Word: led
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When Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki parted ways with his Shi'a allies in the ruling Iraqi National Alliance, everyone expected the wily politician, who has led Iraq since April 2006, to come up with a political bloc of his own. On Thursday, Maliki took the stage in the ballroom of Baghdad's upper-crusty Al-Rasheed hotel, before a crowd of more than 500 guests - including American, European and Asian diplomants - and, one by one, 55 leaders of his new "State of Law" coalition came up to join him. It appeared to be a veritable national unity slate, composed...
...formidable organization. Its predominant partners are the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq - the largest Shi'ite political party now led by Ammar al-Hakim, the son of the recently departed and revered cleric Abdulaziz al-Hakim - and the militant Moqtada al-Sadr's party, which has its pulse on the much of the country's poor and frustrated Shi'a underclass. (Read how the shoe-thrower put Maliki in a sensitive spot...
...return to the premiership. No deal. So Maliki decided to gamble on his own prowess, forming a new coalition he touts as nationalist (condemning alleged Syrian support for terrorism in Iraq and promoting a strong central government) as well as anti-sectarian (digs at the INA, which is led by clerics with strong ties to neighboring Iran...
...format produces surprises, but no city has felt the sting more than Pyeongchang, South Korea. Pyeongchang's bids for both the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics were thought to be the favorites of the committee, and in each case, the small city of about 46,000 people led after the first round of voting. But both times, when the third-place city was eliminated, its backers supported competing bids. As a result, Pyeongchang lost two nail biters, surrendering the 2010 Games to Vancouver by three votes and losing out on the 2014 Games to Sochi, Russia, by four votes. Being...
...vote, which Salt Lake City went on to win. The U.S. Department of Justice brought charges of bribery and fraud against two members of the committee, though charges against both were eventually dismissed. No one was convicted of a crime in connection with the incident, but the events led the IOC to create more stringent ethical guidelines for its voting members...