Equally important, it is not clear how much of an effect a one-off rebate will have on consumption, or how quickly that effect will come through.

ECONOMIST: The economy

"It's a source of marriage breakdown, of stress, of people being ill, being off work - the knock-on effect of people wrestling with unmanageable debt in their lives can be massive, " he says.

BBC: Valleys church helps community fight debt

In effect these types of measures represent on-off negative supply shocks on inflation, taking it lower, says Tony Volpon, managing director at Nomura Securities in New York.

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It captures only the one-off gains, but looks at their effect on the world economy over a decade.

ECONOMIST: Weighed in the balance

Rimonabant is seen as having potential not only because it takes off pounds, but also because of its effect on cholesterol--it cuts the bad kind and increases the good.

FORBES: Sanofi Remains Tight-Lipped

This lock-in effect gives Facebook some leverage to control ancillary economic activities both on and off Facebook, as well as make poor anti-user product choices and avoid punishment in the marketplace.

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The effect of the current scandal has been to turn an existing stand-off on power-sharing into a full-blown crisis.

ECONOMIST: Northern Ireland

But gravitational strings have no sticky ends and can wander freely off into Dr Arkani-Hamed's extra dimensions, where they have no effect on matter stuck to the membranes of the observable universe.

ECONOMIST: A matter of gravity

Changes to child benefit payments for the better-off - introducing means-testing for the previously universal benefit - come into effect at midnight on 7 January.

BBC: Baby being fed

The bottom screen is 3 inches and is a touchscreen, like that of the Nintendo DS. A 3-D depth slider on the right side of the top screen lets you control how much 3-D effect is shown, from completely off to fairly deep 3-D.

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