61.   Meanwhile, key U.S. allies called on the Senate to approve the treaty.

62.   Nonetheless, Thiessen said, the big issue that kept the United States from approving the treaty in Rome remains unchanged.

63.   On Thursday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the treaty just five days days before it takes effect.

64.   One day after approving a treaty with Slovakia on a new border, the Czech parliament on Wednesday rejected a law that actually would have established it.

65.   Only four Republicans voted to approve the treaty, which would impose a global ban on nuclear weapons tests and set up a monitoring system to detect cheating.

66.   Relations between the countries entered a crisis in November when Honduras approved a treaty with Colombia that conflicted with Nicaraguan claims to a large swath of the Caribbean.

67.   Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen urged his skeptical countrymen to approve the treaty.

68.   Shortly after the treaty was approved by acclamation in Oslo, Norway, presidential spokesman Mike McCurry said the United States would not be a signatory to the accord.

69.   The biological weapons treaty was approved at the height of the Cold War at a time when no major nations had a genuine fear of germ warfare.

70.   The conference has until the end of next week to approve the treaty before the planning signing in New York becomes impossible.