Word: scrublands
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There is only one major road leading to Naypyidaw. Nearly three years ago, when Burma's new capital was carved out of scrubland, the country's ruling military junta gave no reason for its sudden abandonment of the bustling city of Rangoon. Then, shortly after thousands of civil servants were forced to move to an isolated construction site in the middle of nowhere, a secret government document leaked to local journalists. Junta leader Than Shwe outlined his fears of an invasion by the U.S. and lauded Naypyidaw's superior defensive position compared to the former capital: mountains on one flank...
...President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew his team of ministers to the three poorest municipalities in Brazil - he wanted the political elite to take a firsthand look at the living conditions of the impoverished voters that had elected them. On a makeshift stage in Brazil's northern scrubland, Lula, like a triumphant band leader, presented his troupe one by one. The crowd welcomed them all politely, but cheered raucously for Benedita da Silva, the black, former housemaid who picked to oversee Lula's social programs, for Culture Minister Gilberto Gil (one of the country's best known musicians...
...feet under and pushing up daisies," says the official. Witnesses say during operations in the south, Ethiopian helicopters and planes hit vehicles up and down the border, unwittingly killing al-Sudani. According to local villagers, his body now lies in an unmarked grave among the thorn trees and scrubland swamps...
...winds, drought and soaring temperatures has been blamed for more than 3,000 forest fires this year. But this week alone, a rash of deadly and uncontrollable wildfires raced through the nation, swallowing thousands of acres of scrubland in the Peloponnese - even the sacred grounds of the ancient site of the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Olympia. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis declared a nationwide state of emergency. More controversially, the Prime Minister suggested that sabotage was behind the blazes. "So many fires, breaking out simultaneously in so many places can not be a coincidence," he said in a nationally televised...
...There's no disputing that this has been Greece's worst fire season on record. Officials say more than 3,000 blazes have razed thousands of hectatres of forests and scrubland across the country since June. That's nearly triple last year's total, sparking growing public concern over why Greece suffers so many forest fires, and why the country's emergency services seem ill-equipped to deal with them despite their multimillion-dollar overhaul ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics...