The trick now for McDonald's is to find a way to sustain its growth as rivals seek to steal customers, particularly from profitable areas like breakfast.

It would pay for many of the education and health-care programs that his Democratic rivals sought, while preserving the reserve fund that Mr. Pataki wanted.

But antitrust specialists said that, for now, the ruling would encourage rivals to seek to block large takeover attempts through the use of the antitrust laws.

This kind of trouble Tom and his friends had experienced before, on other trips where rivals had sought to frustrate their ends.

After a week of mixed signals, even Mr. Chernomyrdin's rivals sought to put the best face on the diplomacy today.

At his best he shows a spontaneity, a charm and a facility which his rivals sought in vain to emulate.

From the start of the campaign, Mr. Yeltsin's Communist rivals have sought to capitalize on the military's distress over its diminished status.

On Thursday, Ms. Pirro's rivals sought to turn her latest problems to their advantage.

King's rivals all sought to promote the bout, but King was able to secure the then-record $10 million purse through an arrangement with the government of Zaire.

With the two rivals openly seeking his mediation, the emperor was placed in an ideal position to recast the situation as he wanted.