1.   American, Russian and other foreign submarines operate with impunity and without permission in the contested northern waters.

2.   At first officials said a collision with a foreign submarine might have caused it to sink.

3.   Beach thinks it must have been a Russian ship that hit the Russian sub, although some Russian sources are hinting that the Kursk collided with a foreign submarine.

4.   After first saying it sank after a collision with a foreign submarine or a mine, officials now say a faulty torpedo was the cause.

5.   After saying it sank after a collision with a foreign submarine or a mine, officials now blame a faulty torpedo.

6.   However, Klebanov said the submersibles found no pieces of a foreign submarine.

7.   Nobody can tell the difference between a foreign submarine and a pack of hormone-seething male codfish.

8.   Nor was it, the other American submarine or any other foreign submarine involved in any collision, they said.

9.   The Clinton administration has declined so far to publicly discuss the mission of the U.S. submarines or how U.S. forces might help a foreign submarine in distress.

10.   The Russians initially said the sub appeared to have sunk after a collision, possibly with a foreign submarine.