Word: mecca
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Nicaragua has become a mecca for Americans who reject the Reagan Administration's policy of saber rattling and providing covert aid to the contras seeking to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government. Several hundred American residents of Nicaragua lend the government their expertise in such fields as agriculture, health, culture and industry. In addition, "solidarity" groups in the U.S. sponsor as many as ten different delegations every month for brief but busy tours of revolutionary life...
...happens, the admissions office's new film strikes some of the same notes in trying to dispel myths about Harvard. It emphasizes that Harvard is not only a mecca for rich, white WASPS, but rather a meeting-place for people with all types of interests and abilities. During the past year, the admissions office has increased the number of students it sends out into the field to recruit, rewritten many of its brochures, and contacted minority alumni and 10,000 high school guidance counselors around the country to enlist support. All this new propaganda and increased communications effort is designed...
...young farmers, free housing. It also lavishes upon its residents low-interest loans, allowing them to buy so freely that there is now one car for every four residents. Iban tribesmen are flown to Singapore if they need special medical treatment; senior government employees are given free pilgrimages to Mecca. Despite its profligate habits, Brunei still earns up to $1.5 billion more than it can spend each year. Says a ranking civil servant: "People are being overindulged, and there should be a more intense debate on how much they should get without paying...
...heat of a summer's day, the highway curving across the desert from the port city of Jeddah to Mecca blurs into a shimmering ribbon of black. As the temperature climbs into the low hundreds, mishaps multiply: the blacktop is so hot that rubber tires explode and send cars swerving. No matter what the season, however, the same message greets travelers only a few miles outside the holiest of Muslim cities. Non-Muslims, the blue-and-white sign warns in English, must now leave the road. Only Muslims are allowed to visit Mecca; others must take a circuitous detour...
DIED. Jean Troisgros, 56, perfectionist chef of France's nouvelle cuisine; of a heart attack while playing tennis; in Vittel, France. Troisgros and his younger brother Pierre turned their small-town family restaurant in Roanne into a mecca for traveling gourmets. Rejecting the heavy tradition of French haute cuisine, with its sumptuous dishes and rich sauces, the Troisgros brothers highlighted the freshness of ingredients used in such elegantly simple recipes as their classic salmon with sorrel sauce and the eclectic coupe-jarret, which consists of five different meats cooked in a kettle. Dashingly handsome, Troisgros eschewed the globetrotting celebrity...