71.   Thorny questions remain about how power would be shared and whether all factions can be persuaded to lay down their arms.

72.   However, London and Dublin have yet to set the ground rules for the negotiations, most notably the place on the agenda for the thorny question of disarmament.

73.   Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization took up the thorny question of settlements in the occupied territories Tuesday at an open session of the UN Security Council.

74.   Agriculture was a particularly thorny question, with many farm interests complaining bitterly at the planned reductions in subsidies.

75.   But another thorny question remained unsettled.

76.   British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke tried to calm Conservative Party worries over the thorny question of the single European currency in an emergency parliamentary debate on Monday.

77.   BRUSSthered here Monday on the eve of an Ecofin council that is to vote on the thorny question of formally reprimanding Berlin.

78.   But the thorny question of Paris making a fresh round of arms sales to Taipei will almost certainly be on the agenda too.

79.   But US officials said they stuck by their strategy of weaving a series of bilateral accords rather than seeking an all-embracing multilateral agreement on the thorny question.

80.   But they also agreed that the thorny question of how to fund the force should be left until later.