1.   The announcement came as iXL reported that its second-quarter loss nearly doubled from the year-ago period.

2.   The announcement came as Solectron reported a net loss in its fiscal third quarter and fell short of Wall Street expectations.

3.   The new bargaining came as Verizon reported its first major system outage since the strike began.

4.   The stepped-up bargaining came as Verizon reported its first major system outage since the strike began.

5.   The widely anticipated announcement, which came as BT reported a sharp drop in second-quarter pretax profits, failed to restore much confidence among investors.

6.   The threat came as Serbs reported the fiercest fighting yet on a northeastern battlefront where troops of the Muslim-led government have been gaining ground.