In the absence of progress on the Doha round, Vietnam is seeking bilateral and regional trade deals.

ECONOMIST: We want to be your friend

An absence of progress on Greece's debt-restructuring deal raised investors' anxiety, and the lack of a deal fanned fears that the region's debt crisis will spread.

WSJ: Financial Shares Drag on

Thus far, the action scheduled between Nov. 1-14 has been eliminated, but with the absence of progress as the calendar continues to turn, the league will have no choice but to continue and eliminate more regular-season games from the calendar.

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Lord Forsyth interjected to demand an answer on whether the government would push ahead with the bill, or halt its progress, in the absence of one.

BBC: Scottish independence question 'rigged' - Tory peer

Looking to the future, it becomes readily apparent that complexity, competing interests and scarce resources remain the greatest obstacles to progress on the global agenda in the absence of greater leadership and global stewardship.

FORBES: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008

This absence of cost incentives is especially problematic -- paradoxically -- because of the technological progress that has occurred and will occur in medicine.

CNN: Commentary: US health costs out of control

Paul Collier, an Oxford professor, has asserted that democracy in the absence of other desirables, like the rule of law, can hobble a country's progress.

ECONOMIST: Democracy's decline