1.   A BITTER STANDOFF AT CABLEVISION James L. Dolan, president of Cablevision, is locked into a bitter standoff with the YES Network, created by the Yankees.

2.   But NBC is also embroiled in a bitter standoff with the Hollywood studios that supply all those hits.

3.   But so far, the debate has bubbled along at a low boil, contained by a bitter standoff between Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council.

4.   But their bitter standoff is about more than those issues or the taxpayer dollars they represent.

5.   In that case, the result is likely to be a bitter standoff that could extend through the Christmas holidays and perhaps well beyond.

6.   Privately, though, officials said they still have hopes for a diplomatic solution to a bitter standoff with the Iraqi dictator.

7.   Five years later, a defiant Saddam is still president of Iraq and his bitter standoff with the world shows no sign of abating.

8.   The announcement is designed to defuse a bitter standoff that has paralyzed cities for three days.

9.   The lavish presentations at the Carrousel du Louvre here largely glossed over what has been an increasingly bitter standoff that has raised bitterness and nationalism.

10.   A bitter standoff between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Clinton administration over the budget has idled more than one-third of the federal workforce since Tuesday.