21.   Because it used a different calculation method, comparisons between the two figures are meaningless, ministry officials said.

22.   Banks customarily wine and dine customers and ministry officials, and the practice has been accepted for decades.

23.   A Chinese foreign ministry official said earlier this week that distribution is unlikely to be opened up.

24.   A Japanese foreign trade ministry official in a telephone interview from Tokyo said the retaliation talk is meant to go beyond short-term pressure tactics by Japan.

25.   A British laboratory subsequently confirmed the diagnosis, and agricultural ministry officials are now attempting to trace the whereabouts of other possibly infected cows from the same Hokkaido herd.

26.   A French foreign ministry official, commenting on recent reports from his embassy in Moscow, said several factors appear to favor the Communists in the December elections.

27.   A ministry official said last week that the final issuing of licenses could come this fall.

28.   A ministry official said the economic downturn is already being reflected in trade figures.

29.   A ministry official seems resigned to the idea that the project might be scrapped.

30.   A ministry official said consumer prices are expected to fall further in November when a successful harvest of fruits will further lower the prices of agricultural products.