Word: year
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Fighting, and how. After first opposing his engagement to the 37-year-old Blanca Cuesta, and publicly suggesting in the gossip rags that her son's intended was a gold digger, the former Miss Spain turned baroness refused to attend the wedding. When the couple's son was born in 2008, Tita required the newborn to be DNA tested - five times - before accepting him as her legitimate grandson...
...Controversy and intrafamily feuds are part of the Thyssen dynasty fabric. The Baroness had Borja out of wedlock with a previous paramour but convinced her rich husband, who was 22 years her senior, to adopt Borja and to give him the Thyssen surname. She and Thyssen also adopted two girls. In March 2002, Thyssen, who died later that year, settled an expensive lawsuit with his eldest son over the disposition of the family's $2 billion trust...
...Putin's answer was hardly surprising. In 2008, with the constitution barring him from running for a third four-year term, Putin stepped down as President, chose ally Dmitri Medvedev as a successor and then took the post of Prime Minister for himself. Widely regarded as a placeholder President, Medvedev has no political power base of his own, little charisma and a rather awkward habit of trying to imitate Putin's macho demeanor. Many of his key advisers once worked on Putin's staff...
...Vladimir Putin: TIME's 2007 Person of the Year...
...Some pundits, pointing to Putin's wish to regain full control of the Kremlin as soon as possible, believe he may return to the presidency next year by asking Medvedev to take the fall for the financial crisis and resign. That would trigger a snap election, which Putin would be sure to win. His approval ratings are still around 65%, despite a year that saw an economic recession, spiking unemployment, a sharp currency devaluation, the murder of several human-rights activists and persistent terrorist attacks. (Read "The Man Behind Russia's Deadly Train Blast...