Longtime regime opponents, too, were caught off guard.

I was caught off guard when Stephen Colbert asked me a profound question, a profound question.

Suddenly, however, this secular commitment is no longer so clear.

The revolts themselves caught seasoned observers, even Arab leaders, off guard.

The main advantage of going through an official rationing is that people are able to know when and at what time they ll have their water interrupted so they can take precautions and are not caught by surprise.

Early on the morning of 26 June, however, two speedboats appeared from nowhere and seized the ship and crew, after menacing them with rifle fire.

Indeed, Colombia s Juan Manuel Santos Calderón and Brazil s Dilma Rousseff both skilled and experienced politicians were utterly unprepared for their countries protests.

By its own admission, Al Qaeda has been caught off guard, no doubt because the group s central argument has been that the fall of oppressive Arab governments could come only through violence.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announcement that he plans to dismantle Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, as well as some settlements in the West Bank, has shocked and caught people off guard both in Israel and around the world.

Invaded by surprise by the Imperial German Army, which was approximately 600,000 men strong, the small, ill equipped, 117,000 strong Belgian army succeeded, for ten days, in holding the German army in front of Liège in 1914.

When what was a tranquil sea swallows up people, homes and long tail boats mercilessly, without warning and no one can tell you anything reliable about whether another one is coming, I'm not sure you'd want to calm down either.

Ever since, I have wondered whether I was right or wrong.

Large anti Japan demonstrations took place Saturday afternoon in the cities of Xi'an, Chengdu and Zhengzhou reportedly organized by university groups over the Internet through QQ and other social networking sites , the protests have taken many by surprise.

Longtime regime opponents, too, were caught off guard. For days after Egypt erupted, the Muslim Brotherhood did not know how to react, making it seem out of touch with the Arab street.

While the Government has taken important initiatives to reform civil administration at the central level, reforms below that level have proved more difficult.

PARIS Why do revolutions so often take professional diplomats by surprise? Is there something in their DNA that makes them prefer the status quo so much that, more often than not, they are taken aback by rapid changes, neither foreseeing them nor knowing how to respond once they begin?

On the Republican side, hacks, spin masters, and many people who ought to have known better suddenly developed an extraordinary appreciation for something called the CPS Household Survey of Employment as a supposed guide to month to month changes in the labor market.

Even when every reasonable precaution has been taken, not all displacement caused by natural disasters can be prevented.

While not every country has moved at the same pace, the majority of developing and transition economy countries have taken noteworthy initiatives.

Actions following the decision of the Bureau

This draft resolution, in its structure and content, builds on resolutions adopted in past years on the same item, which, as representatives will recall, were adopted without a vote.

Guatemala has taken various steps to increase its openness to trade.

Aware of the problems, the Government has taken several measures namely

Action taken

More advances have been made in that area than in most others.

Over 1 400 Iraqis have already taken part in training courses.

As a result, several governments undertook concrete actions to strengthen airport security.

Consideration of the very slow steps taken so far forces us to recognize that much has yet to be done to act upon the decisions taken over the past decade.

Many modest steps have been taken.

Concrete steps have already been taken.

While China has taken minor measures to slow the increase in its dollar denominated holdings, it has been unwilling to risk a fully convertible currency for domestic political reasons.

Malaysia has indeed taken serious measures to improve road safety and reduce fatalities.

The Government has also taken a number of initiatives to combat poverty at the grassroots level.

The authorities have taken appropriate steps to create an institutional framework conducive to the advancement of women.

But while America s commitment to nuclear power was quickly reaffirmed by President Barack Obama, some European governments took the knee jerk decision to freeze all new nuclear energy projects immediately, and, in the case of Germany, not to extend the life of existing reactors.

Political decisions taken then were far more risky than those at hand in the Balkans, and the Greek and Iberian success stories demonstrate the wisdom of the courageous decisions taken at that time.

In the last two decades, the Government has taken numerous steps to improve road safety in Singapore.

It would be useful to learn of measures taken to ensure the realization of their human rights.

In that regard, my Government has taken significant steps aimed at the elimination of that scourge.

And I said, Well, when did you decide?

Those decisions were adopted by consensus.

Arrangements have been made to hire such a consultant.

Those decisions were adopted by consensus.

While the representatives of the Government of Israel indicated that security measures are a last resort to protect the Israeli population from terrorist attacks, they also stressed that human rights law and the law of war may at times be incompatible.

From the very outset of the Arab Awakening, Turkey has taken a principled stand on the side of legitimate and democratic aspirations.