It is irrefutable that eventually the link with the dollar must be given up, otherwise Argentina will continue to suffer the same cycle of boom and bust which it has suffered over the past decade, owing to a monetary policy determined in Washington, rather than Buenos Aires.

ECONOMIST: Letters

Sony was helped in the final quarter by a currency market that knocked almost 20 per cent off the yen's value against the dollar and euro compared with the same period a year earlier, amplifying its overseas earnings.

CNN: Sony posts first full-year profit in 5 years

Tax revenues, in dollar terms, mean that Russia, with 29 times as many people, has a government budget the same size as Finland's.

ECONOMIST: Western man��s burden