Word: scheming
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...country where politics and corruption seem as closely linked as mango and sticky rice. Nor is it significant to them that during his 15 months in power the Prime Minister has unveiled a raft of poor-friendly policies, from land reform to 15 years' free education to a pension scheme for lower-income families. "When there are divisions, people can become quite emotional," laments Panitan Wattanayagorn, Abhisit's spokesman. "Their liking or not liking you doesn't seem to depend on how good your programs are." (Read "Parsing the Color Codes of Thailand...
...just like in Avatar, but the trip is longer and way swoopier. Ancient warriors strut their testosterone in approved Beowulf or 300 fashion. A kid befriends an otherworldly creature - a flame-spuming update of the alien from E.T. - and tries to hide him from adults. It's a foolproof scheme for picture making: take the plot elements of favorite movies, paint the concoction with bright colors so it looks like the zazziest customized car, set it running at NASCAR speed - then add 3-D - and you have How to Train Your Dragon, the new feature from DreamWorks animation...
...diagnose these complaints. First, the 3-D makeover. Yes, it is nothing but Warner Bros.' scheme to fleece an extra $3 or $4 from the moviegoer's pocket. Yes, the retrofit adds nothing to Clash of the Titans, and may detract from the film's old-fashioned vigor, as audience's wait in vain for some big monsters-in-your-lap moment. (And it's rated PG-13 - unlike 300, its recent ancestor in the antique-Greek action genre - so the hacked-off-arm opportunities are also limited.) But at least this transfer to 3-D doesn't substantially darken...
...tactic is to simply relabel torture implements that are on the E.U.'s list of banned products. For example, electroshock weapons like stun belts - which are placed around detainees' limbs and emit a shock if they get out of line - are sometimes renamed "stun cuffs," Amnesty says. Another scheme is to sell "dual-use" items, such as leg shackles and stick batons, which are allowed to be exported for policing and security purposes. The trade in dual-use products is meant to be closely monitored, but Amnesty says little is being done to make sure the devices are not being...
...border to the U.S.-Mexican border, and his security challenges to U.S. terrorism challenges. That may be a stretch. Gaza, a tiny, densely packed territory fenced in by Israel and run internally by the militant Islamist group Hamas, is hardly Mexico. But North Sinai's significance in the broader scheme of Egyptian national security is huge. Egypt fears spillover from Gaza's internal crises and has warned of foreign-terrorist infiltration via the tunnels. Asked about a recent protest outside a state security center by several dozen Bedouin women who were demanding trials or release for their loved ones...