21.   With the deadline for a strike by nearly a million workers fast approaching, neither unions nor the government showed any sign of softening their hardline stances Monday.

22.   He has angered Arab leaders with his hardline stance on the peace process.

23.   He has faced mounting criticism from both the Arab world and western nations over his hardline stance on settlements and the stalling of the Middle East peace process.

24.   He has since taken a hardline stance on the closure of Orient House and against a visit to Jerusalem by PLO chief Yasser Arafat.

25.   His hardline stance won the backing of those who came out to march Wednesday.

26.   IG Metall has moderated its usually hardline negotiating stance, in view of the gloomy economic climate.

27.   In a moderate government programme last week, he brushed aside the hardline stances and instead stuck to secular, liberal and even pro-western objectives.

28.   In his first comments to reporters Saturday, the new premier struck a typical hardline stance, suggesting that the Serb entity would soon be a separate state.

29.   In many firms, press reports said unions were divided over the hardline stance of their confederation, which spearheaded the first labor unrest.

30.   Inter-Korean talks have ground to a halt since US President George W. Bush took office last year and signalled a hardline stance toward Pyongyang.