The Economist ©     Coverage   Help   Search Westlaw   Date: November 21, 2009November 14, 2009November 7, 2009October 31, 2009October 24, 2009   Section: AllLegal NewsAntitrustBankruptcyE-CommerceEnvironmental LawEstate Planning and ProbateHealth & MedicineIntellectual PropertyLabor & EmploymentLitigationMergers & Acquisitions British Columbia's salmon: Socked Another inquiry into vanishing stocks A MYSTERIOUS decline in the numbers of spawning salmon has become one of the rites of autumn in British Columbia, bringing worries of financial and job losses, threats of extinction and a perplexing lack of answe.... Australia's child-migration horror: Better late than never Kevin Rudd says sorry for a past evil CEREMONIES in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra are typically attended by visiting royals, heads of state and other dignitaries. On November 16th several hundred ordinary, middle-aged Australians, wi.... Sri Lanka's retired army chief: General intentions The war's winners fall out WHEN Sarath Fonseka sought permission this month to retire as chief of Sri Lanka's defence staff from December 1st, President Mahinda Rajapaksa replied through his secretary that the general, who had led his government's vi.... Monsanto: The parable of the sower The debate over whether Monsanto is a corporate sinner or saint FEW companies excite such extreme emotions as Monsanto. To its critics, the agricultural giant is a corporate hybrid of Victor Frankenstein and Ebenezer Scrooge, using science to create .... Czechoslovakia: A chequered history Czechoslovakia was born out of trickery and died in failure. Only up to a point OUTSIDERS tend to have a soft spot for Czechoslovakia. Poignant music by Leos Janacek, Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana recalls the struggle for nationhood that culmina.... A child in communist Hungary: Little girls, big story COMMUNIST bullies had a nasty trick when dealing with opponents who had children: they took them away, sometimes to be adopted by childless party stalwarts, in nastier cases to be sent to orphanages and treated as the children of criminals, or even t.... A diarist dissected: The man in the Panama hat JAMES LEES-MILNE (1908-97) notched up two big achievements. First, he was a seminal figure in England's National Trust, which earned him the bouquet of "the man who saved England" by protecting scores of fine houses (and sometimes their inhabitants) .... English literature: No plain Jane "SOME literary works are mortal; Jane Austen's are immortal," writes Harold Bloom in his foreword to this delightful volume. In it, 33 writers--from Virginia Woolf to Jay McInerney, from Somerset Maugham to Fay Weldon, from Martin Amis to A.S. Byatt-.... Henry V, English hero: Ad majorem Dei gloriam WHAT Shakespeare does for a monarch, it is very hard to undo. Richard III, though softened and cleaned up by assiduous researchers, still limps murderously through the public imagination. And Henry V, even soberly revisited, never quite loses that st.... Orhan Pamuk: Turkish delight IN HIS eighth novel--the first since he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2006--Orhan Pamuk, who was born in Istanbul in 1952, has conjured up a circle of characters who are riven by anxieties about Turkishness and modernity, authenticity.... New cinema: Lee Daniels's "Precious": Escaping from hell A shoe-in for the Academy Awards, already "PRECIOUS", which was released across America on November 20th, and opens in Europe early next year, should in any rational world be the most depressing 109 minutes anyone could spend in the cinema. Yet it is.... Cuba and the United States: Resistant to sticks and carrots The difficulty of pressing for change in a police state THOSE who hoped that the arrival in power of Barack Obama and Raúl Castro would bring a thaw in the continuing 50-year cold war between the United States and Cuba so far have little to cheer. Th.... University students abroad: And is there honey still for tea? Luring foreign students is getting harder IN MEDIEVAL times, the choice was simple. A Christian man of means could enroll at one of a handful of universities, two of which were in England. Since then, continents have been discovered, everyone has got.... Bagehot: I know my rights Public-service satisfaction guaranteed, or--what, exactly? ALTHOUGH it was introduced long before he left Downing Street, John Major's "cones hot-line" came to epitomise, in the public imagination, the intellectual exhaustion and shrunken ambition of.... Reforming financial regulation: A one-trick bill An exercise in bank-bashing which may just please consumers CRACKING down on financial services was always likely to be a highlight of the Queen's Speech, which sets out the government's legislative priorities until the general election next year. Wi.... Gordon Brown's next six months: The great calculating machine A nakedly political Queen's Speech marks the start of the election campaign "THERE are times, perhaps once every 30 years, when there is a sea-change in politics," said the last Labour prime minister to lose a general election. "It then does not matt.... Financing Scottish start-ups: Better up north New firms are finding funds in Scotland, despite the downturn. Why? THESE are tough times for venture capitalists. According to their trade association, the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA), investment in new and fledgling firms fell by 17%.... Lending to small companies: Now, worry about the upturn Small firms risk financial starvation just as the economy recovers JUST when you thought an upswing was around the corner it seems that smaller firms have yet to face the worst. Nick Hood, executive chairman of Begbies Global Network, an insolvency f.... The Conservatives' media policy: Nice guys may finish first A shadow culture secretary begins to makes his mark THE Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has rarely been the frivolous sideshow suggested by its Whitehall nickname, "the ministry of fun". It was a training ground for some of Labour's br.... Municipal Wi-Fi: Metro-net Public wireless internet has had a tough time in America. Can Britain do better? ON A cold and drizzly autumn day, no one would mistake Swindon, a prosperous mid-sized town near Bristol, for northern California. But it does lie on the M4 corridor, a .... Charlemagne: A new balance in Europe America is listening to Russia's call for new security arrangements in Europe IN THEORY, Russian diplomats accredited to NATO are welcome friends: the reality is murkier. For more than a decade now, Russian officials have been trusted to roam the all.... Correction: Czech politics In our story last week on right-wing parties in Europe ("Right on Down"), we mistakenly referred to the Civic Forum in the Czech Republic. We should have said the Civic Democrats. Sorry. SOURCE: The Economist Mexico's economy: A different kind of recession In some ways the pain is less bad than the statistics suggest. But recovery will be harder than in the past unless complacency gives way to reform THE last time Mexico suffered an economic slump, in 1995, it turned to its northern neighbour for help..... Municipal politics in France: The mayors' revolt Plans to abolish a tax on investment causes uproar in town halls IN THE rolling hills and medieval villages of France, a modern rebellion is stirring. The country's 36,000 directly elected mayors are in revolt, angry at government plans to cut the nu.... Germany's Social Democrats: Archangel Gabriel takes the burden The venerable but defeated SPD picks a new champion IT HAD the trappings of any other political party convention in Germany: the same airless arena, the same corporate kiosks offering free ballpoint pens. But the gathering of the Social Democratic Pa.... Greek public finances: Arithmetic lesson The politics of deficits and economic statistics GREEK government statistics are notoriously unreliable. But rarely can the numbers have seemed more erratic than in recent months, when the forecast for this year's budget deficit more than doubled fro.... History of Italian fascism: Not just Hitler's fool A mistress's diary shows Benito Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite "THESE disgusting Jews, I must destroy them all." Adolf Hitler's dinnertime conversation? No. This is one of several anti-Semitic rants ascribed to Italy's fascist leader, Benito Musso.... Europe's public finances: Weighed down The recession has left a fiscal burden that many countries will struggle to shed THE BAD thing for politicians about good news on the economy is that they can no longer avert their eyes from the state of public finances. Figures released on November .... Slovakia's murky politics: Heading south Tough times for Slovakia's democracy AN IRREVOCABLE shift away from the bad habits of the past was meant to be the result of joining the European Union. In Slovakia's case, the shift is now backwards. In the past six months the authorities have taken.... Turkey's phone-tapping scandal: Who's on the phone? A murky twist in the fight between the ruling party and the military old guard DURING an interview with a Turkish minister recently, your correspondent was asked to remove the battery from her mobile telephone. "Otherwise our conversation will be tap.... America's fiscal deficit: Stemming the tide Unprecedented levels of government debt may require radical solutions STUDENTS at National Defence University in Washington, DC, were recently given a model of the economy and told to fix the budget. To get the federal debt down, they jacked up taxes.... The pros and cons of VAT: A last resort Its advantages are oversold, but it is gaining adherents LIBERALS oppose a value-added tax because it falls more heavily on the poor. Conservatives oppose it because it is a money machine. Larry Summers, Barack Obama's chief economic adviser, once pr.... Buttonwood: Something's gotta give Either central banks are wrong to keep rates low, or markets are wrong to expect recovery LIKE a truck rolling downhill, the rally in risky assets is proving hard to stop. Good economic news causes share prices to rise because it indicates the recove.... Peru and Brazil: Messing around with dams First build a road, then flood it JOSE CHÁVEZ, a farmer, is one of the few people in the Inambari area who welcomes a plan to build a huge hydroelectric dam where the departments of Madre de Dios, Cusco and Puno meet in Peru's south-eastern jungle. H.... China's exchange-rate policy: A yuan-sided argument Why China resists foreign demands to revalue its currency PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, on his first visit to China this week, urged the government to allow its currency to rise. President Hu Jintao politely chose to ignore him. In recent weeks Jean-Claude.... Economics focus: Green with envy The tension between free trade and capping emissions STATEMENTS by Barack Obama on his travels through Asia have lowered expectations that December's global summit on climate change in Copenhagen will lead to binding cuts in carbon emissions. The urg.... Fund management: Payback time The European Union lashes out at hedge funds and private equity "WHEN a fight breaks out in a bar, you don't hit the man who started it. You clobber the person you don't like instead." That is the cynical verdict of a fund-management executive on the.... Spanish banks: Savings and groans Misery for the cajas does not mean joy for the banks SPAIN'S banks face a grim 2010. True, the listed banks made over 4 billion ($6 billion) in net profits in the third quarter of this year. But most economists predict that Spain will not emerge from.... Public-sector finances: The state's take Governments differ dramatically in how they tax--and how much they raise THANKS to the collateral damage from the financial crisis, government deficits have surged across the rich world. Once the recovery is entrenched this fiscal deterioration will .... Rebuilding UBS: Ossie's casino "I'D LIKE to see us put more risk on the table and actually trade a bit harder." In these times, such words from any banker might be enough to cause a little concern. Coming from the chief financial officer of a bank that is still clawing its way out.... The Economist commodity-price index Please see graphic below. SOURCE: The Economist Markets Please see graphic below. SOURCE: The Economist Output, prices and jobs Please see graphic below. SOURCE: The Economist Vehicle-scrapping subsidies As the world economy tumbled into recession, most rich countries' governments tried to prop up ailing carmakers by dishing out cash to drivers who scrapped an old vehicle to buy a new one. According to the OECD, America's programme was the most gener.... Afghanistan's anti-corruption drive: Taming the mafia state The anti-graft pressure mounts on Hamid Karzai IT WAS no secret what the world wanted to hear from Hamid Karzai when Afghanistan's president was sworn in for a second term on November 19th: a commitment to get tough on corruption. Visiting Kabul for .... Economic and Financial Indicators: Overview Japan 's economy grew strongly in the third quarter. It expanded at an annual rate of 4.8%, aided by a 3.3% rise in domestic demand and rapid export growth. The recession ended in the euro zone, where GDP grew by 0.4% in the three months to S.... R&D spending Toyota spent the most on research and development (R&D) of any company in the world in 2008, according to the European Commission's latest tally. The Japanese carmaker increased its annual R&D spending by 7.6% to 7.6 billion ($10.6 billion), knocking.... Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates Please see graphic below. SOURCE: The Economist Feeding the world: If words were food, nobody would go hungry Investment in agriculture is soaring. So, worryingly, is distrust of markets and trade "THE world's attention is back on your cause." That was Bill Gates talking to agricultural scientists gathered recently to honour the late Norman Borlaug, father o.... Food markets: How to store and sell more stuff Poor places need more than seeds, fertiliser or even food science IF FOOD aid is epitomised by a single image, it is that of neat bags of grain, stamped with the Stars and Stripes and labelled a "gift from the American people", being unloaded in some.... Food and agriculture: How to feed the world Business as usual will not do it IN 1974 Henry Kissinger, then America's secretary of state, told the first world food conference in Rome that no child would go to bed hungry within ten years. Just over 35 years later, in the week of another United N.... Fund managers' pay: A defective directive The European Union serves up a dog's breakfast HEDGE-FUND and private-equity managers earn a lot of money, more than most people think justified by their contribution to society. Of course, the same could be said of rappers and sports stars. That is .... The end of the Labour government: Last, do no harm How Gordon Brown and the Labour Party should use their last months in power TWO syndromes often beset governments whose time is almost up. One is listlessness and drift, as discipline crumbles, morale plummets and ideas dry up. Conversely, some morib.... Barack Obama in Asia: The Pacific (and pussyfooting) president America's president shows an alarming lack of self-confidence. So does China's FOR some critics of Barack Obama, America's dependence on China as the holder of some $800 billion of its government debt is to blame for what they see as a humiliating vi.... The deficit problem: Dealing with America's fiscal hole Don't cut the deficit now--but explain how, eventually, you will FOR years America's fiscal problems had a surreal quality. No one disputed that an ageing population and health-care inflation could bust the budget, but that prospect was decades away .... Banyan: Land of Eastern promise India's membership of Asia remains primarily cartographic AN EASY but instructive way to bait an Indian economist is to credit the Chinese economy with coming to Asia's rescue and arguably the world's. It is, claims the economist, an example of anti-.... Congo's constitution: Democracy under threat Is Congo's President Joseph Kabila flirting with dictatorship? AFTER 32 years of rapacious dictatorship under Mobutu Sese Seko and nearly a decade of chaos following his demise in 1997, Congo's elections in 2006 marked the first time the people of th.... Iraq and its neighbours: A regional cockpit As Americans prepare to leave, Iraq's biggest neighbours vie for influence OF ALL the foreign officials an American general or ambassador would least want to be seen with, General Qassem Suleimani would--you may think--be high on the list. For he com.... Sierra Leone's corruption problem: A mortal enemy The government is having some rare success in trying to eradicate an old sore IN MOST African countries, the fight against corruption is deemed important but hardly a matter of life and death. In Sierra Leone it is exactly that. In 1991 the country d.... Yemen's war: Pity those caught in the middle A bitter local conflict threatens to spread across the region MUHAMMAD REDWAN and his family were being hammered from all sides. In early August, rebels from Yemen's Houthi clan took over his village in the rugged mountains of the Malahid district, n.... Hope and worry in Zambia: Less poor, less free The president is making the country's well-wishers anxious WHEN Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) got independence from Britain in 1964, it was one of Africa's richest and most developed countries. It has vast copper-ore deposits and some of the be.... Obituary: Robert Rines Robert Rines, scientist and Nessie-hunter, died on November 1st, aged 87 EYEWITNESS evidence may be all very well in a court of law, but it cuts no ice with scientists. Robert Rines knew that perfectly, because he was a scientist himself, and a good .... Tuna fishing: Changing tides The bluefin tuna is still being managed badly. A trade ban is on the cards IN A world where wildlife is under increasing pressure, good management can mean the difference between survival and extinction. In the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Se.... Vehicle telemetry: Calling all cars Tapping remotely into a car's data systems provides lots of useful services IN THE early hours of the morning two men are robbed at gunpoint and ordered out of their Chevrolet Tahoe. The thief jumps in and roars off, but he does not get far. The vehi.... Sex and pharmaceuticals: Arousing interest The search continues for a pill that will lift a woman's libido BACK in the 1990s a drug firm called Pfizer thought it had a treatment for angina. Unfortunately, the new medicine failed its clinical trials. But a curious side-effect was seen in those.... Correction: Peat In "For peat's sake, stop" (November 7th), an overenthusiastic spell-checking system led to the word "rewetting" being rendered as "reletting" in three different places. We apologise for any confusion caused. SOURCE: The Economist Hong Kong's deferred democracy: Softly, softly One man; one vote; one forlorn hope? ACCORDING to its chief executive, Donald Tsang, Hong Kong has reached another "critical juncture" in its political development. A reform proposal unveiled by his government on November 18th aims to increase the le.... Conservation: In wolf's clothing Wolves are being blamed for damage actually done by dogs FARMERS have never liked wolves. That is why wolves are rare where farmers are common. Fashion, though, is swinging round to the wolf's point of view in many places where town-dwellers are even.... Barack Obama and Afghanistan: Waiting (and waiting) for a plan The president continues to take his time AS HIS plane was refuelling in Alaska en route to Asia, Barack Obama made a vow to the troops who greeted him at Elmendorf air base. "I want you guys to understand I will never hesitate to use force to protect.... America, China and climate change: Let's agree to agree Barack Obama and others admit that Copenhagen will at most produce only an outline climate agreement. But that would be a lot better than nothing EXPECTATIONS for the Copenhagen climate conference, to be held next month in the Danish capital, rise an.... Improving education: What to teach? The long, slow effort to set standards IN THE long list of problems that plague American education, one is primary: what should students learn? For decades, however, this question has baffled people. In an education system run by the 50 states, succe.... After Guantanamo: Trials to come Tough choices as a deadline is missed AT HIS inauguration, Barack Obama insisted that the choice between America's safety and its ideals was a false one. In a clear dig at his predecessor for abuses in the "war on terror", he wanted to signal a clean.... Lexington: Sarah Palin reloads She's back, and this time she's selling books ONE day in January last year, Sarah Palin was watching her son graduate from boot camp. As she gazed at the ranks of "tall and strong and serious" young men marching in perfect unison, all of them "ready .... Maine's cod: Something new A brave attempt to save local fish IN THE bright midday sun, boats idle as fishermen unload the day's haul. This scene is commonplace in Maine's small fishing hamlets; but Port Clyde is known not for its lobsters but for its fish. It is home to the l.... The New Orleans mayor's race: The job almost no one wants Well, would you? ASK any New Orleanian whether they are ready for a new mayor, and they will say yes--and soon. A poll by James Carville, a Louisiana-raised consultant who was once Bill Clinton's campaign adviser and who came home last year, found th.... Award: Gulliver Gulliver, our blog on business travel, won the award for innovation at this year's Business Travel Journalism Awards. SOURCE: The Economist A spat among professional networks: Class war Does local beat global in the professional-networking business? IN THE three-way fight between the biggest online professional networks--America's LinkedIn, France's Viadeo and Germany's Xing--this week the French contender scored a victory. Last yea.... Barack Obama in Asia: Scaling the Asian wall The president pays Asia the compliment of courtesy; rewards are not immediate IT TOOK Barack Obama nearly a year in office to get to East Asia. When he did, it was for an intensive nine-day obstacle course, which he tried to negotiate with the placat.... Corporate crime is on the rise: The rot spreads A survey reveals that desperate times have led to illegal measures THE recession has taken its toll on morals as well as profits. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a consulting and accounting firm, has conducted a biennial survey of economic crime for th.... The global crackdown on corporate bribery: Ungreasing the wheels Governments around the world are making life difficult for corrupt firms IF EVER a clash was inevitable between one country's commercial law and another's business culture, it would be between America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which see.... EDF: Nuclear contamination The giant French utility's ambition to lead a global revival in nuclear energy is running into difficulties as a controversial new boss takes over NEXT week Henri Proglio will become the boss of EDF Group, the state-controlled French firm which is th.... Counterfeit handsets proliferate in China: Talk is cheap Chinese firms are making and exporting ever more suspect phones CHINESE consumers appear fixated with Apple's iconic iPhone. It draws throngs of eager buyers in Shanghai's Xujiahui computer market. Similarly, at the Canton Trade Fair in October, vend.... LNG expands in Australia: Explosive growth Australia is becoming one of the world's biggest exporters of gas WALLAROOS, bandicoots and other marsupials on Barrow Island off the north-west coast of Australia will watch curiously over coming months as workers start building a huge plant to liqu.... Schumpeter: Remembering Drucker Four years after his death, Peter Drucker remains the king of the management gurus IN THE normal run of things the management world is divided into dozens of mutually suspicious tribes--theoreticians versus practitioners, publicity-hogging gurus vers.... The psychology of warranties: Protection racket If extended guarantees are overpriced, why are they so popular? CUSTOMERS tend to agonise over the relative merits of different models of electronic goods such as digital cameras or plasma televisions. But when they get to the till, many spend freely.... Business this week Ben Bernanke remarked that the Federal Reserve was "closely" watching currency markets, and that the central bank would "help ensure that the dollar is strong". The weak dollar has caused commodity prices to nudge up, a potential inflationary threat..... Politics this week Barack Obama paid his first visit to China, where he held talks with his counterpart, Hu Jintao, and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao. A "town-hall meeting" in Shanghai was attended by only carefully vetted young people, and no questions were permitted.... A hero for the Philippines: The thriller for Manila Manny Pacquiao, boxer, national hero and political wannabe A HUSH fell over the Philippines as a bell rang, eight time zones away, to start Manny Pacquiao's title fight in Las Vegas. The people of Manila deserted the streets to crowd in front of tele.... © 2009 West, a Thomson business Westlaw Integration Solutions  /  Westlaw.com