An unknown state Senator, Kay Hagan, now has pulled ahead of Elizabeth Dole in many polls.

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The closest remaining vote getter, JoAnne Kloppenburg, an unknown Assistant State Attorney General, managed only 25% of the few votes that were cast.

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But Prof Smithers said many had been categorised by their institutions as being in an "unknown" state of employment - 15.3% of primary trainees and 10.4% of secondary trainees.

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"People are put in a constant state of the unknown and this is very, very unsettling, " he said.

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To make matters more complicated, exact figures on the Russian stockpile of palladium are unknown because the country keeps them a state secret.

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Many Arabs with liberal leanings, for instance, quietly prefer authoritarian rule to the unknown quality of a supposedly democratic Islamic state, something which Mr Diamond, in a recent essay, reckons that some 40-45% of the people in four Arab countries seem to wish for.

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Many combinations are possible and the very fact that the outcome is unknown, and is not being dictated by the state, is a sign of progress.

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Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency at the time blamed unknown militants.

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The emir's convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen as he was returning from Koranic graduation ceremony in Kano city, Kano state governor Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso told AFP news agency.

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Mohammed Salem al-Zumer was reportedly detained by state security officers in the emirate of Sharjah on Wednesday and taken to an unknown destination.

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