The following season, they became the first British club to claim continental silverware by winning the Cup Winners' Cup.

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It was surely with this in mind that Russia, in 2001 the first country to submit a continental-shelf claim, made a bid to extend its rights in both the Pacific and the Arctic oceans.

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But within Africa, South Africa was the last former colony to claim its freedom, and knows its place in the continental pecking order.

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The incidents also follow China's efforts to involve the United Nations in the dispute to determine the validity of its claim that the islands are a natural extension of its continental shelf.

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Under procedures laid out in Annex II of the treaty, the petitioning party submits geologic data and makes its case for expansion before a LOST body called the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which then makes its determination as to the claim.

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In addition, Mr Blair's decision to sign up to the European Union's social chapter may have weakened Britain's claim to offer a less regulated and costly environment for business, compared with continental Europe.

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