1.   China-Taiwan trade has also blossomed in recent years, despite a continuing political rift between Beijing and Taipei which dates back to the Chinese civil war.

2.   His comments underscore the continuing rift over spending among EU leaders as they prepare for a year-end European summit next week in Vienna, Austria.

3.   Indicating a continuing rift among Bosnian Serbs, their dominant political party Wednesday demanded prosecution of Gen. Ratko Mladic and other top army commanders who have defied their ouster.

4.   The opposition also maintained that the new government was bound to fail because of the continuing rifts in the Socialist Party.

5.   On Tuesday, the government suffered a humiliating parliamentary defeat on a home fuel tax increase that exposed continuing deep rifts in the Conservative Party.

6.   Only Iraq has been excluded from the summit with an empty chair in the conference centre bearing witness to its absence and the continuing rift in the Arab world.