In the process, it will log millions of road miles, generate mountains of data on the safety and benefits of the car and crack lingering problems.

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He clearly still has the ability to perform at the highest level - but he will have to crack his qualifying problems if he is to convince potential employers of that.

BBC: SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | David Coulthard

It would accelerate efforts to crack lingering technology problems.

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Virtually Better, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is arguably the world leader in therapeutic software, with a range of virtual environments (viewed using head-mounted displays) to treat problems as diverse as crack addiction, fear of storms and eating disorders.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

As for the other incidents that have beset the type over the past few months -- a fan shaft failure on an engine, an oil leak, a windshield crack -- all can safely be put down to teething problems.

CNN: How Boeing can bounce back from Dreamliner problems

Lorraine Millot of French daily Liberation says in a blog post that "the compromise now adopted by Congress does not really resolve the fundamental problems but allows Barack Obama to have himself celebrated has the one who finally got the Republicans to 'crack' by forcing them to accept some tax increases for the richest of the rich".

BBC: International media cool on 'fiscal cliff' deal