Word: began
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Success is by no means assured. McChrystal's order to keep Afghan civilian casualties low, for example, may be politically savvy, but in the short term it can be militarily fraught. Before the Helmand offensive began, U.S. troops called in an air strike on a compound after coming under fire from it. A number of civilians died, and McChrystal was not pleased. "I want you all to stop dropping compounds," he quietly told the 100 members of his staff gathered inside his command center and others linked via video. "Yes, sir," responded the commander involved. Three days later, when troops...
...Whatever else we take away from Palin's abrupt announcement that she is quitting, she has proved that her low opinion of government includes even her own powers and prerogatives. As she put it in her farewell speech - the one that began "Hi, Alaska!" - the governor's office is no longer a place for "productive, fulfilled people ... choosing to wisely utilize precious time." A lot of conservative politicians stop wanting smaller government the minute the government is them. Then they discover that they like the trappings, earmarks and junkets, the plums for friends. For Palin, the job offered little more...
...recession continues to bite, sex workers from Bangkok to Berlin share Goy's frustration. "People just don't spend that freely anymore," says Anke Christiansen, co-founder of Hamburg's Geizhaus ("Das Original Discount Bordell") where visitor numbers have dropped by as much as 20% since the crisis began. "Customers who used to come to us three times a week now limit themselves to once a week." That newfound restraint has already forced some brothels to shut their doors. In the Czech Republic, where 14% of men admit to having slept with a prostitute, up to half...
...During the final stretch of the presidential election last fall - when Diarra's fantasy of an African American in the White House began to seem probable - he downloaded a new ringtone onto his phone, of Obama chanting "Yes we can! Yes we can!" As the election results rolled in, Diarra joined the celebrations on Bamako's streets, and changed his ringtone again, to Obama's victory song by Stevie Wonder, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," which he has kept ever since. His taxi's dashboard is decorated with stickers of Obama's face. And during the hours he spends chugging through Bamako...
...most part, the crowd remained nonviolent, though at one point young men began to throw rocks from an alley at passing soldiers. When the small group of soldiers retreated, the man in front of the protesters threw up his hands in victory to the cheers of the crowd. As a procession of men carrying flower arrangements commemorating the 1999 student uprising went by, a bystander explained that these men were the first to be attacked...