The price of Apples tablet computer, before sales tax, varies significantly between countriesIF YOU fly from Hong Kong to Frankfurt or Paris and look suspiciously like a gadget lover, chances are tha...
Why China needs more expensive burgersA WEAK currency, despite its appeal to exporters and politicians, is no free lunch. But it can provide a cheap one. In China a McDonald’s Big Mac costs jus...
Another agricultural commodity surgesTHE US Department of Agricultures unexpected warning that America’s production of corn (elsewhere known as maize) would drop by 4% in 2010 has sent prices r...
The richest self-made women in the worldZHANG YIN, who made her money in the paper industry, is the wealthiest businesswoman in the world, according to Hurun Report, a Chinese magazine. Its ranking o...
How hunger has changed across the developing worldTWENTY-NINE countries suffer from “alarming” levels of hunger, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report published o...
Attitudes to gay marriage among religious groups in AmericaTHE debate over gay marriage is at the heart of many races in Americas mid-term elections. On Sunday October 10th Carl Paladino, the Republi...
Which are the best- and worst-run countries in Africa?ONCE again Africa’s worthiest and perhaps happiest countries are offshore, according to Mo Ibrahim’s latest measure of all-round gove...
Which government takes the biggest bite out of an income of $100,000?LOOMING debt and demographic crises have many governments searching for new revenue sources. Some governments have less room to ra...
It takes ever longer for physicists to win a Nobel prize ONE of Alfred Nobels original rewards, the Nobel prize in physics has been awarded 104 times to 188 scientists between 1901 and 2010. As time ...
20 years after unification eastern Germany still struggles alongIT COST a fortune, created long-standing grievances on both sides and annoyed the British and French. But most Germans wouldn’t h...
A lesson in how not to investMANY are seduced by gold, but its less illustrious cousin, silver, is now attracting considerable attention. On September 30th, demand from investors and industrial users...
Irelands property hangover continuesON SEPTEMBER 30th, the Irish government revealed the full extent of its financial-sector bail-out. Anglo Irish Bank and other lenders that made bad commercial-prop...
Access to HIV/AIDS treatment is increasing for those who need it mostTHE latest dispatch from the war on AIDS brings good news. At 5.25m, the number of people in poor and middle-income countries who ...
Which countries would prefer to raise taxes or cut spendingTHANKS in part to the extraordinary measures taken to stop the global economic crisis turning into a worldwide depression, government budget...
Israeli construction in the West Bank and GazaISRAEL’s ten-month moratorium on construction of settlements in the West Bank expired late on Sunday September 26th, and building has resumed in so...
The bulging problem of obesityONE IN six adults in the 33 mostly rich countries of the OECD is obese (measured as a body mass index of 30 or more) according to a report published on September 23rd. T...
A progress report on the the Millennium Development GoalsON SEPTEMBER 22nd world leaders wrap up a three-day UN-sponsored summit in New York to discuss progress towards the Millennium Development Goa...
Where The Economist is censoredSINCE January 2009 The Economist has been banned or censored in 12 of the 190-odd countries in which it is sold, with news-stand (as opposed to subscription) copies par...
A new global comparison of standards of livingMANY people complain that conventional measures of GDP fail to capture a country’s true standard of living. But their attempts to improve on these ...
Where the pope likes to go on his official travelsPOPE BENEDICT began his state visit to Britain on Thursday September 16th. He finds a country where Catholics, once discriminated against, are conspi...
Who supports the tea-party movement?ON SEPTEMBER 14th tea-party conservatives struck another blow to the Republican establishment when Christine ODonnell defied expectations to win the Republican Del...
The 50 years under OPEC have been eventfulOPEC, the cartel of oil producers, celebrates its 50th anniversary on September 14th. The organisation was founded in 1960 with the explicit purpose of manip...
New rules on bank capital are not particularly toughON SEPTEMBER the 12th the Basel Committee, a club of supervisors and bank regulators, reached agreement on how much extra stuffing needs to go into...
Damien Hirsts art has performed poorly since a big sale in 2008IN 2008 just over $270m-worth of art by Damien Hirst was sold at auction, a world record for a living artist. By 2009 Mr Hirst’s a...
Plenty of university graduates are working in low-skilled jobsYoung people often worry whether the qualification for which they are studying will stand them in good stead in the workplace. According ...
Working days lost due to labour disputesWORKERS on Londons underground rail network begin a strike on Monday September 6th, while across the channel French workers are also on strike in protest at at...
The internet has become too important for governments to ignoreGOVERNMENTS are increasingly finding ways to enforce their laws in the digital realm. The most prominent is China’s “great f...
Galloping inflation in American college feesFOR decades, college fees have risen faster than Americans’ ability to pay them. Median household income has grown by a factor of 6.5 in the past 40 ...
China now has more warships than America, according to the IISSTHE International Institute for Strategic Studies (better known as the IISS), reckons China now has more warships than America, which lo...
The best-selling political memoirs in BritainTONY BLAIR, Britains former prime minister, published his memoirs on Wednesday September 1st. The few people who have already read them cover to cover rep...
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