This month, the Army also will freeze hiring for civilian jobs, release temporary workers and sign no new contracts.

CNN: Pentagon says funding fight affecting war effort

Murrin claims to have escaped this fate by taking weakening stock prices as a sign of temporary weakness and going short crude oil.

FORBES: Short the West

The spokesman said he also saw no need to delay next month's lame-duck session or to sign another temporary funding measure through the end of Clinton's term, which ends Jan. 20, when the new president takes office.

CNN: White House wants Congress to get back to work

She claimed there was no sign to highlight the temporary speed limit.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Wiltshire | Blunder sees speed fines repaid

Nehru agreed, and so did the outgoing British Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten. (A pragmatist, Mountbatten noted that Kashmir was more closely linked, through religion and geography, to Pakistan than India.) As a result, the maharajah was asked to sign only a treaty of temporary accession to India.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Meanwhile, major international banks that were previously bullish on gold have been turning bearish and dramatically cutting their forecasts, and gold mining companies have been significantly cutting production and exploration efforts, not a sign that they believe the price decline is only temporary.

FORBES: Gold Finally A Tarnished Asset After 12-Year Bull Run

The question is whether Mr Jospin's woes are temporary, to be brushed aside when some new event catches the public mood, or a sign of a deeper malaise.

ECONOMIST: France: La rentrée horrible | The