The government privatised its sugar factories in 1994, but agreed to take them back (for three American cents) four years later.

ECONOMIST: Sickly, but it could revive

There's no point in us pretending that these aren't problems, and thinking that somehow we can go back to business as usual, because I think if we take that approach, then we might be able to manage for the next three or four or five years, but sooner or later we are going to get back into the same problems that we've already been in.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Closes Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth

Lula ran for office three times before being elected in 2001 and was re-elected four years later.

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Cohabitation is common in other parts of Europe too, but in Britain couples who live together unmarried seem not to last: half split up after three or four years and a little less than half go on to marry (before perhaps divorcing later).

ECONOMIST: The worst government agency around is finally scrapped

Four years later, he was appointed director of scheduling and program coordination for Mediaset's three channels.

CNN: Berlusconi's son on growing up in Italy's first family

She made history four years later, becoming prime minister when the Conservatives won the elections of 1979, the first of three election victories to which she led her party.

CNN: Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female PM, dead at 87