Global Agenda articles from October 2006

Global Agenda archives from October 2006

A run-off in Brazil.
October 2, 2006... Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has failed to win re-election in the first round of voting. A month of bitter campaigning against his rival, Geraldo Alckmin, is beginning FOR many Brazilians Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been...

Thailand's new man.(Surayud Chulanont)
October 2, 2006... The military junta has chosen General Surayud Chulanont, a former army commander, as a new "civilian" interim prime minister for the country THAILAND'S armed-forces chiefs promised when they overthrew the government of Thaksin Shinawatra...

Don't bet on it.
October 2, 2006... Congress has turned against online gambling, all but shutting down a flourishing industry in America A GOOD poker player should be able to guess when his opponent is bluffing. But the world's big online gambling firms seem to have misread...

Take me to your leader.(Ban Ki-moon)
October 2, 2006... The UN's leading members are considering candidates for a new secretary-general for the organisation. South Korea's cautious foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, remains the clear favourite BAN KI-MOON does not ruffle many feathers. South Korea's...

A run-off in Brazil.
October 3, 2006... Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has failed to win re-election in the first round of voting. A month of bitter campaigning against his rival, Geraldo Alckmin, is beginning FOR many Brazilians Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been...

Thailand's new man.(Surayud Chulanont)
October 3, 2006... The military junta has chosen General Surayud Chulanont, a former army commander, as a new "civilian" interim prime minister for the country THAILAND'S armed-forces chiefs promised when they overthrew the government of Thaksin Shinawatra...

Condi on the road again.(Condoleezza Rice)
October 3, 2006... America's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, wants to create a coalition of moderates in the Middle East, but she has little to offer in return THIS week Condoleezza Rice, America's secretary of state, is on the diplomatic road again in...

An awful week for the Republicans.
October 3, 2006... America's ruling party has been battered by bad news ONE might argue that there are three types of Republican voter. Those who like small government. Those who think the "Grand Old Party" is the stronger party on defence. And those with...

North Korea's dangerous game.
October 4, 2006... Kim Jong Il's dictatorial regime, under intense financial pressure, is threatening to test a nuclear bomb NORTH KOREA has few cards to play in international politics. Yet the isolated communist state is now brandishing what appears to be...

Flights of fancy.
October 5, 2006... Ryanair's [euro]1.5 billion bid for Aer Lingus, if successful, would give the world's biggest low-cost carrier some transatlantic routes. But travellers will have to wait for no-frills flights between Europe and America THE boss of...

Flights of fancy.
October 6, 2006... Ryanair's [euro]1.5 billion bid for Aer Lingus, if successful, would give the world's biggest low-cost carrier some transatlantic routes. But travellers will have to wait for no-frills flights between Europe and America THE boss of...

Bread and circuses.(political corruption)
October 6, 2006... Scandal has overwhelmed the campaign for next month's mid-term congressional elections in America. But, underneath it all, the economy might matter rather more to voters THE headlines are all about Republican scandal. The House speaker,...

Cold war, hot tempers.(Russia and Georgia )
October 6, 2006... Relations between Russia and Georgia turn frosty IS THIS just a spat between a big prickly country and its tiresome little neighbour, or a sinister new twist in Russia's relations with its former empire? That question is in sharp focus...

A suspicious death in Russia.
October 9, 2006... The murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken journalist, is also a blow against freedom of speech in Russia SHE was brave beyond belief, Anna Politkovskaya, reporting a gruesome war and a creeping dictatorship with a sharp pen and steel...

North Korea blasts away hopes of engagement.(nuclear testing)
October 9, 2006... The isolated state comes of age as a nuclear power, but the consequences could be all negative for Kim Jong Il FOLLOWING through on a promise it made in the United Nations only last week, North Korea exploded a nuclear device on Monday...

A holy war in the Horn?
October 10, 2006... Islamist rulers in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, have declared a holy war against Ethiopia, after hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers reportedly invaded Somalia. The risk of a regional conflict is growing IS A regional war about to erupt in...

Fears of proliferation.
October 10, 2006... North Korea's nuclear test may spur others to try to get the bomb BY HIS own standard George Bush is failing in his pledge, set out in the state-of-the-union address in 2002, that "the United States of America will not permit the world's...

Google's young partner.(YouTube)
October 10, 2006... Google has agreed to buy YouTube, a popular website where users provide the content, for $1.65 billion. Now the world's leading search engine needs to work out how to make it pay INTERNET years, like dog years, act to speed up the ageing...

Take me to your leader.(United Nations' secretary-general)( Shashi Tharoor)(Ashraf Ghani)(Ban Ki-Moon)
October 11, 2006... The UN's leading members are considering candidates for a new secretary-general for the organisation. South Korea's cautious foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, remains the clear favourite BAN KI-MOON does not ruffle many feathers. South Korea's...

Bring us your huddled masses.
October 11, 2006... Western Europe, like other rich places, attracts huge numbers of migrants but fails to manage them. A new migration agency might help to smooth such flows CONFUSED and timid, Spain's Socialist government lacks an immigration policy....

OPEC gets ready to cut.
October 11, 2006... OPEC's president says the oil cartel will cut its output by 1m barrels per day AFTER months of worry, it is finally happening. OPEC is preparing to cut production. And after months of worry, the markets yawned. On Wednesday October 11th...

Denial and bad law.(Armenian genocide)
October 12, 2006... French MPs vote to make it a crime to deny that a genocide took place in Armenia in 1915, provoking anger in Turkey and raising doubts about freedom of speech "I DON'T like what you say, and I will jail you for saying it". That inversion...

Denial and bad law.(Armenian genocide)
October 13, 2006... French MPs vote to make it a crime to deny that a genocide took place in Armenia in 1915, provoking anger in Turkey and raising doubts about freedom of speech "I DON'T like what you say, and I will jail you for saying it". That inversion...

Losing its lustre.(is the worth of the Nobel Peace Prize being eroded?)
October 13, 2006... An anti-poverty campaigner and a bank in Bangladesh have won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The purpose of the prize has become muddled. It may be better to withhold it next time BRAVERY is a characteristic shared by most winners of the...

A tough job for Ban Ki-moon.(secretary-general of the UN)
October 13, 2006... To succeed as secretary-general of the UN, Ban Ki-moon must first earn the respect of a fractious group of member states, then conduct internal reforms THE secretary-general of the United Nations is, according to its charter, merely the...

Losing its lustre.(Nobel Prizes)
October 16, 2006... An anti-poverty campaigner and a bank in Bangladesh have won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The purpose of the prize has become muddled. It may be better to withhold it next time BRAVERY is a characteristic shared by most winners of the...

UNsanctioned.
October 16, 2006... The UN Security Council has passed sanctions on North Korea. They may prove ineffective FOR once, the United Nations Security Council was in an unusual hurry. On Saturday October 14th it passed a resolution condemning North Korea's nuclear...

Choosing between populists.
October 16, 2006... Neither presidential candidate will do Ecuador much good THE results of the first round of Ecuador's general election on Sunday October 15th are not encouraging, either for the country or South America as a whole. The race will go to a...

Choosing between populists.
October 17, 2006... Neither presidential candidate will do Ecuador much good THE results of the first round of Ecuador's general election on Sunday October 15th are not encouraging, either for the country or South America as a whole. The race will go to a...

Optional extras.(Accounting fraud)
October 17, 2006... The furore over the backdating of share options grows FEW shareholders mind executives enriching themselves if their company's shares also rise in value to reflect growing profitability. What shareholders do object to is directors cheating...

Abbas's last stand.(Mahmoud Abbas)
October 17, 2006... A new last-ditch proposal for saving the Palestinian Authority from collapse FIVE long and bloody months have passed since a group of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suggested a government of national unity between Hamas and Fatah....

Abbas's last stand.(Mahmoud Abbas)
October 18, 2006... A new last-ditch proposal for saving the Palestinian Authority from collapse FIVE long and bloody months have passed since a group of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suggested a government of national unity between Hamas and Fatah....

Not so down and out.
October 18, 2006... America's new bankruptcy code has dramatically cut the number of personal bankruptcies. But that may not be the welcome news it seems MORALLY bankrupt. That was how consumer advocates described the sweeping changes to America's bankruptcy...

Chicago bulls.
October 18, 2006... A merger to create the world's biggest exchange puts the wind up its rivals MORE than two decades ago, Terry Duffy and Charles Carey both got their start in life trading hog futures in the chaotic open-outcry pits of Chicago, places...

Georgia's prospects.
October 19, 2006... Russia's mixture of economic, political and covert-action pressure on Georgia recalls of another stormy and scary period, in the Baltic states in the 1990s, that changed history completely WHEN your correspondent lived in the Baltics in the...

Saying no to torture.
October 20, 2006... Why some are willing to see it used IT PAYS to be sceptical about the significance of opinion polls. Depending on what questions the pollsters ask, and how, the most ridiculous or startling results may be generated. But some polls throw up...

A growing Indian empire.
October 20, 2006... Tata Steel's $8 billion purchase of Corus, an Anglo-Dutch rival, says much about consolidation in the steel industry and about India's acquisitiveness WHAT a difference a year makes. In 2005 Tata Steel, India's largest private-sector...

Saying no to torture.
October 23, 2006... Why some are willing to see it used IT PAYS to be sceptical about the significance of opinion polls. Depending on what questions the pollsters ask, and how, the most ridiculous or startling results may be generated. But some polls throw up...

Iraq's bleak future.
October 23, 2006... A gloomy situation in Iraq is matched by spreading unease in America about the war, ahead of the mid-term congressional elections IF ONE were to consider only the news from inside Iraq, there would be many reasons to be depressed. The month...

Panama votes for a bigger canal.(Panama Canal )
October 23, 2006... A plan to ease the bottleneck at the Panama Canal wins voters' approval, in a boost to the government VOTERS in Panama have decided, by a margin of four-to-one, to go ahead with a proposal to expand their famous canal. Although relatively...

Seeking a consensus on Kim.
October 24, 2006... The UN sanctions regime against North Korea will not easily hold together A DELICATE task faces America's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, as she tries to find agreement on how to handle North Korea. She may conclude, on her return...

Hungary divided.
October 25, 2006... Serious economic woes and more than a month of protests in the capital, Budapest, are polarising politics in Hungary. But the government is not yet wobbling PLANNED as a solemn celebration of national reconciliation, the 50th anniversary...

No longer the hardest word, for Sony.
October 25, 2006... Companies seem increasingly willing to say sorry for blunders. But it is not easy to master the fine art of the corporate apology JAPANESE expressions of regret and atonement are finely tuned to the circumstances. So students of etiquette...

Uncomfortable Prodi.(Romano Prodi -Italy Prime minister)
October 26, 2006... Italy's centre-left government is struggling to keep control in parliament, especially over the budget DARK clouds have been building up over Romano Prodi's government for several weeks. They may prove to be the first signs of a storm. On...

Fury down under.
October 26, 2006... The ill-judged words of a Muslim cleric in Australia have sparked the latest row over the terms on which certain readings of Islam can co-exist with Western liberal values AUSTRALIA has become the latest democracy to witness an angry row...

Serbia's delaying tactics.
October 27, 2006... Serbs vote for a new constitution, while trying to delay negotiations on independence for the Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo. The political impasse is unlikely to end soon THERE has been an aggressive campaign to get out the vote....

Deconstructed.(housing industry in USA)
October 27, 2006... Housebuilding activity tumbles again, pulling down America's growth rate AMONG all the questions pinging around the world's financial markets, one stands out: how much and how abruptly is America's economy slowing? On Friday October 27th,...

Global warming, economic cooling?
October 30, 2006... A report on the economics of climate change is really about politics and the need to persuade America to offer leadership on the issue SIR NICHOLAS STERN, the head of the British Government Economic Service, has produced the world's first...

Global warming, economic cooling? Economics of climate change.
October 31, 2006... A report on the economics of climate change is really about politics SIR NICHOLAS STERN, the head of the British Government Economic Service, has produced the world's first big report on the economics of climate change. But his 700-page...

Watching from afar.
October 31, 2006... How the rest of the world sees America's mid-term elections THIS month has been especially violent in Iraq. The reason? Dick Cheney, America's vice-president, argued on Tuesday October 30th that Iraqi insurgents and al-Qaeda fighters are...

After the madrassa strike.(Pakistans' anti terrorism policy)
October 31, 2006... The attack on a madrassa in northern Pakistan, in which at least 80 suspected militants were killed, raises fresh concerns about the "war on terror" PAKISTAN'S anti-terrorist policy was called into question again this week after the armed...

Better not to kill the customers; Why business wants to look virtuous; Can business be finger-lickin' good?
October 31, 2006... Can business be finger-lickin' good? SO COLONEL Sanders's famous Kentucky Fried Chicken pieces will no longer be deep-fried in tasty, artery-clogging, man-made trans fats. The fast-food chain has decided to cook in something healthier and...

Deconstructed; America's slowing economy; Housebuilding is down, so America's growth rate slumps.
October 31, 2006... Housebuilding activity tumbles again, so America's growth rate slumps AMONG all the questions pinging around the world's financial markets, one stands out: how much and how abruptly is America's economy slowing? On Friday October 27th, the...

On leaving Los Angeles; A correspondent's diary from California; Our West Coast Editor, soon to depart, looks back.
October 31, 2006... Monday | Tuesday Our West Coast Editor, soon to depart, looks back The trouble is that most Californians will rarely, if ever, get a chance to see such wonders. They are trapped in a lifestyle that reduces them to the human equivalent...

Lula's comfortable win.
October 31, 2006... Brazil's president promises to rule on behalf of the poor, but he will have to seek consensus and reform FOUR years ago Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leader of the left-wing Workers' Party (PT), won election as Brazil's president by...

Watching from afar; Watching America from afar; How the world sees America's mid-term elections.
October 31, 2006... How the rest of the world sees America's mid-term elections THIS month has been especially violent in Iraq. The reason? Dick Cheney, America's vice-president, argued on Tuesday October 30th that Iraqi insurgents and al-Qaeda fighters are...