21.   President Eduard Shevardnadze said his country had avoided a civil war with the surrender of the mutinous troops.

22.   The Central American country has avoided the inflation that has afflicted other nations in the region, since it could not print currency to back up excessive government spending.

23.   The communist country usually avoids negative internal reports.

24.   The country usually avoids negative internal reports.

25.   The Labor Department report nevertheless offered rays of hope that the country can avoid a full-blown recession, showing surprisingly strong job growth in construction and other areas.

26.   United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to all countries to avoid a new arms race and start negotiating irreversible disarmament agreements.

27.   In February the two countries narrowly avoided a formal reprimand for their swelling public deficits.

28.   Iran, which has called for an end to Israel, had repeatedly called on Arab countries to avoid making peace with the Jewish state.

29.   Analysts said investors were still clinging to the hope that the country could avoid elections despite the near-inevitable fall of the United Front coalition government.

30.   South Korea is under OECD pressure to open up its financial markets, and Han has said that the country cannot avoid its responsibilities as a trading power.