Translated roughly as "best-of-the-shop, " ras el hanout is the distinctive and very personal mix of spices that gives couscous its aroma and depth.

WSJ: Cold-Snap Couscous

Thanks to Singapore's first-past-the-post system, the opposition has never translated its roughly one-third of the votes into more than four seats, and at the last election, in 1997, won just two out of 83 seats.

ECONOMIST: The government is almost unopposed

La Cosa Nostra - roughly translated as "This Thing Of Ours" - has 19th Century roots but its origins are obscure.

BBC: Andreotti escapes conviction

They call this, roughly translated, the gap between church and state.

ECONOMIST: Lubna Hussein makes an ass of the law

It started with a 20-minute ride in a festive horse-drawn carriage to Erhai, (roughly translated as "Ear-Shaped Sea"), an alpine fault lake situated close to Xizhou.

WSJ: Cormorant Fishing in Yunnan Province, China