The regulator, which is both prosecutor and judge, will then decide by December 15th whether to follow the report's recommendation to impose a fine of up to 10% of the turnover of Coca-Cola's Italian operation and of its local bottlers.

ECONOMIST: Going for Coke

One way out of the imbroglio, suggests a Japanese diplomat, might be for the government to ask prosecutors to impose a nominal fine on the captain and release him.

ECONOMIST: A row over disputed islands goes from bad to worse

Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1905), the Supreme Court held unanimously that a state government could impose a fine against someone who refused to take a smallpox vaccine.

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The Pew report points out that some issuers (Bank of America) no longer provide the rate or terms for the penalty fee, only including a sentence in the fine print that states they reserve the right to impose a penalty fee.

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Mother Nature has done a fine job all these years, who are we to impose our ill-judged constraints?

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