Sure it's bizarre - it's economics

To say that economics is not as exact a discipline as physics isonly stating the obvious. But I maintain there are some physics-likeprinciples involved in the dismal science. If some of the effects ofOsgoodian economics seem bizarre and appear not to make a whole lotof sense, all I can say is that Einstein's relativity seems to fly inthe face of logic and experience, too.

Einstein's constant (C for short) is the speed of light, whichis always exactly the same, 186,000 miles per second. That is aspeed limit, by the way. No object can move faster than that withoutlosing its mass and disappearing completely. If you were travelingat 186,000 miles per second, I'll bet you …

Clinton pushes Afghan reconciliation

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday encouraged Afghanistan's wary leadership and civic leaders to keep up Taliban reconciliation efforts and boost counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan as the Obama administration presses ahead with troop withdrawal plans.

On an unannounced visit to Kabul, Clinton told civic leaders the U.S. would not abandon Afghanistan and pledged that reconciliation would not come at the expense of women's and minority rights. Later she was to see President Hamid Karzai and other top Afghan officials to repeat that message.

Clinton assured women's rights activists, educators and politicians that their …

Violence erupts on Greek riot anniversary

Masked youths hurled firebombs and chunks of marble at police during a march in Athens to mark the first anniversary of the police shooting of a teenager whose death sparked massive riots.

Police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse the youths in running street battles Sunday in the center of the capital as several thousand demonstrators commemorated the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The teenager's death sent youths rampaging through cities for two weeks last December.

On Sunday, the rioters smashed bank windows, overturned trash bins and set them alight as they hurled rocks and fire crackers at riot police. Authorities said 177 people were …

To find a good travel agent, do your homework

Check this spot every Wednesday for quick getaway ideas, traveltips and more.Finding a good travel agent can seem daunting, but he or she can bethe difference between the trip of a lifetime and the trip from hell.

Start by asking friends, relatives and colleagues for arecommendation, says Steve Loucks, spokesman for the American Societyof Travel Agents, which has 27,000 members nationwide. "Find outwhat kind of travel that person helps them with. Is it leisure?Business?"

"If you have time, stop by and check it out. Is this the kindof place you want to give your business to?"Check the agent's professional affiliations. For example,Alexandria, Va.-based ASTA is …

[When the romance ended: leaders of the Chilean left, 1968-1998]

Katherine Hite

New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. xxii + 246 pp.

Alejandro Rojas, University of British Columbia

This is an important, caring and respectful book documenting the evolution of ideological perspectives and political attitudes within the Chilean left during the period 1968-1998. It describes both the elements of continuity and change in the ideological landscape and political attitudes of a group of carefully chosen left-wing political leaders. Positioned within the study of identity politics, the book explores how historical events, organizational and social structures and biographies interact in forming the identity of "political thinkers," …

ECB head says inflation will linger

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warned Wednesday that euro nations are already seeing the first signs of an inflation price spiral, calling on governments to take care not to grant wage hikes that could fuel further price rises.

The ECB's governing council "is strongly concerned that price and wage-setting behavior could add to inflationary pressures," Trichet told the European Parliament. "First signs are already emerging in some regions of the euro area."

He said current inflation levels were "worrying" and warned they were set to stay high before cooling gradually next year.

He said indexation …

Dreams for India ; The potential to become a far more powerful and prosperous nation existed back then, and it exists now. What it requires, as management guru C.K. Prahalad writes so eloquently in our cover story, is not analysis but imagination.

Something profound happened to India over the past few years. Itcaught a glimpse of the greatness it could achieve. It was in therise of IT triumvirate (TCS, Infosys and Wipro) as the world'spreferred vendors, Tata Steel's acquisition of Corus, BhartiAirtel's radical new model in telecoms, ICICI Bank's success inretail banking and, perhaps, even in Lakshmi Niwas Mittal'sspectacular emergence as the world's unquestioned steel czar.Suddenly, a lumbering India gathered pace, the world took itseriously and, most importantly, Indians took themselves seriously.

Therefore, it's a little sad to see the pace at which India's new-found confidence is giving way. Since January this …