To prepare, officials have made forays to Scandinavia, whose state-company dividend policies are regarded as a model.

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Stevens, 84, was charged with scheming to conceal thousands of dollars worth of gifts from a major employer in his state, a company on whose behalf he sometimes intervened in Washington.

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In 2003 Chua was named CEO of Raffles Holdings, which was 60% owned by CapitaLand (whose own majority investor is state-owned investment company Temasek).

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Many analysts reckon it was an overdue correction after some feverish buying, particularly of Telebras, the state-controlled telecoms holding company whose shares account for 45% of the Bovespa index.

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They are also giving political cover to Democrats gleeful at the chance to conceal their readiness to do the wrong thing on national security by lining up behind McCain and Company, whose number includes former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

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Last week the head of France Telecom, whose biggest shareholder is the French state, with a 27 percent stake, presented the company's plan to deal with the suicides to economy minister Christine Lagarde at a meeting in Paris, after which Lagarde said Lombard had her "full and total confidence".

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