Since then the company, founded by Andrew Mason three and a half years ago, looks to be suffering the death of a thousand cuts paper cuts, that is, from class actions around the terms of its deals, state regulator cease-and-desist letters around its marketing of alcohol and the me-too business plans of 425 competitors that have flooded the marketplace.
Last week, the regulator, Ofgem, published its simplification plan, which said suppliers would be forced to have no-frills tariffs, which would consist of a standing charge - fixed by the regulator - plus a unit charge for energy used.
Critics have also accused Sonangol -- which is both concession-granter and regulator of the industry -- of acting as a way to funnel part of the oil revenues to the political elite.
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The bill will also create an independent, industry-financed regulator - the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
Bobby Calder's research showed that every extra syllable in a product's price decreases its chances of being remembered by 20%, something caused by the fact that a person's phonological loop -- a regulator of memory -- can only hold 1.5 to 2 seconds of spoken information.
Last month, The Takeover Panel--the U.K.'s takeover regulator--set a put up or shut up deadline of 5 p.m. on December 15 for Macquarie Bank, Australia's biggest investment bank, to come forward with a bid for the LSE.
But David Zylbersztajn, Brazil's oil-industry regulator (and son-in-law of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso), says that complete privatisation looks politically impossible before Mr Cardoso's mandate ends in January 2003.
The regulator - the Water Industry Commission for Scotland - said it was likely to extend the price freeze for another year.
And finally, letting universities charge more gave the newly-announced independent Access Regulator a sanction - requiring universities to do more to encourage applicants from a wider range of social backgrounds before they could put up their fees.
Another 80 organisations - such as the postal regulator Postcomm - have disappeared after being merged into other organisations.
Paradoxically, the British financial super-regulator will be expected to resist plans for a single European super-regulator in its own image.
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In June, Ofcom - the UK's independent telecommunications regulator - published a paper designed to promote discussion on network traffic management.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, is in charge of long-maturity bonds typically issued by major state-run enterprises, while the securities regulator runs a separate exchange-based bond market for listed firms.
This is more-of-the-same collusion between a federal regulator and private industry that merely distracts attention from the problem no one wants to talk about.
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Giulio Tremonti, Italy's finance minister, proposes merging four financial regulators into one super-regulator or, failing that, uniting Consob, the toothless securities-market regulator, the Bank of Italy, the banks' watchdog, and the antitrust authority.
Some of the 187 helpline calls were directed elsewhere - to the nurses' regulator, for example - or they involved more general inquiries, such as doctors wishing to pay their registration fees.
Under the plans put forward by ex-rail regulator Mr Winsor, a direct-entry scheme for inspectors would recruit about 80 candidates each year and would target graduates from the best universities, and the brightest and the best from within the police service.
As the former boss of the UK's main financial regulator - which is now in the process of being split in two - Mr Sants should have the knowledge and credibility needed to restore Barclays reputation.
Fixed-income strategists noted with alarm the string of bank failures and near-failures in the last three weeks, including Wachovia 's regulator-assisted takeover by Citigroup on Monday.
Lehman Brothers Holdings (nyse: LEH - news - people ) -- or acquire the firm outright -- faded after South Korea's financial regulator said on Monday that the state-owned bank should be cautious over any investment in the brokerage house.
Hopes that the Korea Development Bank would provide a cash infusion to Lehman Brothers Holdings -- or acquire the firm outright -- faded after South Korea's financial regulator said on Monday that the state-owned bank should be cautious over any investment in the brokerage house.
"That's been my forte as the governor of an energy producing state and as a former chair of the, of the energy regulator -- entity up there in Alaska, " she said.
Yet despite his corporate leadership having been heavily criticized by UK media regulator Ofcom -- which found his actions in relation to the hacking scandal "repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of him as a chief executive officer and chairman" -- Murdoch may have suffered only a momentary career setback.
Despite the large number of objections, Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) - the internet name regulator in charge of the rollout - has indicated that it still believed it would be able to release the first suffixes for use by May 2013.
CBOT's no-holds-barred attempt to persuade the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the futures-market regulator, to block the new exchange.
It is hoped the qualification - currently with the exams regulator, Ofqual, for approval - will be rolled out in secondary schools in the UK from next year, possibly as part of PSHE (personal, social and health education) or free study periods.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra), a self-regulator for the broader securities industry, also has an online bond-trading database.
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According to an investor alert issued by FINRA, the securities industry self-regulator, many REITs were sold to people who were promised stable-value products.
The Joint Commission, a nonprofit self-regulator for health groups, has accredited Devens to provide outpatient, long-term care and mental-health services.
The FDIC has locked horns with other agencies over who should be the new systemic-risk regulator and who should have authority to wind down failing non-banks.
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