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◆On the cover
It is now time for America to evaluate Obama the potential president, not Obama the phenomenon



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

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◆Leaders
Barack Obama
But could he deliver?
The world economy
In search of an insurance policy
Technology and the public sector
Government offline
Church and state
Sever them
Aviation
The need to shrink

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◆Letters
On America's GDP, hunger, Nepal, military tankers, Northern Ireland, Rudy Giuliani, Belgian mathematicians

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◆Special Report
China's infrastructure splurge
Rushing on by road, rail and air
America's interstate highways
America's splurge


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◆United States
The Democratic race
His to lose
The Republican race
Cannon to the right of him
Military commissions
The Guantánamo six
The death penalty
So long to Old Sparky
Urban flight from Los Angeles
Straight outta Compton
Hannah Montana
The UnBritney
The Mafia
End of the Gambinos?
Lexington
A declaration on independents

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◆The Americas
Oil in Venezuela
Exxon's wrathful tiger takes on Hugo Chávez
Belize
The squid and the whales
Mexico
Big, expensive and weirdly spineless
Argentina
Party time
Peru's hotel industry
Killing the tourism goose

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◆Asia
Pakistan's election
The posthumous poll
China's farmland
This land is my land
Taiwan's National Palace Museum
Treasure island
Timor-Leste
Dawn raids
The Japan Sumo Association
Heavy hitters
Myanmar
If voting changed anything
The Maldives
Sea, sun and jihad
Malaysia
Snap! It's an election

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◆Middle East & Africa
Iraq
The enigma of Muqtada al-Sadr
Lebanon
The world's most elusive terrorist
Egypt
A bit more religious freedom
African football
A happy taste of the future
America in Africa
Doing good, quietly
South Africa's economy
Tighten your belt

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◆Europe
Europe's economies
Dangers ahead
Eastern Europe's economies
Coming in to land
Turkey and Islam
Veils of half-truth
Kosovo's independence
A state is born. Or so say some
Spain's election
Rivals in profligacy
Russia and its history
A Byzantine sermon
Charlemagne
Farm follies revisited

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◆Britain
Political manoeuvres
The need for speed
Taxing rich foreigners
What did you do in the non-dom wars?
Anglicanism
The gathering storm
Cathedral finances
Helping those who help themselves

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◆International
Faith, law and democracy
Defining the limits of exceptionalism
The West and Russia
Lights, camera and a different ending
Politics and sport
High hurdles

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◆Business
Aviation
A normal industry?
Mobile telecoms
Small, but disruptive
Consumer goods
Cleaning up
The Hollywood writers' strike
The show goes on―for now
Class-action lawsuits
Lerach and ruin
Takeover battles
Just say no
Activist investors in Japan
Samurai v shareholders
Face value
Mittalic magic

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◆Special Report
The electronic bureaucrat
Look it up on the web
The good, the bad and the inevitable
Notional Health Server
Making it happen
Identity parade
E for express
The road to e-democracy
Sources and acknowledgments
Offer to readers

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◆Finance & Economics
The world economy
A stimulating notion
Asian budget finances
Poles apart
Buttonwood
Hedge podge
UBS and Credit Suisse
For richer, for even richer
New blood at UBS
The outsiders
Insurers
Unsurance
Stockmarkets
Dow wager
Economics focus
From Mao to the mall

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◆Science & Technology
Metabolic syndrome I: diabetes
The battle of the bulge
Metabolic syndrome II: obesity
Sweetness and light
The price of conservation
The unkindest cut
Nanotechnology
Casting a long line
The Richard Casement internship

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◆Books & Arts
Rome and the Barbarians
The stranger in their midst
Civilians in war
How best to protect them
Benazir Bhutto
Her last words
New fiction
Bugs' life
Vladimir Nabokov
Imagination ablaze
New film
The living daylights

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◆Obituary
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

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◆Economic and Financial Indicators
Overview
Output, prices and jobs
The Economist commodity-price index
Football wealth
Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates
Markets
Chances of becoming vice-president