Word: spate
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That's hardly an encouraging start to negotiations, and neither is the track record. A controversial peace accord in 2006 dissolved in a spate of attacks on military forces and allowed extremists to regroup. The government contends that current negotiations are more likely to stick since they're being conducted with tribal leaders, not just with militants...
Like many a leader before him, French President Nicolas Sarkozy seems to work better abroad than at home. Just days after another brilliant performance on the international stage reversed Sarkozy's dizzying approval rating plunge, a new spate of domestic woes risk dragging him down anew. Plagued by a dismal macro-economic outlook that his highly-touted policies and reforms have failed to set right, Sarkozy this week was also tormented by the spectacle of his own cabinet engaging in a nasty public spat. As a result, voters across France are beginning to wonder who they can actually look...
...exactly surprised by news this week that Islamist radicals in north Africa have kidnapped two Austrian tourists, but they are concerned. Their monitoring over recent months has noted increasing jihadist calls to abduct foreigners as part of the wider surge of terrorist activity in the region. Some fear a spate of politically motivated kidnapping could be in the offing...
...When asked about the recent spate of union endorsements of Obama, Harold Ickes, one of Clinton's top strategists, said, "Well, we'd rather have the endorsements than not, but those unions made their decisions. Senator Clinton has a very strong union base...They will be putting resources in. We have sufficiently strong resources to run a very, very strong, very, very vigorous campaign in the state...
...nation's fourth largest utility, came under heavy criticism after Florida's spate of hurricanes in 2005, which exposed lax attention to maintenance issues like updated power line poles, tree-trimming and what was widely considered an outdated grid system. The latter may not have allowed for sufficient redundancy, or the ability to adjust to strains and funnel power via different routes. Many South Floridians have been socked with bill increases of as much as $100 a month since then, which critics argue isn't necessary for a profitable utility with a revenue stream of 100,000 new residents...