21.   He said it was hard to take the Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder seriously because his recent purchase of Universal Studios left him a little strapped.

22.   HFS Inc. said first-quarter earnings more than doubled on the recent purchase of PHH Corp., which provides vehicle leasing, mortgage and relocation services.

23.   Israeli officials insist that, with recent purchases of masks from Europe, there will be plenty for everyone once an emergency is declared.

24.   Like other east Asian nations, however, China has made co-production and technology-transfer a condition of virtually all recent military purchases from the West.

25.   Levin explained his company needed the money to finance other investments, including the recent purchase of several cable systems.

26.   New sales would be welcome to the wheat market, which has slowed as importers digest recent purchases.

27.   On other markets, wheat was steady as recent purchases of U.S. wheat by overseas buyers failed to convince traders that export demand is picking up.

28.   Olsen, a partner at Battle Fowler, also represented President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in their recent purchase of a home in Chappaqua.

29.   One recent purchase was Meitec, a Japanese temporary employment agency for engineers.

30.   One recent purchase was Bookham Technology of Oxfordshire, England, which makes components that generate and control light signals in fiber-optic networks.