1.   And Saudi officials sought to downplay talk that they were planning retribution if the White House did not take a firmer stand against Sharon.

2.   Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey said NATO should take a firmer stand.

3.   But many praise his vigor, and an apparently firmer stand on Nagorno-Karabakh.

4.   But since the election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May, Israel has taken a firmer stand.

5.   Edwards and others hope Clinton will take a firmer stand in his summit speech Thursday.

6.   Harkin said he met with administration officials and conceded they face problems with getting allies to take a firmer stand.

7.   Many also believe he has a firmer stand on the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly ethnic Armenian enclave inside neighboring Azerbaijan.

8.   The government has been urged to take a firmer stand on law and order in recent months to combat increasing crime triggered by worsening economic hardships.

9.   Former prime minister Yegor Gaidar, a liberal, on Tuesday called on liberal government members to take a firmer stand on the Chechnya issue.

10.   But recently the World Bank has taken, at least, privately, a firmer stand.