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Picking a fight
Economist
Brazil fires another salvo in its dispute with America over cotton subsidies HOW serious is the decision by Brazil’s government, announced on Tuesday March 8th, to raise duties on a number of American-made imports? The increases are sizeable...
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How Safe Is Your Cell Phone?
Time
It takes a little extra work to get in touch with Andrea Boland. The Maine state representative answers e-mails and lists her business and home phone numbers on the Web. But unlike many politicians surgically attached to their...
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Deadly reprisals
Economist
Sectarian violence kills hundreds in Nigeria THE number plates in Nigeria’s Plateau State declare it to be the “Home of Peace and Tourism”. This has seemed ever more optimistic in recent years, as the state capital, Jos, has...
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Can Lindsey Graham Help the White House Reach a Deal on 9/11 Trials?
Time
President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is deep in negotiations with Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham over where and how to try confessed 9/11 ringleader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. At stake are not just civilian court...
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Defiant Iraqis
Economist
Counting begins after Iraq's modestly hopeful general election DESPITE a wave of violent attacks, millions of voters took part on Sunday March 7th in the second full parliamentary election in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. In a country...
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Pacquiao and Mayweather: One Bout Away from the Big One?
Time
It is 7:13 a.m. in Los Angeles and Manny Pacquiao, the world's best pound-for-pound boxer, is jogging on a public high school track. There are palm trees in the distance and the low hum of traffic on I-10...
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The week ahead
Economist
Renewed diplomatic efforts over Iran's nuclear activities • AFTER Iran announced that its long-delayed Bushehr civilian nuclear plant will be operational within a few months, American diplomats will renew efforts to obtain further sanctions against the Islamic republic...
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Did the Dubai Assassination Really Help Israel?
Time
As more details emerge about the Jan. 19 assassination of a senior Hamas operative in Dubai, it looks increasingly like a badly botched operation. When the Dubai police first announced that the hotel room of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh had...
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Past imperfect, present tense
Economist
Congress reconsiders America’s official position on the Armenian genocide TWO questions faced an American congressional panel on Thursday March 5th as it considered the mass killings of Armenians during and after the first world war by forces of...
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Russia's Erin Brockovich: Taking On Corporate Greed
Time
When the state-friendly Russian oil company Surgutneftegas held its annual shareholders meeting in the Siberian city of Surgut two years ago, the proceedings in the shabby auditorium started off as tightly scripted as a Politburo meeting. That is,...