21.   The shooting highlighted vulnerable links between Israel and the Palestinians that persist despite recent talk by Israeli officials of the need for separation to prevent further violence.

22.   The violence has persisted despite a truce agreed upon last week and an earlier cease-fire accord reached last month.

23.   The violence has persisted despite a truce agreed upon last week and an earlier cease-fire reached last month.

24.   These problems have persisted despite a receding of the eggshell-thinning problems that stemmed from now-banned DDT.

25.   These patterns have persisted despite ferocious attempts at assimilation through residential schools and laws that banned traditional ceremonies.

26.   They have persisted despite the modest price of salt and the vast output of industries.

27.   This denial persists despite studies that show big-league sports pumping nearly a quarter of a billion dollars a year into the local economy.

28.   President Leonid Kuchma complained Tuesday that major trade disagreements between Ukraine and Russia persist despite a landmark treaty signed last spring.

29.   A series of overnight shootings left at least seven Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers wounded Tuesday as violence persisted despite the resumption of security contacts between the two sides.

30.   And this growing gulf persists despite decades of unparalleled global economic growth.