1.   A fair number of influential Cuban officials appear to believe that deep changes will have to be made simply to keep the economy from collapse.

2.   Other influential officials are in no rush to turn back the clock on deregulation.

3.   She is aligned politically with several influential elected officials, including Assemblyman Albert Vann.

4.   Such councils proliferate through Washington, providing a forum for lobbyists to invite lawmakers and influential officials to rub elbows with their clients.

5.   An influential economic official said on Friday he is worried that the troubled Japanese economy may fall into a deflationary spiral.

6.   Dollar-supportive remarks from an influential Japanese official, however, helped slow the pace of its fall.

7.   Erskine Childers, once an influential senior official at the United Nations and later the head of its support organization, died this week, a newspaper reported Saturday.

8.   Finance officials from six major Pacific economies discussed placing limits on hedge funds Thursday as a way to achieve stability in global markets, an influential Japanese official said.

9.   Meanwhile, in the latest show of international concern about Kosovo, two influential U.S. officials held talks with top government leaders in neighboring Albania on Saturday.

10.   Meanwhile, the dollar was little changed against the yen by late Friday afternoon, despite remarks by an influential Japanese official who tried to talk down the dollar.