1.   Indeed, anyone willing to raise an ostrich in Surgut or Sakhalin is necessarily an optimist.

2.   U.S. Treasury bonds gave up some ground after their comments, which suggested the central bank might be more willing to raise rates.

3.   Were we willing to raise a child with birth defects?

4.   Raising the tariffs will not help the municipality, unless the agency makes significant improvements in services by, for instance, managing the fees collected, he said.

5.   One of the few steps the government could take to buttress the dollar, analysts said, would to raise short-term interest rates again.