Word: aug
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Initial results are expected to be made public on Aug. 25, though a final total won't be known until two weeks later. Karzai is expected to come out ahead, but it appears unlikely he'll carry the 50% of the vote plus one needed to avoid a runoff in October. Should a runoff happen, analysts agree the country will retreat to ethnic and regional divisions, with the majority of Pashtuns across the south backing Karzai, and Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group, rallying in the north behind Abdullah, the son of a Pashtun father and Tajik mother. Abdullah...
...Abdullah struck early the day after the election with charges that Karzai supporters were guilty of ballot-stuffing, intimidation and widespread irregularities. He expanded his case on Aug. 23 with claims that pro-Karzai ballots were still coming in from parts of violent southern provinces, where turnout was said to be low to nonexistent. A spokesman for Karzai levied similar charges of fraud-related violations while asserting that the former Foreign Minister was acting out of desperation. However, the head of the electoral complaints commission has since said his group has received 35 allegations of "high priority" misconduct that...
...ease tensions, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, met with the leading candidates in Kabul on Aug. 21, the day after the election, urging against hasty claims that might spell trouble later. Both men offered assurances, and so far, both men have directed their grievances to the complaint commission, whose fraud investigations seem to have temporarily appeased the rival camps...
...Since Aug. 21, Greeks have watched in horror as walls of fire have sped toward heavily populated villages and suburbs on the fringes of Athens. Tens of thousands of people have temporarily fled their homes, and more than 37,000 acres of land - including some of the last forest near the capital city - has gone up in smoke. At least 150 homes have been damaged, although, so far, there have been no casualties. (See pictures of Greece's wildfires...
...Grammatikos, where the biggest fire began on Aug. 21, the flames are finally out. As rumors fly about the cause of the fire, for the residents, shock is quickly giving way to anger. Local mayor Nikos Koukis blames the government for responding too slowly and letting the fires get out of control. He says he kept vigil by the blaze all night as fire trucks battled the flames, waiting in vain for the arrival of water-bearing airplanes and helicopters. They finally arrived after 8 a.m. If they had come even an hour earlier, he says, the weekend's catastrophe...