31.   Abdullah said the circumstances had not been right while tensions were flaring.

32.   After tensions flared last summer, China suspended semi-official talks with Taiwan to resolve problems arising from their booming trade and civilian exchanges.

33.   Blair downplayed fears that tensions would flare again between Serbs and ethnic Albanians when the refugees were returned to the province.

34.   But lately that effort has caused tensions to flare between Taiwan and China, and many Taiwanese question the wisdom of continuing to annoy China by pursuing U.N. membership.

35.   But tensions flared within hours, with Palestinian youths hurling rocks, bottles and potatoes at Israeli troops patrolling a downtown square adjacent to Jewish settler enclaves.

36.   China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and tensions have flared between the rival governments since Taiwan stepped up its campaign to raise its international profile last year.

37.   Hard-line Protestants marched and Catholic militants commemorated their dead Monday as traditional Easter tensions flared in Northern Ireland, particularly in Belfast.

38.   Long-simmering tensions flared last month when Azerbaijan alleged that an Iranian warship violated its territorial waters and threatened to use force against an Azerbaijani oil exploration ship.

39.   Lubbers warned that ethnic tensions are still flaring in many pockets of northern and western Afghanistan where local chieftains were refusing to heed a government order to disarm.

40.   Muslim and Croat tensions have flared again in the bitterly divided city, southwest of Sarajevo, where Croats prefer segregation from their former Muslim neighbors.