1. It wasn't clear whether this would be a brief foray or signal a new phase in Israel's devastating offensive against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers.
2. The conspicuous weight Xi assigned to the topic in his brief speech has inspired anticipation of headway being made in the difficult fight against corruption.
3. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was upset that Russia used the fleet against Georgia during a brief war last August.
4. Saakashvili has been under pressure domestically since losing a brief war against neighboring Russia last August over the rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
5. Turkish authorities rarely acknowledge such military operations against the PKK, but the army has conducted brief raids across the border in the past.