Compared with the presidential election in 2002 and the last parliamentary one in 2000, there was little violence. (In the 2002 poll, for instance, police beat up opposition voters and blocked people from reaching polling stations.) The MDC campaigned in remote areas where it once was guaranteed violent attack.

ECONOMIST: Mostly peaceful, but hardly fair | The

Last year, for instance, a group of British and American investment funds beat off an attempt by the French government, for political reasons, to strip a French mining company in which they held shares of a licence to dig in Canada.

ECONOMIST: Minority shareholders

Consider, for instance, the burgeoning phenomenon of sports teams that employ their own beat reporters to cover them, often with a high degree of independence.

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In the first quarter, for instance, 78% of companies reporting in the U.S. beat forecasts for the bottom line, HSBC says.

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