Word: siphon
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Since mainland Chinese make up a third of visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland, some fear that the Shanghai park will siphon tourists away from the former British colony, which is part of China but has a semi-autonomous government (mainland tourists must obtain visas to visit Hong Kong). Since opening four years ago, Hong Kong Disneyland has underperformed due to its small size - at 300 acres, it's the smallest of any Disney park - as well as high ticket prices and competition from a nimble competitor called Ocean Park. (Read "The Fifth Happiest Place on Earth...
...with security forces in the capital, Libreville, while others in the main economic city of Port-Gentil ransacked shops, set fire to the French consulate and attacked the compound of French oil giant Total. Their grievances were clear: after having helped Omar Bongo squash his political opponents and allegedly siphon off a vast fortune from resource-rich Gabon's coffers, protesters say, French officials now stand idle as Ali Ben Bongo uses that money and inherited influence to steal a presidential election of his own. (See pictures of Africa...
...France's coddling, critics have long complained, has allowed its client regimes in Africa to quash political opposition, shackle democracy and siphon off untold fortunes from the national coffers for their personal use - even donations to French political parties of all stripes. According to the Transparency International complaint that Desset has decided to investigate, the Bongo and Sassou-Nguesso families hold 70 and 111 bank accounts in France respectively, and own a total of 31 pricey homes or buildings in and around Paris. They also boast entire fleets of cars in France. Listed in the Obiang Nguema family's holdings...
...thousands of tourists who flock to Potosi each to see the Salar's sprawling white desert and sleep in a hotel made entirely of salt. Lithium is found in the water in the area, but instead of unsightly pipelines, the lithium-mining process will use hidden underground ones to siphon the water from below the Salar's surface to extract the lithium carbonate...
...college go anyway, and then expect a good-paying job when they graduate," says the human-resources executive. Two years ago, the central government implicitly acknowledged this problem when it announced a plan to increase the number and quality of vocational schools throughout the country, hoping to siphon off some of the kids going to universities while still providing them with decent job opportunities. Employers say it's too early to say whether the program has been effective. He Lingyan, who runs a fast-growing industrial pipe - manufacturing company in Zhejiang province, says that when he needs engineers, "I look...