Word: tenuous
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...like Iran and Sudan—notorious for their gross violations of human rights—from gaining membership, as they had been able to do on the former U.N. Commission on Human Rights. We commend the U.S. for pushing for this higher standard, especially given that its own tenuous human rights record may have prevented it from winning a seat on the council. Yet, we fear that its final decision barks again of a chronic unwillingness to compromise. If the U.N. is to become an effective organization, its members must be willing to meet halfway on their individual aims...
...what form they will take is difficult to say. We can be pretty sure that as average temperatures climb, there will be more frequent and longer heat waves of the sort that contributed to the death of at least 20,000 Europeans in August 2003. Other predictions are more tenuous. For example, rising temperatures could--if rainfall and other conditions are right--result in larger mosquito populations at higher elevations in the tropics, which could in turn contribute to the spread of malaria, dengue and other insect-borne infections. Early indications are not encouraging. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes...
...prosecutors managed to persuade the judge to let them present to the jury a new set of aviation experts who have had no contact with Martin. But the case for executing Moussaoui remains tenuous. Legal experts, and even Brinkema, have questioned whether prosecutors are overreaching in arguing that he should be put to death for what he did not do. Martin, in one of her e-mails, said she doubted that airport screeners could have detected all the short-blade knives the hijackers took aboard, even if Moussaoui had told agents before 9/11 what he knew. Of course, that...
...least, there is general agreement that the best interests of Hamas lie in establishing a viable government and restraining militants. But some of that agreement may be tenuous, and Hamas, like Fatah, may face internal political troubles as a result of its ascent. Although the Islamist movement is far more disciplined than its secular nationalist rival, many leaders in Hamas opposed the decision to participate in elections, and they will resist the trend towards reaching any level of accommodation with Israel...
...hiring, without cause and with no obligation to shell out France's hefty severance payments. Making it easier to get rid of unsatisfactory workers, the government believes, will help employers overcome their reluctance to hire young people in the first place. The law's critics say it will promote tenuous jobs and make it even harder for young people to find steady employment. The law has hit a raw nerve in a society deeply attached to the idea that a job is forever. A poll last week found that more than two-thirds of the population - and more than...