The Economist (US) back issues from June 2009:
Bad news for some; Argentina's Kirchners and the media.(Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Nestor Kirchner)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The president and her husband offer carrots and sticks to the news media WHEN Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Argentina's president, said on May 27th that she will cancel the tax debts of five private media companies, she couched her generosity in an argument about the ...
Still a lot to learn; Brazil's poor schools.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Brazil's woeful schools, more than perhaps anything else, are what hold it back. They are improving--but too slowly GOD may be Brazilian, as citizens of South America's largest country like to say, but he surely played no part in designing its education system. Brazil has much ...
Flickering lights; Cuba brings in austerity measures.(Cuba's austerity programme)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Would the last person to leave Havana please switch off the lights? Cubans' misery grows amid moves to reduce their isolation THE vote on June 3rd by the Organisation of American States (OAS) to lift Cuba's 47-year suspension from the regional block did little to lift ...
Breaking the habit; Mexico tackles drug abuse.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Increasingly, the country is not just a distributor of drugs but a user too MEXICAN government officials rarely miss a chance to point to America's demand for illegal drugs as the cause of their violent struggle with traffickers. But the notion of the country as an innocent ...
Coals from Newcastle; Australia's carbon-emissions trading scheme.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Plans for a carbon-emissions trading scheme may bring an early election WAITING for the perfect wave, surf-riders at Newcastle seem oblivious to the cargo ships just beyond. A dozen are queuing to load coal from the Hunter Valley, one of Australia's biggest coal-mining regions ....
Does the elephant dance? Banyan.(Banyan: Indian foreign policy)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Or, in its effort to cut a global dash, will India's feet always be hobbled by problems closer to home? THE news in May that the Congress party had won India's elections by a big margin electrified the political establishment and sent shares soaring. Manmohan Singh, back as ...
A stab at reform; Dissent in China.(hotel worker Deng Yujiao is accused of killing an official who attempted to molest her allegedly)
Jun 06, 2009 ... An armless act of protest Resisting nasty officials proves popular A PEDICURIST in a mountain town in central China has become a heroine to many of the country's internet-users and a bane to many bureaucrats. The woman, Deng Yujiao, has been accused of killing an ...
Feeling special; Hong Kong's identity crisis.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Annual soul-searching; secular decline IT IS not easy being Hong Kong. Ever since the British decided to return it to China, the city has suffered from bouts of hand-wringing about its role. Proudly Chinese yet also steeped in Western ways, many Hong Kongers are never sure how ...
After the exodus; Pakistan's war in Swat.
Jun 06, 2009 ... The relief effort is underprepared, underfunded and overwhelmed NOBODY, it seems, saw it coming. Fikret Akcura, the United Nations' senior official in Pakistan, concedes that there is still no clear plan for giving aid to most of those who have fled fighting in the Swat valley ...
E for English; The Philippines and the English language.(English proficiency in the Philippines)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The cost of being tongue-tied in the colonisers' tongue ONCE it claimed to have more English speakers than all but two other countries, and it has exported millions of them. But these days Filipinos are less boastful. Three decades of decline in the share of Filipinos who speak ...
Too many heroes; The human cost of Sri Lanka's war.
Jun 06, 2009 ... And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds ALONGSIDE some of the government's finest military hardware at a ceremonial parade in Colombo on June 3rd were dozens of disabled soldiers in gleaming wheelchairs. Sri Lanka has paid a heavy price for its recent rout of the rebel ...
Hope for Opel; Saving GM Europe.
Jun 06, 2009 ... A Canadian-led consortium agrees to buy GM's European subsidiary THE drama of GM was not confined to America. In Berlin the German government and the management of GM Europe strove to save Opel and Vauxhall from being sucked into the bankruptcy of the parent company. ...
Tidal fear; The eco-disaster novel.(Ultimatum )(Book review)
Jun 06, 2009 ... A thriller for our age STOKING terror has been a staple of thrillers ever since Erskine Childers wrote "The Riddle of the Sands" more than 100 years ago. Foreign invasions? Deadly microbes? Nuclear explosions? Each decade boasts its emblematic page-turners. These may be works of ...
America's fiscal Cassandra; Peter Peterson's memoirs.(The Education of an American Dreamer: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Wall Street and Beyond)(Book review)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The fat-calved crusader THIS book carries two warning signs. First, it has a plodding title: "The Education of an American Dreamer". Second, it is the memoir of a former commerce secretary. How could such a book possibly fail to be dull? The answer is, if it is ...
Centennial; Isaiah Berlin.(In memoriam)
Jun 06, 2009 ... WHEN the late Isaiah Berlin was knighted, a friend joked that the honour was for his services to conversation. The distinguished theorist of liberalism was indeed a brilliant talker and feline gossip. Readers of Berlin's letters will find that same bubbling flow of malice, wit and human ...
Suffer the victims; Iraq's children.(The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles: A Woman's Fight to Save Two Orphans)(Book review)
Jun 06, 2009 ... BLESSED with courage, humanity, a Lebanese background and the support of a British newspaper, Hala Jaber had the credentials to spell out the true ugliness of "collateral damage" in the Iraqi war. When the Sunday Times, among other newspapers, established a fund to help injured civilians, ...
The colour of the heart; Orange prize for fiction.(Francesca Kay)(Brief article)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Francesca prima A beginner to watch out for ONE writer who is sure to receive a fillip from this year's Orange prize for fiction is not Marilynne Robinson, the winner of the overall prize (Ms Robinson, an American Pulitzer-prize-winner and the author of ...
Note taker; Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Windswept concentration A French modernist rises to a very British challenge IN 1976 Pierre Boulez, then already a cutting-edge musician in France, named an unknown 19-year-old to be the resident pianist in his elite Parisian troupe, the Ensemble InterContemporain ....
Correction.
Jun 06, 2009 ... In our review of "Ruined", Lynn Nottage's play, "Political charge" (May 23rd), the phrase ...
Hard cases; Assisted suicide and the law.(Suicide Act of 1961)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Purdy and helpmeet think ahead The latest attempt to clarify the murky rules on hastening another's death JUST one act in Britain--suicide--is legal to do yourself but illegal to help someone else commit. That singularity results from the Suicide Act of 1961, which ...
Flood warning; Reshaping financial supervision.(Reforming finance)(financial regulations)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Confused regulators face a rising European tide ON MAY 27th a 16-page bombshell from the European Commission, outlining a new framework for pan-European financial supervision, hit Whitehall. Not exactly unexpected, it foresees a supervisor with real executive power and the ...
Praying for time; Gordon Brown on the brink.(political leadership)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The prime minister has never been closer to losing office WHEN Margaret Thatcher paid a famous visit to Gordon Brown in 2007, some wondered what the octogenarian Conservative and her socialist successor- but-two as prime minister might have in common. A future rendezvousmay pose ...
Uncovering the next scandal; Extending freedom of information.
Jun 06, 2009 ... An opportunity to roll back state secrecy a bit more THE sorry saga of MPs' allowance-fiddling has had one positive spin-off: politicians no longer dare claim that such information should be kept secret. This week Gordon Brown, the prime minister, said he wanted to strengthened ...
Leaning against the wind; Jobcentre Plus in the recession.
Jun 06, 2009 ... And now to polish those interview skills How an outfit designed for the good times is coping with bad ones GET off the Underground at Stratford in east London and you might wonder whether there was a recession on at all. The shopping centre is bustling and builders ...
Out of work and out of luck; Britain's grim outlook for jobs.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Unemployment will carry on rising long after the recession ends THERE were fresh signs this week that the economic outlook may be brightening. Manufacturing and construction fell again in May but they are no longer plunging, according to the latest surveys of purchasing ...
Pay up, pay up, and board the train; The future of the railways.(enhancement of rail services)
Jun 06, 2009 ... High speed, short distance Passenger growth suggests more trains, but a destitute Treasury means less money A GOOD way to be unpopular at dinner parties is to praise the British railway system. Trains rival politicians as a subject on which the only acceptable ...
Scuttlebutt; Silvio Berlusconi's scandal.(allegations concerning the prime minister and model Noemi Letizia)
Jun 06, 2009 ... A model and a prime minister IT IS not only in Britain that scandal may affect the European election. In Italy claims surrounding the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and an 18-year-old aspiring model and actress, Noemi Letizia, have begun to trouble voters. The insinuation at ...
The checklist; A European election guide.
Jun 06, 2009 ... What to look out for on the night of June 7th SOME 100 parties winning seats in the European Parliament creates a blur, not a result. These are pointers to look for. * Turnout. It has fallen steadily. In 2004 it was below 46%. Polls suggest a majority of Europeans will once ...
Wanted: a vigorous debate; The apathetic European election.(European Parliament )
Jun 06, 2009 ... Despite popular indifference, the power of the European Parliament is growing THIS is an exciting time to be a member of the European Parliament (MEP), says Andrew Duff, a British Liberal MEP since 1999. The "tide is coming in" for his assembly: much better to secure victory in ...
Fini to the fore; Italy's centre-right leadership.(Gianfranco Fini )
Jun 06, 2009 ... Fini gave Berlusconi a hand once What is Gianfranco Fini up to? FOR 14 years the leader of Italy's former neo-fascists waited patiently in the shadow of Silvio Berlusconi. But since becoming speaker of the lower-house Chamber of Deputies a year ago, Gianfranco Fini ...
Raw deal; Buttonwood.(Concerns over commodity prices)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Higher commodity prices may not be good news THE supercycle is back. Raw material prices rose by nearly 20% in May, according to the S&P/Goldman Sachs Commodity Index, one of the biggest monthly increases on record. The surge has been widespread, with everything from copper to ...
In the blood; Economics focus.(Explaining attitudes to redistribution)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Attitudes towards redistribution have a strong cultural component ARGUMENTS over economic policy are often heated. Debates about the extent to which tax and welfare policy should redistribute wealth from rich to poor tend to be particularly fractious. Understanding why people ...
This way out; Central banks' exit strategies.(The Fed's exit strategy)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The Federal Reserve weighs plans to unwind its unconventional stimulus A FIREFIGHTER'S first rule of survival is "know your way out". The same can be said of financial firefighting. Though it has no intention of exiting soon, the Federal Reserve is planning its path out from ...
Light work; Questioning the Hawthorne effect.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Working hard? It must be Monday Being watched may not affect behaviour, after all WHEN America's National Research Council sent two engineers to supervise a series of industrial experiments at a large telephone-parts factory called the Hawthorne Plant near Chicago in ...
Bottom fishing; Global house prices.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Lower prices are tempting bargain-hunters back into the most depressed markets FEARS of a general deflation may be receding but in the rich world's housing markets at least, falling prices are still the norm. Property values are slumping in almost all of the 19 countries in our ...
Return of the grave-dancers; Banks and private equity.
Jun 06, 2009 ... Buy-out firms chafe under ownership restrictions, but pile in nonetheless PRIVATE equity has been bitten once, but it doesn't do shy. Though some of its better-known names were left scarred after investing too early in troubled banks and thrifts--remember TPG's disastrous foray ...
Overview.(economic recovery)(Brief article)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The rich world's manufacturing slump may be coming to an end. In America, the Institute for Supply Management's activity index rose from 40.1 to 42.8 in May (a reading above 50 indicates industry is expanding). In the euro area, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose by almost four ...
Football.(revenues of england's football clubs)(Brief article)
Jun 06, 2009 ... England's leading football clubs pull in far more money than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. According to an annual review by Deloitte, a firm of consultants, the revenues of Premier League clubs amounted to [euro]2.4 billion ($3.8 billion) in the 2007-08 season. Their lead ...
Let nations speak peace; The United States and Islam.(Pitfalls and opportunities in an improving relationship)
Jun 06, 2009 ... After the chill of the Bush era, ties between American and Islam can only get better--but how much better? IT IS three years since Senator Barack Obama pronounced that America "is no longer a Christian nation--at least, not just." The words sounded harsher than he intended: he ...
An (iron) fistful of help; Development aid from authoritarian regimes.(Development assistance from authoritarian regimes)
Jun 06, 2009 ... China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela have been doling out largesse. Should Western democracies be worried? CONGO and the International Monetary Fund are arguing about a bail-out. What's new, you might ask. Dog bites man. But the sticking point is, unexpectedly, not the country's ...
Making a start; Banning bomb materials and bomb tests.(fissile-material cut-off treaty)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Do you sincerely want to be enriched? But there are plenty of pitfalls ahead IS NUCLEAR disarmament, however slowly, turning into something more than a slogan? When Barack Obama committed America, in a speech in Prague in April, to "seek the peace and security of a ...
Where will it end?(expenses scandal; Gordon Brown)(Viewpoint essay)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Britain's prime minister is losing his grip. An election later this year is the best option WHEN Gordon Brown moved into 10 Downing Street, this newspaper remarked that he had the makings of both a disappointing prime minister and a fine one. Sadly, he has proved to be the ...
Tell it straight; Barack Obama and the Middle East.(Barack Obama visits the Middle East)(Viewpoint essay)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The president must make the most of a surge of goodwill towards him from Muslims and Arabs BARACK OBAMA'S biggest bonus on his first presidential trip to Arab parts of the Middle East was not being George Bush. Many Arabs in the region, as well as Turks and Persians, are rightly ...
Red square blues; Russia's ailing economy.(economic development and policies)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Russia's failure to diversify away from oil should worry the Kremlin NOT long ago, Russia proudly counted itself as one of the BRICs--with Brazil, India and China, the four emerging-market giants that were outgrowing the rich world. Yet it now makes more sense to talk of the ...
Let's be friends; Barack Obama speaks to the Muslim world.(Barack Obama speaks to Muslims around the world)
Jun 06, 2009 ... America's president used his oratory to superb effect. Now for the hard part "WE AWAIT your arrival impatiently because we admire your noble principles and lofty virtues," gushed an open letter from Sheikh Ali Yusuf, a Muslim cleric who, long ago, was Egypt's most popular ...
From renaissance leader to pariah; Eritrea rebuked by Africa.(The African Union turns on Eritrea)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Afro-isolated Afwerki A regime that represses at home and meddles abroad is pilloried in Africa THE African Union (AU) has taken the unprecedented step of calling on the UN to impose heavy sanctions on one of its own members. It wants to punish Eritrea for helping ...
No certain outcome; Iran's presidential election.(presidential candidates Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hosein Mousavi)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Mousavi, the ladies' man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, populist as he is, may not yet be home and dry IF IT were not that Iran's presidential election will determine the fate of a large, ancient nation, and perhaps also the chances of peace in a vital region of the world, the ...
No cause for joy; Palestinian disunity.(Arab-Israeli conflicts)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Doorway to unity and peace? The outlook for the fractious Palestinians is as gloomy as ever IN THE bloodiest outbreak of factional violence since the Islamists of Hamas violently ousted their secular rivals of Fatah from control of the Gaza Strip two years ago, six ...
Pattabhi Jois.(Pattabhi Jois, yoga teacher)(Obituary)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Pattabhi Jois, a yoga teacher, died on May 18th, aged 93 ONE sure sign that yoga has entered the mainstream of Western society, or at least the urbane bits of it, is that its practitioners have splintered into separate and sometimes competitive tribes. In spas, resorts and ...
Painful predictions; Early detection of arthritis.(new diagnostic X-ray technique )
Jun 06, 2009 ... A knee that will hurt A new X-ray technique could spot trouble coming MANY medical conditions associated with growing older, such as cataracts and blocked arteries, can nowadays be readily treated. But aching bones still leave researchers perplexed. Osteoarthritis of ...
Shine on me; Replacing chrome.(chrome plating alternative using a nickel-tungsten alloy)
Jun 06, 2009 ... A safer way to produce a bright surface CHROME plating has long been used to show off everything from Harley-Davidson motorcycles to kitchen taps. This is not just because it can be buffed into a shine that you can see your face in. Chrome plating has been cheap to do, it ends ...
Liar! Liar! Fraud in science.(science fraud)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Scientists are not quite as honest as might be hoped THAT people, from politicians to priests, cheat and lie is taken for granted by many. But scientists, surely, are above that sort of thing? In the past decade the cases of Hwang Woo-Suk, who falsely reported making human ...
Third time lucky.(Industrial biotechnology is arriving)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Industrial biotech: A "third wave" of biotechnology is arriving. Will it be able to avoid a poor reception from the general public this time around? FOR a long time the public has perceived biotechnology to mean dangerous meddling with the genes in food crops. But biotechnology ...
Red tape in orbit.(A legal challenge to America's export control)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Bigelow prepares for lift-off Space: A small company has won an important legal challenge to America's space-technology export-control regime FOR many years people in America's space industry have complained that the rules governing the export of technology are too ...
Spies in the sky.(Blimps are cheaper than drones)(gathering military intelligence)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Military technology: Blimps equipped with remote-sensing electronics are cheaper than drone aircraft, and have many other advantages SPYING is a sophisticated and expensive business--and gathering military intelligence using unmanned aircraft can be prohibitively so. Predator ...
Running on air.(hybrid cars)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Transport: Powering hybrid cars with compressed air rather than electric motors could be a cheaper way to increase fuel efficiency BEING green can be expensive, as any driver of a Toyota Prius can tell you. The car is a hybrid, combining a petrol engine with an electric motor ...
On the pulse.(design of human artificial heart)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Medical technology: A new, low-cost design for an artificial heart takes its inspiration from an unusual source--the cockroach EVOLUTION has favoured cockroaches above human beings, at least when it comes to the functioning of the heart. A cockroach's heart will continue to beat ...
Mapping a better world.(housing segregation)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Areas with fewer parks (lighter rather than darker green) have higher rates of childhood obesity (larger red circles) Software: Interest groups around the world are using mapping tools and internet-based information sources to campaign for change CONVINCING people ...
Dot Mars.(Taking the internet into space)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Computing: A modified version of the internet's communications protocol, devised for interplanetary use, is being tested by spacecraft CYBERSPACE is noisy, chatty and well-connected. Space, by contrast, is not. Communication between Earth and spacecraft is clunky and reminiscent ...
Zap!(killing mosquitoes by laser-defense systems)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Medical technology: Researchers are devising laser-defence systems to shoot down mosquitoes and prevent the spread of malaria. No, really TOWARDS the end of the cold war Ronald Reagan announced plans to use powerful lasers to shoot down any incoming intercontinental ballistic ...
A stitch in time.(composite materials)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Nanotechnology: A new way to prevent flaws in composite materials BECAUSE they are both strong and lightweight, composite materials made from carbon fibres are the darlings of engineers in the aerospace industry. Unfortunately, such materials deteriorate over time. Wind and rain ...
Very handy.(industrial robots)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Robotics: Mechanical hand seeks dangerous, dirty and dull jobs. Qualified to handle eggs THE arm of a typical industrial robot is a crude-looking but functional implement designed for a single job, such as placing tiny components onto a circuit board or painting a car. Some ...
Taken your medicine?
Jun 06, 2009 ... Keep taking the tablets Keep taking the tablets Health care: Mobile phones provide a cheap and simple way to ensure that patients have popped their pills TAKING your medicine even for a week is a drag. Taking it every day for six months is a real nuisance ....
With a little help….(The slow progress of domestic robots)
Jun 06, 2009 ... The fantasy (top) and the reality (bottom) Domestic robots: Machines that look after your home are getting cleverer, but they still need care and attention if they are to perform as intended ROSIE, the robotic maid in "The Jetsons", was quite a character, but she did ...
The sound of light.(Combining optics and ultrasound)(detailed medical scans using the technique called photoacoustic)
Jun 06, 2009 ... Getting the picture Getting the picture Biomedical technology: A novel scanning technique that combines optics with ultrasound could provide detailed images at greater depths IF LIGHT passed through objects, rather than bouncing off them, people might now ...