To understand Pakistan's present straits, some basic facts about the country must be borne in mind.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Pakistani nightmare

Nyad says she was 8 years old when she first dreamed about the possibility of swimming across the Straits of Florida.

CNN: August 20, 2012 -- Updated 1157 GMT (1957 HKT)

The tale about a child bride sold into a Straits-Chinese family who beats the odds to become its powerful matriarch, has been performed many times in the past 15 years.

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Last week, Fastow began speaking at the behest of prosecutors, who seek to use his words to prove that Enron's former Chairman Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling intentionally misled investors and the media about the firm's dire financial straits.

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Although its problems may have been extreme, Ken Reardon of the University of Illinois's East St Louis Action Research Project estimates that about two dozen Illinois cities are in similar straits.

ECONOMIST: Urban affairs

My colleagues and I have been writing endlessly about the ignorance of reducing government spending in our current economic straits.

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When two co-workers and I started joking about how broke we were, I realized that we were in similar straits.

FORBES: I Paid Off $35,000 In Debt With The 'Money Lunch'