Word: rafts
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Malls are only the tip of the commercial real estate iceberg. Large office buildings in the nation's biggest cities are experiencing growing vacancy rates and a raft of tenants who are behind on their rent payments, or worse, have defaulted. Replacing the tenants is difficult without dropping rents significantly which further compromises the ability of these office building owners to make their own mortgage payments. In is not unlike the problem mall owners face as retail outlets close due to lack of sales...
...engineers' punishment posting is one of the reasons for my presence in Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern Indian state. I had joined an expedition to raft down the Kameng, a savage, white-water river, which roars out of the high Himalayas through jungle canyons that are home to wild elephants, hundreds of orchids and three different species of leopards and tarantulas. The engineers' mission is to divert a tributary of the Kameng and harness its hydroelectricity, and this would be one of the last chances to raft the river before it loses its quicksilver fury. (See pictures of the turning points...
...Nishis gather as we prepare our vessels at the water's edge. "Is it elephant skin?" asks a boy, poking our raft. A Nishi unsheathes his sword from a monkey-fur scabbard, and waves it over his head, dancing. In broken Hindi, he calls out: "Hey! Next time, you bring me a foreign woman!" The Nishi has been impressed by the posters of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in a tea shop up on the road, and believes they may be worth a few wild cattle in trade. As we head into the current, a few younger Nishi gather...
...Within minutes, we hear the roar of rapids around a bend, and the jade-green Kameng turns into a washing machine tossing us around like dirty socks. Giant boulders rush toward us; the raft bucks and rears in the waves, spinning dangerously on the edge of a giant hole that appears in the water. "Left Forward! Hard!" shouts Eamon Maddocks, our guide, as a wave crashes over the bow, submerging us in a sparkling effervescence, an icy electricity. From far away, I discern Eamon's voice, yelling "Paddle! Paddle!" And I do, furiously...
...inside his dilapidated shack in the Harare township of Mbare, primary school teacher Moses Majuru, 40, is both anxious and excited about the week ahead. Life has become a bit easier recently thanks to the Zimbabwean government's decision on Jan. 29 to abandon the Zimbabwean dollar for a raft of foreign currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the South African rand. "I am earning in real money. It feels good," says Majuru. "I can now put food on the table and feed my family." A smile spreads across his face...