21.   While high-level U.S. military contacts are just resuming, Tharoor noted that the chief planner for U.N. military missions is currently an American colonel, Bob Phillips.

22.   Xinhua did not say when the contacts might resume.

23.   A senior State Department official, who asked not to be named, said secret contacts could resume immediately.

24.   Although Israeli-Syrian contacts resumed last week, bilateral talks have been suspended since February.

25.   Contacts resumed between Iran and Iraqi Kurdish officials after a breakdown of US-backed peace negotiations in Dublin in mid-September.

26.   Diplomatic contacts resumed Saturday in efforts to arrange an Israeli-Palestinian summit that could ease tensions following the wave of violence in the region.

27.   The Pentagon played down Tuesday the breakdown in contacts with Bosnian Serb forces, saying they expected military contacts to resume Wednesday in Tuzla.