Word: easts
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...small bird found mostly in Southeast Asia that builds its nests from its saliva. Bird's-nest soup is an expensive delicacy served across the Chinese-speaking world, and the basic ingredient is in such demand that nests are sometimes called "white gold" or the "caviar of the East." In Bangkok, an 11-oz. (300 g) box can cost $2,600, while so-called health drinks comprising just 1.1% nest sell for $4 a jar. Aficionados attribute nests with the power to treat everything from cold sores to tuberculosis, and to boost both longevity and sexual prowess...
...undergone a whittling away, amid a steady influx of Han Chinese, who now dominate the local economy. Today, about 70% of Urumqi is Han. The result: resentment and unrest. The past decade has seen a string of bombings by suspected Uighur separatists - the U.S. has classified one organization, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, as a terrorist one - and stern crackdowns by the Chinese authorities. Around last year's Beijing Olympics, an attack in the historic Xinjiang town of Kashgar killed 17 Chinese police. But the region's most serious outbreak of violence took place in Urumqi over three days beginning...
Helmut Kohl could relate. In the 1980s, Germans used to make fun of their Chancellor for his thick Rhineland accent and stumbling speeches. But when more-elegant and eloquent statesmen were dithering after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Kohl seized the moment. He propelled East and West Germany to unification within a year, while others thought that unification, if it happened at all, was a distant prospect. It was Kohl's decisiveness that made him a leader, not his honeyed tone...
...initial phase of President Barack Obama's effort to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process called for confidence-building. While the results haven't exactly inspired confidence in its prospects, Obama may have no choice but to move forward. The President's Middle East envoy, Senator George Mitchell, is scheduled to visit the region during the week of July 20, amid reports that Washington is moving toward outlining a new negotiating process, possibly with fixed timetables for resolving issues. But the palpable distrust each side has shown of the other during Obama's initial mediation effort casts a pall...
...freeze, and he won strong domestic political backing for insisting on "natural growth" construction in existing settlements. Mitchell's visit aims to finalize an agreement on this issue that both sides can live with - the Israelis want to complete some 2,500 housing units already under construction and exempt East Jerusalem from the freeze. (Read about Israeli settlers vs. the Palestinians...