But the Pentagon is a planning machine, so the Defense Department last year came up with a military analysis of a ground option should the president request it.

CNN: Sarin in Syria: What's the United States' next move?

Cern, the organisation which runs the LHC, has for some time been planning to shut down the machine in late 2011 for up to one year.

BBC: No extra time for US particle lab

Several departments emblematic of old-style central planning, such as coal and machine-building, have been subsumed under a new "super-ministry, " the State Economic and Trade Commission.

CNN: A New, Slimmer Government

In a nod to the changes afoot in the industry, Sony is planning to incorporate more social gaming aspects into the new machine, people familiar with the matter said.

WSJ: Sony to Unveil PS3 Successor

The United States now believes that about 200 insurgents -- mostly local fighters, with some Taliban organizers and leaders -- had been planning the attack for days, hiding mortars, rockets and heavy machine guns in the mountains.

CNN: Afghan insurgents pushed into U.S. base, official says

Campaigners hoping to return a 165-year old rubber pressing machine to its home in Bradford on Avon have successfully applied for planning permission.

BBC: Iron Duke set for return to Bradford on Avon

But hers is an uneven trident: she has lots of EU development money, but her diplomatic machine is still a prototype and she has only a rudimentary military-planning outfit.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

Whereas the PRI is planning to field Beatriz Paredes, a well-known figure with close ties to her party's machine in the capital, the PRD has struggled to unite behind a strong candidate.

ECONOMIST: Mexican politics: Left in the lurch | The