1.   All the doom-and-gloom stories spread across the globe over the last few weeks are making normally sanguine residents of this thriving metropolis cranky.

2.   But all the doom-and-gloom stories spread across the globe over the last few weeks are making normally sanguine residents of this thriving metropolis cranky.

3.   Reminders of Deng, who dreamed of visiting this thriving metropolis before his death, were everywhere this week.

4.   Thrush noted that the World Trade Center was targeted as a symbol of world capitalism and a thriving metropolis.

5.   Luzhkov is extremely popular in Moscow for turning a drab Soviet city into a thriving metropolis.

6.   Researchers say the site shows evidence of being a thriving inland metropolis that lasted for hundreds of years and then declined into oblivion.