People under its influence lose their inhibitions and babble on about all sorts of things, leading to some amusing moments for surgical teams.

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The stakes are higher and the need is greater for people with influence to step up and sponsor those professionals under their mentorship.

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But taken together they suggest that certain elements of Russia's business elite, which once flourished under former president Boris Yeltsin, may be about to have their power and influence taken away.

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Private equity firms like Blackstone and hedge funds like Fortress are under intense scrutiny by Congress, regulators and the investing public as their power and influence in the markets strengthens.

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Although just 10 of more than 500 members of the new parliament are women, the signal we received is that Egyptian women are committed to expanding their influence and their ranks, and to ensuring that the constitution under development will fully protect the rights of women in Egypt.

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Micklethwait also believes Bakan has under-estimated the historical significance of companies and over-stated the influence of their modern successors.

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Usdaw hopes that its members will have more of a say in company affairs and that more non-Usdawites (who make up just under half of Tesco's employees) will want to join the union in order to increase their influence in the company.

ECONOMIST: Trade unions

These key post-Cold War allies also saw it as a tangible expression of the U.S. commitment to their security in the face of assiduous Russian efforts to reassert a sphere of influence that would turn the clock back, reestablishing in some form their unhappy status under the Kremlin's thumb.

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