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1. Sunni Arabs voted in surprisingly high numbers on Iraq's new constitution, many of them hoping to defeat it in an intense competition with Shiites and Kurds over the shape of the nation's young democracy after decades of dictatorship.
2. The death toll from Pakistan's killer quake rose sharply to nearly 40,000 Saturday, with the president warning the numbers could jump still higher while homeless survivors, struggling against rain and plunging temperatures, searched desperately for blankets and tents.
3. Romanian authorities called for calm Saturday, as they quarantined an eastern region where test confirmed Europe's first appearance of a deadly strain of bird flu that has devastated flocks and killed dozens of people in Asia.
4. Two bombs exploded at a shopping center in Ahvaz near Iran's southwestern border with Iraq, killing 4 people and wounding at least 102 others. An official said the bombs had been planted inside two trash bins.
5. China announced the official completion of the first railway to Tibet, a controversial engineering feat that is one of the world's highest train lines, crossing mountain passes up to 16,500 feet high
WORDS IN THE NEWS
1. dictatorship
1 dictatorship dictatorships
Dictatorship is government by a dictator.
...a new era of democracy after a long period of military dictatorship in the country.
...countries which are ruled by dictatorships.
N-VAR
2. plunge
5 plunge plunges plunging plunged
If an amount or rate plunges, it decreases quickly and suddenly.
His weight began to plunge.
The Pound plunged to a new low on the foreign exchange markets yesterday.
Shares have plunged from s17 to s7.55.
The bank's profits plunged by 87 per cent.
Its net profits plunged 73% last year.
VB
= plummet
+ plunge plunges
Also a noun.
Japan's banks are in trouble because of bad loans and the stock market plunge.
N-COUNT
3. quarantine
2 quarantine quarantines quarantining quarantined
If people or animals are quarantined, they are stopped from having contact with other people or animals. If a place is quarantined, people and animals are prevented from entering or leaving it.
Dogs have to be quarantined for six months before they'll let them in.
VB: usu passive
4. controversial
controversial
If you describe something or someone as controversial, you mean that they are the subject of intense public argument, disagreement, or disapproval.
Immigration is a controversial issue in many countries.
...Morton's controversial book, `Diana, Her True Story.'...
The changes are bound to be controversial.
...the controversial 19th century politician Charles Parnell.
ADJ-GRADED
controversially
More controversially, he claims that these higher profits cover the cost of finding fresh talent.
David Hirst was controversially sent off on his European debut for Sheffield Wednesday last night.
ADV-GRADED: usu ADV with cl, also ADV with v |