41.   The blows followed years in which rising real estate prices and traffic bottlenecks forced printing companies, like many other manufacturers, out of Manhattan.

42.   The agreement followed a year of negotiations that came down to whether Russia should be treated as a developing country or accorded first-world status.

43.   The agreement followed several years of discussions regarding complaints that the company did not enforce reasonable procedures to guarantee the accuracy and privacy of credit reports.

44.   The agreement follows several years of efforts by Texaco to deal with separate allegations of racial discrimination made by minority employees.

45.   The brothers concede they killed their parents, but claim they shot in fear for their own lives following years of sexual, emotional and psychological abuse.

46.   The changes, which some reformers characterized as only a modest first step, followed years of accumulating big money donations accompanied by growing controversies.

47.   The confusion follows years of debate about widespread screening to identify individuals who carry the gene for CF, which is the most common lethal inherited disease among Caucasians.

48.   The company expects Britain, Japan and a few others to follow this year.

49.   The downgrades followed years of fiscal mismanagement.

50.   The effort to restart negotiations follows years of stalemate, with all sides agreeing that an overhaul is necessary but without an agreement on what needs to be done.