If Mr Belka wins a confidence vote, he will speak for a government with little public support and perhaps only a few months left in office.

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Like you, perhaps, I learned only a few of them in school.

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Surprisingly, perhaps, the government may need only a few.

ECONOMIST: The single currency

There was to be no live coverage of the private meeting by Vatican television, only a few still photos from the official Vatican photographer and perhaps a video released after the fact.

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Although Mr Meshal has more weight, plenty of other Hamas leaders have said many times that Israel is a reality, that they want a Palestinian state along the 1967 ceasefire lines (ie, in the West Bank and Gaza only), and that one day, perhaps after a few decades of peaceful coexistence, they might put the question of formally recognising Israel to a Palestinian referendum.

ECONOMIST: Israel exists. A Hamas leader briefly admits the obvious