Word: direful
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Russia's economy - until recently one of the fastest growing in Europe - is in dire straits. In the first three months of this year, output fell by 10% compared with a year earlier. The World Bank now expects the economy to contract by around 8% for 2009 as a whole. Traditional industries such as steel are hurting badly. The decade-long consumer boom has turned into a slump as unemployment soars. The government has cash to spend after years of sensible budget policies, but the central bank will be forced to keep interest rates high as long as inflation...
Among the people opposing an age increase, most voice reasons echoing those of Janssen, who added that she actually supports lowering the minimum age standard to work in prostitution. These advocates say that young girls in dire economic circumstances, like Majoor was years ago, should be allowed to enter the get-rich-quick industry—as long as the minors are not forced...
...level. This being my third year, heading into my final year in office, though, knowing that my agenda to reform state government, to rein in the rate of government growth that our state had been on - it was a trajectory that was going to put our state in dire straits if we couldn't rein it in. So we did that. We adopted an agenda that would responsibly develop our resources so that our state would be on good economic grounds but also in a position to more fully contribute toward energy independence for America. We have done that...
...article did include a hopeful caveat to this dire picture, however. As Rehm says, "We [now] know more than ever about which strategies can effectively control alcohol-related harms." The most cost-effective of these methods, he says, is simply to raise the price of alcohol. There's already evidence that this works. In France and Italy, for example, alcohol consumption has steadily plummeted over the past 25 years as the price of drinks has gone up relative to income compared with other countries. "Despite all stereotypes, Italy now has the lowest consumption of any European country," Rehm says...
...Washington Getting Warmer The Obama Administration's first climate-change survey found "unequivocal" evidence of man-made global warming with potentially dire consequences in the U.S. Temperatures and sea levels are rising, rainstorms are strengthening, and snow cover is shrinking, according to the report by a consortium of federal agencies and research groups. One potential casualty: maple-syrup production, which may be displaced from New England to Canada as temperatures rise. The sobering report is sure to draw notice on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are debating a landmark "cap and trade" emissions proposal...