Word: pads
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...slim, tanned Hollywoodians, and the press who stream into Ontario from three continents, TIFF is seen as the launching pad for films that have eyes on the Academy Awards. So do the movies' largest luminaries. Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton will be there in aid of Burn After Reading, a quirky spy caper from Joel and Ethan Coen, who nabbed the top Oscar with No Country for Old Men. George Clooney, another of the film's stars, may not be in Toronto, but he was all over the place last year with Michael Clayton. Matt Damon...
...grilled squid and beer in the air, thousands of citizens from across Thailand grooved to rocking guitar riffs and cheered until their voices grew hoarse. But beneath the revelry lay a measure of menace. These were not simple partygoers but protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who on Aug. 26 besieged Government House, Thailand's seat of power, vowing to occupy the manicured grounds until Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej resigned. At first, the demonstrators - many middle-class professionals who took to hanging their washing lines over Government House's hedge topiaries - clapped as their leaders called...
...Even at the best of times, politics in Thailand hardly hews to the script of a mature democracy. But the current stalemate is rapidly reaching that of political farce, with a distinct possibility of degenerating into tragedy. The PAD demands Samak's ouster but it isn't entirely sure who should lead the country should he resign. The feisty PM has refused to step down, even if he can no longer work at his own office. The impasse has brought parts of the country to a halt. PAD mobs forced three airports in key tourist areas to shutter, and strikes...
...past where the upper class took it upon itself to decide what is best for Thailand? "This way of trying to overthrow the government will create turmoil," warns Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political-science professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, of the opposition alliance's tactics. "If the PAD gets its way, it will do far-reaching damage to our democratic system...
...PAD has charged itself with finding that alternative path. Led by a motley crew that includes a retired army general, a media mogul and a labor activist, it organized anti-Thaksin rallies back in 2006 that swelled to tens of thousands of people before the military finally toppled the former Prime Minister. Back then, the PAD accused Thaksin of graft and human-rights abuses, even going so far as to imply that the telecom tycoon had disrespected Thailand's monarch - an incendiary charge in a country where the King is deeply revered...