Word: fasts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...climate change. Breakneck growth and dilapidated infrastructure have already made flooding a fact of life in many cities. Now urban Asia must brace for sea-level rises, tidal surges, extreme weather and other climatic horrors. From ports in China and India to delta populations in Vietnam and Burma, this fast-developing region has most of our planet's urban dwellers - and its most vulnerable cities. Asia is not alone, however. From Mombasa to Miami, climate change imperils 3,351 cities lying in low-elevation coastal zones, says UN-HABITAT, the U.N. agency for human settlements. Places that once thrived because...
...McMansion, perhaps the most garish symbol of the age of real estate excess, is fast becoming a relic. For the first time in 15 years, the average size of a new house is falling, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders. That fits shifting demographics. As baby boomers gray, fewer people have kids at home. In 2000, 33% of households included children; by 2030, only 27% will. "Single people and households without children don't want big houses on big lots," says Arthur Nelson, director of metropolitan research at the University of Utah's College of Architecture...
...with the peak of flu season fast approaching, such predictions will soon be put to test...
...state where the principal effect of well-intentioned, piecemeal efforts at health reform has been to ignite an explosion in medical costs. Maine, whose insurance market is dominated by one large firm, pays some of the highest premiums in the country, and they are rising nearly four times as fast as wages are. Much of that is falling on the small businesses that are the heart of the state's economy. Left to fend for themselves, they do not have the clout it takes to negotiate lower rates...
...More than additional U.S. troops, Afghanistan needs a leader who can deliver - and do it fast. Is Karzai able to be that leader? "Despite all the deal-making he's done to get elected, is it in his character to turn around and look at things in a gimlet-eyed [pragmatic] way?" asks one Western diplomat. Karzai's past record would say no. But lately, as he paces through his palace garden, with his bodyguards always in his shadow, he must have realized the extent to which the diplomatic community and his own people have forsaken him over the election...