1.   As peace talks sputtered, rebel attacks across the country mounted, many of them started from inside the territory, the government has said.

2.   But talks have sputtered on without progress for nearly two years.

3.   Soon after, endorsement talks for Venus sputtered.

4.   The talks have sputtered, but the guerrillas control the land.

5.   The talks themselves sputtered all day Tuesday as Sinn Fein was deciding whether to go to court.

6.   The talks have sputtered on and off under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

7.   In the Balkans, NATO-Yugoslav military talks had sputtered until Wednesday.

8.   Instead, it typified the kind of running confrontation that keeps anger stoked on both sides even as the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks sputter along.

9.   NATO-Yugoslav military talks had sputtered for days.

10.   Peace talks were sputtering Friday over government refusal to discuss national political reforms with the Zapatista rebels of southernmost Mexico.