Word: minority
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...police is that German lawmakers were in such a hurry to approve the money to boost the car industry that they did not create sufficient controls to prevent abuse of the system. Dealers are supposed to scrap the cars, but if they don't, it's only considered a minor violation, not a criminal offense. "It just opens the door for abuse," says Ronald Schulze, an official at the Federation of German Detectives. "We can't charge them with fraud because lawmakers failed to define the crime." (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
Biggs, age 79 and severely ill with pneumonia, remains at a hospital in Norwich, where is to undergo minor surgery. Following a series of strokes, he can no longer walk, is fed through a tube and communicates by pointing to letters of the alphabet on a board. The three prison guards who stood watch over his hospital bed round the clock have been removed. Their departure comes just one day ahead of Biggs' 80th birthday and the 46th anniversary of the train robbery...
Owing to his minor celebrity status, Biggs also recorded vocals for the Sex Pistols song "No One Is Innocent," which refers to the then fugitive in its chorus: "Ronnie Biggs was doing time, until he done a bunk, now he says he's seen the light, and he's sold his soul for punk." (Doing a bunk is a colloquial phrase for leaving without permission, as from school...
...Kibaki insisted during his announcement Monday that the decree does not mean courts will stop issuing death sentences. Indeed, judges will still be obligated to do so even for seemingly minor offenses, including cases of armed robbery where thieves have stolen chickens while wielding nothing more than wooden clubs. Still, the move allows Kibaki to sidestep a thorny political issue: While the death penalty remains popular among Kenyans, he has been loathe to incur criticism from human rights groups by signing execution orders...
...next few months, and an additional 23% said it was "somewhat important." Only 28% found the immediate effort either not very or not at all important. In a separate question, more Americans said it would be better to pass "major reform" to health care (55%) rather than "minor adjustments...