41.   Administration officials described their half-hour conversation, which ended around midnight, as anguished and impassioned.

42.   Administration officials have described an air war in threatening terms designed to give the diplomatic efforts more leverage.

43.   Administration officials have described past efforts to condemn China in the Geneva meetings as futile and counterproductive, and last year the United States did not offer a resolution.

44.   Administration officials described the letter as amicable but straightforward.

45.   Alliance officials described the creation of the NATO-Russia Council as a historic milestone marking the end of the Cold War confrontation between the two former enemies.

46.   Brinks officials described Cook, known as Dwight or Tex, as a hard-working, low key professional who was married and a father of two.

47.   British and Irish officials described the talks announced by Gerry Adams as a breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process.

48.   Brookhaven laboratory officials described the report as the first to explain the biochemical effects in the brain from cigarette smoke.

49.   But a high-ranking party official described a number of competitive scenes between the two.

50.   But Bloomberg administration officials described the report as a naive political broadside meant to scare the public.