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◆On the cover
Private equity has come in for much political criticism, but its more serious problems are financial



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◆The world this week
Politics this week
Business this week
KAL's cartoon

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◆Leaders
Business
The trouble with private equity
Language and terrorism
Don't mention the GWOT
Global poverty
Are we nearly there yet?
“Scooter” Libby and the president
Justice is not blind
Zimbabwe
The virtues of isolationism

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◆Letters
On air travel, liberalism, terrorism in Britain, rational voters, the government supremo

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◆Special Report
Millennium Development Goals
The eight commandments

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◆United States
The candidates: Mitt Romney
Mr Smooth of Massachusetts
Election finance
Of cash and crushes
The bald eagle
Downgrading an icon
Pre-natal testing
Wanted: perfection
Illegal immigration
Nowhere to hide
Citizenship drives
Staying in America
Lexington
Supreme success


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◆The Americas
Argentina
Mrs Kirchner steps forward
Mexico
Boring on
Cuba
Come again
Mercosur
A turning point?

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◆Asia
Japanese politics
The unbearable weight of Shinzo Abe
Papua New Guinea
A feast for the voters
India's Sikhs
Heresy and history
Pakistan
A mosque red with blood
North Korea
Pyongyangology
China and its Catholics
Cardinal principles

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◆Middle East & Africa
The Palestinians
The labours of Fayyad
Lebanon
From crisis to crisis
Female circumcision in Egypt
A little less purity goes a long way
South Africa
Trying to kiss and make up


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◆Europe
Eastern Europe's economies
Worrying about a crash
Ukraine's future
Viktor ludorum
Viktor Chernomyrdin
A Russian in Kiev
French universities
Shaking them up
France's establishment
The rise of the lawyers
Charlemagne
The two-speed myth


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◆Britain
Terrorist attacks
Three times lucky
The British army
Out of step
Constitutional reform
The king is dead
Virgin Media
Branson's bumpy landing


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◆International
America and Russia
Days of fishing and poker
International justice
How the mighty are falling
Global public health
More money than sense
Tobacco
Snuffed out


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◆Business
Europe's railways
A high-speed revolution
Chinese manufacturing
The diddle kingdom
Food
No ketchup, please
The music industry
A change of tune
Marketing the iPhone
Where would Jesus queue?
Theme parks
Roll up, roll up
Management
Piecing things together
Face value
The man who bought trouble
Correction: Barilla


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◆Special Report
Public v private equity
The business of making money

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◆Finance & Economics
America's mortgage giants
Fannie and Freddie ride again
Buttonwood
Bomb proof
The economics of renewables
Cheap alternatives
Valuing urban trees
Green gold
Insurance regulation
Two thumbs up
The Big Mac Index
Sizzling
Economics focus
Home truths

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◆Science & Technology
Climatology
Grey-sky thinking
Synthetic biology
Expanded vocabulary
RNA research
The sea-anemone genome project
Neuroeconomics
Money isn't everything

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◆Books & Arts
Arab conquests
For the glory of Allah
China
Enduring on
Capitalism
America still wears the crown
Ronald Reagan
The instinctual man
New novel
An innocent in a terrorist mess
Food
History on a plate
Wellcome Collection
The bitter insights of the heart


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◆Obituary
Liz Claiborne

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◆Economic and Financial Indicators
Overview
Output, prices and jobs
The Economist commodity-price index
The Economist poll of forecasters, July averages
Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates
Markets
Global M&A