Acute budget and external debt strains in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal are testing confidence, impacting the balance sheets of many banks, and posing political challenges to the leaders of the 17 nations that all use the Euro as their currency.

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"Without testing, countries will not have enough confidence in new weapons to stockpile them, and that will slow down new weapons systems, " says Thomas Cochran of the Natural Resources Council in Washington.

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He said they had "every confidence in our suppliers" but said there would be further testing to make sure.

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Els added that victory on the testing Bay Hill course would give him plenty of confidence heading into the Masters, which starts on 8 April.

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Despite his avowed confidence on this score, the first minister remains opposed to testing the constitutional question by holding what he calls a "sterile and divisive" border poll.

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Without periodic, realistic testing, it is not scientifically possible to assure with high confidence that existing nuclear weapons are as safe and reliable as we know how to make them.

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But we have had some solid days of testing here this year so we can head into the race with confidence.

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Sybase NA Survey 04-17-12-BDespite their afore registered lack of confidence in the system, almost half of the North American respondents (46 percent) indicated that stress testing should take place at least once every six months.

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