The suspended contracts, worth more than $1 billion, are held by scores of companies.

I am also in regular contact with some of the major international businesses that have recently suspended contracts with APP.

Switzerland suspended contracts over the weekend, halting shipments of spent fuel rods to be reprocessed at Sellafield.

German, Swedish and Swiss authorities have also suspended contracts with Sellafield following the Japanese debacle.

But Mr. Mastro said the city had suspended contracts with Housing Works only because of its exceptionally poor financial accountability.

Last week, T.W.A. suspended contract negotiations with the machinists' union because of the possibility of a merger or a change in management, union officials said.

After the E.P.A suspended contracts for the second time, the Department of Energy told Battelle to evaluate its subcontractor.

During the All-Star break, Buss suspended contract negotiations with Jackson, who was seeking to double his salary from $6 million to $12 million on his expiring contract.

The Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, however, continued to demand compensation for losses incurred by delayed or suspended contracts, the official New China News Agency reported.

The deal was structured to pay Kesler $5 million per season and came a month and a half after general manager Mike Gillis announced he had suspended contract negotiations with all the Canucks' pending free agents until after the 2009-10 season.