Fortunately, he was back to his bitchy best by September, when he drafted an update for the Palace on the progress of the official inquiry into the scandal.
He spoke twice by telephone in the early morning with Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, bringing him up to date on the progress of the negotiations, the officials said.
A delegation of Cypriot officials led by the finance minister, Michalis Sarris, remained in Moscow until Friday morning to press the case for additional aid, but there were no reports of progress, and the officials stayed out of sight.
A delegation of Cypriot officials led by the finance minister, Michalis Sarris, also remained in Moscow to press their case for additional aid, but there were no reports of progress, and the officials stayed out of sight.
As the storm moved parallel to the Mexican coast, interests in the region were asked to watch the progress of the system and officials in the area opened shelters due to the risk of high winds.
Meanwhile, the faltering progress of the film's official release has been cited as the latest wobble in the complicated relationship between Hollywood and China.
The progress of elected officials from grandstanding to inefficacy is charted in a succinct image captioned "How Politics Goes".
As recently as August, two senior American officials said, Mr. Obama was updated on the progress of those efforts, officials said, and reaffirmed that the United States should aid the process, even if the Taliban involved in the talks represented only breakaway factions of the insurgent group.
Tuesday's Xinhua report, a summary of progress in the official inquiry into the riots, quoted the head of Urumqi's Public Security Bureau, Cehn Zhuangwei, as saying that 718 "criminals who disturbed the peace" had been detained.
Among those who watched the progress of the ants with horror were officials at the United States Department of Agriculture.
