Word: downward
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...going to win this war," rues Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, Britain's top commander in Afghanistan. The current strategy is "doomed to fail," says the British ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles. The latest U.S. National Intelligence Estimate notes that the country is in a "downward spiral." Since May, some 180 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, compared with 120 in Iraq. On Oct. 14, four more NATO soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb...
...admirable, the goal of reaching universal proficiency in less than a generation is patently absurd—especially when many states began with less than 15 percent proficiency rates. Rather than penalize schools now for the legislation’s lack of foresight, Congress should have revised expectations downward when the act came up for renewal in 2007. The reason that this year has seen so many schools fail to meet federal standards is that state requirements were very poorly structured under NCLB. About half of the states had anticipated a huge struggle in immediately meeting federally mandated standards...
...Housing Starts: Also on Friday, the U.S. Census Bureau releases housing starts, a figure that measures the number of privately-owned new residential homes being built. Analysts predict figures will either level off or continue to drift downward slightly from the August number of 895,000. The upside: "There isn't a lot of room for decline," says Englund. Many experts believe the bottom is near. LaVorgna says it is just a matter of time before the number drops below 800,000, a large plummet from the 2005 high of more than 2 million new homes under construction...
...right direction," and in a year in which violence has reached its worst levels since the U.S. invasion of the country in 2001, he voiced concerns that next year in Afghanistan could be even worse. His fears echo a nearly completed U.S. National Intelligence Assessment that has described a "downward spiral" in Afghanistan unless major improvements are immediately implemented. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has launched a major review of its Afghanistan policy just as new ground-based intelligence indicates that this winter may not yield the expected lull in fighting that would have allowed a deployment of extra troops...
...plummeted nearly 40% in just three months, from about $147 a barrel in July to below $83 on Friday, with no obvious bottom in sight. If that sounds good, you are probably a driver who winces these days at filling your gas tank. But the downward spiral could mean trouble for oil-rich countries and for the environment...