Despite weeks of criticism and questions about his credibility, Mr. Gonzales gave no sign that he planned to step down.

No self-criticism has been announced, which suggests that he has refused so far to admit serious error despite weeks of strong pressure from the leadership.

He said he grossed a maximum of $62,000 a year but netted only $30,000, despite 60-hour weeks.

Because increasingly, despite her protests, despite weeks of avoiding him, the place where she felt at home was in his arms.

He had not yet succeeded, despite weeks of effort.

Despite weeks of meetings to work out a formal agenda for the meeting, negotiators broke off last week without agreeing on what to talk about.

The Missourian finished third, badly beaten despite weeks of hard work and the expenditure of almost half a million dollars.

Despite weeks of effort, the Stony Man team had come up empty in a critical area of the investigation.

But despite weeks of saying they would hit Taliban front lines hard, the alliance's tanks and soldiers stayed mostly idle.

But the first year was wiped out by the lockout and the second one is uncertain, despite several weeks of renewed negotiations.