The rejection of a five-year labor contract by New York City's schoolteachers was a surprising setback for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the teachers' union leadership.

A day after British Telecommunications announced bold moves to cut its $43 billion in debt, the company sustained two surprising setbacks today.

But in the first 16 playoff games, the home teams lost six times, the most surprising setbacks being the Milwaukee Bucks' two losses to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But the most surprising setback for an S.E.C. team came when Memphis State (3-3) came from behind to beat Florida, 17-11, in a non-league game for the Gators' first loss.

Perhaps the most surprising setback for the government came when some business leaders, who were supposed to find it easier to hire young workers with the new law, began to criticize the government's handling of the dispute and warned that a prolonged crisis could damage France economically.

The only defeat the Jets suffered over the last two-thirds of the season was a last-second loss in Indianapolis to a weak Colts team, and that surprising setback was probably instructional, according to Parcells.

Last month's New Hampshire primary, in which the President drew only 53 percent of the Republican vote to Mr. Buchanan's 37 percent, was judged a surprising setback to the White House.

New York City's public school teachers voted down a proposed five-year contract last night, dealing a staggering and surprising setback to the union leadership and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose labor strategy was plunged into uncertainty.

Just two weeks before Germans vote for Chancellor in national elections, the results today were a surprising setback for the Gerhard Schroder, Mr. Kohl's Social Democratic challenger for Chancellor.