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Exactly 12 months ago, as rival European banks scented the first whiff of danger in America's mortgage market, the Royal Bank of Scotland had other business in hand. As French, German and Dutch banks confessed to being hit by their exposure to soured U.S. sub-prime mortgages, an RBS-led consortium was closing in on its eventual $100 billion buy-out of Dutch rival ABN Amro, the banking industry's biggest ever takeover. One year on, and Britain's second-largest lender is still making news - though these days it's much less welcome. On August 8, RBS announced...
Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals remains alive and well after the U.S. men out-touched the French in a down-to-the-wire relay on August 11. It was the U.S.' shakiest event, given that the French squad boasts world record holder Alain Bernard, but Athens 2004 veteran Jason Lezak managed to beat Bernard to the wall in the last 100m by .08 of a second. The time set a new world record, dropping the previous one, set just the night before in the preliminary heat by the U.S., by nearly four seconds...
This much of the story is true: In 1976, an English wine merchant named Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman), operating out of a small shop in Paris, is consistently snubbed by the insular and snooty French oenophile establishment. So he sets out to prove that offerings from other countries, which he unsuccessfully stocks, can equal those of the previously unchallenged French vintages. This leads him to California's Napa Valley, where he seeks wines that might fare well in a blind tasting he plans to stage in France. There he finds, among other good wines, a Chardonnay bottled by cranky...
...Games to highlight their causes. But long ago, loose talk of an Olympic boycott had fizzled. On opening night, sitting in the splendor of the Bird's Nest Stadium, were two men who have at times been among China's most vocal Western critics: George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They knew this was China's moment. Back in the Middle Kingdom's heyday, dignitaries from elsewhere in the world would come to pay tribute to the Emperor, an acknowledgement of China's power. As legendary gymnast Li Ning, a six-time Olympic medalist and sporting-wear tycoon...
...fared as well in China. The well-regarded German coach of China's canoeing and kayaking team was sacked less than two months before the Olympics were to begin. In July, the Serbian manager of China's Olympic men's soccer squad was also axed. And last spring, the French coach of the women's national soccer team was let go in a particularly frosty manner - her dismissal came by email. All three foreigners were replaced by local counterparts. The Chinese sports system, it turns out, prefers "Made in China...