Word: direness
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...seem all that surprising for such a closed society as North Korea's, now locked in a heated standoff with the West over both its nuclear-weapons program and its jailing of two U.S. reporters. But even amid those tensions, the Hermit Kingdom is trying to stimulate its dire economic fortunes by slowly opening its economy to foreign business - and the lack of convenient cell-phone service has emerged as a major irritant, especially for the hundreds of Chinese firms active there, which make up the largest group of foreign investors. Those investors now actually have an ally...
...Ironically, that dire forecast is wrapped in an improving forecast for nationwide home prices. Back in March, Deutsche Bank analysts had expected national home prices to decline 16.5%; now they foresee just a 14% decline. That mildly upbeat news does not hold true for the New York City area, however, which is expected to see a 40.6% drop. While that is also a slight improvement from the March forecast, it is dire nonetheless. (See photos of the global financial crisis...
...Israel, which views an Iranian nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has bluntly told the U.S., Germany and others, "If need be, we will have to act." That implies if all else fails, Israel would unilaterally attack Iran's nuclear facilities. The consequences of such an attack would be dire...
...remained that--in the popular view, at least--for decades. Yet whenever anyone in later years re-examined the data on stocks' long-run performance--major scholarly studies on the topic were published in 1938, '53, '64 and '76--they reached the same conclusion Smith did. Even with the dire experience of the early 1930s factored in, stocks had proved an excellent long-run investment, with returns that far outpaced those of bonds...
...Gleneagles, the leaders of the U.S., Japan and the wealthiest European countries vowed to supply $21.5 billion in aid to Africa by 2010, to help the continent work its way out of poverty by tackling dire problems in health and education. But with just a year to go, only $7 billion of the additional $21.5 billion has come through - with France and Italy accounting for the bulk of the shortfall, although that could rise to about $11 billion by the end of this year. The star of the donors is Britain, which is on track to become the first...