Another American military official characterized the situation in the city as "volatile."

No substantial progress was reported, although Soviet officials characterized the meeting as a "positive event."

The officials would not characterize the words beyond saying that they might have been a prayer.

The Soviet official at the meeting characterized the conversation as "extremely important."

Two weeks later, senior officials here characterized the remarks as unfortunate.

Privately, some senior officials characterize the heavy intervention as a holding action.

Israeli and Egyptian officials have characterized the treaty as a cold peace.

The officials characterized their proposal as sharing the environmental risk.

Still, officials here characterize the judgments against November 17 as a turning point.

American and Japanese officials characterized the emergency aid as an effort to buy time.