EIU Country Analysis

One corner of the print-news industry is relatively healthy FOR seven of the past eight weeks the front cover of Us Weekly magazine has featured salacious stories about Jon and Kate Gosselin. The Gosselins, who have eight children including

In office but not yet in power THE ashes of the Maoist government in Nepal have been scattered, but the moderate Communist one that replaced it last month has done little to assure observers that it is the new holder

The downturn is claiming victims that never appear on a balance sheet NINE months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the world#;s economic crisis is still usually discussed as though it consisted of dire bank balance-sheets, falling exports

The prime minister tries to spend his way out of trouble IN THE end, Thailand#;s ruling coalition sailed through what had been billed as a serious parliamentary test of strength. A request for an extra ### billion baht ($##

The Obama administration announced the most sweeping changes to America#;s financial regulatory system in decades. In a white paper it proposed greater authority for the Federal Reserve, enabling the central bank to supervise all systemically important financial firms, supported

Orders may be down, but the giants of aviation are still at each other#;s throats DISTANT indeed seem the days when the two great rivals of commercial aviation, Boeing and Airbus, would use big air shows to trumpet hundreds

The obscure origins of a crisis at a Saudi conglomerate IN DECEMBER Arabian Business magazine published its annual ranking of the richest Arab businessmen. Third on the list was Maan al-Sanea, with a fortune of $#.# billion. Born

Mergers between fund managers will not bring fees down. Customers could ECONOMISTS tend to think that an industry divided between hundreds of players, each with a tiny market share, should be fiercely competitive, with prices cut to the bone. But

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After the big public speeches come even tougher talks in private AFTER many millions of people, in the Middle East and elsewhere, watched President Barack Obama and Israel#;s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, setting out their versions of how to

Thuggery mars a burgeoning friendship BELYING its name, Harris Park is neither leafy nor green. It is a gritty western Sydney suburb, where Indian students have recently taken to the streets in protest against some of the worst ethnic-based

More people are likely to see the National Theatre#;s "Phedre" on June ##th than have ever seen a single live production of a play before "PHEDRE" is an everyday story of an ancient Greek royal family. A queen, thinking

Revenues have tumbled, profits have been squeezed and some owners are keen to sell. Fund management is set for a wave of mergers BLACKROCK is on a roll. With the purchase of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), finalised on June ##th

The world economy#;s deepest post-war slump has resulted in higher rates of unemployment in many countries. Spain#;s jobless rate has increased by more than # percentage points in the past ## months, much of it attributable to

Plans to avoid another crisis prompt feuding within Britain and with Europe THE midsummer dinner with bankers at Mansion House, the Lord Mayor#;s home in the City of London, offers chancellors of the exchequer a chance to address pressing

Mob justice is alarmingly common but few seem to mind A LYNCHING took place recently outside an ironmonger#;s shop in Nairobi, Kenya#;s capital. It was close to one of the city#;s fancier shopping centres, early in the

A glimpse of a less imperious future for the national broadcaster HOSTILE governments and resentful competitors have never managed to knock the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) off its privileged perch. The public-service broadcaster remains a behemoth with tentacles in

Why Russia is turning its back on the World Trade Organisation IT HAD become almost a ritual. Every year Russian officials promised that by the end of the following year their country would complete the negotiations to join the World

Rising unemployment will test many governments#; commitment to labour reforms SO FAR this recession has not been all bad for Europe. Above all, the past few months have looked good for the European concept of "flexicurity". First coined in Denmark

Appetite for risk may have returned, but the crisis is not over LOW interest rates are intended to ease the burden on debtors, discourage saving, encourage spending and thereby revive the economy. But they also have a distorting effect on

Omar Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon, died on June #th, aged ## ON THE Atlantic coast of Gabon, white sand beaches slope out into the ocean. That sand, in which few tourists leave their footprints, was Omar Bongo#;s. Elephants

Collectors like nothing better than a good economic downturn IT IS the world#;s most important contemporary art fair. Art Basel this year attracted ##,### collectors, curators and art afficionados--more than ever before. Celebrating its ##th anniversary, the

A funeral in Gabon is a test of how fast and how far Nicolas Sarkozy is changing France#;s policy towards Africa TWO French presidents, one serving (Nicolas Sarkozy), one retired (Jacques Chirac), a foreign minister (Bernard Kouchner), plus a

Credit-default swaps are pitting firms against their own creditors SIX FLAGS, an American theme-park operator, filed for Chapter ## bankruptcy protection on June ##th, bringing its long ride to reduce debt obligations to an abrupt halt. The surprise

Sound may offer a better way than light to test Stephen Hawking#;s prediction that black holes emit radiation WHEN the Large Hadron Collider, a giant particle accelerator near Geneva, was switched on last September, the press was full of

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Does the troubled Swedish firm have a future? THE fact that bankrupt General Motors appears to have flogged three of its unwanted brands--Saturn to a car dealer, Hummer to a Chinese maker of heavy-duty trucks and now Saab

Suspicion falls on politicians FELIPE CALDERON has bet his presidency on fighting Mexico#;s drug-trafficking syndicates and their penetration of his country#;s institutions. Yet for the first two and a half years of his administration, not a single

There is a benefit in looking like dad MEN are doomed to uncertainty. Women know who their children are, but the ubiquity of sexual cheating makes it difficult for males of many species, humans included, to be sure which youngsters

Will Antonio Villaraigosa run for governor of California? TO JUDGE from magazine covers, things look bad for Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, who is still deciding whether to run for governor of California next year. On Newsweek#;s

North Korea#;s dictator is on the way out; take aim at his successor BRUTAL, pot-bellied and unpredictable: the same adjectives are always together on the larder shelf when editorial writers describe Kim Jong Il. But how helpful are

Ambitious plans for American transport run into reality THE biggest shift in transport policy since the ####s is due, supposedly, this summer. February#;s stimulus package provided about $## billion for transport, a pittance in comparison. As The Economist went

Barack Obama#;s plan for regulatory reform is not bold enough FINANCIAL regulation in America has two problems: there is both too much of it and too little. Multiple federal agencies oversee the financial system: five for banks alone, and

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Scotland is to raise more of the money it spends--whether it wants to or not PERHAPS the biggest problem in politics is how to match the public#;s desire for things like roads, hospitals and schools with its dislike

What Japan needs is more bankruptcies, not fewer JAPAN has long practised a form of familial capitalism. In good times industrial collusion, overseen by bureaucrats, is practically official policy. The so-called "convoy system" lets corporate stragglers retain a small

FIVE years ago, Britain#;s newly appointed information commissioner, Richard Thomas, gave warning that the public was in danger of "sleepwalking into a surveillance society". Last week, as he prepared to leave office, he claimed that although he had not

The financial and health reasons behind a new craze ONE day Judith Haller was watching television and saw that Martha Stewart had chickens. "I was very envious that she had her own chicken manure," she recalls. So last year, she

China#;s capital spending could soon be bigger than America#;s DESPITE falling exports, China#;s economic growth has remained relatively strong this year thanks to a surge in investment sparked by the government#;s stimulus measures. Official data show

Slow progress against snail-fever PAINT flakes off the signs that dot the shore of Poyang lake, rendering the faded red characters unreadable. But local villagers know the message all too well: "Danger! Don#;t touch the water." For fishermen

The biggest emerging economies are rebounding, even without recovery in the West THE inaugural summit of the BRICs--Brazil, Russia, India, China--came and went in Yekaterinburg this week with more rhetoric than substance. Although Russia#;s president, Dmitry Medvedev

Another inquiry--just not the one the war#;s critics want WHEN Gordon Brown told Parliament on June ##th that he was setting up an inquiry into Britain#;s role in the Iraq war, the prime minister barely mentioned the

Using a plasma torch to clean your teeth INFECTIONS in the roots of teeth are hell to treat. The tooth needs to be drilled into, right down to the bottom of the nerve-carrying canal that runs through the root

In a guest article, Christina Romer says policymakers must learn from the errors that prolonged the Depression AT A recent congressional hearing I cautiously noted some "glimmers of hope" that the economy could stabilise and perhaps start to rebound later

Albany#;s dysfunction jeopardises important legislation MICHAEL HARPER, a dad from Brooklyn, spent his day off earlier this month at a City Hall hearing on mayoral control of New York#;s schools. Wearing a T-shirt that said "Control de

The long march out of the closet AS A boy of ## in north-eastern China, Dylan Chen knew he was gay. "I grew up thinking I was the only gay person in all of China," says Mr Chen, now

Recession and political mistakes by the first couple point to a change in the balance of power. But will Argentina at last acquire a more coherent opposition? UNTIL about three months ago, as the southern-hemisphere summer drew to a

A crowd of around #m people marched through Tehran, Iran#;s capital, to protest against what the demonstrators said was a rigged election that enabled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president, officially to beat the reform-minded Mir Hosein Mousavi, by

A much-trailed financial overhaul is a curious mix of audacity and timidity EVEN Merton Miller, a Nobel prize-winning economist with a passion for financial arcana, found it "deadly dull". But if ever there was a week when financial

The credit crunch has made it much more difficult and expensive for firms to hedge their risks WARREN BUFFETT, one of the world#;s most famous investors, once called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction". Central bankers worry that those

As one mountain of old asylum claims is demolished, a new one grows IN #### Britain received more asylum applications than any other rich country. More than ##,### people, plus their dependants, requested sanctuary. Like other Western countries, Britain

Websites that use the spoken word will empower the illiterate THE internet, wonderful though it is, reinforces one of life#;s fundamental divisions: that between the literate and the illiterate. Most websites, even those heavy with video content, rely on

Britain#;s offshore financial centres race for respectability BERMUDA, a British territory in the North Atlantic, proudly announced this month that it had made it on to the OECD#;s white list of benign tax regimes. That puts it among

The centre-right frets over the rise of the far right VIKTOR ORBAN, leader of Hungary#;s centre-right Fidesz party, should be celebrating. His party has just won ## of Hungary#;s ## seats in the European Parliament. The

A new era for tobacco regulation is born A DECADE ago it would have been unthinkable, but on June ##th, Congress passed the toughest anti-tobacco bill in American history. Those who had waged a long fight against "Big Tobacco

Binyamin Netanyahu has taken one essential step. Now he must take a whole lot more ISRAEL#;S prime minister has at last accepted that a Palestinian state must exist alongside an Israeli one if there is to be any chance

Reform advances in fits and starts "HEALTH-CARE reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what#;s broken and build on what works." With those soothing words, Barack Obama tried this week to win over a faction that

But the real winner was an unusual hybrid of old and new media ON SATURDAY June ##th, as protests began to flare on streets across Iran, ##.#m American TV-viewers naturally turned to CNN, a cable news channel founded

A foreign banking expedition in China reaches a premature but successful end BACK in ####, when China was more convinced that the West had something to offer its financial system, TPG, an American private-equity firm, was permitted to bypass

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An apparently rigged election is shaking the fragile pillars on which the Iranian republic rests IRANIANS voted in record numbers on June ##th. Analysts had predicted a close race; hope of change was in the air. So for many, the

Work with no pay for some workers and pay with no work for others NEXT month the shareholders of British Airways will enjoy the services of the firm#;s embattled boss and finance chief, free of charge, as the pair

The end of the New Labour orthodoxy on public spending THE doors of the Metro stations in Moscow are lethal--thick, heavy glass with a wicked swing. Yet surprisingly few people hold them open for the passenger behind them. Russia

SALLY NEIGHBOUR, an Australian journalist who writes about terrorism, has set herself apart from the herd with her careful studies of the lives of terror suspects. Her first book, "In the Shadow of Swords", was about the Bali bombers. In

It looks increasingly as though the government will have to crack down or back down THE sight of a million-odd demonstrators on the streets of Tehran, the like of which has not been seen since the revolution that unseated

Fast internet for everyone, and a new tax to help pay for it THE #,###-foot Royal Albert railway bridge, which links Cornwall to Devon across the river Tamar, is one of the best-loved achievements of Isambard Kingdom

Barack Obama#;s fiercest opponent has become one of his most solid allies ONE of Barack Obama#;s riskiest decisions, on winning the presidential election, was to choose Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state. The Obama-Clinton duel was

The president is playing a cautious game with rogue regimes AS IRAN is rocked by the largest street protests since the revolution of ####, Barack Obama is pursuing a policy of "wait and see". His priority is to prevent the

Adnan Yousif wants to build the first truly global Islamic bank MOST practitioners of Islamic finance pride themselves on their modesty. But not Adnan Yousif, the chairman of the Union of Arab Banks, a regional club for financial firms. He

Hard times on the streets of Caracas GLOBAL capitalism may be in crisis, but thanks to "##st-century socialism" Venezuela#;s economy is "armour-plated" and the country#;s poor have nothing to fear. That has been the message from

So far Morgan Tsvangirai#;s ground-breaking tour of America and Europe has brought plaudits rather than cash for Zimbabwe#;s battered economy IT IS Monday, so it must be Berlin. Or is it Stockholm? Morgan Tsvangirai may be forgiven

EVERY industry is susceptible to fads, even publishing. Quirky histories have had a long run. Cod, quinine, redheads, potatoes--even gerbils--have all had a book or two devoted to them. In theory, the offbeat subject matter provides an unusual

The global recession is spurring a huge increase in corporate defaults. In the week to June ##th seven firms in America defaulted on their debt, pushing the total to ### so far this year. Standard & Poor#;s (S&P), a

As oil prices surge, so do worries about speculation THE oil market, born in Texas, is behaving like a bucking bronco again. Prices that careened from $### a barrel in mid-#### to $## before the end of last year

New evidence of old anti-government conspiracies within the army OLD habits die hard. No institution in Turkey lives up to that adage more than its meddlesome army, which is embroiled in yet another row with the ruling Justice and

Italy#;s prime minister campaigns against the foreign media NO POLITICIAN likes a critical press and Silvio Berlusconi, Italy#;s prime minister, is no exception. In recent weeks he has come in for close scrutiny by foreign journalists, and what

A new telecoms revolution in the offing THE Horn of Africa is one of the last populated bits of the planet without a proper connection to the world wide web. Instead of fibre-optic cable, which provides for cheap phone

Japanese firms are responding quickly to the recession, but are they doing enough? IN RECENT months Toyota has replaced its bosses, halted pet projects and temporarily cut production in Japan almost in half. Toshiba took control of affiliates and said

The Kirchners#; economic nationalism is leading their country down a blind alley IT IS only a mid-term election, for half of the lower house of Congress and a third of the senate. But when Argentines vote on June ##th

RICHARD HAASS is a good man. Thoughtful, intelligent, scholarly and often even wise, he is usually persuasive about foreign policy, both in its formulation and in its execution. He understands that the world is complex and that issues have to

First they came for the bankers FAMILY ties can make or break a person in Kazakhstan. They help when it comes to advancing a career, be it in business or in politics. Kazakh tradition requires you to support your relatives

A counter-intuitive finding from the pollsters ON THE campaign trail, Barack Obama famously claimed that blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania clung to religion because of bitterness over lost jobs. Americans are now truly fearful, as unemployment has mounted and

America#;s current-account deficit narrowed from $### billion to $###.# billion in the first quarter. This was equivalent to #.#% of GDP, the lowest proportion for a decade. Industrial production in America fell by #.#% in

The government opts not to pour more money down the nuclear "sinkhole" NO ONE should have been surprised when Canada#;s elderly nuclear research-reactor near Ottawa sprang a leak last month, prompting a prolonged shutdown that removes two-fifths

Country Risk Service Greece June #### Economist Intelligence Unit ## Red Lion Square London WC#R #HQ United Kingdom Greece at a glance: ####-## OVERVIEW The centre-right New Democracy (ND) government has a tiny absolute majority in parliament of