Word: golden
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...strange move in a part of the world where leaders are none too shy about developing cults of personality. The late ruler of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov - the self-titled Turkmenbashi, or Chief of all Turkmen - erected a golden statue of himself that rotated with the sun, and renamed days and months after family members. In Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev has had not one but two museums built in his honor. During his presidency, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was featured in children's books, his name was printed on women's underwear and portraits of him in various guises - as deep...
...down images of local politicians standing or sitting next to the leader have their work cut out for them, with hundreds of enormous billboards casting shadows over roadways and blanketing buildings across the country. They might soon wish that all they had to do was pull down a rotating golden statue...
Another moment of truth has arrived for California. Back in February, the budget deal crafted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature temporarily kept the Golden State financially solvent. In Tuesday's special election, the electorate must choose among a range of propositions aimed at solidifying that compromise and helping shore up California's shaky finances. So far, however, nearly all the ballot propositions are trailing in the polls - and that could rock the state as hard as a major earthquake. (As if on cue, a sharp 4.7 temblor rattled Los Angeles on Sunday night, raining broken glass...
...crisis is compounded by the way California's government works. In most states, the legislature can pass a budget by simple majority vote. The politicians haggle and horse-trade, but a budget eventually gets passed and life moves on. In the Golden State, bitter partisanship is exacerbated by a constitutional rule requiring a two-thirds majority in the legislature to pass either a budget or new taxes. Meanwhile, the state's nearly 100-year-old system of ballot initiatives has progressively tied state government in Gordian knots...
Tokyo's Harajuku district is where to find Japan's fashion-forward youth. Every weekend, sidewalks disappear under a frenzy of shoppers looking for new trends. The latest: fast-fashion retailing. During the Golden Week holiday in early May, typically a shopping extravaganza, Los Angeles-based chain Forever 21 debuted its flagship store in Japan. Harajuku girls lined up on five floors full of clothes, shoes and accessories in enough of a dizzying array to make any young woman swoon. It wasn't the first time the giants of cheap chic had stormed Tokyo. Last November about 2,500 shoppers...