Word: billion
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...span. The Stephenie Meyer phenomenon has now taken in $230.7 million in North American theaters, according to studio estimates. That makes it, after just 10 days, the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2009. New Moon has amassed even more abroad, $243 million, which suggests it will cross the half-billion-dollar worldwide mark in its first two weeks. Not bad for an upstart indie distributor, Summit, and for a movie that cost just $50 million to produce. (See pictures of the New Moon actors...
...Turkmen officials blamed Russia, claiming it had shut the valve on its end, causing pressure to build up and the pipeline to burst, in order to avoid honoring its gas contracts. Moscow strongly denied responsibility. The cost to Turkmenistan in lost gas revenues has been a staggering $1 billion per month. (Read: "Europe Tries to Break Its Russian Gas Habit...
...Iran has also stepped in to fill Russia's shoes as a natural gas middleman. A new gas pipeline connecting Iran and Turkmenistan is expected to open in December, nearly doubling the gas trade between the countries to 700 billion cubic feet a year. Because Iran already has one of the world's largest gas reserves, most of the imported Turkmen gas would be resold for profit. Not to be outdone, China signed a 30-year deal with Turkmenistan in June to buy up to 1.1 trillion cubic feet of Turkmen gas annually, starting in 2011. Work is expected...
...time progressed, there was little sign of preparations for those elections. Then came the bloodshed at the stadium. And in October, the junta announced a massive deal with a group called the China Investment Fund (CIF), which promised to fund $7 to $9 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Guinea in exchange for bauxite and iron mining concessions. (Guinea has some of the world's largest bauxite deposits.) Idrissa Cherif, Camara's spokesman, says the first batch of Chinese money has now arrived and will be spent on "electricity, water, roads and the like." (See life on the Streets...
...goals, their prescription for a better future in Congo. What seems to be most clear is the extent to which the Congo insurgency has become a battle for resources, such as gold, timber and cassiterite, the chief component of tin. Congo estimates that about 40 tons of gold - $1.2 billion worth - is smuggled out of the country each year. Much of it goes through Uganda or Burundi and ends up being sold in the United Arab Emirates, according to the report. The rebels - as well as some members of the Congolese army - have had little trouble circumventing U.N. and government...