11.   Talk of airline mergers heated up Friday amid reports American Airlines has had exploratory talks about buying Northwest Airlines.

12.   The Clippers, who had exploratory talks with Anschutz and Roski about playing in a new facility downtown, are proceeding with their own arena plans.

13.   The week before last, Assad agreed through U.S. mediators to open exploratory talks Wednesday outside Washington.

14.   Trade groups for both sides say the negotiations, which began early this year, never went much beyond exploratory talks.

15.   Ward and Crosland started exploratory talks last March.

16.   What is unclear is how well Qwest and U S West are getting along even in these exploratory talks.

17.   An EU delegation has already visited Havana for exploratory talks on normalizing EU-Cuban ties.

18.   And a senior Netanyahu adviser did not rule out such a possibility if exploratory talks go well.

19.   Australian and North Korean officials held exploratory talks Friday that could lead to the restoration of diplomatic links, Australian Ambassador William Fisher said.

20.   Exploratory talks between British officials and Sinn Fein are scheduled to start sometime before Christmas.