In what is shaping up to be one of the most bitter showdowns in Broadway history, theater producers and musicians have begun negotiations on a new contract that will hinge on the size of orchestras.

Officials from both sides said they were eager to avoid a replay of the 1989 strike, an especially bitter showdown.

Two days after Indonesia's central bank governor was named as a suspect in a financial scandal, he and the government squared off today in a bitter showdown that could erode what little confidence investors have in this fragile country.

Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dissolved the National Assembly of Kuwait on 7 December 2011 citing "deteriorating conditions" amid an increasingly bitter political showdown over alleged high-level corruption.

According to one document, Mr. Wolfowitz had a bitter showdown with the bank's personnel director, Xavier Coll, in March 2006 over Mr. Wolfowitz's concern that word of the salary was leaking out to the press.

Among Most Profitable Units The sale of the shuttle, one of Eastern's most profitable units, makes it almost certain that Mr. Lorenzo is headed for a bitter showdown with the major unions at Eastern.

Toulmin was the first of six candidates that the state senate rejected in a bitter showdown between Garrard and the legislature.

Still, it appears that the Russian Government is slowly getting back to business and that Mr. Yeltsin and the Parliament might avoid a bitter showdown over the shake-up.

The events were the latest developments in what has become a particularly bitter environmental showdown.

Senior aides to Mr. Dinkins and Mr. Vallone said the biggest stumbling block was a bitter showdown between the Mayor and Council over who should control quasi-independent agencies.