111.   Napster officials declined to comment on the study, other than to say the recent drop in shared files shows that their filtering efforts are working.

112.   On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he was encouraged by the recent drop in Palestinian attacks.

113.   Property stocks, which form a large part of the Hong Kong stock market, have been hit hard by recent sharp drops in the real estate market.

114.   Share prices surged on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Thursday as investors bought up bargains after some recent sharp drops.

115.   Some traders attributed the sharp climb in the finance sector to continued short-covering following steep recent drops in the sector.

116.   The dollar lost ground against the yen on growing sentiment that the Japanese currency is safe haven from the recent drops suffered by other Asian currencies, traders said.

117.   The decision was prompted by the recent drop in world oil prices, the minister told the independent Al-Qabas daily.

118.   The government has not released estimates of the recent drop in sales.

119.   The dollar lost ground on growing sentiment that the Japanese currency is a safe haven from the recent drops suffered by other Asian currencies, traders said.

120.   The move had been widely expected amid recent drops in inflation.