Word: madrid
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Continental Europeans may have been spared the devastation of jihadist suicide bombings since the deadly March 2004 attacks in Madrid, but on Tuesday morning there was another grim reminder that the threat of terrorism is far from over. Italian police in the southern city of Bari announced that they are holding two French nationals whom authorities call "top-level point men" for "al-Qaeda in Europe" and who were allegedly plotting kamikaze strikes in France and the U.K. - including one purportedly targeting the Charles de Gaulle airport. Counter-terrorism authorities in Paris tell TIME, meanwhile, that they believe the pair...
...governments are already moving. In March, Madrid pledged $1.3 billion to modernize Spain's tourism infrastructure in a bid to fight off competition from sunshine destinations like Turkey and Egypt, which have become more competitive as the euro has appreciated. In Spain's Canary Islands, where tourism represents upwards of 60% of the local economy, the municipal tourism board recently began a series of seminars to help tourism workers cast off their perceived grumpiness; course materials advise cabbies to "ensure your taxis smell nice and don't drive too fast" and remind hotel staff that, "a smile costs nothing...
...fares still bear the original black lettering of previous ownership - the Crookston Public Schools, or some other school district from another place and time. The recycled buses are usually given some sort of minimal window dressing, often in the form of windshield decals featuring Tweety Bird, Jesus, Real Madrid or all three - the "Chicken Bus Trinity." But in Panama, these red devils - nicknamed for their colorfulness and reckless abandon - are given a complete and enthusiastic custom detailing makeover that makes MTV's Pimp My Ride look modest by comparison. (See the 50 Worst Cars of all Time...
...Lone Man makes his way from Madrid to Seville and then into the countryside toward his wealthy target, American, aka the Man (Bill Murray, who starred in Jarmusch's lovely Broken Flowers), he encounters a cast of characters who trade boxes of matches with him and pass on more tidbits of instruction along with commentary on art and culture. There's Guitar (John Hurt), Mexican (Gael Garcia Bernal) and the most helpful of all, Blonde (Tilda Swinton), who is a fan of Jarmusch-style cinema. "The best films are like dreams you're never really sure...
...soil since 911, but there have been violent incidents in Spain, the U.K., India, and a number of other countries where homeland security is not as good as it is in the U.S. The fact that as recently as 2004, terrorists could kill more than 170 people on the Madrid commuter railroad system is an extraordinary reminder that some parts of the social and business infrastructure in the developed world are still terribly vulnerable. The notion that terrorists could attack commuter trains going in or out of New York City is imaginable and, perhaps even possible. (Read a TIME story...