In shaping United States policy toward the newly elected FMLN government in El Salvador, a sharp distinction must be made between President-elect Mauricio Funes and the political party he leads.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: What to expect from the new FMLN government in El Salvador

He starts by drawing a sharp distinction between holding companies, which result from stock deals and are run as loose collections of businesses, and conglomerates, which are tightly knit groups with integrated management.

ECONOMIST: Bidder beware | The

These so-called quantitative traits are under the control of a number of different genes acting in concert as opposed to qualitative traits such as human eye colour, where a difference in a single gene produces a single, sharp distinction.

ECONOMIST: A genetic game of chicken

So he switched to a more egalitarian sport: basketball, where the game's fast pace and sharp elbows tend to blur any distinction between royalty and commoners.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia