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Grounding the Low-Cost Flyers
The big European airlines have finally found a way to clip the wings of Ryanair and other soaring low-cost rivals: the courts. Last week, Ryanair said it would suspend its four daily flights between London and Strasbourg as of Sept. 25 after a French court upheld an Air France complaint charging unfair competition. To attract Ryanair, Strasbourg's chamber of commerce and local authorities agreed last year to contribute €1.4 million to cover the airline's marketing costs over three years.

Air France halted its Strasbourg-London service in June after seven months of grueling competition; it flew about 30,000 passengers on the route per year, while Ryanair has transported 110,000 so far in 2003. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary tells TIME the incentives are not illegal subsidies and "we're absolutely certain we'll win on appeal." But the issue will continue to dog Ryanair and its rivals until a definitive ruling by the E.U. Commission. There's no indication

INDICATORS Drug Deal On the eve of talks in Cancún, the World Trade Organization's executive council approved a deal granting poor countries access to cheaper drugs, after the body's 146 members had agreed to ease patent rules for vital treatments. And When Will He Retire? Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, 66, floated plans to raise the retirement age by five years to 62. Unions vowed to fight it. Coming Clean U.S. hotel chain Holiday Inn declared its first Towel Amnesty Day, inviting light-fingered guests to send in their tales of petty crime — but not towels

when that may come; the E.U. is looking into Ryanair's deal with another airport, Belgium's Charleroi. Says O'Leary: "It'll either mean there's a future for low-cost airlines or it will shut [us] all down."

Online Trading Like It's 1999
You might have thought that online stock brokers had disappeared along with the Furby. But surprise: the rebounding stock market is lifting the online brokerage boats into real profits. Says Angus Rigby, vice president of U.K. online broker, TD Waterhouse: "We've learned which costs to cut, and now an uptick in [trading] volume means a surge in profits."

Talk about an uptick — Rigby says his company has done 70% more trades this year than last. On the Continent, volumes are up less dramatically, but profits are still impressive. Commerzbank subsidiary Comdirect, for example, generated more than six times as much profit in the first half of 2003 than in the first half of 2002 on a volume increase of just 9.2%. Brokerage consultant Patrick Young says it's about time: "It shouldn't have taken so long to figure out you don't get qualified investor leads by advertising on Yahoo's astrology page." Maybe there's hope for Furby yet. — By STEVE ZWICK

New WorldCom Order
A U.S. court-appointed monitor announced an overhaul of bankrupt telecom giant WorldCom's corporate governance, as Oklahoma filed criminal charges against the company — now known as MCI — and six former executives, for giving false information to investors.

The Bottom Line
	Siemens [no longer] works in Marks, Alcatel in Francs and Nokia in Markka. It is all the euro zone now.
		CARL-HENRIC SVANBERG, Ericsson CEO, threatening to leave Sweden if its voters reject the euro this month