Word: worldly
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...around 8% in 2009, although that was an improvement on practically no economic activity at all. "We started from utter lawlessness, virtual disintegration in 2007," says Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister - an economist who graduated from the University of Texas and spent much of his career at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The Palestinian Authority had been sundered by the Hamas coup in Gaza; Fayyad - a technocrat's technocrat - freely admits that governance in the West Bank had long been marked by corruption and ineptitude. "The only way to gain Palestinian statehood," Fayyad says, "was to start...
...thieves in the government. You can't be taken seriously unless you fire people," Fayyad says. As a result, "we're beginning to see some economic growth. Cement consumption is up 30%." Part of the growth has been funded by aid from the U.S., Europe and the Islamic world, which helps pay the salaries of government workers and funds new infrastructure projects. In 2008, Fayyad held a conference in Bethlehem, looking to begin the next phase - private development - and got some takers, including a Palestinian developer named Bashar Masri who is building an entire new city for 50,000 just...
...sale of economy cars. As part of its stimulus efforts, the government halved taxes on vehicles with engines smaller than 1.6 L. Combined with the relative health of the Chinese economy, car sales soared. In 2009 mainland consumers bought more vehicles than their American counterparts, making China the world's largest car market for the first time. Even so, the Hummer was a little too big for their taste...
Could one of the world's most intractable conflicts be close to an end? India and Pakistan's foreign secretaries met on Thursday, the first time the two countries have held official talks since the November 2008 terrorist strike in Mumbai. India blames Pakistan-based terrorist networks for the attacks and has been pushing Pakistan to crack down on jihadist groups targeting India. Pakistan says it is doing all it can. The issue has derailed diplomacy between the South Asian neighbors, but the talks on Thursday could mark the beginning of a new phase of their relationship. The buzz...
...world first fell in love with the mittens, made by the Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Co., during the opening ceremonies, when the Canadians wore them as they circled the track during the parade of nations. With the maple leaf and the five Olympic rings stitched into the gloves, they seemed to cover all the bases - national pride, Olympic fever, the cuteness factor. But it's not just Canadians who are obsessing over them. Oprah herself gave them a shout-out on Feb. 19, lifting their cachet, and sales, into the stratosphere. (See TIME's full coverage...