Word: arson
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...much of the world, they became iconic of France's worst social ills: the burned-out carcasses of thousands of cars set ablaze during nearly three weeks of nationwide rioting in 2005. But as yet another orgy of automobile arson on Wednesday demonstrated, the torching of cars in France has not only become an everyday event; it's also now a regular form of expression for disenfranchised suburban youths wanting to make sure the rest of the country doesn't forget they exist. And their fiery presence is never felt so strongly as it is each New Year...
...banlieues also lived up to their reputations for frequent car-burning included Strasbourg, Lille, Toulouse and Nantes. Across France, police arrested a total of 288 people on New Year's Eve (vs. 259 the year before) - though not all were charged, and many were apprehended for offenses unrelated to arson. (Read TIME's top 10 crime stories...
...famously serves as the second epigraph to T.S. Eliot's 1927 meditation on despair, "The Hollow Men.") Families gather for food and festivities that might seem incongruous with the event's bloody origins - although perhaps not as incongruous as lighting fireworks and bonfires to celebrate an abortive attempt at arson...
...Three human carcasses have been located inside the burned-out ruin of the compound, along with the remains of three horses and four dogs. All the animals and at least one of the humans had been shot before the house was set on fire. Police suspect arson because the fire appears to have started at three different parts of the property; when firefighters arrived on the scene, a horse trailer with flat tires, placed across the main entrance, hampered their access...
...coarsest and canniest of directors; Meatballs, Stripes and Ghostbusters had no subtlety or style, but all profitably exploited Bill Murray's goofy hipness. Here, however, Reitman misreads the audience's pulse. The villain of Legal Eagles is a pathological firebug, and Reitman tries to play it like Arson and Old Lace. (He punctuates this theme with a performance- art piece by Hannah so bizarre it could empty movie houses quicker than a bomb threat.) Which leaves the top two stars to their own considerable resources of charm and mother wit. Redford looks terrific, and has honed his stutter-step diction...