31.   The bill, which was approved without a vote in less than five hours, now goes to the House of Lords, where its passage is assured.

32.   The chairman of the opposition Social Democrats, Oskar Lafontaine, said Thursday his party would back the proposal later this month, virtually assuring its passage.

33.   The laws go before the provisional legislature on Saturday where their passage is assured.

34.   The more realistic question is the degree to which the fiscal plan will change to assure passage.

35.   The Senate, where passage was virtually assured, planned to take it up in June.

36.   The results brought to five the number of teams that have assured passage to the knockout round, joining Uruguay and Brazil which qualified Thursday.

37.   Turkey adopted new navigation regulations for the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits earlier this year in an effort to assure safe passage in the narrow waterways.

38.   Democratic deputy whip Bill Richardson of New Mexico said they were within five votes of assuring passage of the bill.

39.   Other legislators denied that a deal had been cemented and House majority leader Richard Armey of Texas acknowledged passage was not assured.

40.   The Democrats -- of whom a substantial number oppose GATT -- could not assure passage of the accord without the support of the Republican minority.