But they were breaking an unwritten rule of private business in China: do not grow so big as to make the state covetous.

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One effect has been to make Ireland less envious, and perhaps less covetous, of Northern Ireland, which in the past has always been regarded as the rich neighbour.

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At a time when America urgently needs to rebuild its revenue base and continue unwinding its public debts, it's little wonder that lawmakers cast a covetous eye on the overseas profits of U.S. firms.

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The Latino population in Texas is growing so quickly that Democrats have begun to cast a covetous eye on the state in anticipation of the day when they will have a shot at its 38 votes.

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He was so admiring and covetous of the gifts of those who could produce the transforming miracle of space and structure that he went back to school to get his architecture degree, setting up his practice with a series of experienced and ever-changing partners.

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Besides the threat from cross-border raids by Turkish Kurd guerrillas based in Iraq, the Turks fear that the Kurds in the autonomous enclave in northern Iraq might take advantage of Iraq's chaotic situation and declare an independent Kurdistan, which would then cast covetous eyes on Turkey's sizeable Kurdish areas (see map above).

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