But he said state leaders should keep a pledge to fix it swiftly.

Occasionally, a reporter even goes to jail to keep a pledge of confidentiality.

Nobody is obligated in any way to keep a pledge extracted under duress.

She said the company had also reneged on its promise to show independent films, but did keep a pledge not to show "urban action" movies.

He is tanned and fit, having kept a pledge he made to his father while he was in fifth grade never to drink soda.

The alliance's soldiers were stopped two miles outside Kabul by commanders who appeared intent on keeping a pledge given to Washington that they would not enter the capital.

Jordanian King's Visit King Hussein of Jordan has been doing his best to persuade Washington to keep a pledge to forgive his country's debt.

Taking their turn on the offensive, these officials basically call the Kims liars, citing their failure to keep a pledge to join forces behind a single opposition candidate.

Li was asked whether China would keep a pledge to its Southeast Asian neighbours to keep the peace over territorial disputes in the Spratly islands.

Formal Ceremony on Friday The Senate, Parliament's appointed upper chamber, will meet on Tuesday to keep a pledge to give the accord swift passage.

This has put pressure on the I.R.A. and Sinn Fein to keep a pledge made in May 2000 to make weapons moves by now.

T'Shael, despite the events of their recent past, continued to clean for the Klingons, for a Vulcan will ever keep a pledge, regardless of to whom it was made.

In 1992, he was elected to his first of two terms as a freeholder, at the end of which he kept a pledge to limit his time in office by declining to run again.

But most of them were stopped here, two miles short of their goal by Northern Alliance commanders who appeared eager to keep a pledge to Washington that their forces would not enter Kabul.

Arafat's Role Undetermined The raid has prompted charges that the P.L.O. and its leader, Yasir Arafat, have not kept a pledge made in 1988 to end terrorist attacks on Israel.

Link to this video Syrian security forces shot dead 25 people on Thursday, including in cities being visited by Arab League monitors to check whether President Bashar al-Assad is keeping a pledge to end a crackdown on popular unrest.

But the great novelists of the 18th and 19th centuries kept a pledge to the epic utopianism of their ancestor, Homer - to the idea that the history of a people or a society could be represented by an individual who both acts and feels.

OPEC Impact Called Small Analysts said oil companies would not suffer much damage if the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, keep a pledge made earlier this month to curb output.

"It seems I have fulfilled a pledge and will die in service."

Mr. Annan says he is only fulfilling a pledge.

President Clinton announced the change in policy in late 1995, fulfilling a pledge he made early in his Administration to computer executives.

He also faces an electorate deeply uneasy about the way he has gone about fulfilling a pledge to cut back state government.

In his participation, he fulfilled a pledge he made to his dying grandmother to appear on the yearly competition.

This evening, the Government fulfilled a pledge made earlier and announced decrees giving every Rumanian the opportunity to obtain a passport for travel abroad.

In addition, the company will be aided in fulfilling a pledge it made in June to distribute a total of $1.7 billion to shareholders.

The following day Stirling fulfils a pledge to the Doctor and arranges Susan's release from prison.

In a statement Mr. Gallagher said he was fulfilling a pledge "that the Police Department and its members will be held to the highest standard."

Analysts noted that Mr. Zedillo fulfilled a pledge to include the political opposition in his Cabinet.

Los Angeles County feels it has fulfilled a pledge to support the entertainment business at a time when other regions are aggressively seeking to attract film production.

As he has throughout the campaign, Mr. Vacco emphasized yesterday that he had fulfilled a pledge to redefine his office to make it more relevant to the public.

The winning bidder, a group backed by Mr. Lebedev, never fulfilled a pledge to invest $283 million in Apatit, the prosecutors charge.

With one swing yesterday, he accounted for the winning runs in the Mets victory over the Pirates and fulfilled a pledge he made on behalf of a friend.

The budget contains no new taxes, fulfilling a pledge by Mr. Schwarzenegger in last year's campaign in which he unseated Gov. Gray Davis in a recall election.

President Alfredo Cristiani, who already is facing an explosive economic crisis, will have extreme difficulty in fulfilling a pledge to make up the military's financial shortfall by cutting social programs.

Mayor Koch plans to name Amalia V. Betanzos, a former city commissioner, to the Board of Education today, thus fulfilling a pledge to the Hispanic community.

The International Business Machines Corporation said it would have Unix-based operating software available for its most powerful computers early next year, fulfilling a pledge made early last year.

Much of the praise for the turnabout is going to Mr. Gingrich, who fulfilled a pledge he made to Nicaraguans in June, in his last visit to Miami.

The Cabinet vote, while not required, fulfilled a pledge made by Mr. Netanyahu that he would not carry out any agreement that his Government did not endorse.

Mr. Rae, the first Ontario provincial premier from the socialist New Democratic Party, is fulfilling a pledge for greater Indian rights made during his election campaign last summer.

The student, Christopher R. Barr, was not fulfilling a pledge requirement for a fraternity here on the campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

With his call today, Mr. Sullivan fulfilled a pledge made two years ago that he would change his tactics by May 31 this year if apartheid were not ended by then.

Dr. Blumberg is optimistic about fulfilling a pledge by Stevens's president, Harold J. Raveché, to build a beach, eventually, along the college's Hudson River banks.

The reorganization fulfilled a pledge the Commissioner, Peter F. Cosgrove, made to the Suffolk County Executive, Robert J. Gaffney, before being appointed two months ago.

Malcolm St. Clair, 1963 (honoured a pledge to stand down)

Against his new colleagues' advice, he honoured a pledge to face his electors under his new party colours and precipitated a by-election.

The Glengarry fencibles were disbanded in 1802, and Glengarry failed to honour a pledge to find land for the men.

Downing Street announced yesterday that the Government will honour a pledge, given to Mother Teresa by Mrs Thatcher, to contribute £30,000 for furnishing the refuge.

Bristol South East by-election, 1963: Malcolm St Clair honoured a pledge to stand down if law changed to allow Tony Benn to disclaim his peerage.

Syria's official press also called on the United States to honour a pledge to play a full partner role in the peace process, saying it was not enough for Christopher to be a mere postman between them.

Merton, Mitcham and Morden by-election, 1982: Bruce Douglas-Mann honoured a pledge to seek re-election when he left Labour to join the SDP.

At the 2005 British Grand Prix, Daily Express editor Bob McKenzie honoured a pledge that he would run naked around Silverstone if McLaren won a race in 2004.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to get tough with lorry driving film buffs is part of a wider road safety crackdown, as he seeks to honour a pledge to bring the annual road death rate down to 3,000 in 2012.

Defeated election candidate Paul Rayner has honoured a pledge he made during the campaign to members of Middlesbrough's Muslim community by writing to the new Home Secretary with details of long delays experienced by would-be immigrants.

The part about her being able to earn Denny's release by cooperation would not be true, however, because once she failed to honour a pledge of silence, she would not be given a second chance, and her son would be forever lost to her.

At one point, Sir Nick Macpherson, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, arrived to discuss how the Government would honour a pledge to override competition rules made the previous day by the Prime Minister to his friend and Lloyds' chairman, Sir Victor Blank.

A nun always slept by the door of the home, to honor a pledge that no one would be refused admission at any hour.

Priests honored a pledge not to divulge specifically what was said at the meeting, which was closed to the press and public.

Mr. Baryshnikov had virtually made himself a lame duck as director by honoring a pledge to give a year's notice of any resignation.

Mr. Singh said he was honoring a pledge made in his election campaign last November to improve relations with India's small, often wary neighbors.

Tehran says it is still honoring a pledge not to operate any of these centrifuges, but it proclaims its right to resume enrichment at any time.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Gorbachev was honoring a pledge of his own, to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan by Feb. 15.

"The lords temporal and spiritual who're concerned know only that I'd fain honor a pledge to a comrade, and that my confessor gives me leave.

Although no elector is required by federal law to honor a pledge, there have only been very few occasions when an elector voted contrary to a pledge.

Most of the financing to renovate the third floor was provided by the Bloomberg administration, which gave $1.5 million (honoring a pledge by the Giuliani administration).

The Glengarry fencibles were disbanded in 1802, and Glengarry failed to honour a pledge to find land for the men.

Diplomats waited for the gunmen to honor a pledge to free about 75 foreigners among their hostages, including Australians, Austrians, Britons, Germans and three Americans.

At the end of 1968 he resigned his post after President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu twice failed to honor a pledge on a major policy issue.

The budget would honor a pledge Mr. Cuomo made last year to increase spending in those areas by 4 percent, after it was cut in his first budget.

Downing Street announced yesterday that the Government will honour a pledge, given to Mother Teresa by Mrs Thatcher, to contribute £30,000 for furnishing the refuge.

The administration will not be able to honor a pledge to discontinue by next year the Sanitation Department's reliance on trucks to export city trash, Mr. Doherty said.

Mr. Kim said Mr. Dinkins had also failed to honor a pledge to push for a bill that would provide for binding arbitration of lease renewals.

Part of the problem, he added without rancor, was that Alberto Vilar, the philanthropist, had been unable to honor a pledge, which delayed completion of the fund drive by two years.

For example, he said, if he were a donor to N.Y.U. and the university took no action against another donor who failed to honor a pledge, that would make him angry.

Honoring a pledge it indicated would be fulfilled once Congress passed a new Federal budget, the Federal Reserve Board yesterday sent a clear signal that it had lowered interest rates.

Evidently, neither relatives, nor native city, nor even the holy sanctuary itself could dissuade Muhammad from honoring a pledge he once gave to those who stood by him at his hour of need.

Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump loses his beloved best buddy, a black soldier (Mykelti Williamson), in combat and thereafter devotes years to honoring a pledge made to the departed.

Jaruzelski's Decision Mr. Rakowski's election came after the decision by General Jaruzelski to honor a pledge to shed his party titles if elected to the powerful new presidency.

We cross now to honor a pledge, that I made, long ago, to Ysandre de la Courcel, who is Queen of Terre d'Ange, that lies over the waters!

Syria's official press also called on the United States to honour a pledge to play a full partner role in the peace process, saying it was not enough for Christopher to be a mere postman between them.