Drought in California Painting the lawn green Californians find novel ways to cope with drought JACK MELLIGAN, a prison guard in Sacramento, was tired of staring at his brown, patchy lawna side-effect of the drought that has parched California for th...
Energy in Europe The gasman cutteth Europe could survive a cut-off of Russian gas, but only a short one NAPOLEON and Hitler both succumbed to the bitter Russian winter in their efforts at territorial expansion in Europe. Now, Vladimir Putin seems to...
Obamacare Experimental medicine A year after the big launch, is Obamacare working? TEXAS has a higher share of uninsured citizens than any state in America. Until recently Shane, a 38-year-old from Houston, was one of them. I just couldn't afford it,...
Brewery mergers Foamy war SABMiller may be swallowed up by its main rival, AB InBev THE world's biggest brewer, AB InBev, is also the most frugal. There are no company cars for senior executives. Carlos Brito, the boss, flies economy class. That is o...
Business this week Alibaba took its IPO to investors in a roadshow, having priced the offering at between 60 and 66 a share. This could value the Chinese e-commerce firm at around 160 billion when it lists in New York, which is close to Amazon's curr...
Coco bonds Mass conversion Investors are panting for a risky new form of bonds issued by banks IT TOOK three separate bail-outs to get KBC, a Belgian bank, through the financial crisis. So one might expect bonds that automatically get wiped out if th...
Race relations in America The lessons of Ferguson There is no excuse for rioting. But smarter policing would make it less likely AFTER more than a week of rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, what can America learn? The first and simplest lesson is that co...
Immigration policy Ready, steady, do nothing Barack Obama defers his promise to help out illegal immigrants TODAY, I'm beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, without Congress, said Barack Obama in June. La...
Russia and Ukraine A brief intermission The ceasefire holds uneasily, but tension in eastern Ukraine will still trouble the governments in both Kiev and Moscow THE war in eastern Ukraine has quietened, for now. Its disparate factions have as much rea...
Turkey's president Erdogan on top It would be better for Turkey if the presidency remained mainly ceremonial RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkey's prime minister, certainly knows how to win elections. Since he helped to found the Justice and Development (AK...
