Only this week, Mr Chirac's government was busy yet again caving in to demands for public-sector pay rises after 600, 000-1m protesters took to the streets.

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Barton once crawled for 8 feet within a a 6.5-inch-high space in a cave and is one of only a few certified for the dangerous business of underwater caving. (Six people died in cave-diving accidents last year.) Along with fellow caver Nancy Aulenbach she was featured in the 2001 Imax film Journey Into Amazing Caves, which was narrated by Liam Neeson.

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Far from caving in, the supermarket chain has issued a counter-writ against Levi-Strauss claiming that its business has been damaged by unjustified threats.

ECONOMIST: Shopping

But by the mid-'90s, the roofs on many city schools were caving in.

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The often-strident rhetoric on both sides of the issue, which spread rapidly through social-media channels, raised the question of whether Komen, a private charity, was caving in to political pressure in both its initial decision and when it backed off.

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