Word: longests
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...Gabon begins a month of mourning and condolences pour in for President Omar Bongo, the world's longest serving President, who died on Monday at 73 in his 42nd year in power, it's worth remembering that Bongo was precisely the kind of leader Gabon, and Africa, could have done without. Gabon has a tiny population (1.4 million) and vast oil reserves, and after four decades of exporting hundreds of billions of dollars of crude, the biggest testament to the corruption and ineptitude of Bongo's rule is that he somehow contrived not to turn his country into an African...
...Area Council, a 64-year-old San Francisco--area business lobby, has proposed a new California constitutional convention, an idea backed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2010 gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman, Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown and, polls suggest, two-thirds of voters. The 1879 state constitution is the third longest in the world, and it has more than 500 amendments. But to gather this convention, Bay Area Council CEO Jim Wunderman has to put an initiative on the 2010 ballot. "It's ironic, right? We need an initiative," he says, "to get rid of the initiative...
...Baltic Dry Index is the worldwide benchmark for shipping rates of raw materials, and it has registered some eye-popping gains over the past month. The London-based index registered its 23rd straight daily gain on Wednesday, closing at 4,291, its highest mark since September and the longest streak of gains since July 2006. Daily rates for the largest Capesize ships, which typically carry iron ore, rose 6.8% on Wednesday to $93,197. Just five months ago, daily ship-rental rates were hovering just above $2,000, about the price of a great seat on opening...
...without a government, which is an al-Qaeda sanctuary and destination of choice for hundreds of foreign jihadists, and where millions need food but where 40 aid workers have been killed since the start of 2008. Somali expert Ken Menkhaus, political science professor at Davidson College, calls it the "longest-running instance of complete state collapse in the post-colonial...
...longest wait for a table in Taiwan is at a restaurant run by a man who says he can't cook. This may be because Shi Yang Shan Fang, tel: (886-2) 2217 7875, is far more than a dining venue. "I really don't possess the techniques that take Chinese chefs a decade to learn - that's why most everything I serve is steamed or dipped, which makes it healthy," claims chef and founder Lin Ping-hui. A former property developer, Lin these days adheres to what he terms the ancient Chinese lifestyle of "humility and cultivating beauty from...