21.   China has managed to evade the worst of the financial crisis that has swept the region.

22.   Countries in Asia have been looking into ways to lessen its dependence on the greenback after being hit hard by a currency crisis that swept the region.

23.   Economic experts yesterday expressed optimism the Philippines would be among the first to recover from the crisis sweeping the region.

24.   He said other Asian countries did not send contingents because of the economic slump caused by the currency crisis sweeping the region.

25.   International health experts united in calling for government campaigns from Mexico to Central America and the Caribbean to stamp out a dengue epidemic sweeping the region.

26.   Israel has a new prime minister, hard-liner Ariel Sharon, and violence has swept the region.

27.   It announced that it was shutting its doors, having fallen victim to the economic turmoil sweeping the region.

28.   Last year famine swept the region after the government barred relief flights to adjacent Bahr el-Ghazal province between February and April.

29.   Mexico is not the only country losing forests to the thousands of fires that have swept the region this year.

30.   Newly appointed Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai warned that no nation is immune to the financial woes sweeping the region.