Word: somewhat
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...aftermath, Iraqis have been transfixed by a domestic story. The June 12 assassination of prominent Sunni leader Harith al-Ubaidi threw Iraqi politics into turmoil, raising the frightening prospect of a return to the sectarian war that nearly tore the country apart in 2006-07. Those fears have abated somewhat, but Ubaidi's murder continues to dominate the headlines. "Iranian politics is interesting, but for us, it is a sideshow," says Amr Fayad, a political analyst in Baghdad. "We are worried about our own politics." (See pictures of life returning to Iraq's streets...
...enough folks asked, "Should I see Pelham 1 2 3?" It finished somewhat below industry expectations. But a Sunday-afternoon quarterback has a few explanations. 1. While Washington and Travolta are certified stars who can get movies greenlit, they don't often make blockbusters. 2. The audience for R-rated films, necessarily limited by age, was still flocking to The Hangover. 3. Pelham is a remake of a 1974 thriller that didn't exactly acquire legendary status. 4. Though the new picture was promoted as an action thriller, it's basically two guys talking tensely on the phone - in other...
...ecologically sound practices benefit more than the farm's fish and the people who eat them. By reflooding those drained lands, Veta la Palma transformed itself not just into a fish farm, but, somewhat unwittingly, into a refuge for migrating aquatic birds as well. Instead of the 50 bird species that inhabited the area when the farm started, there are now 250, many of them endangered: spoonbills, egrets and those spectacular pink flamingos...
...stocks possibly still be the best long-run investment? Somewhat surprisingly, the answer turns out to hinge on what you mean by best and what you mean by long-run. The investment part actually remains pretty cut and dried. Over the past two centuries, stocks have done dramatically better for investors than have bonds or any other asset class. And while, to parrot the mutual-fund prospectuses, past performance is no guarantee of future results, there are sensible economic arguments why stocks should continue to perform best in the future...
...That translates into a somewhat depressing reality for the over 50 million people living in the region. The world's "freedom rankings" compiled by Freedom House, a Washington D.C.-based human rights NGO, place all five of the post-Soviet 'Stans near the bottom. Independent media is almost non-existent. Human rights activists are frequently detained and tortured, and many others live in exile. Even in Kyrgyzstan, where a so-called "velvet" revolution toppled the ruling president in 2005, the subsequent government has done little to distinguish itself from the past. "Central Asians tolerate an awful lot," says Roberts. "They...