21.   He acknowledged that it was difficult to know whether both men could make the tough decisions needed to restart peace talks.

22.   He added he was optimistic that his meetings with President Bush on Thursday and Friday, when the conference ends, would restart talks on Mexican immigration.

23.   He indicated an interest in restarting peace talks, while Sharon told him that Palestinian violence must stop first.

24.   In an effort to restart the talks, Clinton announced he is dispatching Secretary of State Warren Christopher to meet with Assad in Damascus on Friday.

25.   In another signal that Taiwan wants to improve relations with China, Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui said he wants to restart talks with China.

26.   Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak wants to restart peace talks with Palestinians.

27.   It coincided with diplomatic efforts to restart peace talks between Israel and Syria, which have been suspended for almost a year.

28.   It was a chance to plot the next moves, and to put the priority squarely back on restarting peace talks.

29.   Later, Chirac also contacted the Russian government in an attempt to restart talks with the Serbs toward a diplomatic settlement of the conflict.

30.   Monday evening, representatives of both Microsoft and the government said they remained open to the idea of restarting settlement talks.