Word: strongly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Despite the recession, Halloween is hotter than ever. According to IBISWorld, a market-research firm, Halloween sales will reach a record-breaking $6 billion in 2009, up 4.2% from last year. Retailers from Biloxi, Miss., to Brooklyn, N.Y., are reporting strong Halloween revenue. Over the past four years alone, the Halloween industry - which includes costumes, candy, decorations and greeting cards - has grown a remarkable 48.5%. The holiday even broke sales records in 2008, when the economy was a real horror show. "A year ago, Halloween was all about escaping a crisis," says Toon van Beeck, a senior analyst for IBISWorld...
...question is whether or not the Obama brand, which has been tarnished in recent months, is strong enough to brighten the hopes of the embattled governor. A recent poll by the New York Times found that 51% of state residents disapproved of how Corzine was handling corruption in the state. Even worse, 77% of state residents said that corruption would either increase or stay the same if Corzine was re-elected. Add to that the fact that Corzine's claim to fame is that he once ran Goldman Sachs, the recently bailed-out bank, which has attracted widespread scorn...
...family was the only source of protection and economic support for people. More recently, psychologists and economists believe the mammone problem is rooted in the economic precariousness of a debt-ridden nation that has been in gradual decline since its post-World War II boom. Religious values are still strong too. Until the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church explicitly encouraged a family structure based around a working father and a stay-at-home mother. (See pictures of the good life in Italy...
...sects and semi-nomadic tribes. None has been entirely happy living under the mullahs' Shi'ite theocracy, especially Iran's Sunni citizens, which make up 9% of the population and include most of the Baluch. Iran's minorities have been susceptible to outside influences, but rarely have they felt strong enough to take on Tehran - which fears that that could change with the chaos at its borders. If, for instance, the U.S. were to suddenly pick up and leave Afghanistan, would the new Taliban government resist backing Jundallah? Or if Pakistan fails to subdue the tribal areas...
...behavior - indeed, his very personality - ensures certain things will inevitably come back to bite him," notes John Kent, professor in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics. "He's a bit like [former British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher in the way he'll stake out strong, antagonistic positions that over time undermine his credibility to calmly seek consensus solutions because the atmospheres he creates are more favorable to histrionics...