11.   Bolstering the U.S. position, Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it was severing diplomatic ties with the Taliban, leaving only Pakistan with a formal link to Afghanistan.

12.   Addressing the rally at parliament, the National Assembly chairman, Amien Rais, called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to abandon plans to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.

13.   Business executives say that holding back on diplomatic ties when trade is returning to normal is merely symbolic and hobbles U.S. companies.

14.   But despite the standoff, the Taliban offered to continue talking with Pakistan, the last nation maintaining some level of diplomatic ties with the radical Islamic regime.

15.   But Cubans would be exempt because the diplomatic ties allowing such deportations do not exist.

16.   But that was the same period when Yasser Arafat took on Hamas, and eight Arab countries opened trade or diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

17.   But that visit came at a time when Israel and the Vatican did not have diplomatic ties.

18.   But there are still considerable hurdles to overcome before diplomatic ties are restored, and almost no one expects the negotiations to be completed soon.

19.   Christopher is expected to sign a number of documents with Vietnamese government officials that will officially open diplomatic ties.

20.   Congressional efforts to block the establishment of U.S. diplomatic ties with another country are rare but not unprecedented.