Word: grand
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...conventional way to take the measure of an athlete is to concentrate on the numbers: Grand Slam or PGA titles, touchdown passes, new records. By that yardstick alone, a racehorse called Silent Witness was a winner many times over. Just retired, Silent Witness was unbeaten at his first 17 starts, eclipsing the 16-win streaks of past greats Ribot, Citation and Cigar. For three years running (2003 to 2005), the Paris-based International Federation of Horseracing Authorities ranked him the world's fastest sprinter. And over five seasons of racing, he amassed $8 million in prize money. Yet those numbers...
...contest pits the Grand Mosque of Paris and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France against the editors of the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, in a lawsuit citing anti-racism laws over the magazine's February 2006 publication of those Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that caused a global uproar. The complaint describes the decision to reprint the drawings as "born of a simplistic Islamophobia and purely commercial interests"; as having "insulted people on the basis of religion"; and as a "provocation aimed against the Islamic community...
...Already, it's been quite a ride. The season opened last October in grand fashion, with orchestra maestro Zubin Mehta conducting Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, and tenor Peter Seiffert - deemed "the best Florestan [Fidelio's leading man] performing today" by one critic - leading a stellar cast. On Dec. 2, however, a mechanical failure of the hall's stage works that forced the cancellation of several performances demonstrated just how risky and tenuous such triumphs can be. A temporary fix has salvaged the season, but the brief hiatus turned the spotlight on the scale of Valencia's ambition...
...Valencia make this high-stakes bet? Status has something to do with it. In a world where opera is still seen as the highest of high culture, a striking new theater immediately heralds grand ambition. "Valencians are trying for something iconic," says Nicholas Payne, director of Opera Europa, the chief organization for professional opera companies and festivals on the Continent. "They're looking at Madrid and Barcelona, and saying, 'We're just as good...
...agitated TV cameraman sits on the edge of a couch. "Have you seen him?" I ask. "If I had seen him I wouldn't be here," he snaps. So we head out again, popping our heads into every club and casino we see. At the Grand Emperor Hotel, its entrance fronted by two gilded carriages, we ride an escalator to the amplified sound of jangling coins broadcast through the sound system. I doubt he's really here, but on a floor of slot machines, I ask hotel staff to page Mr. Kim. The woman behind the desk stares...