1.   Both the German and British governments welcomed the deal and the European Union said the merger was unlikely to encounter regulatory hurdles.

2.   But analysts have pointed out that such a move could encounter regulatory hurdles.

3.   But Miller, a Democratic senator from Georgia, has encountered hurdle after hurdle in his push for a Southern Black Belt regional commission.

4.   Calgene chose to construct its own marketing and distribution apparatus, encountering hurdles along the way that ranged from uncooperative weather to machinery snafus in the field.

5.   Thomas Morrow, the president of Time Warner Communications, said the company is encountering similar hurdles in Texas from the Bell company there, SBC Communications.

6.   WebMD and a competing alliance of insurance companies called MedUnite have encountered hurdles in their attempts to streamline the health care industry by linking various participants on the Net.