21.   The US administration has chosen not to take a hardline position, hoping to avoid provoking a conflict between the two Koreas, according to the Times.

22.   The summit, the first in six years, aims to push new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to soften his hardline positions in the peace process with Arabs.

23.   Washington said Wednesday it would make no sense to cancel a Middle East economic conference that Egypt threatened to scrap if the Israeli government maintains its hardline positions.

24.   Meanwhile, Jordan and Bahrain agree to adopt a hardline position against Iran, which Manama has accused of involvement in a wave of bomb attacks on its territory.

25.   Netanyahu will arrive in Cairo amid growing anger in Egypt over his hardline positions, which he reiterated during a visit to Washington last week.

26.   Nikolai Yegorov, a deputy prime minister, took up a hardline position, urging an intensification of the Russian attacks on the Chechnyan capital Grozny.

27.   Palestinian and Arab leaders have warned that such hardline positions could lead to the collapse of the peace process.

28.   Pro-Islamic Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan Wednesday renewed his hardline position against a plan by the powerful military to curb creeping Islamisation in Turkey.

29.   South Korea is expected to maintain its hardline position at least until crucial National Assembly elections to avoid any local polticial risks.

30.   The first Arab summit in six years seeks a common strategy to convince the new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to soften his hardline position in future peace negotiations.