Word: serious
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...also inevitable. Pressure is building on political leaders to prove they're serious about getting their countries' finances in order. In late January, S&P warned that it could downgrade Japan's sovereign rating if the new administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama doesn't rein in the deficit. In his January State of the Union address, President Barack Obama pledged to freeze discretionary fiscal spending for three years starting in 2011. "Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't," Obama said. (See pictures...
...Nowhere is the urgency to deal with debt greater than in Europe, where it has become the most serious test of the 11-year-old euro-based monetary system. While euro-zone nations use the same currency, there is no mechanism in place to financially aid wayward members. That's how a crisis in Greece, which represents a mere 2.8% of the zone's GDP, can have such an outsized impact. The ultimate fear is that Greece will default, dragging down the euro with it. "A lot of the euro's problems today are rooted in those members having failed...
...city were already under surveillance on suspicion of raising funds for al-Shabab, according to the intelligence officer. "If you've been waiting for a moment to declare Somalia a priority threat, what else do you need?" asks the Western soldier in Somalia. "There's no longer a serious risk that southern Somalia could become a jihadi operational deployment facility. It already...
...Even as NATO nations have won plaudits for sending more troops to Afghanistan, cracks are beginning to show in the alliance's commitment and long-term health. "Right now, the alliance faces very serious, long-term, systemic problems," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week. Budget shortfalls - only five of the 28 members are meeting the alliance's goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defense - are hurting the war effort. The resulting dearth of helicopters, cargo planes and spy aircraft is "directly impacting operations in Afghanistan," Gates said...
...send mixed messages to the West, proclaiming the country a new ally and business partner of Europe and the United States, yet then resisting Western values. "Part of the problem is with the Libyan side. It's not enough for us to blame others," he says. "We are not serious enough, we are sending confusing messages." Sighing deeply, he said: "I think we are not ready to deal in the right way with the Western world, because they have different rules of the game...