71.   Trading was expected to be light ahead of the Fourth of July holiday and the announcement later today of whether Federal Reserve officials raised benchmark interest rates.

72.   U.S. officials first raised the benchmarking plan at the WTO meeting in February.

73.   U.S. officials will raise the issue of the trade deficit over the weekend when finance ministers from the Group of Seven major industrial countries meet in Hong Kong.

74.   When American officials raised the matter with Aristide, he replied that the claims were unfounded.

75.   When Edward I. Koch was mayor, officials raised the issue after a series of cases in which ambulance crews took an hour or more to respond to emergencies.

76.   When Merrill Lynch told the state that it would build in Hopewell or leave New Jersey, state officials gingerly raised the idea of building in Trenton.

77.   While it was not immediately clear what caused the crash, federal officials raised the possibility that it may have been an act of terrorism.

78.   Other government officials have raised the possibility that some settlements would be dismantled and that some settlers might stay on under Palestinian rule.

79.   Palestinian officials have raised the possibility of shifting negotiations to Washington if talks in the region do not produce an accord.

80.   Other officials raised the possibility the meeting would be postponed to Sunday.