Word: chokes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...despite the gains of the past decade or so, the same few families and business groups continue to control the region's economy. The 14 clans that commanded El Salvador's vital coffee industry, for instance, have morphed into eight conglomerates in recent years, but they still have a choke hold on the country's finances. In Honduras, such tycoons as José Rafael Ferrari and Freddy Nasser monopolize sectors like broadcasting and energy - and, say analysts, continue to exert incredible influence on the government. Little will change, says Rosenberg, unless those local élites "step up and assume...
...Obama said the country that wins the race to develop renewable forms of energy "will be the nation that leads the global economy." That's something China's leadership heartily agrees with. China has become the world's leading producer of greenhouse gases, and many of its big cities choke on smog from cars and coal-fired power plants. But it is also a global pioneer in renewable energy. The government has mandated that by next year 3% of its power must come from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectricity, in which it is already among the world's top producers. That...
...sphere of influence. A massive deep-sea port being built by Chinese funds and labor at Hambantota, at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, has in particular riled Indian analysts. With a $1 billion facility also under construction in Gwadar, in Pakistan, China will eventually possess key naval choke points around the subcontinent that could disrupt Indian lines of communication and shipping. Reports of a tense standoff earlier this year between Indian and Chinese warships on anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden - though dismissed by both governments - did little to subdue the sense of distrust brewing between policymakers...
...burned more than 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares), threatened thousands of homes and killed two firefighters in the dry heat of late summer. The stillness kept the flames from spreading quickly--a climatologist called it the "Jabba the Hutt fire," big and slow--but left the smoke to choke Los Angeles. By Sept. 2 firefighters had begun to bring the blaze under control, aided by cooler and more humid air, but they know the year is likely to bring plenty more conflagrations...
...Europe wrestles with the challenges posed by climate change, France's new tax is unlikely to be the last. Governments in the E.U. and U.S. have tried other big levers in their efforts to choke harmful emissions in recent years. Large, industrial companies in Europe that pollute beyond acceptable levels have to pay up for the permission to do so, for instance; under plans approved by the House of Representatives in June and currently with the Senate, U.S. firms could be required to do the same. But in its bid to meet ambitious targets on greenhouse gas reductions, Europe looks...