Others are convinced that the changes were vital if a wider cross section of people, particularly women, were to be encouraged to become MPs.

BBC: A wakeup bell or the death knell?

Mark Tinker, an analyst with Commerzbank in London, reckons that around half of Germany's equity market is currently tied up in cross-holdings that might be disposed of once the law changes.

ECONOMIST: Now for the big push? | The

However, that is not so of the long-term threat to cross-border capital flows: the changes that regulators make to the landscape for multinational banks, especially in Europe.

ECONOMIST: Globalisation under strain: Homeward bound | The

The Affordable Care Act brings sweeping changes to the health insurance industry with most large plans like Wellpoint and their family of Blue Cross plans competing to provide quality and price-competitive benefit plans on state-regulated exchanges to offer benefits to millions of uninsured Americans when subsidies for individuals and small businesses kick in in 2014.

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Whether the participants underwent a flood of weight changes and were then compared back to their former selves in different states, the participants are cross-examined among other employees in the same company, the participants are cross-examined among employees in neighboring states, etc.

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