31.   Former Sen. George Mitchell pleaded with dissident politicians Thursday not to block a plan to end the deadlock that is stalling progress in the Northern Ireland peace agreement.

32.   GM says the union has blocked plans to make the Flint factories more efficient.

33.   He also suggested the company would go to court to block the plan if necessary.

34.   He concluded by urging Pataki to block plans for an event in Buffalo in September that eventually took place.

35.   However, the Clinton plan was blocked in Congress after an alliance of business, insurance and conservative groups launched an aggressive campaign against it.

36.   House Speaker Newt Gingrich once had to block a plan by his GOP colleagues to wear Pinocchio noses during a speech by the president.

37.   If Congress does not block the plan, the administration plans to begin leasing offshore blocks to development in December.

38.   In each case, handfuls of moderate Republicans have voted with Democrats to block administration plans.

39.   In April, the commission blocked plans to merge the platinum activities of Anglo American Corp. and Lonrho Plc, which are mainly based in South Africa.

40.   Instead, Clinton told his Cabinet secretaries to block the plan.