Word: french
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...initiative is the brainchild of Philippe Douste-Blazy, a former French Foreign Ninister who is now a U.N. Under Secretary charged with finding innovative ways to finance projects. He runs an agency called UNITAID that is attached to the World Health Organization and already channels funds to fight disease in poor countries. UNITAID was founded in 2006. Its $400 million annual budget is funded by Britain, France, Norway, Brazil and Chile. Douste-Blazy is now trying to turbo-charge those efforts by bringing in private donations. He's set up a foundation linked to UNITAID that will collect the voluntary...
...does take off, it will mark a comeback for Douste-Blazy, a medical doctor by training who received withering press at home during his brief stint as Foreign Minister from 2005 to 2007. It's no accident that he's a Frenchman: the French have for several years levied a compulsory tax on airline tickets to help fund development projects and have long sought to get others to join them, with mixed success. Brazil is one of only a few countries to have followed suit. Norway also taxes airline CO2 emissions and uses the receipts for overseas aid. (Read "France...
...most remarkable thing about the Settha Palace Hotel is that it still exists. Built by the French in the 1930s, it was a mainstay of colonial Vientiane and in its heyday was managed by Frenchman Michel Theodas and his Chinese wife Yusin. Their tenure, and an era, ended in 1975 when the communists came to power, seized the property as worker housing and sent the Theodas family packing...
...began the next chapter. After lengthy negotiations, Billy Theodas secured a long-term lease and, in 1999, completed a vastly expensive restoration, footing much of the bill personally. Today, the 29-room hotel again boasts French colonial styling, with four-poster beds and marble bathrooms. The formal dining room, La Belle Epoque, serves French cuisine and seasonal local fare...
...sculptural garments, incorporating pleating, wrinkling and crimping. Recycling has been a common theme among this year's entries, which include pieces constructed from used neckties, old sofa parts and worn-out bicycle tires. Canadian designer Angela Bright has created Let Them Drink Tea - a dress inspired by 18th century French court excess but made with tea bags and coffee filters...