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Economist - News analysis
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News analysis | Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:11:18 GMT |
The coming days: The week ahead
Iraq's new parliament will be in session; oil executives will be grilled by Congress
•IN IRAQ, the first session of the new parliament begins on Monday June 14th. Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement, known as Iraqiya, narrowly won the general election (which took place at the end of March), giving him the right to try to form a coalition. This will not be easy. Making a stable government out of the available ingredients—which include the State of Law alliance, led by the current prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki; a Shia religious alliance that includes followers of a populist cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr; and a Kurdish alliance—could take months.
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| | Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:11:18 GMT |
The coming days: The week ahead
Iraq's new parliament will be in session; oil executives will be grilled by Congress
•IN IRAQ, the first session of the new parliament begins on Monday June 14th. Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement, known as Iraqiya, narrowly won the general election (which took place at the end of March), giving him the right to try to form a coalition. This will not be easy. Making a stable government out of the available ingredients—which include the State of Law alliance, led by the current prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki; a Shia religious alliance that includes followers of a populist cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr; and a Kurdish alliance—could take months.
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| | Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:48:30 GMT |
Death in Lahore: Bombing the Light of God
A sinister and deadly new twist in Pakistan’s dreadful saga of terrorist atrocities
On the night of July 1st, when the throng of worshippers in the shrine of Lahore's patron saint, Ali Hajvery Data Ganj Bakhsh, was at its peak, two suicide-bombers blew themselves up. The attack, at the heart of a 1,000-year-old centre of Sufi Islam in Pakistan, killed at least 42 people and injured another 175.
"The terrorists have done the unthinkable," said a grieving woman at the site of the bombing. Not so long ago many Pakistanis believed the Taliban and al-Qaeda were just innocent Islamists battling the evil Americans. The country is paying a heavy price for their refusal to face up to their true nature. ...
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| | Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:11:18 GMT |
The coming days: The week ahead
Iraq's new parliament will be in session; oil executives will be grilled by Congress
•IN IRAQ, the first session of the new parliament begins on Monday June 14th. Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement, known as Iraqiya, narrowly won the general election (which took place at the end of March), giving him the right to try to form a coalition. This will not be easy. Making a stable government out of the available ingredients—which include the State of Law alliance, led by the current prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki; a Shia religious alliance that includes followers of a populist cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr; and a Kurdish alliance—could take months.
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| | Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:38:42 GMT |
Australia changes prime minister: Rudd on the tracks
Losing popularity, the Labor Party ditches its leader
LESS than a year ago Kevin Rudd rode high as one of Australia’s most successful prime ministers. Suddenly, his spectacular career has come to a crashing end. With his rating in the opinion polls sliding disastrously, and a federal election due soon, a panicked ruling Labor Party on June 24th dumped Mr Rudd as leader. They replaced him with Julia Gillard, his deputy. She will give a country once branded as a bastion of male chauvinism its first female prime minister.
As his support crumbled among Labor’s 115 federal parliamentarians, Mr Rudd had declared defiantly the previous evening that he would fight a leadership challenge from Ms Gillard. But the coup turned out to be bloodless. Faced with a humiliating defeat, when the moment came Mr Rudd stood aside. His colleagues elected Ms Gillard unanimously. Wayne Swan, the treasurer, will take over as deputy prime minister. ...
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| | Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:11:18 GMT |
The coming days: The week ahead
Iraq's new parliament will be in session; oil executives will be grilled by Congress
•IN IRAQ, the first session of the new parliament begins on Monday June 14th. Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement, known as Iraqiya, narrowly won the general election (which took place at the end of March), giving him the right to try to form a coalition. This will not be easy. Making a stable government out of the available ingredients—which include the State of Law alliance, led by the current prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki; a Shia religious alliance that includes followers of a populist cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr; and a Kurdish alliance—could take months.
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| | Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:23:06 GMT |
Reforming France: State of denial
Reactions to a modest plan to increase the retirement age show how hard reform is in France
THE French government’s long-awaited pension reform, which was announced on June 16th, turns out to be at once symbolically bold and yet ultimately disappointing. Under a plan unveiled by Eric Woerth, the labour minister, France intends to raise the legal retirement age progressively from 60 to 62 by 2018. Since this alone will not meet the state pension-fund shortfall, the government will increase the top rate of income tax from 40% to 41% from next year, and tax capital gains, stock options and other financial income more heavily. It will also align civil servants’ pension contributions with those in the private sector by 2020. In all, the government thinks it can balance the pension fund, which currently has a €32 billion deficit, by 2018.
The symbolism of this change is clear. It was President Francois Mitterrand in the early 1980s who introduced retirement at 60... |
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| | Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:02:11 GMT |
Violence in Kyrgyzstan: Stalin's harvest
What lies behind the violence in Kyrgyzstan
CLASHES in southern Kyrgyzstan have spiraled out of control. Thus far 118 people have been confirmed dead, a further 1,500 as injured, and tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have fled to neighbouring Uzbekistan. The number of those killed over the past four days are without a doubt significantly higher than these estimates suggest. Local Muslim custom requires that the dead are buried within 24 hours. Many people are burying family members immediately without registering their deaths.
Although Uzbeks make up only 15% of Kyrgyzstan’s population of 5.4m, most of them live in the southern part of the country, where they make up the majority. The Fergana Valley, where most of the killing happened, was divided arbitrarily by Stalin in the 1920s among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. As a result, the Kyrgyz Soviet republic was left with a sizeable Uzbek population, the Uzbek Soviet republic with a Tajik population, and so on. |
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| | Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:11:18 GMT |
The coming days: The week ahead
Iraq's new parliament will be in session; oil executives will be grilled by Congress
•IN IRAQ, the first session of the new parliament begins on Monday June 14th. Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement, known as Iraqiya, narrowly won the general election (which took place at the end of March), giving him the right to try to form a coalition. This will not be easy. Making a stable government out of the available ingredients—which include the State of Law alliance, led by the current prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki; a Shia religious alliance that includes followers of a populist cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr; and a Kurdish alliance—could take months.
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| | Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:53:52 GMT |
Japan's new prime minister: Meet the boss
Can Japan's fifth prime minister in four years succeed where others failed?
WHEN Japan's outgoing prime minister announced his resignation this week, Tokyo's financial markets barely budged, underscoring the depressing regularity with which the country's leaders have come and gone in recent years. However the election by Japan's Diet (parliament) of Naoto Kan as prime minister on June 4th may represent a change. The past four prime ministers hailed from wealthy political dynasties, among which the premiership was almost a filial rite of passage. Mr Kan is a self-made man, ascending into politics after years toiling in citizen movements.
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Economist - Full print edition
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Full print edition | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Climate-change assessment: Must try harder
A call to reform the IPCC
IF THIS week’s report into the workings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by a council of national academies of science were the sort of report children take home from school, its main themes would be expressed as “could do better” and “needs to show workings”. Stern parents might read it as calling for a Gradgrind-like clampdown; more indulgent ones as an inducement for the little darlings to try a little harder.
At a meeting in Busan, South Korea, this October, the parents in question—the representatives of the IPCC’s member governments—will decide which sort they want to be. Read in detail, the report suggests that if they want credible climate assessments, a firm hand will be required. ...
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Mont Liggins
Graham “Mont” Liggins, investigator of the mysteries of birth and breath, died on August 24th, aged 84
HE FORGOT about the sheep. He had meant to dump it in the incinerator on the way home from work. It was still in the car boot, and starting to smell. When he remembered, and forced it down the incinerator chute, it was already bloating, and the gassy innards instantly caught fire. The force of the explosion sent ash 200 feet into the air over Auckland.
Graham Liggins (grinning, above) was trying to find out what triggered labour. As a New Zealander, he had naturally turned to sheep. But his pursuit led to some of the most important discoveries in obstetrics, and the saving of hundreds of thousands of tiny, struggling lives. ...
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Monitor: Putting your money where your mouse is
Crowdfunding: Artists, musicians and writers are using the internet to aggregate lots of small donations to fund their work
WIKIPEDIA, a giant online encyclopedia compiled by volunteers, is the product of the aggregation of lots of people’s spare time. An example of “crowdsourcing”, it demonstrates that on the internet, as in the real world, many hands make light work. Can the same approach be applied to money as well as time? That is the idea behind “crowdfunding”, in which lots of small contributions are aggregated online to support artistic or creative ventures.
As crowdfunding has matured from a series of one-off efforts into something reproducible, the money has followed. Millions of dollars, in increments as small as $5, have poured into efforts that connect artists, musicians, writers and others with people willing to fund their projects. Venture capitalists have also shown an interest by investing in start-ups that facilitate crowdfunding. |
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Monitor: An online medic
Emergency medicine: Field medicine, for soldiers and civilians alike, gets smarter as medical monitoring technology improves
HALF way through a flight from Mumbai to London, a male passenger complained of a swollen right hand and an inability to bend his fingers. The flight attendants were uncertain about what to do and hooked the passenger up to a small device which took and transmitted vital signs, including his pulse, blood pressure and a picture of his hand, to a ground-based medical team.
As the passenger’s condition worsened, the device was also used to transmit an electrocardiographic (ECG) trace. The resulting information was used to rule out heart problems, and the passenger was stabilised and monitored with the assistance of a doctor on the flight. The decision was made to continue the journey rather than divert to the nearest airport. ...
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Monitor: Powering up
Jet engines: A nifty new engine design promises to improve combustion efficiency, thus cutting fuel consumption and reducing emissions
IN A world worried about global warming, improving the cleanliness and efficiency of jet engines is a priority for airlines and aircraft manufacturers. It is not just altruism: greener engines also use less fuel, and so cut costs. Incremental improvements over the years have made a difference. Modern jets burn only half as much fuel per unit of thrust as their 1960s counterparts. But some people think it is time for a radical redesign. One of those people is David Lior, the boss of a small Israeli firm called R-Jet Engineering.
Jet engines rely on Isaac Newton’s third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When a jet is running, a compressor at the front draws in air and compresses it (see illustration). This air is guided and diffused by static blades to allow for easier ignition when it is mixed with fuel... |
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Inside story: Hot rocks and high hopes
Geothermal power: Deriving energy from subterranean heat is no longer limited to volcanic regions. By drilling deep wells into the ground, it can be made to work almost anywhere. Just watch out for the earthquakes
Correction to this article
OVER the course of the next ten years a company called Geodynamics, based in Queensland, Australia, is planning to drill as many as 90 wells, each 4,500-5,000 metres deep, in the Cooper Basin, a desert region in South Australia with large energy reserves. But the company is not drilling for oil or gas. It is looking for an energy source that is far cleaner and more abundant than any fossil fuel: heat emanating from hot rocks deep beneath the Earth’s surface, a promising emerging form of geothermal energy. ...
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Energy in the developing world: Power to the people
Technology and development: A growing number of initiatives are promoting bottom-up ways to deliver energy to the world’s poor
AROUND 1.5 billion people, or more than a fifth of the world’s population, have no access to electricity, and a billion more have only an unreliable and intermittent supply. Of the people without electricity, 85% live in rural areas or on the fringes of cities. Extending energy grids into these areas is expensive: the United Nations estimates that an average of $35 billion-40 billion a year needs to be invested until 2030 so everyone on the planet can cook, heat and light their premises, and have energy for productive uses such as schooling. On current trends, however, the number of “energy poor” people will barely budge, and 16% of the world’s population will still have no electricity by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.
But why wait for top-down solutions? Providing energy in a bottom-up way instead has... |
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Brain scan: The virtual curmudgeon
Jaron Lanier, a pioneer of virtual-reality technology, has more recently become an outspoken critic of online social media
FROM “Wikinomics” to “Cognitive Surplus” to “Crowdsourcing”, there is no shortage of books lauding the “Web 2.0” era and celebrating the online collaboration, interaction and sharing that it makes possible. Today anyone can publish a blog or put a video on YouTube, and thousands of online volunteers can collectively produce an operating system like Linux or an encyclopedia like Wikipedia. Isn’t that great?
No, says Jaron Lanier, a technologist, musician and polymath who is best known for his pioneering work in the field of virtual reality. His book, “You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto”, published earlier this year, is a provocative attack on many of the internet’s sacred cows. Mr Lanier lays into the Web 2.0 culture, arguing that what passes for creativity today is really just endlessly... |
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Rewiring nerves: How to rewire the nervous system
Biomedicine: Doctors are rerouting nerves to give patients more natural control of prosthetic arms and bring paralysed limbs back to life
IT IS known as “phantom limb syndrome” or “phantom pain”. But this strange phenomenon feels all too real to the people it affects, and can be agonisingly painful. Amputees and people who have become paralysed may still “feel” a missing limb or a part of their body, even though it is no longer connected to their nervous system. Yet such sensations offer confirmation that even when a limb has been severed or cut off from the nervous system, the nerves that once serviced it remain alive and well. Doctors are now finding ways to put these nerves to good use, by rewiring them to control prosthetic limbs or reanimate paralysed limbs.
Moreover, rewiring the nervous system should allow amputees to gain a sense of “embodiment” of a prosthetic. That is, by controlling and sensing the prosthetic using the... |
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| | Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:46:15 GMT |
Monitor: Correct me if I'm wrong...
Software: A new approach to speech recognition gives users the chance to fix misunderstandings without having to repeat themselves
THERE is often something sweet, intimate even, about couples who finish each other’s sentences. But it can also be a source of irritation, especially when they get it wrong. A similar irritation (minus the sweetness) is often felt by users of speech-recognition software, which still manages to garble and twist even the most clearly spoken words. Might the solution lie in a more intimate relationship between the user and the software?
Modern speech-recognition programs do not merely try to identify individual words as they are spoken; rather, they attempt to match whole chunks of speech with statistical models of phrases and sentences. The rationale is that by knowing statistical rules of thumb for the way in which words are usually put together—an abstract probabilistic approximation of grammar, if you will—it is possible to narrow... |
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