Once again, the seven FEI zones of the world come into play: North-West Europe, South-West Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, North America, Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East, and South-East Asia and Oceania.

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But it would certainly make a nervous Europe stretch out a pleading hand to the United States, as this newly aggressive Russia poked its finger into the Baltic area, the Balkans and the explosive region where Europe meets Muslim south-west Asia.

ECONOMIST: Weathering the storm

Insufficient staffing to ensure universal primary education by 2015 affects the different regions as follows: Sub-Saharan Africa (1, 115, 000 teachers required), Arab States (-243, 000 teachers), South and West Asia (-292, 000), North America and Western Europe (-155, 000).

UNESCO: Education

You hail from every corner of the Earth -- from Southeast Asia to Central Europe, from West Africa to South America.

WHITEHOUSE: My Fellow Americans

Sir Graham represents south-west England and Gibraltar in the European Parliament and is also president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, which consists of more than 50 liberal parties from across Europe.

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