Word: lavish
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...John Paul II had hosted a groundbreaking gathering of world religious leaders in Assisi, Italy. Some viewed the Pope's absence as a slap to those working for inter-faith dialogue, both inside and outside the Catholic Church. On Sunday, however, Benedict will be center stage at the most lavish, and well-attended, inter-religious ceremony of his papacy, organized by the same Sant'Egidio community that helped launch Assisi. What has changed? Why is Benedict marking 21 years since "the spirit of Assisi" was uncorked, after skipping out on the 20th anniversary...
Indeed the culture still celebrates people like Jamal Hamieh, a down-to-earth but shrewd farmer from Taraya village. Protected by a private army drawn from the Hamieh clan, he hosted Mafia dons, Colombian drug lords and New York gangsters, and threw lavish parties for top Syrian military intelligence officers based in the Bekaa, plying them with whisky, women and thick wads of $100 bills. Hamieh received expensive presents in return from his grateful clients. One gift was a brand-new Porsche which Hamieh, unaware of the car's status value, blithely destroyed in a matter of days by driving...
...limits. After seventh-grader Graeme Frost gave his Sept. 29 Democratic radio address in support of the contentious State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill, conservative bloggers went after him and his family, claiming the Frosts send Graeme and his sister to fancy private schools, own a lavish house and are too wealthy to receive state health coverage...
During the opening months of his presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy earned lavish praise and applause for his active engagement and seeming omnipresence on the international stage. But now hunkered down to face a series of daunting challenges at home, the French President is steeling himself for several stressful months of grappling with economic malaise, social conflict and an increasingly chilly relationship with France's voters...
...military continues to enrich itself through timber, mineral and natural-gas deals with Burma's neighbors. In 2005, the junta mysteriously moved the nation's capital from Rangoon to a new city called Naypyidaw, carved out of the jungle at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. A lavish military retreat complete with a man-made beach is also being built near Maymyo, where the Defense Services Academy is located. While the military élite bunkers itself in rarefied surroundings, ordinary Burmese are suffering. Educational funding has dried up, and the World Health Organization estimates that the junta annually...