1.  As a devout Buddhist, Gere strongly supports the Dalai Lama, which in turn has involved him increasingly in charitable activities that have taken him around the world.

2.  As a first critical step, London has been lobbying strongly to lift the ban on beef by-products _ beef tallow, gelatin and bull semen.

3.  Denver stayed at No. 11, so the option to claim a third first-round pick remains strongly in play.

4.  Cuban-American groups from Miami to New Jersey, most of them strongly obstinate, are ready to stage countless protests.

5.  Describing their results in January, Perlmutter acknowledged that the evidence strongly suggested a cosmological constant, but went no further.

6.  Deputy Defense Secretary John White "feels very strongly" the commission's current report language is inadequate, one of White's aides said.

7.  Dellums hinted strongly in his resignation letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich this week that the timing of his departure may be more personal than political.

8.  Current medallion owners and medallion brokers have strongly opposed the idea, contending that it would reduce the value of their own shields.

9.  DES spokesman Fernando Vender said department officials felt strongly then, and still do, that these programs need better oversight.

10.  Despite HP's absence from the panel, it figured strongly in the discussion, owing to its 60 percent market share.