Word: grimness
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...When the winter freeze comes later in China, a disease-carrying water snail will have all kinds of new opportunities to make people sick. By 2085 an extra billion people will be at risk of contracting dengue fever because of changes in temperature and rainfall. And in yet another grim award ceremony, the Blacksmith Institute released its list of the world's most polluted places; it should not surprise anyone that people die faster in such spots...
...From a U.S. perspective, the choices are grim: Musharraf's tenuous grip on power has eroded his ability to tackle terrorism and extremism, but neither Bhutto nor Sharif would necessarily be a more effective ally in Washington's war on terror. A Bhutto-Musharraf pact would probably further incense militants. Sharif has a better relationship with the religious groups who might rein in the tribal militants, but may be less inclined to do the bidding of the U.S., particularly at a time when being seen to be allied with Washington is a political liability in Pakistan...
...August, researchers at the University of North Carolina in the U.S. released the world's first comprehensive study on coral in the Indo-Pacific region, home to 75% of the world's coral reefs, focusing on waters from Japan to Australia and east to Hawaii. The outlook is grim. In recent decades, at least 600 sq. mi. (1,550 sq km) of reef have disappeared every year. "People thought the Pacific was in much better shape," says John Bruno, lead author of the study. Scientists assumed that far-flung reefs in the vast waters of the Pacific would be safely...
Crocker, at least, is still holding out hope, despite his rather grim take on the current circumstances. The fact that the talks are even happening, he says, is a sign that Iraq's leaders are committed to working together to find solutions that may yield some political advances ahead of the September progress report he and top Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus are to deliver in Washington. "We do expect results, as do the Iraqi people," said Crocker. Expectations in Iraq, however, have a four-year history now of turning into disappointments...
...Kurdish leaders have long been trying to steer a course between their patrons in Washington and their powerful neighbors in Tehran. Though they have America to thank for freeing them from the genocidal grip of Saddam's regime, many Iraqi Kurdish political parties took refuge in Iran during those grim years. This spring, Kurds protested vigorously when American soldiers captured several Iranian agents posing as diplomats in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil. An Iranian incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan would be a poor way of saying thanks...