> <xsl:template match="sub-title">  
>    <xsl:apply-templates select="*[not(self::para[1]) and 

not(self::para[1]) will return false for all para elements. Use
not(self:para[not(preceding-sibling::para)]) instead.

Jarno

 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list