lifestyle leader

Politique
-G20 finance ministers begin a tense weekend in the south of England amidst deep divisions over the way forward.

-The US deploys a warship to the South China Sea following a maritime incident between an unarmed US surveillance boat and five Chinese naval vessels, Wen Jiabao bangs the drum on US Treasuries...and these two things are related (see how things tie together so nicely?)

-Pakistan is on the verge of: a) another military coup, b) an unlikely political compromise, c) utter collapse.

Economia
-Switzerland moved to devalue the franc, raising fears of a "currency war" (i.e. competitive devaluations). It also reluctantly agreed to reform its bank secrecy laws and increase its cooperation on tax evasion.

-Reuters had an interesting report on the unusually sharp dissent within the US Federal Reserve over the bank's actions in response to the crisis.

-Bernard Madoff plead guilty to 11 charges related to his $50bn ponzi scheme, including securities fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and perjury. Sentencing is June 16.

The Rest
-Santino the chimpanzee has led scientists to question whether premeditation is in fact a uniquely human trait.

-Benoit Faiveley visits the last Palestinian keffiyeh factory in Hebron for Monocle (side note- its ironic that an essentially protectionist peace is sponsored by UK Trade & Investment)

-Alexander Lobrano explores Paris v. New York Eating (hint: he misses NYC). He then turns the tables in New York v. Paris Eating (hint: he misses Paris).