11.   Calcium absorption -- crucial to building and maintaining bone mass -- is linked to estrogen, and slows after menopause when the levels of the naturally occurring estrogen drop.

12.   Consumer spending has slowed after the tax increase, yet it will likely continue to rise, given that employment is strengthening and incomes are increasing, Matsushita said.

13.   Consumption in Japan has slowed after April tax increases.

14.   Financial issues were lower, amid concern that their growth may be slowing after about four months of advances.

15.   In Hungary, where foreign investment has slowed after a roaring several years, the new socialist government faces making drastic spending cuts.

16.   In Poland, trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange slowed after the exchange canceled the final half-hour of the daily trading session because of technical problems.

17.   Industrial production fell in February for the first time since last June and import growth has slowed after soaring early last year.

18.   It was hard to ignore the interconnection, given that progress between the Israelis and the Palestinians slowed immediately after the Israeli-Syrian talks resumed.

19.   Japanese domestic wholesale prices fell in June from one month earlier as the economy slowed after the consumption tax increase, the Bank of Japan said.

20.   Meanwhile, outfielder Gabe Kapler missed five games with a strained abdominal muscle, and center fielder Carl Everett has slowed after off-season knee surgery.