Word: brinks
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...common view of the Crisis has been that President Kennedy "stood eyeball to eyeball" with Khrushchev and that "the other guy blinked." By placing a naval blockade around Cuba and by gradually increasing the military pressure, Kennedy and his advisers took the Soviets to the brink of nuclear war and forced the Kremlin to back down. The missiles were removed at no cost to the United States and a period of detente soon began between the superpowers. Or so the popular theory goes...
Fame has now turned to shame. In January, with Haiyan on the brink of bankruptcy, the provincial government fired the 55-year-old entrepreneur as plant manager, charging him with incompetence. What had gone wrong? For one thing, Bu misjudged a craze for Western-style suits and ties. He imported machinery that could produce 300,000 Western suits a year, but by the time he got it working, the market had shrunk. Moralized one Communist Party official: "Bu was overwhelmed by the honors given to him by the state and the people...
...second priority is curriculum, with the teachers to make it work. Maria Tostado, principal of Los Angeles' Garfield High, which twelve years ago had sunk to the brink of losing its accreditation, helps maintain the place as a scholar factory by mixing rules with demanding classes: "We phased out the bonehead courses and put in more advanced, challenging courses." Garfield now - boasts 15 advanced-placement teachers in subjects such as calculus and physics. This year 370 students are taking the advanced-placement exams for college credit...
...lengthening list of troubled borrowers: developing countries, farmers, takeover artists, real estate developers, oil drillers and spendthrift consumers. While most U.S. banks can handle bad debts during good times, a recession would turn a quiet problem into a grinding one. Many more borrowers could go over the brink, along with their banks. The resulting rash of federal bailouts could strain the Government's deposit- insurance system and even turn depositors' nightmares into reality...
...flour or handful of beans that will keep them going for a few more days or weeks. Ethiopia, which has earned the unhappy honor of being rated the globe's poorest country by the World Bank (average annual per capita income: + $110; infant mortality rate: 16.8%), is on the brink of disaster again. At least 6 million of its 46 million people face starvation, and only a relief effort on the scale of the one launched three years ago will save them. Some of Ethiopia's needs have already been met, but the grain still required could be the difference...