Word: semis
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...accounts, has had a rough couple of decades. The last central government fell in 1991, and, in the 17 years of infighting since, Somalia has broken into three spheres of power: the transition government in Mogadishu, a breakaway Islamic group al-Shabab in the south and center, and a semi-autonomous region, Puntland, in the north mostly under the control of pirates. The chaos breeds corruption, as Abdi Waheed Johar, the director general of the fisheries and ports ministry in Puntland, commented to the New York Times that “there are government people working with the pirates...
...despite Mickey's semi-retirement, his ears are still one of the most famous cultural icons of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has posed for photographs with every U.S. President since Harry Truman, save one (Lyndon Johnson never visited a Disney theme park). Disney claims that Mickey had a 98% awareness rate among children between ages 3-11 worldwide. Mouse-related merchandise sales have declined from their 1997 high, but they still make up about 40% of the company's consumer products revenue. Mickey returned to the big screen for a cameo in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit...
...Federalism is a deeply divisive issue among Iraqis. The Constitution adopted under U.S. occupation stipulates that any of the 18 provinces, except Baghdad, can combine to form regions similar to the northern Kurdish-run zone, which has been semi-autonomous since 1991. While the Kurds insist upon the principle, the Sunnis have traditionally been strongly opposed. Among the Shi'ites, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) has favored the idea a super region in the south, but the movement of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has insisted on a strong central state. But the proposal to turn Basra into...
...Iraq's constitution to strengthen the central government's power at the expense of the country's 18 provinces. This week, Maliki's rivals in the southern Shi'ite bastion of Basra submitted a petition demanding a referendum in the oil-soaked province aimed to turning it into a semi-autonomous federal region akin to Kurdistan...
...Basra's influential tribal sheikhs and the Fadila Party, winning a majority won't be easy in the face of concerted opposition from Maliki's Dawa Party and his sometime ally-sometime foe Sadr. Less certain is the reaction from the Supreme Council, which has long favored a semi-autonomous nine-province "super region" in the south (which it would have a fair shot at governing) rather than a smaller one in Basra, governed by Fadila. "We are not participating in this because we are busy with other things," says parliamentarian Redha Taki, the head of SIIC's political relations...