When sugar prices increase, so does next year's crop, leading to over-supply, and lower prices, a fall in production, and so on.

ECONOMIST: India��s bitter-sweet pill

Here, then, is a retrospective look at some of the scariest side effects to crop up over the past 12 months--from rare events like liver failure or brain-wasting diseases to more common ones such as heart attacks or strokes.

FORBES

This remains a very real concern, with much of the world suffering from increasing water scarcity, land erosion, drought intensity, stalled progress on crop productivity, declining groundwater aquifers, over-grazing of pasturelands, tropical deforestation, massive species extinction, over-fishing, and anthropogenic climate-change.

ECONOMIST: Phoenix flying high

But the public relations industry has warned against an over-reaction to the current crop of lurid headlines, stressing that nothing has been proved against the four Labour peers.

BBC: Lobbying and British politics

Over the past decade, however, Costa Rica's fastest-growing crop has been a collection of opulent hotels and resort communities, complemented by marinas, golf courses, gourmet restaurants, hot springs and other world-class facilities.

CNN: Living large in Costa Rica

However, if the next-generation consoles enjoy a lifespan similar to that of the current crop, then it is likely that internet speeds will have improved enough over that time to make disc-free consoles practical.

FORBES: PlayStation 4 Was Almost A Discless Console