Word: makeshifts
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Last September, when French authorities sent riot police to raze "the Jungle," a makeshift camp near Calais, they made sure plenty of international media were on hand. By closing the camp and dispersing its population of clandestine aliens who were awaiting a chance to sneak across the Channel to Britain, the authorities aimed to provide clear proof of France's determination to battle illegal immigration. But less than three months later - with TV cameras gone - humanitarian workers are struggling to deal with problems that have actually been exacerbated by the raid...
Every year, hundreds of migrant workers arrive at makeshift sapphire and ruby mines near Pailin, Cambodia, risking their lives to unearth gems in the landmine-ridden territory. Soon, however, they could be the ones to put millions of others at risk. On the Thai-Cambodian border, a rogue strain of malaria has started to resist artemisinin, the only remaining effective drug in the world's arsenal against malaria's most deadly strain, Plasmodium falciparum. For six decades, malaria drugs like chloroquine and mefloquine have fallen impotent in this Southeast Asian border area, allowing stronger strains to spread to Burma, India...
...heavy. In a rural suburb of Dera Ismail Khan, Hayat Khan, 55, gives a tour of a cramped, mud-walled two-room home where he brought 10 members of his family to join the 12 who already live there. A deep hole in the ground serves as a makeshift toilet. Barefoot children run around, their hair streaked red and large brown spots on their faces - both signs of severe malnutrition...
...Larry Walters, known in the press as Lawn Chair Larry. On July 2, Walters, a truck driver from Long Beach, Calif., attached 42 helium-filled weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, and with a bottle of soda, a CB radio and a BB gun, lifted off in the makeshift craft, dubbed Inspiration I. Airline pilots were stunned to see Walters float outside their windows, as the chair made it as high as 16,000 ft. (4,800 m) before Walters shot out some of the balloons. His descent was anything but graceful as the balloons struck power lines...
...their part, the Heene family had a keen interest in meteorology and looking for extra terrestrials, which might explain the unique, saucer-shaped design of the family's makeshift craft. Still, the balloon was reportedly never designed to have passengers aboard, a fact that was clear to anyone who watched it careen erratically across the Colorado skies. After almost two hours of nearly continuous coverage of the balloon's flight, it appears the incident will result in little more than an afternoon of media frenzy. The Heene family may share a hobbyist's appreciation of ballooning, but surely they...