1.   Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said an official cooling-off period to precede peace talks with the Palestinians would not start until such attacks end.

2.   The British have not budged from their demand that a gesture of weapons transfer precede peace talks.

3.   They have insisted that a historical inquiry precede any talk of payments.

4.   Under their plan, the June talks will be preceded by elections in Northern Ireland to determine which parties will take part, and under what conditions.

5.   An international team headed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell recommended that Israel freeze settlement construction as part of confidence building measures to precede peace talks.

6.   Major accepted this but immediately said an election should precede talks to determine who sat at the table.

7.   Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appeared relaxed during a prolonged handshake that preceded talks lasting much of the afternoon.

8.   Prime Minister John Major, speaking in Parliament, repeated his call for Northern Ireland elections to precede talks.

9.   The consultations precede talks between Gallucci and his North Korean counterpart, Kang Sok Ju, tentatively scheduled for next week.

10.   The sticking point has been Taliban insistence that a cease-fire precede talks.