Word: rare
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...according to a veteran ambassador to the Holy See, was likely of a pro forma nature. Such letters are typically handled either by the office of the sostituto, the No. 2 official in the Secretary of State's office or by the Pope's private secretary. "It's very rare to have a letter with the Pope's own signature," says the diplomatic source. In any case, coming in July, it was clearly not a response to Kennedy's death. (See TIME's photo essay "Mourning Ted Kennedy...
...fragmentation of the federal vote forced Merkel into a rare coalition with her political rivals, the SPD. Polls show that in September she has a chance to dump the SPD in favor of a center-right coalition with the FDP - an outcome that, before Sunday, seemed almost a sure thing. But not anymore. "The lesson for Merkel from Sunday is clear: A coalition at the federal level only with the FDP is anything but assured," wrote the conservative daily Die Welt after the state elections. (Read about Merkel in the 2009 TIME...
...electric car, so long promised, may finally be pulling into your driveway. In the U.S., a humbled General Motors just showed off one of its rare rays of light - the plug-in Volt, which GM says will get 230 miles per gallon when it hits roads in late 2010. Daimler is trialing an electric version of its baby Smart car and claims to get the equivalent of 300 m.p.g. In Japan this month, a confident Carlos Ghosn said that Nissan's upcoming, all-electric Leaf will get 367 m.p.g...
...America debates healthcare reform, Britons - and Europeans more widely - have rediscovered how much they love their state-backed health services. Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is a rare example of truly socialized medicine, with universally available treatment administered by the government and funded by the taxpayer. As such, it has become the target of criticism from opponents of President Barack Obama's efforts to introduce greater state involvement in health care, with accusations of "Orwellian" administrators setting a price on life, and doctors abandoning elderly patients...
...financing. The climate-change bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate? Kerry's leading the negotiations. And as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, he has stepped out overseas - and across the aisle in the Senate - to get things done. In a town where second acts are rare, Kerry, 65, has found a new groove. "I think," Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana says, "at least as I have watched him, he does have a great deal more vigor and enthusiasm...