Recent aggression by the government in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, has put the possibility of normalized relations with the United States "into grave jeopardy," a top American official said.
Not so Blair, who was incredulous: why would a prime minister put the possibility of Britain leaving the EU – with its attendant uncertainty – "on the table"?
A mediation attempt by Norway made some progress earlier this year, but the offensive by the Tigers has put the possibility of talks on hold.
Fisher believed that interest rates result from the interaction of two forces: the "time preference" that people have for immediate income, and the investment opportunity principle (simply put, the possibility that income invested now will yield greater income later).
If the meeting goes well – and Lambeth sources put the possibility of catastrophic failure at about 25% – Welby appears determined to foster practical cooperation among the churches that are still speaking to him, if not to each other.
While there may not be much to choose between the candidates, the rift between General Fonseka and Mr. Rajapaksa — and the consequent divisions among Sinhalese nationalist parties and the renewed vigor of opposition parties — has at least put the possibility of reforms on the agenda.
The trouble is, no matter what you want to do, you have to be careful now because there's a hundred thousand American troops in Afghanistan, and if you provoke the Pakistanis into even more explicit support for Taliban fighters, you're going to put the possibility of a managed transition out of the Afghan War into even greater jeopardy than it already faces.
Espirito Santo's Andrew Hogley, meanwhile, issued a sell note at the prospect of a Fastweb bid: Several press reports over the past couple of days (FT, Reuters) have put the possibility of a Vodafone acquisition of Fastweb back on the agenda.
I'm not sure how we'll know whether there's a robot Steve Jobs or not, but it seemed prudent to put the possibility on the card regardless.
The relationship between Plaid and the SNP is a key one as Plaid have put the possibility of them holding the balance of power in the event of a hung parliament centre stage.
