1.   They occurred only weeks after Lebanon and Syria had signed a friendship treaty.

2.   During the Bundestag debate, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said that the friendship treaty represented a formal recognition of the German minority in Poland.

3.   Included in the friendship treaty was a defence co-operation agreement, covering material provision for the armed forces and officer training.

4.   A new friendship treaty, Russia says, could restore visa-free travel, though at what price is unclear.

5.   Despite his criticism of the friendship treaty, Adhikary has appealed to Indian industrialists here and in Calcutta to invest in Nepal and help expand its economic base.

6.   Jiang flew to Moscow in July to sign a friendship treaty.

7.   North Korea has also recently signed a new friendship treaty with Russia.

8.   Peter van Schaick, an employee rights lawyer in Glen Ridge, N.J., said he had noticed that foreign companies were regularly invoking the friendship treaty.

9.   Putin and President Jiang Zemin signed a friendship treaty just last week, but it is unclear how Putin plans to juggle the superpowers.