Word: spate
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...with 2.5 million Catholics in nearly 400 churches, on April 15. Known as a staunch defender of church orthodoxy, he is succeeding retiring Cardinal Edward Egan at a crucial time: the church in New York City faces a bleak economic future and is dealing with the fallout from a spate of controversial church and school closings. His résumé indicates that he's well suited for the challenge: Dolan helped unite the fragmented Catholic community in Milwaukee and staved off bankruptcy amid costly lawsuits stemming from the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandals of the 1990s...
...This week's new spate of color-coded dissent underlines not only the political instability that has marked Thai politics for several years now but also the tricky task of what to wear in Bangkok. Thailand is a country obsessed by color scheme. In Bangkok, the hues people wear can indicate everything from their political leanings to the days on which they were born. According to Thai tradition, each day of the week is assigned a color. Born on a Monday? Your lucky color is yellow, as is the case for the country's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world...
...Indian industry officials were just as quick to deny India was violating the international fair-trade standards. "There is nothing protectionist about it," says Anjan Roy, economic affairs advisor at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Roy pointed to a spate of scandals in 2007 over the safety of Chinese-made toys. In August 2007, Mattel, the U.S.'s leading toy company, was forced to recall 9 million of its products made in Chinese factories due to high lead levels in paint and other safety issues. "If it is a very harmful product, India has a right...
...Researchers play down the significance of the unusual spate of attacks. They point out that more people are entering the ocean, increasing the chances of an encounter. "The human population is expanding at a rate of knots," says Rory McAuley, a senior research scientist with the West Australian Fisheries Department. "Not only is it getting larger, it's getting more dispersed, so people are getting into the water over a greater area of the shark's range. It's probably likely to expect to see an increase in shark sightings and attacks...
...International bilked nearly 20,000 people out of $500 million in a pyramid scheme hatched by leader Gerald Payne, who claimed God would double the money of pious investors. (Dominelli pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Payne was convicted and sentenced to 27.) The spate of incidents wasn't limited to the U.S., either. When communism crumbled in Eastern Europe, one of the earliest side effects of free-market capitalism was the proliferation of people looking to get rich quick. In Albania, under Communism the poorest nation in Europe, citizens sank some $1.2 billion dollars...