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From The Economist print editionShould the Fed worry more about rising prices or weak growth? WITH skinny trousers and Mary Quant dresses, fashionable Americans are taking their cues from the 1960s this spring. For financial markets and central bankers the retro theme comes from a different, less…

May 9th 2007 From Economist.com Finance directors are paid most in Anglo-Saxon countries, according to a survey of the average pay in 15 countries in 2006 by Mercer, a consultancy. Directors in America received an average of $305,644 in total, while those in Britain got some $253,000. In developing…

By DAVID POGUE As a human being, you’re pretty much stuck with the features you had on the date of manufacture. Very few adults ever become substantially taller, faster or more artistic. In consumer electronics, though, it’s another story. By nipping, tucking and incorporating…

May 3rd 2007 | CONINGSBY From The Economist print editionDavid Simonds The armed forces are fighting for investment at a time when the shape of future threats has rarely seemed less clear WITH the approach of summer, pilots at the Royal Air Force's base in Coningsby are preparing their…

May 8th 2007 From Economist.comA power-sharing government, at last AFP  Get article backgroundWILL Tuesday May 8th be marked, in years to come, as a day of celebration in Northern Ireland? There are many reasons to hope so. After generations of bloodshed, followed by nearly a decade of angry…

May 9th 2007 | DELHI From Economist.comAmerica apologises for killing more civilians in Afghanistan AFP  Get article backgroundTHE American army delivered an apology and blood money on Tuesday May 8th to the families of 19 Afghan civilians killed in March by marines. As in similar cases in…

Conquistadors on the beach May 3rd 2007 | BARCELONA, LA CORUÑA AND MADRID From The Economist print editionAFP Spanish companies have gone global, but now trouble is brewing at home with concerns over a property crash IT WAS the early 1980s and a wholesale fashion business was booming around…

Military spending May 8th 2007 From Economist.com Saudi Arabia's military expenditure amounted to 8.8% of GDP in 2005, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank. America spent 4% of GDP, though its total was $495.3 billion, compared with the Desert Kingdom's $25.4…

The week ahead May 6th 2007 From Economist.comWhat may make the news Reuters/AFP • POPE BENEDICT XVI takes a four-day trip to Brazil, his first long-haul journey since becoming pope two years ago. At a conference of bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean, which is meant to set the…

The opposite of Wal-Mart May 3rd 2007 | TALLAHASSEE From The Economist print editionA thriving grocery chain provides a telling contrast with Wal-Mart WITH the rise of Wal-Mart, smaller supermarkets across America have struggled to compete. But not Publix Super Markets, which recently opened its…