For the government, it is a test of Tony Blair's ability, honed over a decade, to make the Labour Party do things it doesn't particularly want to do.

ECONOMIST: Education reform

Controversies aside, the mood in Rio de Janeiro was overwhelmingly one of celebration and, as if to make the point, they intend to repeat the party all over again on Monday night with another six samba schools.

BBC: The parade was also marked by controversy

As a result, any action in the Senate to approve such a reform effort is likely to kick off an inter-party war in the House that will make the battles inside the GOP caucus over the fiscal cliff, debt ceiling and tax increases for the 1 percent appear, by comparison, to be a walk in the park on Sunday.

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This argument, rather than the subsidiary battle over health insurance, is the one that the Conservative Party ought to make its priority.

ECONOMIST: Health

What is sometimes less noticed is that the congressional Republicans are falling over themselves to make the state governors the dominant force in the party as a whole.

ECONOMIST: Out of the dark, Republican glimmers

The opinion polls make particularly bad reading for the Labour Party and its minority government, led by Thorbjorn Jagland, who took over from Gro Harlem Brundtland as party leader and prime minister last October.

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Visiting fans and their energy get absorbed and lost in the mix of a huge city, while less populous ones make much better venues, because the event takes over and transforms them into one big Super Bowl party.

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For the party, she lined the blue doughnuts along a big piece of Lucite over a blue piece of wrapping paper to make it look like a pool.

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