Word: moderns
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...these are of very little importance to Turkey. This country, whose strategic value has been vastly overestimated, continues to bully, demanding that the E.U. adapts to its unacceptably low standards, instead of making some serious efforts both in domestic and foreign policy to rise to the level of a modern, Western democratic country. Georgios Kapellakos, KHALKIS, GREECE
Known as "red devils," these graffiti-covered relics offer one of the few relics of Panama City's origins. Now a glitzy swirl of modern high-rise apartments, shimmering financial towers, cocktail parties and plastic surgery, the city was once just another of the squat and unpretentious capitals that dot Central America - almost all serviced by aging Bluebird buses, handed-down to the countries by U.S. school districts looking to dump their old fleets for newer models of transport. See pictures from Panama's historic 2006 vote on the canal...
Plus, these clunky reggaeton-rockin' menaces don't fit the sleek, cosmopolitan image of today's Panama City, which now has First World aspirations. After several years of unparalleled economic growth and construction, it wants a modern transportation system to fit its sophisticated and worldly ambitions. But getting rid of the second-hand busses has become one of the trickiest parts of Panama City's extreme makeover - and now a central issue in the May 3 presidential elections. "All modern cities have a metro system," said presidential frontrunner Ricardo Martinelli, during a recent speech to the city's top business...
...downtown Panama. "But you don't see these buses in Miami." And getting rid of the demon buses has become an infernal task for the government. The current administration's plan to indemnify bus owners $25,000 each to remove their buses from the road and replace them with modern new buses got tangled up in conflicts of interests that made it all the way to Panama's Supreme Court. So far, the government has only managed to remove 30 of the 800 red devils, which have yet to be replaced, putting an even greater strain on the beleaguered transportation...
...devils continue to rumble down the streets of Panama, colorfully resisting the calls for modernization. Who knows? The way things are going in the rest of the "first world," it might not be too long before second-hand school buses start looking more like the future of modern transportation, rather than its past...