31.   Miami coach Butch Davis denied a report Sunday that he was heading to Cleveland next week for exploratory talks with Browns president Carmen Policy.

32.   MILF Vice Chairman Al Haj Murad said earlier this week that the fighting in Basilan province was undermining peace negotiations, which began with exploratory talks early this month.

33.   Most recently, reports said Davis was scheduled to have exploratory talks with Brown president Carmen Policy on Wednesday even though Cleveland coach Chris Palmer has not been fired.

34.   NATO allies agreed Friday to open exploratory talks in the next three months with East European nations that aspire to join the Western military alliance.

35.   Ngbanda was in South Africa last week for exploratory talks on a possible peace process.

36.   On the positive side, Arafat and Israeli negotiators held exploratory talks.

37.   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he is ready to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in London once progress is made in exploratory talks with the Americans.

38.   Savir said Thursday he preferred several months of exploratory talks before the two delegations settle into a more rigid framework of negotiations in committees.

39.   Since then, an EU delegation has visited Havana for exploratory talks on normalizing EU-Cuban ties.

40.   The British government plans to start exploratory talks with Sinn Fein before Christmas.