21.  Breaking with its larger neighbor, Saudi Arabia, Qatar also became the first gulf state to establish open trade relations with Israel.

22.  But Georgia is the first state to deregulate such a large segment of its mass market.

23.  But knowing the issue could be revived, the HMO group plans to continue advertising next year in New Hampshire and Iowa, the first presidential primary states.

24.  But now it is famed as the first state to impose a cruel and sneaky law that could ban all abortions.

25.  But officials at the CMA said the measure makes California the first state to take steps to preserve the quality of care that patients receive in HMOs.

26.  But New York is the first state that the company has actually taken to court, in part because it had expected to make tidy profits here.

27.  But Nevada appears to be the first state to require, in addition, that prisoners prove their innocence to win suits against their lawyers.

28.  But the Bush campaign is likely to rise or fall in the first primary state on how the candidate connects with tire kickers such as Greenland.

29.  California is among the first states to open its local phone market to competition.

30.  California is the first state in the nation to require thumb-print identification for real estate transactions.