The Republicans demanded a guaranteed, early vote on new military aid if the negotiations faltered.

But if the negotiations falter or fail, NATO should have other options available.

But negotiations have faltered, while rising global demand, limited supplies and, in the United States, a long, cold winter helped propel oil prices higher.

United States companies face an added twist - if negotiations are faltering, unions can always appeal to swelling anti-American sentiment.

Each of the three factions offers a litany of explanations as to why negotiations have repeatedly faltered.

However, negotiations over a new name for the islands, which the pro-independence groups want to call Kanaky, have faltered.

In January 2002, after those negotiations faltered, he was dismissed; in 2003, he sued.

As elsewhere, violence tends to take over when negotiations to end the quarrels falter.

Now, Mr. Vaughn said, it appears that those negotiations are faltering.

But the trip has acquired added immediacy as the negotiations faltered in Geneva on ending the conflict in Afghanistan.