The Economist (US) back issues from April 2008:
Death or freedom; Colombia.(Colombia's hostage drama)
Apr 05, 2008 ... From asset to liability for the FARC Rumours of Ingrid Betancourt's release FOR more than six years Ingrid Betancourt, a Colombian politician who also has French nationality, has been held hostage by the FARC guerrillas. According to accounts by other hostages who ...
A storm brews; The Caribbean.(The Caribbean's economic vulnerability)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Worrying about an American recession, inflation and Venezuelan aid THE market bustles. Foul-smelling puddles lap at the feet of women selling rice and men selling charcoal. Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city, on its north coast, is a place struggling to escape its present. On the ...
Dilma and the goat; Brazil.(Brazil: Lula's heir-apparent)(Dilma Rousseff)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The mother of growth acceleration The pros and cons of Lula's top aide AS POLITICAL branding goes, "Mother of the PAC" (Programme for Accelerated Growth) is not the snappiest. For Dilma Rousseff, though, this title just might provide a route to Brazil's highest ...
Lie back and forget the maple leaf; Foreign investment in Canada.
Apr 05, 2008 ... Contrary to the fears of many Canadians, foreign takeovers are a sign of economic success, not failure THE timing was embarrassing. On March 11th Jim Prentice, Canada's industry minister, went to Cape Canaveral to boast of his country's prowess in the space industry. He watched ...
Land of the Yellow Emperor; Chinese nationalism.(Mao Zedong)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The ultimate in ancestor-worship The dangers of confusing patriotism with ethnic pride MAO ZEDONG sent troops to "liberate" unenthusiastic Tibetans, but he also admitted that his country had a problem with "chauvinism" in its handling of ethnic minorities. As China ...
Road warriors; Japan.(Japan's petrol-tax furore)
Apr 05, 2008 ... An end to the construction state, or to Mr Fukuda? WITH a slowing economy and rising energy costs, a fall in petrol taxes on April 1st of up to [yen]24 (24 cents) is something to celebrate. Not, however, if it causes a political smash-up. That is why Yasuo Fukuda, the prime ...
Good neighbours; Tibetans in Nepal.(Thwarted Tibetan protests in Nepal)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Tibet's troubles spill over the border KELSANG PHUNTSOK, a 25-year-old Tibetan, lies with his legs stretched out. Both feet are in thick plaster. They were fractured by the police during a protest in Kathmandu. He was hit on the head, fell, and was then beaten on the ground with ...
Putting the Hell in Helmand; Afghanistan.(Afghanistan's Helmand province)
Apr 05, 2008 ... In the war-torn south, the British and the Taliban are both resented AKHTAR, a well-to-do cloth merchant in his 50s, recalls the optimism Afghans in his province of Helmand felt when the Taliban were defeated in 2001. It is exhausted. "Now we just say everyone should leave us ...
Ruling the tiger park; Pakistan's tribal areas.
Apr 05, 2008 ... Another day, another explosion in the tribal areas The new government offers the militants talks; America balks THE battle against al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters on Pakistan's borders, says Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's widower, and leader of her ruling Pakistan ...
Rocket man v Bulldozer; North and South Korea.(North and South Korea's worsening relations)
Apr 05, 2008 ... A rapid return to the bad old days of lurid insults and apocalyptic threats JUST a few weeks ago, when the New York Philharmonic performed in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Il's North Korea seemed to want to present a friendly face to the world. Its scowl is back, with a vengeance. On ...
Getting it right on the money - Financial literacy.
Apr 05, 2008 ... A global crusade is under way to teach personal finance to the masses "EVERYBODY wants it. Nobody understands it. Money is the great taboo. People just won't talk about it. And that is what leads you to subprime. Take the greed and the financial misrepresentation out of it, and ...
Naked ambition; V.S. Naipaul.(The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul)(Book review)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Pray to God, Sir PATRICK FRENCH takes the title of his life of V.S. Naipaul from the first sentence of "A Bend in the River", one of the 2001 Nobel laureate's best known books: "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place ...
Fire and brimstone; Natural disaster.(The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755)(Book review)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was the Hurricane Katrina of its time AT 9.30 on the morning of November 1st 1755, All Saints Day, an earthquake struck Lisbon while most of the population was at church. "I thought the whole city was sinking into the earth," wrote a ...
Cry, beloved country; New film.(Stop-Loss)(Movie review)
Apr 05, 2008 ... In her new film Kimberly Peirce takes on the human cost of the Iraq war NINE years ago Kimberly Peirce's first feature film, "Boys Don't Cry", won Hilary Swank an Academy Award for her portrayal of Brandon Teena, a young woman who is murdered for living as a man. The hero of Ms ...
Laid bare; Amazon worldwide bestseller table.(Feuchtgebiete)(Brief article)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Fiction in German makes it to the to pole position FOR the first time since 2004, when the six Amazon websites--in America, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan--began to offer readers of The Economist a monthly snapshot of the books that really fly, the world's ...
Fresh thought needed; Fighting terrorism.(Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-first Century)(Book review)
Apr 05, 2008 ... SORRY, but who asked for a second helping? In 2002 Philip Bobbitt, an American professor of law, published a great slab of a book, more than 900 pages long, called "The Shield of Achilles" and subtitled, no less portentously, "War, Peace and the Course of History". A mere six years later, ...
Murky work; New crime fiction.(crime fiction books)(Book review)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Atmosphere is everything in crime fiction, as four new books make clear IN ITS vivid portrayal of the violence and degradation of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, Matt Rees's second book, "The Saladin Murders", is outstanding. His hero, Omar Yussef, a Bethlehem schoolteacher, ...
The hand of history, revisited; Bagehot.(Northern Ireland, ten years on)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The triumph and disappointments of the Good Friday Agreement ten years on THE first Catholic church to be built in Belfast stands at the bottom of the Falls Road, the main, battle-scarred artery of Catholic west Belfast, an area that Protestants once avoided. Today, almost next ...
Green and black; Electricity.(Security of supply versus environmentalism)
Apr 05, 2008 ... A looming supply crunch causes problems for a government with green ambitions RHETORIC is a sad fact of political life, and most voters are smart enough to know that grand promises made in the heat of a parliamentary debate or an election battle should be taken with a pinch of ...
Gross domestic problem? Immigration and the economy.(Measuring the impact of migration)
Apr 05, 2008 ... More than a foot in the door The pie has got bigger, but more people are taking a slice SIX billion pounds is, as Britain's immigration minister Liam Byrne put it, "a big number". This figure is the amount that the government reckons was added to the economy by ...
What lies beneath; Northern Rock.(Things are souring in nationalised bank's mortgage book)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The nationalised bank's mortgage book looks less than healthy ENTOMOLOGISTS often turn over rocks with trepidation, wary of what they may find lurking beneath. It was in a similar spirit that taxpayers took their first proper look this week at the sorry state of Northern Rock, a ...
Lessons of history; Credit squeeze.(The central bank's next steps)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The Bank of England needs above all to restore financial confidence THE banking crisis that started last August has been an unnerving mix of the new and the old. Mystifying financial products have tripped up even their clever inventors. Yet there have also been eerie historical ...
Undue influence? Lobbying.(Is government too swayed by lobbyists?)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Probably not, but questions are being asked LOBBYING takes its name from the hallways in Parliament, where constituents and campaigners have traditionally made their case to legislators. Yet those who practise it seldom attract the attention in Britain that they do in America ....
Still a mess; Terminal 5.(Chaos continues at Heathrow's new terminal)
Apr 05, 2008 ... A long way to Tipperary Heathrow secures its place as the rich world's least-liked airport THE horror that is Heathrow continues. The crowded airport's gleaming new Terminal 5 opened on March 27th, and in its first eight days around 430 flights were cancelled and ...
Decline of the picture book; Children's books.(A British tradition in trouble)
Apr 05, 2008; ... Jane Ray weaves her magic Why storytime may be ending for British children THE children's book fair in Bologna this week was full of the bubble and squeak that such events elicit. But a serious sub-theme lurked: how to revive picture books, those lavishly illustrated ...
Three decades of mockery; Spotlight on KAL.(Kevin Kallaugher)(Brief article)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Watch future KAL videos athttp://www.economist.com/audiovideo For 30 years KAL, one of our editorial cartoonists, has used his nib to skewer public figures from around the world KAL's first drawing for The Economist--of Denis Healey, a bushy-eyebrowed British ...
Gaullist no more? France and defence.(Nicolas Sarkozy changes French defence policy)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Marching to an Atlanticist tune Nicolas Sarkozy comes under attack for his new Atlanticism in defence A NEW Vietnam, a subordination to American policy, an Atlanticist obsession. These were just some objections voiced in France even before President Nicolas Sarkozy ...
So sorry, goodbye; Ireland's prime minister.(Bertie Ahern quits)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The Irish taoiseach steps down BERTIE AHERN announced his resignation as taoiseach (prime minister) on April 2nd, so as to go before he was pushed. He was the greatest electoral asset of his party, Fianna Fail, for most of his 11-year tenure in power, securing election three ...
Rival plans; The Italian economy.(Economic issues in the election)(People of Freedom and Democratic Party)
Apr 05, 2008 ... It's hard out there Both main parties have similar plans--but neither is bold enough THE most striking claim in Italy's election comes in the programme of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right alliance, People of Freedom. "We don't do, or promise, miracles," it says. Yet ...
Putting it off; Italy's election timing.(Brief article)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Could Italy's election be postponed? MANY Italians thought it was a pesce d'aprile (an April Fool's stunt). On April 1st one of Italy's highest courts gave a ruling that could have meant putting off the election due on April 13th and 14th, at least for some weeks. The court ...
Where bosses will be your friends; Nordic labour markets.(Labour shortages in Scandinavia)
Apr 05, 2008 ... A desperate plea for skilled workers who can bear to stay IT MIGHT be the endless pine forests, the locals beating themselves with birch twigs in the sauna or the odd notion of golfing in the snow. Whichever it is, the Finnish labour ministry's promotional video to attract ...
Dark dance; Belarus.(A dictator tightens his grip)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Lukashenka: a hard sell What is going on in Belarus? And in its ruler's head? AMERICA calls it the "last dictatorship in Europe". It has political prisoners, police crackdowns, state-run media and a security service called the KGB. So Belarus's image could do with ...
The perils of three-legged races; Charlemagne.(On Franco-German-British trilateralism)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The futile notion that Europe can be run by its top trio HOW the British press swooned when Carla Bruni came to town on March 26th and 27th. Glamorous in grey, pretty in purple, sleek in her evening gown, the Italian model-cum-singer managed to charm equally the dour politicians ...
The secularists fight back; Turkey.(The court case against the AK Party)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The constitutional court takes on Turkey's ruling party THE long battle between Turkey's mildly Islamist ruling party and its fiercely secular establishment is coming to a climax. The outcome could decide the country's future direction, and in particular its hopes of one day ...
Two unamalgamated worlds - Germany's Turkish minority.(Turks in Germany)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Turkish food for German tongues Germany's Turks do not properly belong. But what is it that they should belong to? HE DID not plan it that way. But when Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, arrived in Germany for an official visit in February he found the ...
Itching to act; unsure what to do; Mortgage bail-outs.(Piecemeal efforts to help American homeowners)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Congress struggles with ways to help homeowners NOTHING focuses politicians' minds more than angry voters and upcoming elections. So it is no surprise that as America's housing crunch worsens in a presidential-election year, the pressure to help homeowners is growing. All the ...
Hung, drawn and first-quartered.(Buttonwood)
Apr 05, 2008 ... After a painful period, investors face a stark choice OWNERS of risky assets suffered agonies in the first three months of the year. Almost without exception, stockmarkets lost ground while the price of corporate debt fell sharply (or to put it another way, spreads widened) ....
Rights and wrongs; Bank capital.(UBS, Lehman and the dash for cash)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Having lost fortunes, banks such as UBS now have to raise money again THE story of global banking in the past year has been one of riches to rags. On April 1st it became clear that this might be a good time for a whip round. That, in a nutshell, was the message UBS ...
Bearing up; The euro-area economy.(coping with a strong euro)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Some exporters are doing well despite the surging euro WHEN rate-setters of the European Central Bank (ECB) gather for their monthly policy meeting on April 10th, they will feel they have every reason to resist calls for a cut in interest rates. Inflation in the euro area rose ...
The fall of Ho Chi Minh City; Vietnamese shares.
Apr 05, 2008 ... A red river of selling The bursting of Vietnam's first stockmarket bubble IN VIETNAM, as elsewhere in South-East Asia, almost everything has been going up in price--food, fuel, housing. But shares have been heading the other way. The region's stockmarkets had a rotten ...
High-rise living; House prices.(Which are the riskiest housing markets?)(Brief article)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The riskiest housing markets WHERE are house prices most overvalued? As the rest of the world watches the bursting of America's housing bubble, that question should be at the top of everyone's mind. The answer is not comforting: many countries have had far hotter housing markets ...
Feet, dollars and inches; Economics focus.
Apr 05, 2008 ... The intriguing relationship between height and income "PALE and haggard faces, lank and bony figures ...boys of stunted growth, and others whose long meagre legs would hardly bear their stooping bodies." Charles Dickens's wrenching accounts of child labour helped to inspire a ...
Will it fly? Financial regulation.
Apr 05, 2008 ... Hank Paulson kicks off what promises to be a long and bruising debate about how best to police America's financial firms BIRD-WATCHING is high on the list of Hank Paulson's leisure pursuits. This week America's Treasury Secretary made it quite clear which avian creature his ...
Don't all hug him at once; The pope and America.(The pope can't and won't please all Americans)
Apr 05, 2008 ... An Egyptian switches sides Americans warm to Benedict--but they won't like everything he says SOME serious preparations have been made for this month's papal visit to the United States. For between $10 and $20, Catholic parents can buy their children a "Benny Bear", ...
With allies like these; The NATO summit.(America and old Europe clash over enlargement)(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)(Conference news)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The world's mightiest defence club fractures over plans to expand THE NATO summit in Bucharest was meant to be a celebration of France's full return to the fold and a show of long-term commitment to stabilising Afghanistan. Instead it turned into a particularly rancorous ...
When voters settle nothing; Election outcomes.(why there are more disputed, inconclusive elections in the world)(Viewpoint essay)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Electoral passions in Pakistan Why more and more ballots are inconclusive "PEOPLE have given their verdict, we respect it." When, in February, a spokesman for Pakistan's ruling party made that stoical analysis of a parliamentary election, cynics braced themselves for ...
Kim Jong Il's ashes; North Korea.(Talks to denuclearise North Korea are stuck)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Time for North Korea to come clean about its nuclear past POLITICAL theatre in North Korea has long tended to the absurd. What else to expect from a country that has Kim Il Sung, its current leader's long-dead dad, as president for eternity? Little more than a month ago in ...
- The end of another African tragedy beckons; Zimbabwe.(The fall of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and what it means for Africa)
Apr 05, 2008 ... As power slips away from Robert Mugabe, the world faces the huge task of saving a country AT LAST, one of the world's worst rulers may be on his way out. As The Economist went to press, Robert Mugabe was hanging on by his fingertips. His people had conceded defeat in the ...
Fixing finance - Fixing finance; Credit crisis.
Apr 05, 2008 ... Crises are endemic to financial systems. Attempts to regulate them may do more harm than good AS IF collapsing prices were not enough, American mortgage firms now have to cope with home rage. Borrowers vent their fury on the system that is repossessing their properties by ...
A Leopard, spots unchanged; Italy's election.(Silvio Berlusconi has not changed his spots)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Silvio Berlusconi has failed to show that he is any more worthy of leading Italy today than he was in the past UNLESS a technical hitch causes a postponement, Italy will go to the polls on April 13th and 14th to elect its 62nd post-war government--and the signs are that it will ...
Courtroom drama; Turkey's government.(A worrying court case)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The constitutional court's case against Turkey's ruling political party is a dangerous mistake IN A modern democracy, the notion that a court might ban a political party that has been in government for over five years and was re-elected only nine months ago seems bizarre. Yet it ...
The dysfunctional Jewish state; Israel at 60.
Apr 05, 2008 ... The best 60th birthday present Israel could give itself is a new political system THERE are many reasons why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has remained so intractable: land, religion, national identity, history, the scars of violence, the meddling of outside powers and global ...
Morgan Tsvangirai waits for power to slip from the old tyrant; Zimbabwe.(Zimbabwe on a knife-edge after the election)
Apr 05, 2008 ... The omens for Robert Mugabe are bleak: he is unlikely to last much longer FOUR days after the votes were cast in Zimbabwe's elections, the only certainty was that President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, ZANU-PF, had lost its majority in parliament. Of the 210 seats on offer, ...
A loveless liaison; Ethiopia and the United States.(Ethiopia's relations with America)
Apr 05, 2008 ... America and Ethiopia need each other, but their needs are not equal THE alliance between the United States and Ethiopia was born of pragmatism. In another time, they might have been enemies. Ethiopians do not like American soldiers tramping on their soil. Americans dislike ...
Maliki's knights fail to shine; Iraq.(A failed military offensive in Iraq)(Nuri al-Maliki)
Apr 05, 2008 ... An abortive military offensive leaves a weak prime minister looking weaker "WE HAVE made up our minds to enter this battle, and we will continue until the end. No retreat. No talks. No negotiations." So declaimed Nuri al-Maliki on March 28th, two days after unexpectedly ...
Not so sunny for Shias; Bahrain.(Bahrain's awkward sectarian division)
Apr 05, 2008 ... A put-upon majority feels done down--and is getting angry THE monarchy of Bahrain regards itself as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. It was the first in the Gulf to give all its citizens the vote, setting up a partially elected parliament, albeit with limited powers, in ...
Another deadline goes up in flames; Nigeria.(Gas flaring in Nigeria)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Just part of the scenery Continued gas flaring harms both the environment and the economy LONG before you reach Akalu-Olu village, in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region, a metres-high flame of gas gives the place away. Solomon Odum's farm is close by. When he was a ...
Neil Aspinall.(Neil Aspinall, keeper of the Beatles' secrets)(Obituary)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Neil Aspinall, keeper of the Beatles' secrets, died on March 24th, aged 66 HE WAS brighter than they were. He had eight O-levels, where they mustered hardly any between them. He was richer: in 1961 he earned [pounds sterling]2.50 a week as a trainee accountant in Liverpool, ...
The next generation.(The next generation)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Israel at 60 is as prosperous and secure as it has ever been, but its future looks increasingly uncertain, says Gideon Lichfield. Can it resolve its problems in time? THREE years ago, in a slim volume entitled "Epistle to an Israeli Jewish-Zionist Leader", Yehezkel Dror, a ...
Fenced in.(Fenced in)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Short-term safety is not providing long-term security, and sometimes works against it A STRIKING new construction has sprouted on King George Street, in the centre of West Jerusalem, the Jewish side of the city. It is round, glass-walled from floor to ceiling, and set back from ...
Miracles and mirages.(Miracles and mirages)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Doing his bit to reduce income inequality A strong economy built on weak fundamentals FOR a country with so many wars, Israel still has an economy with the power to astonish. Having taken a beating during the intifada, GDP growth per person has stayed above 3% for the ...
To fight, perchance to die.(To fight, perchance to die)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Policing the Palestinians has eroded the soul of Israel's "people's army" THE army medical test had given N, an 18-year-old from Jerusalem, a clean bill of health, making him eligible for a combat unit. But he did not want to fight. "So I went and cried to the mental health ...
A house of many mansions.(A house of many mansions)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Please hold, God will be with you shortly Israeli Jews are becoming more disparate but also somewhat more tolerant of each other YARON, as we shall call him, is a secular, left-wing, Jewish resident of Tel Aviv in his mid-30s--intelligent, cosmopolitan, ...
Hanging on.(Hanging on)
Apr 05, 2008 ... Extra-hot mustard The settlers are regrouping from their defeat in Gaza ON ISRAELI independence day, when most of the country goes picnicking, two groups of citizens have adopted a curious ritual. They commemorate their country's birth by visiting places that no ...
A systemic problem.(A systemic problem)
Apr 05, 2008 ... How long has Olmert got? Many of Israel's troubles stem from its political system. But can politicians fix it? THE new wing of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, is an impressive attempt to project the authority of the state together with the openness of democracy ....