Most of the businessmen who could play a big part in moulding politics are waiting on the sidelines, unsure which horse to back.

ECONOMIST: After Mubarak

Specialising in insert moulding, metal stamping and plastics, the company supplies to several car manufacturers in the West Midlands, north east England and south Wales.

BBC: Heanor Autosplice factory to close

None of this would have mattered much had their fate not become part of a larger battle for power and position in the moulding of Mr Cardoso's second administration (which formally starts on January 1st).

ECONOMIST: Crossed lines in Brazil

The 150-room Tokyo Station Hotel offers European-style elegance (marble floors, vaulted ceilings, heavy moulding) plus state-of-the-art facilities in a central location.

BBC: Business trip: Tokyo

Other economists, in semi-official publications, expressed dismay at the leadership's dream of moulding China's biggest state enterprises into huge conglomerates.

ECONOMIST: Out of the shadow of Deng

And at a time when he should have been moulding and selling his reforms this summer, he was preoccupied with Germany's role in the war over Kosovo.

ECONOMIST: Schr?der��s struggle