Hirohito was not directly responsible for Japan's policies in the postwar years, but he reigned during an extraordinary shift of history.

One had to resort to such extraordinary shifts!

Yet Congress and corporate America seem shockingly unattuned to this extraordinary shift in the national mood.

"There has really been an extraordinary shift in the lives of single women," Mr. Levitan said.

It is "an extraordinary shift over a relatively short time," he said The shift may now be ending, however.

For many here, the fact that reinforcing ties is seriously on the agenda bespeaks the extraordinary shifts taking place throughout Africa.

In what was an extraordinary shift in investor sentiment, the stocks that had been beloved started to look expensive while the former dogs looked swell.

The exact reasons for the extraordinary shifts in Burma remain unclear.

"Some of the extraordinary shifts we've seen in the last 10 years are beginning to ebb a bit," he said.

Today's announcement marks an extraordinary shift in how American auto makers approach the design of sport utility vehicles, their most profitable product.