By knowing their way around ticket prices, schedules and flight availability, they have been able to hold their own, despite the airlines' efforts to sell straight to consumers and avoid paying the agents' 10% commission.

ECONOMIST: Electronic commerce

His proposals made sense: a commission on voting rights, protection of military families gay and straight, gun control measures, equal pay for equal work, increased minimum wage, and immigration reform.

FORBES: The President Turns a Corner

Over the years the commission's regulations on fruit and vegetables became more restrictive - until stories about straight bananas became part of European folklore, the BBC's Dominic Hughes in Brussels says.

BBC: EU slices up 'ugly fruit' rules

The two senators want to see the establishment of a bipartisan commission that would draw up a programme of budget reform to be submitted to Congress for a straight up or down vote, with no possibility of amendment, since amendments would surely cause the whole thing to unravel.

ECONOMIST: America's stimulus plan