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◆On the cover
As Castro steps down, rue the damage he has done, but lift the embargo against a sad, dysfunctional island:



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

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◆Leaders
Cuba, Latin America and the United States
Castro's legacy
The world economy
Japain
Pakistan
Where voters are heroes
Hollywood and the internet
There will be blood
The Balkans
Kosovo, controversially free at last
Northern Rock
Now make it work

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◆Letters
On Afghanistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gaza, American populists, political correctness

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◆Special Report
Japan's pain
Why Japan keeps failing

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◆United States
The Democrats
The end draws nigh
Texas
Hillary's last stand
On the campaign trail
Primary colour
The Republicans
McCain turns his sights on Obama
Mormons
Gnashing their teeth
America's most vengeful prosecutor
You've got mail
Surveillance
Own goal
Cities and hospitals
Mayo with everything
Lexington
The newest frontier

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◆The Americas
Cuba
The comandante's last move
The United States and Cuba
Movement in Miami
Brazil
Whodunnit?

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◆Asia
Pakistan's election
Out with the president's men
Health care in China
Losing patients
India's fake doctors
Quackdown
Japan's pornography laws
Fleshing it out
Australian river-management
Not so gently down the stream

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◆Middle East & Africa
Iran
New parliament, new policies?
The Palestinians
Split by geography and by politics
Syria
Cultural diversity v Arab purity
The Gulf
Cash is going to the poor, too
Kenya
Still stalled on the edge
Chad
The aftermath

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◆Europe
Kosovo
The world's newest state
German tax scandals
The disgrace of Germany AG
Armenia
Out of Armenia, something new?
French foreign policy
Club Med
Italy
Pro-life, or pro-Berlusconi?
Charlemagne
Ask a silly question

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◆Britain
Nationalising Northern Rock
A bank by any other name
Northern Rock's future
In the state's tender hands
Multicultural backtracking
The search for social glue
Reporting suicide
Beware of imitations

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◆International
Global health
The side-effects of doing good
Refugees from Iraq
Less than generous
The World Council of Churches
A house still divided

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◆Business
Agriculture
The next green revolution
French broadcasting
A fuzzy picture
Business in China
Inevitable collision
Wal-Mart
Always low prices
Business in America
Where there's muck
Solar energy
The power of concentration
Face value
Mr High-speed Europe

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◆Special Report
Hollywood and the internet
Coming soon

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◆Finance & Economics
Bond insurers and the markets
Splitting headaches
Buttonwood
Beyond reason
Commodities
What downturn?
Asian price controls
In a fix
Commercial property
Taking Manhattan
Banks and accounting
More holes than thou
Deutsche Bank
Snakes and ladders
Economics focus
Well-dressed thieves

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◆Science & Technology
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
And now here is the virus forecast
Human evolution
Moral thinking
Climate change
Sour times
Pollution
A poison Pill

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◆Books & Arts
Rural idylls
Under the greenwood tree
United Nations
A brave man's journey
Economics
How to get a lover and win at poker
Poverty
Yogurt or cucumber?
New fiction
To love and to hate
British journalism
Hacks at work
American currency
Lovely lucre

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◆Obituary
Steve Fossett

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◆Economic and Financial Indicators
Overview
Output, prices and jobs
The Economist commodity-price index
Denmark
Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates
Markets
Aid