Diary entries of a sailor named Roald Amundson confirm clear passage in 1903, as do those of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Arctic patrol crew that made regular trips through there in the early 1940s.

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When the passage was clear again, I stooped double and made my way inside.

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Yet in summers, that passage is now so clear that tourist ships routinely sail through it.

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Even in 2007, when the previous record for melting was set, and satellite pictures showed the passage to be entirely clear of ice, there was only a short period of open water.

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Alan Greenspan, whose oracular endorsement was perhaps the single most decisive event in their passage, made it very clear that they were a temporary solution to a temporary surplus.

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Its main role is to clear hostile waters to allow larger ships safe passage.

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FoE welcomed this passage, but said it wanted to see "a clear Government strategy on how it will act at home and in the EU to achieve this shift".

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Dan Carter missed an early shot at goal but moments later Ma'a Nonu was driven over the line after a powerful passage of New Zealand play, and when Muliaina raced clear from halfway to score a second try after just 12 minutes, a rout looked to be on the cards.

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The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Istanbul says the commission has made it clear privately that it feels able to publish a report that is conditional upon the passage at a later date of the reformed code.

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