Word: hugeness
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...During the boom years, banks lent vast sums of money to developers as property fever gripped the newly wealthy nation. But when the bubble burst with the global meltdown last year, these unpaid loans left huge holes in the banks' books and the liberal lending of the Celtic Tiger era came to an abrupt halt. To steady the ship, the government placed a blanket guarantee on deposits in six Irish banks last September. At the time, according to Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, it was "the cheapest bailout in the world." But that claim soon came back to haunt...
...case could decide the political futures of both men. But as all of France watches agog, it has also come to symbolize the huge chasm in class and upbringing at the heart of France's political class and the country itself. "Their confrontation isn't just one of politics and ideology, but a battle of culture and class between the petit bourgeois and the aristocrat; between the lofty, cerebral leadership figure and the pragmatic official driven to get things done - and it cuts across France's entire political landscape," says political analyst Stéphane Rozès, president...
...miles away down the Mombasa road. One night a park warden, driving from the Mombasa direction, came across some fresh elephant dung. He took some and left it on a park road where his scouts would be sure to find it on their dawn patrol. His prank was a huge success. Duncan McCormack, HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND...
...Northwest. The new technology does have support - for now. Fuels for Schools is a six-state program funded by federal and state money that helps to retrofit school boilers, switching them from burning oil and gas to wood. Starting in Vermont, it spread westward, giving budget-strapped local districts huge savings and a way to cut into buildups of forest deadfall that might otherwise fuel wildfires. However, it is now almost out of federal money. Even after the program helped retrofit heating systems in 10 Montana schools, the last state legislature refused to renew appropriations...
...Afghanistan war drags into its ninth year and the Iraq war its seventh year, the European Union faces a unique challenge in trying to stop refugees from these countries. Unlike the huge numbers of Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, Iraqi and Afghan migrants face only an overland journey - though one that can take months. Once they reach the E.U., usually by crossing from Turkey into Greece, migrants can easily slip over internal E.U. borders, crossing numerous countries without detection. Many of them attempt to make it Britain, where they speak the language and have relatives. Those...