71.   Military officials described the LTTE attack as an apparent bid to divert the attention of security forces concentrating on the offensive, called Operation Leap Forward.

72.   Mobutu the previous day decreed a nationwide state of emergency in an apparent bid to stop the march by supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi.

73.   One Marseille newspaper, La Provence, has even started distributing its own freesheet, Marseilleplus, in an apparent bid to saturate its turf and force out Metro.

74.   Police formed cordons around the Terazije promenade in an apparent bid also to prevent the opposition from launching a second traffic jam protest in the capital.

75.   Russian warplanes also attacked villages in the mountains around Grozny in an apparent bid to prevent resistance fighters from preparing for guerrilla warfare once Grozny falls.

76.   Russian warplanes bombed a strategically-important bridge near here Thursday in an apparent bid to isolate the capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

77.   She called on ex-president Kim Young-Sam on Tuesday in an apparent bid to solicit support for her cause.

78.   Supporters of Megawati lit bonfires outside party headquarters at one stage in an apparent bid to keep police out.

79.   The cult created an identical site with another access provider in an apparent bid to guarantee that it would leave behind a cyberspace presence.

80.   The European Commission launched a major initiative Wednesday for an international conference on the crisis in a apparent bid to move to the center stage of Middle East politics.