Global Agenda articles from September 2007

Global Agenda archives from September 2007

Help with the mortgage; America's mortgage crisis; George Bush promises to help out homeowners caught up in the subprime-mortgage turmoil.
September 1, 2007... George Bush's measures to assist borrowers WHEN the American president heads for his White House Rose Garden, you know something big is up. On Friday August 31st George Bush made his way out there to launch a package of measures aimed at...

The week ahead; What may be in the news this week; What may make the headlines in the coming days.(Calendar)
September 2, 2007... What may make the headlines * WORK begins on an ambitious and costly scheme to widen the Panama Canal on Monday September 3rd. The 50-mile (80 km) waterway is thought to carry 5% of the world's trade, measured by volume. Faced with a cap...

Are you going to San Francisco? Remembering the "Summer of Love"; America was changed by the events of the summer of 1967--for the better.
September 2, 2007... America changed for the better after it IF TIE-DYED fabric, joss sticks and finger cymbals are not your thing then you should avoid San Francisco at the moment. A flowery-haired throng is expected to attend a free concert in Golden Gate...

My computer guessed wrong.
September 2, 2007... The pitfalls of buying cheap stocks dearly AUGUST'S market decline was almost the reverse image of the initial stages of the collapse of the dotcom bubble. Then, as now, one group of stocks had become overfavoured by investors. Sentiment...

Centre-right said Fred; America's presidential race; Fred Thompson is set to eneter the fray.
September 3, 2007... Preparing to declare HAS Fred Thompson left it too late? Through much of the spring and the summer Mr Thompson, an undeclared presidential hopeful, was regarded as a saviour by conservatives who were wary of Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and...

Drillers versus killers.
September 3, 2007... Oil and sport collide in the Rocky Mountains WYOMING has got rich off oil and gas, as the pace of drilling throughout the Rocky Mountains has accelerated under the Bush administration. The state's budget surplus approached $2 billion last...

Poetry and poison; Kyrgyzstan diary; Our correspondent explores the garment trade.
September 3, 2007... Our correspondent explores the garment trade Monday ARISTOTLE said you could learn more about a nation from its poetry than its history. That is more or less my approach to Kyrgyzstan--though it is not the poetry I am pursuing, so much...

Scrumming down; The merger of GDF and Suez is the latest boost for Nicolas Sarkozy; Europe's new energy giant.(Gaz de France)
September 3, 2007... A new European energy giant is formed WITH the Rugby World Cup tournament starting in Paris this weekend, President Nicolas Sarkozy has appropriately continued his act as a political fly-half, starting another flamboyant attack with the...

Unfiltered ambition; Kyrgyzstan diary; Stuck in Bishkek, our correspondent turns to drink.
September 4, 2007... Stuck in Bishkek, our correspondent turns to drink Monday | Tuesday Tuesday WE WERE supposed to leave Bishkek today, but a bureaucratic delay kept us in town. So we dropped in to see Ishen Obolbekov, whose business is fruit...

Saving Steve Schwarzman.
September 4, 2007... Who would be a private-equity tycoon nowadays? WHENEVER a group of private-equity guys gets together nowadays, the conversation inevitably turns to Steve Schwarzman, the boss of the Blackstone Group, a private-equity giant. "It was all...

Dropping into Iraq; Why George Bush has descended on Iraq; George Bush pays a surprise call on Iraq.
September 4, 2007... A surprise visit by George Bush AS A piece of political theatre, one could not help admiring it. Without any warning George Bush popped up in Iraq on Monday September 3rd, accompanied by his defence secretary, Robert Gates, his secretary...

Good farm ministers are hard to find; Japan's government loses another minister; Shinzo Abe's tottering government.
September 4, 2007... Another blow to Japan's Shinzo Abe as a minister goes The resignation of Japan's agriculture minister only a week after his appointment will further reduce the already paltry levels of confidence in the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who had...

Sudan's tenuous peace and ongoing war; The UN's chief tries to do some good in Sudan; What can be done about Sudan?
September 4, 2007... As the UN's Ban Ki-moon sees for himself, Sudan faces huge challenges both in the south and in Darfur THE tortured process by which peace may--or may not--one day be brought to Sudan continued this week with a reminder that conflict in...

In search of Horse's Head; Kyrgyzstan diary; Our correspondent goes south in search of an elderly aunt.
September 5, 2007... Our correspondent encounters an elderly aunt Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Wednesday WE head south for At-Bashy ("Horse's Head"), a village located where Kyrgyzstan starts to narrow between China to the east and the Fergana valley...

Sudan's tenuous peace; The UN's chief tries to do some good in Sudan; What can be done about Sudan?
September 5, 2007... Ban Ki-moon visits Sudan THE tortured process by which peace may--or may not--one day be brought to Sudan continued this week with a reminder that conflict in Darfur, in the west of the country, is not the only concern in this enormous...

The mouse that roared; Assessing the threat from cyber warfare; How serious is the threat of cyber warfare?
September 5, 2007... Is cyberwarfare a serious threat? A DECADE or so ago, thinkers and pundits were fond of discussing the emerging threat of cyber attacks as a matter of international affairs. The growing reliance of advanced economies on the internet, and...

No offence; Asia.view; The Economist's maps are intended to illustrate, not endorse.
September 5, 2007... No cartographical conspiracy here THERE is no surer way for The Economist's Asia section to cause offence than to publish a map. Almost any cartographic representation of the continent is bound to upset some individual reader or...

Fearing Shia chaos in Iraq; After British soldiers withdraw from Iraq's Basra city; A power vacuum is created in Iraq's Basra city after British troops withdraw.
September 5, 2007... British forces withdraw from Basra city The departure of UK forces from Basra Palace, their last base within Basra city limits, is likely to precipitate a free-for-all among rival local groupings for control in Iraq's second city. Although...

A night in a dark yurt; Kyrgyzstan diary; Our correspondent enjoys a dung-baked breakfast.
September 6, 2007... Our correspondent enjoys a dung-baked breakfast Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday Thursday WE ARE going deeper into the country; we need a vehicle more durable than a taxi. My rug-buying friend hires a Mercedes van piloted...

The mouse that roared; Assessing the threat from cyberwarfare; How serious is the threat of cyberwarfare?
September 6, 2007... Is cyberwarfare a serious threat? A DECADE or so ago, thinkers and pundits were fond of discussing the emerging threat of cyber attacks as a matter of international affairs. The growing reliance of advanced economies on the internet, and...

Hurrah for labour shortages; Europe.view; British farmers must break their addiction to bonded labour.
September 6, 2007... To keep farm workers, pay them better "LABOUR shortage" is one of the most nonsensical phrases ever coined. Real shortages happen outside the market economy: armies run short of ammunition; sailing ships may lack wind. But with six billion...

Three Asian giants; A report on future investment in Asia's economies; The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts investment trends in Asia for the next five years.
September 6, 2007... Forecasting foreign investment in China, Japan and India Asia's three giant economies--China, Japan and India--all acknowledge the importance of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), yet their fortunes in this sphere will vary widely...

Foiled, this time; Preventing terrorism in Denmark and Germany; Arrests over terrorist plots in Denmark and Germany.
September 6, 2007... Terrorist acts are averted THE targets are said to have included Frankfurt airport, Germany's busiest, and an American air base. The collective power of the bombs would have exceeded those used in Madrid and London in 2004 and 2005...

Secrets of the walnut trade; Kyrgyzstan diary; Our correspondent explores gunstock country.
September 7, 2007... Our correspondent explores gunstock country Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday Friday WE HAVE driven south, a long way, to the town of Jalabad (in Kyrgyzstan, not the one in Afghanistan). We could have made the...

End of an era; Tech.view; The decline and fall of plasma screens.
September 7, 2007... Television takes a Hollywood lesson WHY is seeing a movie in a cinema so much more satisfying that watching it on television? It's not just the size of the cinema's silver screen, stunning surround-sound, comfy seats, soft lighting and the...

Lights, camera, inaction; Why Europes' central banks decided not to raise rates; Central bankers' telling decision not to raise rates.
September 7, 2007... Rates on hold SOMETIMES inaction can speak louder than words. Announcements on Thursday September 6th by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England that they would leave their policy rates unchanged--at 4% and 5.75%...

A paradoxical summit; A more lively APEC meeting than usual, in Australia; Corridor diplomacy matters most at APEC meetings.
September 7, 2007... An unusually lively gathering WHEN even Osama bin Laden wants to crash your party, perhaps it matters more than most. Two Australian television comedians, one of them dressed as the Islamic terrorist leader, and nine crew, were arrested on...

Hair trigger; Syria accuses Israel of sending planes over the border; Israel and Syria row about airspace and the border.
September 7, 2007... Did Israeli warplanes fly into Syrian airspace? Syria's claim that its air defence units engaged Israeli warplanes that had violated the country's airspace comes after several months of conflicting commentaries from Israel on both the risks...

Recession alert; Recession seems all too plausible in America; Fearing recession in America.
September 7, 2007... Weak jobs figures darken the outlook for America's economy WHATEVER your opinion of the health of America's economy was a couple of days ago, it should now be a lot gloomier. The monthly jobs figures for August, released on Friday September...

Art in the garden; Art.view; Sotheby's brings sculptures (and buyers) into the garden.
September 8, 2007... Sculpture in Chatsworth Park CHATSWORTH Park, with its classic curvaceous parkland dotted with trees, is an epitome of pastoral perfection. The magnificent grounds--105 acres of rambling woodland, formal garden, waterfalls, fountains,...

A quiet crisis; Market.view; The money markets signal more worries ahead.
September 9, 2007... The money markets smell a wounded bank THE money markets are in a spot of bother, with investors seemingly as nervous as a Jehovah's Witness doorstepping a Baghdad estate. The gap between the rates banks pay to borrow money for three...

Animals, fried and mourned; Animal experimentation diary; Honouring tradition at a conference and a restaurant.(Conference news)
September 10, 2007... Honouring tradition at a conference and a restaurant Monday FOR all its modernity, Tokyo suffers occasional technological lapses: my business hotel does not have a broadband internet connection. I step out into the heat, in search of a...

The week ahead; What may make the headlines; What may be in the news this week.
September 10, 2007... What may make the headlines * DISCUSSION of America's role in Iraq will dominate the news as General David Petraeus, America's commander in the country, testifies to Congress about progress, or otherwise, made by the armed forces there, in...

Population and its discontents; Green.view; More people need not be worse for the world.
September 10, 2007... Lighten the footprint, but keep the feet When The Economist wrote an article pointing out that some industrialised countries are having problems because of falling populations, we were inundated with the sort of mail we might have got had...

The political war drags on, too; General David Petraues testifies to Congress on the "surge" in Iraq; America's commander in Iraq testifies to Congress.
September 10, 2007... Congress ponders the "surge" THE Cannon building is the oldest of the mighty office towers that ring the Capitol, housing close to a hundred members of the House of Representatives with their retinues and a score of committee rooms. It is...

Fantasy land; Zimbabwe's recently revealed budget makes little sense; Discrepencies between this and the previous budget are unexplained.
September 10, 2007... Zimbabwe's economy is likely to shrink by 12% this year Devaluing the Zimbabwe dollar isn't going to solve the economic crisis: GDP is likely to shrink 12% this year, the largest decline since the onset of the crisis in 1999. Massive...

Shove off Sharif; Pakistan's undeclared state of emergency; Pakistan's intensifying political crisis.(Nawaz Sharif)
September 10, 2007... Pakistan is in an undeclared state of emergency as Nawaz Sharif is ejected from the country NAWAZ SHARIF, a former prime minister of Pakistan, landed in Rawalpindi on the morning of Monday September 10th with his head bowed in prayer and...

Ad astra per Tokai; Japan science diary; Recreating stellar conditions above a 15th century salt farm.
September 11, 2007... Reaching for the stars from a 15th-century salt farm Monday | Tuesday Tuesday MY CUSTARD bun turns out to be filled not with custard but with yellow cream cheese. Such are the perils of smiling and pointing rather than speaking...

Shove off Sharif; Pakistan's undeclared state of emergency; Pakistan's intensifying political crisis.
September 11, 2007... An undeclared state of emergency NAWAZ SHARIF, a former prime minister of Pakistan, landed in Rawalpindi on the morning of Monday September 10th with his head bowed in prayer and supporters chanting political slogans. He was back from a...

Davos in the east; Business.view; A capitalist powwow comes to China.
September 11, 2007... Corporate champions chatter in China GIVEN the recent evolution of capitalism, it was no surprise that its high priests and priestesses, the Davos Men and Women, chose to hold their first official summer shindig in China--a symbolic rite of...

Reporting from the frontline; General Patraeus reports on Iraq; American troops are set to stay in Iraq for some time yet.
September 11, 2007... General David Petraeus claims progress CONGRESSIONAL hearings are usually deadly dull. But the report on progress in Iraq by General David Petraeus, the commander of American forces in the country, had been anticipated with more emotion...

Morocco's poor show; Elections in Morocco; Distrust of the political system appears to have put off voters.
September 11, 2007... The lowest electoral turnout in its history Much has been written of the spread of democracy in the Middle East in recent years, from the haphazard efforts of the US administration to encourage it, to the hesitation of the regions' leaders...

Dodging the law; Japan science diary; Where to kill a guinea pig, where rats aren't animals.
September 12, 2007... Where to kill a guinea pig, and where rats don't count Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Wednesday IF ATTITUDES toward animal experimentation vary from country to country, so do regulations. Pet-loving Britain has long taken a strong...

Long faces in Japan; Japan's gloomy economic news; Japan's uncertain economy.
September 12, 2007... Economic uncertainties at home SINCE the toxic fallout from America's subprime mess began to taint Japan's own financial markets last month, it was possible to argue that if Japan was a victim, then at least it was a blameless one. Now,...

APEC--a pretty empty chatter; Asia.view; Four adjectives in search of a conclusion.(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)
September 12, 2007... Four adjectives in search of a conclusion OLD jokes are best. If they are remembered it is because they are funny, and if they are funny, it is probably because they are at least partly true. So it was when Gareth Evans, a former Australian...

Out goes Abe; The ousting of Japan's prime minister; Japan's Shinzo Abe quits.
September 12, 2007... Exit an unimpressive prime minister BOWING to the inevitable, but with surprising timing, Shinzo Abe announced his resignation as Japan's prime minister on Wednesday September 12th, just under a year after coming to office. The grandson of...

A curious change at the Kremlin; Russia gets a new prime minister; Vladimir Putin chooses a new, surprising, prime minister.
September 12, 2007... Vladimir Putin picks the little-known Viktor Zubkov to be Russia's new prime minister HE WAS colourless and weightless, at least politically speaking. That made Mikhail Fradkov an ideal prime minister in the Kremlin's eyes. The exact...

Rain, pain and parks; Japan science diary; Pink eyes on rabbits, pink faces underwater.
September 13, 2007... Pink eyes on rabbits, pink faces underwater Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday RAIN splashing against my hotel window wakes me at dawn. There is no summer time-change here in Japan; it gets light early and is dark soon after six...

A curious change at the Kremlin; Russia gets a new prime minister; Vladimir Putin chooses a new, surprising, prime minister.
September 13, 2007... Vladimir Putin picks a new prime minister HE WAS colourless and weightless, at least politically speaking. That made Mikhail Fradkov an ideal prime minister in the Kremlin's eyes. The exact reasons for his resignation on Wednesday September...

Worse than useless; Europe.view; The OSCE lets Russia off the hook.(Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe)
September 13, 2007... The OSCE lets Russia off the hook CALLING it a whitewash would be unfair. At least white looks clean and crisp. What the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has produced on Russia's recent attack on Georgia is a...

Still hanging on; The declining dollar; It is how steadily the dollar is falling that counts, not how swiftly.
September 13, 2007... How far, and how fast, will the dollar fall? FOR several years, the darkest scenarios for the world economy have involved a dollar crash. The script was simple. America's dependence on foreign capital was a dangerous vulnerability. At some...

Pipeline bombs; Bomb attacks on Mexico's gas pipelines; Blasts hit private businesses and the state oil company.
September 13, 2007... Mexico's gas infrastructure comes under attack A series of attacks on September 10th on Mexico's natural-gas pipelines have dealt the country a triple blow: they have crippled affected businesses, caused losses to the state oil company...

A flood of claims; Insurers and climate change; The insurance industry considers how it might respond to the hazardous effects of climate change.
September 13, 2007... Insurers discuss ways to guard against the effects of climate change IT WAS a very wet summer in much of England. Floods in central and western parts of the country, the worst in decades, resulted in widespread misery: around 60,000 homes...

Fewer beasts, less pain; Japan science diary; Imagining a world without animal testing.
September 14, 2007... Imagining a world without animal testing Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday Friday EUROPE has done much to eliminate animal suffering over the past 30 years. The number of animals used in experiments has halved, and...

A flood of claims; Insurers and climate change; The insurance industry considers how it might respond to the hazardous effects of climate change.
September 14, 2007... Insuring against climate change IT WAS a very wet summer in much of England. Floods in central and western parts of the country, the worst in decades, resulted in widespread misery: around 60,000 homes and businesses were damaged or...

Canning spam; Tech.view; Why is it so difficult to prevent junk e-mail?
September 14, 2007... Why is it so difficult to prevent junk e-mail? FOR two days last month, the largest spam (unsolicited e-mail) attack ever detected wreaked havoc on e-mail networks throughout America, clogging in-boxes and bringing countless corporate...

Early elections for India? Early elections look likely in India; A nuclear deal with America provokes noisy protests.
September 14, 2007... A nuclear deal with America provokes protests After more than three years of political stability under a Congress-led government, India is bracing itself for the possibility of early elections. Fierce opposition to the controversial Indo-US...

Hit by a rock; Credit fears spread to Britain; One of Britain's biggest mortgage lenders is hit by the ongoing financial crisis.
September 14, 2007... The credit crisis hits the high street A CENTURY ago, the depth of a banking crisis was measured by the length of the queue outside banks. These days, financial panics are more likely to be played out through heavy selling in share, bond or...

The week ahead; What may make the headlines; What may be in the news this week.(Calendar)
September 16, 2007... What may make the headlines * AFTER more than 15 months of deliberation, European judges are finally, on Monday September 17th, set to rule in an antitrust case against Microsoft that was first brought by the European Commission in 1998....

Turning rebellion into money; Why old rockers are getting back on the road; Money is not the only reason why old rock bands are reuniting.
September 16, 2007... Why old rockers are back on stage DINOSAURS might be revived in one of two ways. Fiction suggests applying the techniques of genetic engineering to DNA extracted from bloodsucking prehistoric insects trapped in amber. To resurrect the...

What crisis? Market.view; Exaggerated rumors of hedge-fund demise.
September 16, 2007... Exaggerated rumors of hedge-funds' demise WAS that it? For all the talk of financial crisis and hedge-fund turmoil, the sector did not do that badly in August. The average fund lost 1.31% (if you believe Hedge Fund Research), or 0.72% (if...

Eastward ho; Art.view; A Russian collection heads back home.
September 17, 2007... Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya on the block Sotheby's Russian department ranked a lowly 26th among the auctioneer's specialist sections in 2003. A year later it had risen to 12th; in 2005 it ranked 6th, just below Chinese works of art, and...

Another turn for the New Democrats; Greece's New Democrats are, just, returned to office; A conservative victory in Greece.
September 17, 2007... The ruling party returns to office DESPITE the summer fires, Greece's ruling centre-right New Democracy (ND) party has finished ahead of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) in a snap general election on Sunday September 16th. The...

A narrow escape; Zimbabwe diary; Our correspondent avoids a trap.
September 17, 2007... Our correspondent avoids a trap I AM once again landing in Harare, after a short flight from Johannesburg. Zimbabwe's capital is closer to home than Cape Town is, but it is another world. The government does not like foreign...

Tainted love; Green.view; Norway deals with one of the trickier animal-rights problems.
September 17, 2007... Learning to grin and boar it THESE are tough times for the pig-fixers of Norway. In 2002 the parliament passed a law requiring vets to anaesthetise pigs before castrating them. Now Norway's lawmakers have gone a step further and banned...

A bittersweet win over Microsoft; Microsoft's legal defeat in Europe will not cause the firm great pain; After Microsoft's legal defeat in Europe.
September 17, 2007... But Microsoft's dominance remains THE verdicts of Europe's second-highest court in antitrust cases are not generally reckoned to make for gripping live television. But when the European Union (EU) lined up against Microsoft, the decision...

Ethically challenged; A controversial vote on corruption in Brazil; Corruption and politics mix all too well in Brazil.
September 17, 2007... Corruption allegations threaten to upset Brazil's politics The president of Brazil's Senate, Renan Calheiros, survived a key vote on September 12th, after the upper house's ethics committee had recommended his expulsion on the grounds of...

Mr Consensus; America's new attorney-general; A new attorney-general for America.
September 17, 2007... America is poised to get a new attorney-general in Michael Mukasey. George Bush has little to cheer GEORGE BUSH looks likely to see his chosen nominee for the post of attorney-general sail through the confirmation process in Congress. But...

Hunting and gathering; Zimbabwe diary; How to find petrol, food and other luxuries.
September 18, 2007... How to find food, petrol and other luxuries Monday | Tuesday Tuesday LUCKILY, we had a full tank when we made our narrow escape. Driving back to Harare every evening, my small car has been guzzling petrol at the speed of light,...

A bittersweet win over Microsoft; Microsoft's legal defeat in Europe will not cause the firm great pain; After Microsoft's legal defeat in Europe.
September 18, 2007... But Microsoft's dominance remains THE verdicts of Europe's second-highest court in antitrust cases are not generally reckoned to make for gripping live television. But when the European Union (EU) lined up against Microsoft, the decision...

Mr Consensus; America's new attorney-general; A new attorney-general for America.
September 18, 2007... Michael Mukasey is nominated GEORGE BUSH looks likely to see his chosen nominee for the post of attorney-general sail through the confirmation process in Congress. But that is a sign of his weakness, rather than of any recovery in his bleak...

The capitalism of magic; Business.view; Revealed: the wand in Adam Smith's invisible hand.
September 18, 2007... Revealed: the wand in Adam Smith's invisible hand MAGIC has been called the second oldest profession--and, like the oldest profession, it continues to thrive. In booming Las Vegas, for instance, David Copperfield and Penn & Teller continue...

Seeking a second chance; Hillary Clinton presents her health-care plan; Hillary's cure-all.
September 18, 2007... Hillary Clinton's ambitious health-care plan ON MONDAY September 17th Hillary Clinton became the third of the three Democratic presidential frontrunners to offer voters a comprehensive health-care plan. It is a sign of how far America's...

Food-price fears in China; Chinese officials worry that rising food prices may provoke unrest; China's tightening monetary policy.
September 18, 2007... Consumer prices rise at their fastest rate in a decade China's inflation data from August, which showed consumer prices rising at their fastest rate in a decade, have stimulated intense debate about the nature of the inflationary pressures...

Blinking in the face of trouble; Stopping a run on Britain's banks; Was the government right to guarantee deposits at Northern Rock?
September 18, 2007... Alistair Darling's guarantee BRITAIN has not experienced a serious bank run since the 19th century. After the collapse of Overend Gurney in 1866, the Bank of England recognised that an essential function of a central bank was to act as a...

Looking down; The Fed cuts rates by half a point; Down come rates in America.
September 18, 2007... The Federal Reserve makes a bold cut in interest rates IS THE Federal Reserve running scared of the financial markets--or the housing market? On Tuesday September 18th America's central bank cut its target for the federal funds rate by half...

The art of survival; Zimbabwe diary; Resourcefulness has many faces.
September 19, 2007... Resourcefulness has many faces Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday Wednesday ZIMBABWEANS amaze me. In spite of unemployment, in spite of hyperinflation, in spite of shortages, in spite of having to be incredibly creative just to survive,...

Looking down; The Fed cuts rates by half a point; Down come rates in America.
September 19, 2007... The Fed's bold cut IS THE Federal Reserve running scared of the financial markets--or the housing market? On Tuesday September 18th America's central bank cut its target for the federal funds rate by half a point, to 4.75%, the first...

Come together; Asia.view; Can India and America make friends?
September 19, 2007... Can India and America make friends? ONE commonplace both Indian and American politicians are rather fond of these days is that their two countries are "natural partners". The phrase encompasses two linked ideas. The first is that both...

Pervez Musharraf's offer; Pakistan's ongoing political crisis; Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf reportedly offers to take off his uniform.
September 19, 2007... Would Pakistan's president really take off his uniform? On September 18th the chief lawyer for General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military leader, reportedly told the country's Supreme Court that the general would step down as army chief...

Squeezing harder; France talks tough on Iran; France's newly assertive policy towards Iran.
September 19, 2007... France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is pushing for tougher tactics towards Iran IN MAY last year, when the Americans first offered to join direct talks with Iran over the future of its nuclear programme, French diplomats were jubilant. At...

Long walk home; Zimbabwe diary; Transport woes and an impromptu recital.
September 20, 2007... Transport woes and an impromptu recital Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday Thursday I DRIVE the teacher and one of his daughters to a church meeting taking place miles away, at the end of a long dirt road. They were planning...

Name them and remember; Europe.view; The challenge of memorialising communism's victims.
September 20, 2007... Commemorating communism's victims IMAGINE two walls, each 120km (75 miles) long, set at right angles and tapering to a height of three metres. They are covered in names, each inscribed in letters 1.35 cm (0.53 inches) high. That is how big...

Squeezing harder; France talks tough on Iran; France's newly assertive policy towards Iran.
September 20, 2007... Nicolas Sarkozy wants tougher tactics towards Iran IN MAY last year, when the Americans first offered to join direct talks with Iran over the future of its nuclear programme, French diplomats were jubilant. At last, their line went, the...