Quotes of the Day

Microsoft just can't seem to get a break in Europe. After a U.S. judge gave Bill Gates a victory by approving his company's settlement with the Justice Department, E.U. regulators last week argued that their own case against the software giant was significantly different and vowed to press ahead. That may be based on pride as much as uniqueness: the U.S. decision addresses one core E.U. issue by forcing Microsoft to share information to make Windows work with competing server software, while the other key issue — bundling extra programs into Windows — has been remanded to an appeals court for further review.

Even if Microsoft prevails, the victory may be hollow. As the rise in the open-source Linux operating system (invented in Finland 11 years ago) shows, Microsoft is increasingly having to move from a world of tight control to one of open standards. Last week the largest European manufacturer committed to a Microsoft-powered Smartphone, Britain's Sendo, abandoned the project just weeks before launch. Now, Sendo will develop a new phone that uses open-source software from Finland's Nokia, which makes customizing phones for specific operators easier. In other words, Europe's courts aren't the only ones that can pressure Microsoft to open up — the firm's own clients have clout too, and they may be the most persuasive.

BEVERAGES
Muslims Sip The 'Real Thing'
as soft-drink marketing goes, it's a bit more inflammatory than "the real thing." "Each time someone buys a Mecca-Cola," says the entrepreneur who has taken orders for 1.5 million bottles of the drink in Europe, "they're saying to George Bush, and the war-criminal Sharon, we don't agree with your policies." Responding to calls for a boycott of U.S. products across the Middle East, French Muslim Tawfiq Mathlouthi has rolled out Mecca-Cola in outlets across France, Belgium and Germany just in time for Ramadan. In the wake of a CNN report, 5 million more provisional orders poured in from the Middle East. "The goal is not to compete with another soft drink, or to reject an American one," says Mathlouthi. Instead, he pledges that 10% of his profits will go to Palestinian charities. Coca-Cola is unlikely to be too philanthropic toward Mecca-Cola, whose logo seems familiar. Coca-Cola representatives say they're "looking into" any similarity. But the company is famous for defending its trademarks; while Mecca-Cola says its targets are elsewhere, Coke's lawyers might already be seeing red.

THE BOURSE
All Fall Down
Just when you think the apocalypse at Switzerland's largest life insurer, Swiss Life, must be complete, in swoops another horseman. Last week CEO Roland Chlapowski became the second top executive to be ousted in nine months; the next day board chairman Andres Leuenberger resigned. The 145-year-old company's share price has plunged 80% this year, and investors have turned their wrath on the board and management as investigators have widened their probe into accounting errors and a secret investment scheme that some executives allegedly used to enrich themselves. New CEO Rolf Dörig certainly doesn't have an enviable task. The company will press ahead with a sorely needed rights issue to raise up to $825 million this week, even as investigators and analysts look for more cracks in the firm's foundation. Perhaps his first move should be to take out a policy on himself.

INDICATORS
Above, Or Out Of, The Fray?
Whether they cut, thrust or stood still, central banks brought gloom last week. After the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed rates from 1.75% to a 40-year-low of 1.25%, many saw it as a sign of deep economic trouble, and markets fell. Then the European Central Bank kept its rate at 3.25%, prompting concerns that it wasn't doing enough for the economy — and markets fell more.

Right To Work Harder
Unionists from South Korea's largest industries launched a strike to keep the government from cutting the workweek from 44 hours to 40. The strikers won, and parliament shelved the bill, but with goals like that, Korea's unions probably won't be forming a pact with European counterparts soon.

Still Up In The Air?
Transatlantic flights may get cheaper and more competitive, but not right away. Europe's high court said bilateral deals between E.U. states and the U.S. amounted to illegal protectionism. The court gave the European Commission the right to negotiate future Europe-wide agreements, but not to override national governments completely.

China Gets In The Zone
China signed an agreement with Southeast Asian nations to create the world's largest free-trade zone, which will include 1.7 billion people.

BOTTOM LINES
"We have found a solution that even the best economists have never thought of."
Ion Cotescu, union leader at Romania's ARO Campulung car factory, on workers' plans to pay the plant's €20 million debt by selling their semen

"I can't respond to the deputy of the deputy of the American deputy secretary."
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's President-elect, on criticism by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick

"It is glorious to be allowed to join the party. But the membership fee is very high."
Xiang Shaoliang, CEO of Baopu Garment, on Chinese Communist Party plans to admit entrepreneurs

• BLAINE GRETEMAN and ADAM SMITH
• If Bill thought his problems were over, he's got another think coming