Then massive turmoil erupted in the Middle East, further ratcheting up oil prices.

You know, it's a spatula, it's a pry bar, it's a screwdriver and it's a blade.

German multinationals like Siemens and Daimler are ratcheting up investment to meet both emerging market and domestic demand.

Likewise, China has been posing new challenges to India, ratcheting up strategic pressure on multiple flanks, including by reviving old territorial claims.

And then he said, No, we can modify the workbench maybe to put a special stool, a special anvil, special vice, and maybe an electric screwdriver.

And so it's not going to break very easily, but if it does, virtually every piece in this machine can be swapped out and replaced with a hex wrench and a screwdriver.

That befits the year of the tiger in Chinese astrology a year in which China roared by ratcheting up tensions with neighbors from Japan to India by escalating territorial feuds.

Although Asia is the world s most dynamic region, it has a paucity of institutional mechanisms for resolving or at least mitigating international disputes of the type that are ratcheting up tension across the region.

Ever since Bush s State of the Union address at the end of January, hardly a day has passed without something happening in connection with Iran or without the Bush administration s ratcheting up its rhetoric.

But what I like about this is, it boils down to someone on the street with a small, flat surface, a screwdriver, a toothbrush for cleaning the contact heads because they often get dust on the contact heads and knowledge.

This suggests that what the Bush administration has been doing slowly ratcheting up the pressure through the use of diplomacy to create an international coalition that now includes the Russians is the proper course to be on.

He has also sought to benefit from ratcheting up tensions with neighboring Venezuela, and counts on his dauphin, former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, to unite the country s right wing forces in order to ensure continuity with his policies.

This has led to a ratcheting up of tensions, in particular between China and the United States, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressing that the Obama administration is now ready to step in and help ensure the fair adjudication of disputes relating to the South China Sea.