Word: appearance
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Zahir claims that Marjah is "70% under control," but he adds that at night, masked Taliban fighters appear at houses and threaten to behead people if they work with the government. The insurgents need the farmers to stick with the poppy. According to U.N. experts, last year the Taliban reaped nearly $300 million from the drug trade; Afghan officials put the figure far lower, from $80 million to $100 million. Even at the low estimate, says a Western counternarcotics agent, "that's still enough to fuel the insurgency for a year." Nearly all of the Taliban's drug profits came...
...this would appear to be Oxford-educated Abhisit. Aides say he has never to their knowledge consulted astrologers or practitioners of the occult, an aberration which may contribute to his perceived lack of connection to the rural masses. In his video speeches to Red Shirt protesters, Thaksin has accused Abhisit of having no religion. But Wassana believes Abhisit, because of his Thai upbringing, probably has some degree of belief in the supernatural and predicts he will stage a ceremony when the current protests are over to remove the blood curse put on Government House, where he works. At the very...
...Slovak parliament approved a "patriotic act" mandating that every school play the Slovak national anthem on Mondays and that each classroom display a set of state symbols: the flag, the coat of arms, the lyrics to the anthem and the constitution's preamble. However innocuous this all may appear to be, though, Slovaks are outraged that the government is forcing them, by law, to be more patriotic...
...truly national figure. While he had cracked down hard against terrorism and militias, especially the radical Shi'ite followers of Moqtada al Sadr, his support for a government de-Ba'athification committee that banned 500 parliamentary candidates - including many key Sunni politicians - a few weeks before the election appears to have helped fuel Sunni suspicion that he harbored a sectarian agenda. Maliki's troubles have been a boon to the Sadrists, who entered the election as the junior partner in the INA. But the Sadrists appear to be among the big winners of the elections ? and stand...
...Another major stumbling block in the negotiations to form a government will be the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the other disputed areas in northern Iraq. In a surprising turnaround, the Kurdish parties appear to have lost Kirkuk by a slim margin to Allawi's list, which has taken a hard line against Kurdish claims to the city. Since Maliki - whose current government was installed with Kurdish support, but dragged its feet on Kurdish claims to Kirkuk - now has fewer possible partners to form a government, he may find himself more dependent on them than ever. And that would...