One Week Later....

McCain: decisive victory

In Tuesday, choose day, we wrote that the Republicans, rather than the Democrats, appeared poised to unite behind a front-runner after 'Super Tuesday'.

• John McCain scored a decisive victory in the primary battle for the Republican presidential nomination, while the Democrats split between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The results leave McCain a prohibitive favourite for the Republican nomination while ensuring that the Democratic contest remains viable until early March at the earliest.

Monoline worries

In Monoline shock wave, we wrote that monoline insurers have potential to send shock waves through the financial system.

• Bond insurers including Ambac, FGIC, MBIA and SCA continue frantic efforts to raise capital to avoid downgrades.
• Banks with exposure to the insurers are in talks about providing capital

Ukraine wins WTO entry

In  WTO embraces Ukraine, we wrote that the WTO's General Council should endorse Ukraine's membership. This would allow the former Soviet republic, a highly productive agricultural and steel economy, to enter ahead of Russia.

• WTO members approved the accession agreement last week in Geneva.
• Ukraine now has until July 4 to ratify the accord and will become a WTO member 30 days after that.

Political Masterstroke

The World Next Week Political Masterstroke award goes to Deep Purple. The rockers are heading to Moscow as a farewell gift to First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the man who is chairman of state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and who will likely be the country's next president.

Analytica™

Worthy of note, or news to us.

Romney bows out

Mitt Romney is preparing to withdraw from the race for the Republican party nomination for the US presidency. (BBC)

OSCE boycotts Russia

The OSCE, Europe's main election watchdog, has said it will boycott Russia's presidential election on 2 March. (BBC)

And finally…

Windows Mobile falls behind iPhone in latest mobile-market numbers