HSBC's attempt to breathe life into its investment banking arm had failed, and things still haven't picked up.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But it has lots of weak businesses as well, including its declining consumer long-distance unit and its failed mobile-telecoms arm.

ECONOMIST: From bad to worse | The

Perhaps because he now senses that the Israeli public thinks his strong-arm tactics have failed.

ECONOMIST: Israel

After failed attempts to divest its insurance arm, fears are mounting that nationalization of the financial company is imminent.

WSJ: SNS Reaal Is in Talks to Avoid Bailout

This does not always work: the sale of Aventura, the state holiday-resorts company, was cancelled this year because the union investment arm that was supposed to buy it failed to come up with the cash.

ECONOMIST: The painful privatisation of South Africa | The

Uribe understands that having the Despeje, a 42, 000 square kilometer territory in central Colombia was a failed policy because it gave the FARC the ability to arm its forces and build and consolidate significant portions of the drug trade.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The Colombian hostage crisis

West Point grad Dawn Halfaker, who retired after losing her right arm in a 2004 grenade attack in Iraq, tried and failed to navigate the system.

FORBES: The Next War: Ex-Soldiers Try To Set Up Shop

Stand-alone retail banks, such as Britain's Northern Rock and America's Wachovia, failed during the financial crisis, after all, when an investment-banking arm might have pulled them through.

ECONOMIST: Banking reforms

Frederic Piquionne nodded wide from a corner by Barrera - on for the injured Dyer after just 15 minutes and Hammers boss Avram Grant was rueing his luck when referee Kevin Friend failed to award a penalty after defender Cathcart slid in and blocked Obinna's volley with his arm.

BBC: West Ham 0-0 Blackpool