Word: referendum
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Susan Boyle - Scotland's least processed export since steel-cut porridge oats - would triumph. Nor were viewers drawn simply by the lure of car-crash television amid frenzied media speculation that Boyle or some other vulnerable contestant might crack on camera. The BGT final was nothing short of a referendum on Britain, a chance for a country beset by economic woes, battered by political scandals and humbled on soccer fields to vote itself a new and better image. (See TIME's photo essay "Susan Boyle's Road to Fame...
...Another question on current events: The California Supreme Court has ruled to uphold Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage. What are your thoughts on that? Well, I think the will of the people in California was clear. This was a popular referendum, highly publicized and voted on by millions of Californians, and I think the court ought to leave the decision of the people alone. (See a visual history of the gay-rights movement...
...more palatable politician to Beijing than his more confrontational predecessor, Chen Shui-bian. China's leaders ultimately want the island and the mainland to reunite. During his eight years as President, Chen irked Beijing by flirting with ways of making Taiwan more formally independent, such as scheduling a referendum on applying for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan. Ma, on the other hand, has promised not to declare Taiwan an independent state, a position that has made it easier for Beijing to cooperate with Taipei. During China's National People's Congress in March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao dangled...
...president hinted that he may ratify the reform blueprint if Ireland does - Irish voters turned down the treaty in a referendum last June and another vote is scheduled for the fall. (Since the treaty needs unanimous approval, the Irish rejection essentially blocks it from going into effect.) "The Lisbon Treaty is dead for the moment," Klaus said after the Senate vote. "Therefore, my decision on its ratification is not on the agenda for the time being." The president's followers in the Senate also plan to challenge the treaty in the Constitutional Court, the Czech Republic's highest court...
...leaves the barricade when it becomes indefensible." In a sign that he may not intend to kill the reform pact outright, Klaus gave up a chance to chair the E.U.'s June summit in Brussels, at which E.U. leaders plan to appease Irish voters before Ireland holds its new referendum. (The summit will instead be chaired by new Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, who supports the treaty...