The Times's Patrick Tyler reported that it took a tense showdown, with police placed on alert, to convince the Beijing party boss, Chen Xitong, to step aside.

Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba.

That problem faces a tense showdown in coming days in the House Appropriations Committee when it takes up a spending bill that includes the Justice Department.

Explosive action scenes being a specialty of the author's, you can count on a tense showdown with guns blazing on all sides.

Mr. Bush's brief speech came in the midst of an increasingly tense showdown with the Democratic-controlled Congress over the constitutional balance of power during war.

After successfully picking off several of Motoko's men with his excellent sniper tactics, she cornered him in a tense showdown.

But Mr. Yeltsin was finally the undisputed victor in the tense showdown with Parliament, which had obstructed his programs for two years.

Eventually cut after vice Principal Lippman said it was too distracting, resulting in a tense showdown between Lippman and Who.

After a short but tense showdown, Blackstone won the contest after raising its bid at the 11th hour by 10 percent, to $17.6 billion.

It was a tense showdown on the foul line in the final 18.7 seconds as Lofton, shut down for the second half, made six consecutive free throws to seal Tennessee's victory.