21.   U.S. stocks were little changed as confidence that Federal Reserve officials will avoid raising interest rates balanced losses in trucking, HMO and homebuilding companies.

22.   Wertheimer and Sharansky make specific reference to the Marshall Plan in their advocacy of economic development assistance for the Palestinians, while military officials deliberately avoid it.

23.   What effect the loss will have is undetermined, but a worst-case scenario could mean budget cutbacks, even layoffs, though city officials avoid such dire predictions.

24.   While Beijing has never tried to hide its space ambitions, Chinese officials have avoided saying if their goal was to put a man up.

25.   Pentagon officials have avoided saying whether U.S. warplanes have begun directly hitting Taliban front lines.

26.   Although Indonesian officials have avoided criticizing Belo publicly, the government has denounced the choice of Horta, saying he is responsible for many deaths in East Timor.

27.   Another FAA official avoided an opportunity to offer an opinion on the crash.

28.   But for the most part, officials have avoided potentially explosive debates over names and history.

29.   But many top apartheid officials have avoided testifying or applying for amnesty, and the command chain for the brutal repression remains unclear.

30.   But U.S. officials carefully avoided cautioning Israel against less forceful reactions, particularly if it turns out that radical militants were responsible for the bus attack.