per cent.

When part-time employment is accounted for, Canada appears to be experiencing a relatively jobless recovery.

That’s why the symbolism of a rate increase — the first since Mark Carney took over as the central bank’s governor more than two years ago — cannot be underestimated. It also explains why Carney took great pains to stress the bank’s careful deliberations, and its cautious outlook ahead of its next announcement in July.

Canada is among the first Western industrialized countries to raise rates again. Europe remains jittery after the financial meltdown in Greece.

Canada is hardly immune to instability. Carney is wise to tread carefully.

2. BRITAIN

London Evening Standard, June 2: The U.S. government’s decision to bring criminal charges against BP as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a characteristically American reaction to a crisis: if something goes wrong, sue.

But it is questionable whether that approach at this point will do anything at all to address the real problem, which is that every effort that BP has made to stem the leak has failed.

Bringing criminal charges against company executives will do nothing to add to the urgency with which BP is attempting to put matters right.

Deep-water drilling is patently risky and, when it goes wrong, has potentially devastating environmental consequences.

Almost certainly, better contingency plans should have been in place and may have prevented 11 deaths. But they weren’t, there was an accident and there can be no doubt that BP, which has the most to lose from this crisis, has done everything possible to put things right.

It has failed, but not from want of trying. And the notion that the U.S. government can succeed where BP has failed by “taking over” the operation seems illusory.

The U.S. reaction is political, an attempt by the president to respond to increasingly angry calls in the U.S. for him to be seen to do something.