Recently added articles from The Economist (US):

Who's the pirate? Canada's seal hunt.(A public-relations coup for seal-hunt protesters)(Paul Watson, Farley Mowat)

Apr 19, 2008 ... A public-relations coup for animal-rights activists HIS ship flies a flag that looks suspiciously like the skull and crossbones. But Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an animal-welfare group known for its aggressive tactics, says it's the Canadian government ...

Liberation politics; Paraguay's elections.(Paraguay's elections: the end of the line for the world's longest-ruling party?)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Lugo: embracing a new heaven The Colorado Party's 61-year grip on power may be at an end IF THE poll numbers hold, the world's longest-ruling political party will be dismissed by Paraguay's voters on April 20th. The Colorado Party, which came to power two years before ...

A law unto themselves; The Thai police.(Thailand's lousy police force)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Reforming a corrupt and politicised police force will be tough IN THAILAND'S most sensational crimes, the prime suspects are often the police. Among current cases are a group of border police accused of abducting innocent people and extorting money from them, and a huge ...

A different sort of emergency; Bangladesh.(Food and politics in Bangladesh)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Bags to fill before they eat A food crisis further complicates the army's exit strategy "OUR politicians were corrupt, but we had enough money to buy food," says Shah Alam, a day labourer in Rangpur, one of Bangladesh's poorest districts, nostalgic for the days before ...

Diggers for China; Western Australia.(Booming Western Australia)(mining industry)

Apr 19, 2008 ... The global reach of China's boom TRY hailing a taxi or ordering a meal in a restaurant in Perth these days and you may be in for a long wait. The capital of Western Australia (WA) is suffering a labour shortage, as young people head north to make real money from a mining boom ....

Let them eat mud; Baluchistan.(The insurgency in Baluchistan)

Apr 19, 2008 ... No end in sight to the rebellion PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, Pakistan's president, has expressed regret at bombing ethnic-Pushtun tribal areas to attack armed extremists. He has shown no such remorse for doing the same in Baluchistan. And few Baluchis expect their new government to end ...

The Maoists triumph; Nepal's election.(Nepal's Maoists triumph)(Communist Party of Nepal)

Apr 19, 2008 ... The former rebels surprise everyone with a stunning electoral success. That may prove to have been the easy part THE red flags and Maoist slogans on pavements and office blocks in Kathmandu, Nepal's pleasant, down-at-heel capital, were daubed in protest. But this week, as ...

The ravening hoards; China's grain supply.

Apr 19, 2008 ... No need for alarm; but some Chinese ring bells anyway "WITH grain in our hands there is no need to panic," according to China' s prime minister, Wen Jiabao. But officials worry about how to keep China near self-sufficiency in grain and sheltered from rising world prices. Mr ...

Slow breeders; India's Parsees.(India's dwindling Parsees)(Brief article)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Coming of age in an ageing community Adherents of an ancient faith worry about its disappearance TWO of India's biggest business clans--Tata and Godrej--are Parsees, descendants of Zoroastrians, who fled the Muslim invasion of Persia for India more than 1,000 years ...

More bounty; Oil.(Tupi field)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Could Brazil become as big an oil power as it is an agricultural one? OF ALL the commodities Brazil exports, oil has long been an afterthought. Its oil reserves were reckoned to be relatively modest: about 12 billion barrels at the beginning of 2007, according to BP, or about ...

The delights of dullness - Brazil.(Brazilian economy)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Bidding up Brazil Brazilians are waiting nervously to see what the world has in store for their fragile economy, but have already done a lot to make their country stronger VIEWED from a height of 600 metres, it is hard to see how Brazil could ever be poor. Flying in ...

Forging a new world; Steel industry battles.(Book review)

Apr 19, 2008 ... How one man's dream succeeded in rebuilding a global industry WHEN Lakshmi Mittal launched his 2006 bid for Arcelor, Europe's biggest steel company, spanning Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Spain, he was a mystery to continentals. The Indian expatriate was already known as the ...

Blood in Basra and beyond; The British in Iraq.(Book review)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Three accounts of the war in Iraq are defined by anger and wry humour AT ITS worst, Iraq's rhythm of violence was so predictable that Oliver Poole, the Daily Telegraph's correspondent, reckoned he could tell the time in Baghdad by the nature of the explosions: mornings started ...

Vanilla is not the only flavour; Men, women and work.(Book review)

Apr 19, 2008 ... I'll do it my way WHY can't a woman be more like a man, wondered Henry Higgins of his protegee Eliza Doolittle? Susan Pinker, a psychologist-turned-journalist, thinks the question is still being asked, sotto voce, by those who fret about the absence of women in boardrooms and ...

A tale of three women; New fiction.(Brief article)(Book review)

Apr 19, 2008 ... ANGELS, herons, a ghost and a down-at-heel hotel anchor Alice Hoffman's examination of human vulnerability, which she tells through the lives of three different women. Ms Hoffman is renowned for her taste for folk tales and the lyricism of her fiction. Her 20th novel is told ...

Appraiser appraised; Tony Judt.(Tony Judt's essays, reprised)(Book review)

Apr 19, 2008 ... TONY JUDT is a polymath. He was born in Britain into a family of Jewish refugees and now lives in America, where he teaches at New York University. He has an enviable grasp of European cultural history and a sharp and sometimes savage turn of phrase, both of which are well displayed in ...

Infantile capitalism; Japanese contemporary art.(Takashi Murakami)

Apr 19, 2008 ... To the plastic palace At the centre of Takashi Murakami's new exhibition is a shop. Even Andy Warhol never went that far AMONG the many rooms that make up this grand retrospective of the work of Takashi Murakami, Japan's best-known contemporary artist, one is ...

Send out the clowns; Bagehot.(Bagehot: Reductio ad absurdam)(London's mayoral election)

Apr 19, 2008 ... The lesson of London's funny but sad mayoral election IN POLITICS, jokes can be serious. A skilful rhetorician--such as William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary--can use humour collusively, recruiting his audience via their laughter. Boris Johnson MP makes lots of jokes; many ...

Truanting teachers; Schools strike.(The first national walk-out in 21 years)

Apr 19, 2008 ... Only the hairstyles were different The first national walk-out in 21 years threatens schools and students THE last time teachers around the country downed chalk, Wham! and Boy George topped the charts, shoulder-pads and bubble perms were the height of chic and ...

An inconvenient past; BAE and its critics.(The arms-maker under fire)(BAE Systems)

Apr 19, 2008 ... The firm must take bolder action if it is to lose the whiff of corruption LIKE the jet fighters it builds--wraithlike in the air yet with a surprising ability to shrug off battle damage--BAE Systems has proved adept at surviving hostile fire. The most recent test for Britain's ...