31.   Officials here favor a weaker yen because it makes Japanese exports cheaper abroad and thus more competitive.

32.   Russian officials favor the theory that a collision with a foreign submarine set off the powerful blasts.

33.   Russian officials favor a theory that a collision with a foreign submarine set off the powerful blasts.

34.   Several senior Iraqi officials now favor accepting a U.N. Security Council resolution allowing Iraq limited oil sales for humanitarian purposes, the Middle East Economic Survey reported Monday.

35.   Some Adirondack-area officials had favored a less-restrictve designation, fearing that the limitations would deprive the area of an economic boost.

36.   U.S. officials favor extradition because traffickers typically receive much stiffer sentences in the United States than in Colombia, where corruption and intimidation plagues the justice system.

37.   U.S. officials favor tebuthiuron because it is granular, can be dropped from higher altitudes and dissolves less readily.

38.   Universal studio officials favored a television release because they thought it was too far outside the Hollywood mainstream to be successful.

39.   If they can do that, world football officials might favor a bid that would cast the World Cup in the role of international peacemaker.