11.   White House spokesman Mike McCurry said recently that administration officials had conferred with Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott about the nomination.

12.   While officials conferred, Rick Fox tried to get an explanation of their decisions, but Crawford shooed him away.

13.   Powell said U.S. officials have been conferring with the Pakistanis to see if they can help generate information.

14.   A top Iranian official conferred Monday with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov in hopes of building economic relations and finding ways to achieve lasting peace in the Central Asian nation.

15.   Among alternatives Clinton is offering to a summit in Egypt is having top Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian officials confer with Albright somewhere in the region.

16.   But the officials conferred, put four-tenths of a second back on the clock and sent Terry Porter to the line.

17.   International and local officials confer Tuesday on speeding up refugee returns.

18.   NAZRAN, Russia -- Top Russian officials confer at army headquarters in Mozdok on Friday after the military confirms plans for a major new offensive in breakaway Chechnya.

19.   Officials conferred with Stoltenberg, and everyone agreed to call it quits for the night.

20.   Palestinian officials conferred with Arafat on the truce proposal in Ramallah, and Sharon called senior ministers to a late-night meeting in Tel Aviv.