71.  Although only a skeleton staff will accompany him, aides will be in constant communication with senior officials at the White House.

72.  Although they condemned the killing of the Hamas leader, senior Palestinian officials sat down again in Jerusalem with their Israeli counterparts to discuss strengthening their peculiar truce.

73.  American and British forces remain on standby around the Persian Gulf and could attack Iraq with less preparation than before, a senior American official said.

74.  American and British senior officials still assert they will prevail over time and seem intent on sticking with their plan.

75.  American officials said they are moving to impose sanctions but that the decision will not formally be made before a White House meeting of senior officials on Monday.

76.  American troops would play a role in that monitoring by NATO, a senior American official said, but largely from the air.

77.  Although the space for the Saudi peace initiative was left blank, senior officials expressed confidence that it would emerge as the summit centerpiece.

78.  An aide to Harmon said that during meetings in Beijing, senior Chinese officials acknowledged that the trade gap was a problem and pledged to help close it.

79.  An attack on a senior official is particularly rare, and television stations immediately broke into regular programming to broadcast scattered and conflicting reports.

80.  Among senior Republican officials in Washington, he is one of the few with deep experience navigating the turbulent waters of international economics.