The guards suggested fence mending (not the emotional kind), replacing lights, accepting of greater scrutiny in inspections.

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She says a fence-mending trip is great, but the president is not proposing any real changes.

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As soon as Shinzo Abe became prime minister last September, he made a fence-mending trip to Beijing.

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Only days earlier Charles Prince, boss of Citigroup, had paid a fence-mending visit to Carlo Ciampi, Italy's president.

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He has taken to fence-mending as well, initiating a rapprochement with his former police chief, William Bratton, who is now running the L.A.P.

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Now, business owners have to hope these organizations can accomplish some record-speed fence-mending in time to get lawmakers to lessen their 2013 tax burden.

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As fence-mending exercises go, Mr Powell's trip to Turkey went well.

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