Word: kingdoms
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...fizzled. On opening night, sitting in the splendor of the Bird's Nest Stadium, were two men who have at times been among China's most vocal Western critics: George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They knew this was China's moment. Back in the Middle Kingdom's heyday, dignitaries from elsewhere in the world would come to pay tribute to the Emperor, an acknowledgement of China's power. As legendary gymnast Li Ning, a six-time Olympic medalist and sporting-wear tycoon, soared through midair to light the Olympic cauldron, the world bore witness to the unmistakable...
...three teenage girls sniffing glue in the back of the bus must have thought the fumes had melted their brains. Here they were in the North African kingdom of Morocco, riding into a slum in the town of Salé. Yet as they peered through the window of the bus, they could see a giant poster on the side of a house, featuring a leering Saddam Hussein holding a rifle. Stranger sights lay ahead: as the bus rounded a corner, the street was full of Iraqis and American soldiers in Humvees...
Islamic-affairs officials know that simply advocating a more open and compassionate version of the faith is not enough to counter the radicals' incendiary message. What happens inside the kingdom's mosques is also now under scrutiny. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs suggests bland sermon topics - one recent theme was road safety - and the Ministry has passed out a guideline of dos and don'ts for the imams. Many mosques have been equipped with closed-circuit TVs so officials can monitor what goes on inside...
...identify her as the woman on the plane. (I also had to Google another Thai weightlifter, but that was because I was not entirely sure of the spelling of Prapawadee Charoenrattanatharakul, whose surname is also written Jaroenrattanatarakoon). The history of Thai women's weightlifting is short but impressive. The kingdom's first-ever female gold medalist was a weightlifter at the Sydney Games in 2000. In Athens, the female squad won two more golds. China, which dominates weightlifting, will be a formidable opponent, but Thailand's sports officials are predicting at least a medal or two in the discipline...
...opposition to what they see as the U.S.'s abrogation of human rights as well as violations of law and British sovereignty. Says the chief spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: "Our intelligence and counterterrorism relationship with the U.S. is vital to the national security of the United Kingdom. We accept U.S. assurances on rendition in good faith. But if others have definitive evidence of rendition through the U.K. or our overseas territories, including Diego Garcia, then we will raise it with the U.S. authorities...