The flaws he found weren't instantly catastrophic, he said, but could be used to track private airplanes, intercept messages and jam communications between planes and air-traffic control.

CNN: Hacker says phone app could hijack plane

"The three-point rise in VAT in January has dampened economic growth, but it hasn't proved to be catastrophic, " he said.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Merkel in lead role on G8 stage

Government spending in Japan is out of control, and the aggregate fiscal deficit would be catastrophic if it weren't for the extremely high domestic savings rate.

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