11.   Arriving breathless only moments before their turn, the U.S. pairs champions rushed through the locker rooms to the ice.

12.   But only hours before the deadline, Maj. Myriam Sochacki, a U.N. spokeswoman said Serbs had not returned any of the weapons.

13.   But only weeks before the Bangkok summit, Brittan is treading carefully here.

14.   Only days before the finals, its key players suffered injuries, they noted.

15.   Only hours before his hospitalization, Tapie was standing in a Marseille courtroom answering prosecution questions on allegations of fraud, abuse of company assets and abuse of confidence.

16.   The gassing occurred only weeks before a ruling was to be handed down.

17.   A theatre where only hours before supermodel Claudia Schiffer had taken part in a fashion parade was partially destroyed by fire Saturday, firefighters said.

18.   Aundra Akins accepted the plea agreement only minutes before jury selection was to begin on first degree murder charges that he fired the shots that killed Gary Colley.

19.   Escorting fighters machine-gunned fleeing civilians, who only hours before had packed the town for market day.

20.   Japanese football officials here insist privately that the letter, sent only hours before the executive committee was to consider co-hosting, had come about after pressure from Tokyo.