BBC NEWS | Business | UK 2003 growth revised up to 2.3% So what did happen to all the recession porn we were subjected to last year? Within a week, we see forecasts for growth above 3% this year and now upward revisions from last year. The forecast range everyone said was a wild gamble…

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Rybkin ‘Best Speaker in the History of the Duma’ Interesting biography of the disappearing candidate. “In his verbal attacks on President Vladimir Putin, stern-voiced presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin laces harsh rhetoric with poetry and flowery metaphors. But his oration skills are hardly an advantage when he is effectively banned from Russian radio and television. The…

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A Secret Hunt Unravels in Afghanistan (washingtonpost.com) The Washington Post has a fascinating series of articles on the secret war between an obscure sub-group of the CIA and al-Qa’ida before the 11th September attacks, when counter-terrorism wasn’t fashionable. “The rest of the CIA and the intelligence community looked on our efforts as eccentric and at…

Read More Fascinating report on the CIA’s efforts to nail Osama…

Well, the Russian joint forces nuclear exercise reported in these pages is on, but it seems that the weirdness has struck already…story Apparently, a strategic missile submarine which was planned to launch one (or perhaps two) missiles into a test range in Siberia failed to launch. Or perhaps – depending on version – one was…

Read More Russian nuclear exercise – trouble at t’mill