desperate straits

And now, they are happy to see him finally walking back through it, returning to health — and, they hope, form — at a time when their bullpen’s depth was in dire, desperate straits.

Once that lifeline was withdrawn, five million children fell back into poverty almost overnight and the percentage of kids in desperate straits shot up to 12.4 percent.

The accusations are what prompted eight countries, including the United States, to suspend some aid payment to the UNRWA, as the agency is known, even as war plunges Palestinians in Gaza into desperate straits.

"They're usually in desperate straits - poverty, joblessness, high crime, violence, lack of civil institutions in their countries of origin."

More needs to be done to fashion a secure safety net, especially in providing child care, psychological and medical support, as well as jobs for refugees in desperate straits.