WSJ891101-0032
 = 891101
 891101-0032.
 International Brief -- Coates Brothers PLC:
@  Orkem Bids $7.43 a Share
@  For Stake It Doesn't Own
 11/01/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 F.ORK EUROP U.CTB
 TENDER OFFERS, MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS (TNM)
CHEMICALS, PLASTICS (CHM)

   Orkem S.A., a French state-controlled chemical manufacturer, is making a friendly bid of 470 pence ($7.43) a share for the 59.2% of U.K. specialty chemical group Coates Brothers PLC which it does n't already own, the two sides said.

   The offer, which values the whole of Coates at #301 million, has already been accepted by Coates executives and other shareholders owning 12.4% of the company.
The acceptances give Orkem a controlling 53.2% stake in the company.

   Orkem and Coates said last Wednesday that the two were considering a merger, through Orkem's British subsidiary, Orkem Coatings U.K. Ltd.

   Orkem, France's third-largest chemical group, said it would fund the acquisition through internal resources.
The takeover would be followed by a restructuring of Orkem's U.K. unit, including the addition of related Orkem businesses and possibly further acquisitions.
Orkem said it eventually would seek to make a public share offering in its U.K. business.

last Wednesday


WSJ891102-0034
 = 891102
 891102-0034.
 Business Brief -- Tony Lama Co.:
@  Equus Investment II Seeks
@  To Change Offer for Firm
 11/02/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 TLAM
 TENDER OFFERS, MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS (TNM)

   Tony Lama Co. said that Equus Investment II Limited Partnership  has proposed changing the offer for the company to $13.65 in cash and stock from an all-cash transaction.

   Under terms of the new proposal, Equus, managed by Equus Capital Corp., Houston, would pay $12 cash and one new preferred share with a liquidation preference of $1.65 a share for each of Tony Lama's 2.1 million shares outstanding.
Previously, it offered $13.65 a share in cash, or $29 million.

   The El Paso, Texas, maker of Western boots and leather accessories said the preferred stock would accrue dividends at a 12% rate, but would n't  be paid for the first two years.
The stock would  be redeemed in five years, subject to terms of the surviving company's debt.

   Neither Equus nor Tony Lama gave a reason for the changed offer and Tony Lama could n't  be reached for comment.
However, Tony Lama said it would  promptly submit the offer to a special committee of the company's board.

Previously

the first two years

five years


PRI19980205.2000.1998
 NEWS STORY

 Thousands of people in Germany have been demonstrating
today against the high level of unemployment in the country.
 Latest figures show a sharp rise, with nearly five million
 Germans out of work.
 Caroline Wyatt reports.

 Chanting Helmut Kohl must go the unemployed took to the
 streets of the German capital, Berlin, mirroring protests
 around the country.
 Joblessness is now at its highest level in Germany since the
 second world war.
 With the general election due this September, record figures
 could n't have come at a worst time for Chancellor Kohl.
 His promise to half unemployment by the year two thousand has now been abandoned.
 And the German electorate appears increasingly eager to dispense with the services of Europe's longest serving leader.
 Caroline Wyatt, BBC news, Bonn.

today

now

this September

the year two thousand

now


WSJ891102-0167
 = 891102
 891102-0167.
 Duty-Free Status Cleared
@  For Certain Watch Imports
 11/02/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 MONETARY NEWS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, TRADE (MON)
 EXECUTIVE (EXE)
 WASHINGTON

   The White House said President Bush  has approved duty-free treatment for imports of certain types of watches that are n't produced in "significant quantities" in the U.S., the Virgin Islands and other U.S. possessions.

   The action came in response to a petition filed by Timex Inc. for changes in the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences for imports from developing nations.
Previously , watch imports  were denied such duty-free treatment.

   Timex  had requested duty-free treatment for many types of watches, covered by 58 different U.S. tariff classifications.
The White House said Mr. Bush decided  to grant duty-free status for 18 categories, but turned down such treatment for other types of watches "because of the potential for material injury  to watch producers located in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands."

   Timex is a major U.S. producer and seller of watches, including low-priced battery-operated watches assembled in the Philippines and other developing nations covered by the U.S. tariff preferences.

   U.S. trade officials said the Philippines and Thailand would be the main beneficiaries of the president's action.

   Imports of the types of watches that now will be eligible for duty-free treatment totaled about $37.3 million in 1988, a relatively small share of the $1.5 billion in U.S. watch imports that year, according to an aide to U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills.

now


XIN_ENG_20061130.0372

BUDAPEST, Nov. 30 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Hungary opens new crossing stations for pedestrians

Tourists arriving on foot, by bicycle or on horseback will be offered five new places to cross the border between Hungary and Austria, the spokesman of the border control authority told MTI on Thursday.

The new crossing points at Pornoapati, Ronk, Szentgotthard, Agfalva and Harka, opening on Friday, will be open during the day, said Ivan Kovacs.

He added that another crossing point is scheduled to open at Fertorakos next year, and negotiations with Austria are currently underway on a further 10 tourist crossing stations.

Nov. 30 , 2006

Thursday

Friday

next year


AFP_ENG_19970429.0522

WASHINGTON, April 29 , 1997 (AFP)

Peterson sworn in as ambassador to Vietnam

Former congressman Douglas "Pete" Peterson, who spent six and half years in a Vietnamese prison camp, was sworn in Tuesday as Washington's first ambassador to Hanoi.

Peterson took the oath of office at a State Department ceremony attended by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a US official said.

He is scheduled to arrive in Hanoi on May 9.

Peterson's confirmation "sends a very strong message that it is important to put the war behind us and get on with a friendly relationship," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.

Burns said the new ambassador will "try to heal the wounds" of the Vietnam War that ended in communist victory in 1975. The conflict claimed the lives of about three million Vietnamese and nearly 60,000 Americans.

But the State Department also put Hanoi on notice that Peterson will press Washington's view that human rights should be upheld by the Vietnamese government.

"We encourage US investment in Vietnam but it is still a communist country and we are disturbed by human rights problems there," Burns said.

"We intend to make it (human rights) part of the relationship," he added.

The US Senate approved Peterson's appointment on April 10 after a lengthy delay due to lingering Republican opposition to Washington's restored ties with former enemy Vietnam.

Republican lawmakers also questioned the constitutionality of the appointment as Peterson served in Congress when the decision to open an embassy in Hanoi was made, thus raising conflict of interest issues.

Even after those issues were resolved, Republican Senator Bob Smith, a staunch opponent of President Bill Clinton's 1995 decision to normalize relations with Vietnam, again sought to delay his despatch to Hanoi.

"We are delighted that he is sworn in after such a long wait," Burns commented. "He is a terrific choice," he added, stressing his experience as a prisoner of war.

Peterson was the 66th American taken prisoner during the bitter conflict.

April 29 , 1997

Tuesday

May 9

April 10


AFP_ENG_20061201.0313

BEIRUT, Dec 1 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - ADDS scene details ///

Beirut was on high alert Friday as hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators, led by the pro-Syrian militant group Hezbollah, staged a massive show of force aimed at pressing the Western-backed government to resign.

Lebanese troops and armored vehicles were heavily deployed in the capital as hordes of protesters packed streets and surrounded the offices of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.

Siniora, who heads a government backed by an anti-Syrian parliament majority elected in 2005, a day earlier vowed not to cave in to pressure from the opposition, which is made up of various factions including Shiites and Christians.

In a capital which has been the scene of previous protests involving hundreds of thousands of pro- and anti-Syrian demonstrators, organizers called for "all Lebanese" to take part in the protest, to be followed by an open open-ended sit-in.

"Out, out Siniora!" protesters shouted as the streets filled with people waving Lebanese flags and chanting patriotic slogans.

"We have had enough ordeals and tears," they chanted. "Siniora, out! We want a free government. We want a government that will feed our hunger."

Army troops and dozens of armored vehicles were heavily deployed around government offices in central Beirut and barbed wire reaching nearly two meters (seven feet) high encircled the premises.

Earlier in the day, Druze chief and prominent anti-Syrian MP Walid Jumblatt denounced the impending protest and called for his supporters to stay calm.

"This is an attempted coup but we will remain strong," he told reporters.

Organizers pledged that the event would be peaceful and Hezbollah deployed thousands of its own "discipline men", who maintained tight crowd control and took up positions between army forces and protesters.

The Lebanese military has instructions to maintain order and not take sides in the protest.

"An attempt at a coup d'etat begins today" said the pro-government daily Al-Mustaqbal.

The pro-Syrian Ad-Diyar proclaimed: "The moment of truth is upon us".

The planned demonstration is the latest by the opposition to push for a national unity government.

As well as the Shiite Hezbollah, the opposition includes the Shiite Amal party of parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the Christian faction of former prime minister Michel Aoun and supporters of the Syrian-backed president.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose political stock rose sharply after the resistance put up by his movement's fighters to Israel's devastating July-August offensive, has called for a massive turnout.

"We appeal to all Lebanese, from every region and political movement, to take part in a peaceful and civilized demonstration on Friday to rid us of an incapable government that has failed in its mission," he said in a television broadcast greeted with shots in the air in parts of the capital.

Siniora also went on television to vow late on Thursday that his cabinet would not be cowed. It would fight the return of any foreign tutelage on the country, he said, in an apparent reference to Syria's decades-long military domination which ended in April 2005.

"The government of the independence... will continue to defend freedom and the democratic regime which are being targeted," he said.

"We will not allow any coup against our democratic regime," he added.

Tents, food, medical supplies and electrical generators were be distributed for the sit-in as many were expected to dig in for a long haul.

"We cannot reveal details of what is going to happen next," said one Hezbollah organizer, declining to be named.

"All we can say is that there will be speeches. There will be a permanent sit-in afterward. Some people will start putting up tents on the two main squares."

Jumblatt said: "We will stay home, we will hang the Lebanese flags ... and when they will decide to return to dialogue, we will welcome that," Jumblatt said.

Last year, a massive show of street power after the February assassination of five-time premier and Damascus critic Rafiq Hariri led to Syria withdrawing its troops from Lebanon.

Lebanon's feuding pro- and anti-Syrian factions have reached a dangerous deadlock that threatens to paralyze all state institutions. Tensions escalated after the street assassination last month of anti-Syrian industry minister Pierre Gemayel.

The key pro-Syrian officials in Lebanon's power-sharing regime -- the president and the parliament speaker -- do not recognize the rump anti-Damascus cabinet left after the pullout of six pro-Syrian ministers.

President Lahoud told London's Daily Telegraph in Friday's edition that the government is "no longer legal" because it does not adequately represent the country's religious make-up and said he was confident of a peaceful march.

"The resistance (Hezbollah) is not going to shoot Lebanese people, and there will not be a civil war," Lahoud said.

Dec 1 , 2006

Friday

a day earlier

today

Friday

Thursday

April 2005

Last year

February

last month

Friday


XIN_ENG_20051111.0065

BEIJING, Nov. 11 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Shanghai stock index closed up -- Nov. 11

The Composite Stock Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed at 1,089.42 points on Friday, up 1.12 points from the previous close.

A Share Index: 1,145.05 points, up 1.13 points;

B Share Index: 60.86 points, up 0.30 points;

Total Turnover: 8,182,930,000 yuan.

Nov. 11 , 2005

Friday


AFP_ENG_19970408.0178

TEHRAN, April 8 , 1997 (AFP)

Mad cow wreaks havoc in Tehran neighboorhood

A cow being slaughtered in front of a butcher shop in Tehran broke free and went on a rampage, damaging shops and injuring several people, before being shot dead by police, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The butcher had only made a small cut in the throat of the enormous cow, which was lying on the ground with its four legs tied up, before it managed to free itself, the daily Iran said

The hysterical animal first attacked the butcher and then several shops and passers-by in the poor southern district of Yaftabad, the paper added.

Panic-stricken residents sought help from the police, who after obtaining permission from a judge, shot the cow dead in a fruit and vegetable store.

Several people suffered injuries and shops were damaged, the paper said.

Although livestock are increasingly butchered in slaughterhouses in big cities, some people still prefer to do it themselves.

April 8 , 1997

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20061124.0042

BEIJING, Nov. 24 , 2006 (Xinhua)

cooperation

A three-day symposium on Respecting and Promoting Human Rights and Constructing a Harmonious World ended on Friday with a wide-ranging consensus for more cooperation to develop human rights.

More than 70 delegates from 19 countries submitted papers and delivered speeches covering almost every aspect of human rights, including basic concepts, national practices, individual freedoms, rights of different social groups, political rights and rights relevant to daily life.

"The symposium set an example for exchanges and dialogue as delegates from different countries and cultures shared views with mutual respect," said Jin Jian, vice-director of the China Society for Human Rights Studies.

Jin said delegates to the Beijing event clarified standpoints of their respective countries. They all expressed the wish to safeguard and promote human rights by all countries and peoples.

Delegates from China proposed the principle that the universal character of human rights must be implemented proceeding from the specific conditions of each country. The right to subsistence and development was the human right of paramount importance. All countries should promote dialogue and oppose antagonism.

All delegates believed all people were entitled to human rights, irrespective of race, gender, religious belief and language. The elimination of poverty, and economic and social development were of special importance to the development of human rights.

Jin said some countries promoted rights through their constitutions, some protected rights with the help of non-governmental organizations, and some promoted political democracy through eliminating illiteracy.

Delegates hoped the United Nations Commission of Human Rights played a positive role in promoting international cooperation.

Jin said the concept of a harmonious world was worthy of the joint efforts of all humanity. Insufficient respect and guarantees for human rights led to wars, increasing poverty, the widening of south-north disparities, terrorism, environmental degradation and other problems.

Dong Yunhu, vice-director and general-secretary of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, said controversies were left unresolved after the meeting, and exchanges of different views would continue.

"We all hoped that nations could strengthen international cooperation on both governmental and non-governmental levels," he said.

Nov. 24 , 2006

Friday


AFP_ENG_19970418.0499

WASHINGTON, April 18 , 1997 (AFP)

Lee wins assurance of Clinton support in Hong Kong handover by Gretchen Cook

President Bill Clinton Friday assured Hong Kong's Democratic party leader Martin Lee that the United States will defend democratic freedoms in the territory once China takes it over.

The president told Lee during their meeting that "there would be consequences if there are democratic erosions" after the July 1 transition of the British colony to China rule, White House spokesman Michael McCurry said.

Lee, Hong Kong's chief China critic, said Clinton gave him a warm reception despite a White House decision to downgrade the meeting to a "drop-by."

"I have no doubt at all after this meeting ... that the US government will defend Hong Kong's freedoms," Lee said following his 25-minute talks with Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

He said Clinton supported his view that the 1984 Joint Declaration between Britain and China was an "international agreement," a stand likely to irk China which insists it is a domestic matter that US leaders should stay out of.

McCurry said Clinton also shared Lee's concerns about the replacement of Hong Kong's elected legislature with a China-appointed body, calling it "contrary to the commitments" of the agreement on the transition.

Lee said he asked Clinton to extend a White House invitation to Hong Kong's future leader, Tung Chee-hwa, which McCurry said was under consideration.

Tung on Wednesday cancelled a US visit reportedly to avoid embarrassment should he be denied a White House meeting.

Friday's talks were specially choreographed to minimize tensions with China, with an official meeting between Gore and Lee which Clinton dropped in on while it was "in progress."

Tung had warned Lee Friday to be careful during his own trip to Washington, saying "please bear in mind that whatever he says it will be carefully read and interpreted. The worst thing is, at this juncture, to give people in the United States a wrong impression."

Lee said he also urged Clinton to extend China's Most Favored Nation trade status again this year, saying that revoking the benefits would hurt Hong Kong the more than Beijing.

Though the US administration has been issuing daily warnings about preserving democracy in Hong Kong, it has not threatened any concrete measures should China go ahead with plans to crack down on freedoms of expression and assembly.

McCurry acknowledged the US threats were mostly lip service but defended the method.

"A large measure of it is just jawboning but that's important to the Chinese leadership," he said.

He pointed to this week's mammoth effort by Beijing to block a UN resolution on condemning China's human rights record, saying: "They clearly are sensitive to those in the international community who raised concerns."

As part of the US vigilance over the handover, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will attend the ceremony in Hong Kong, where there are 40,000 American citizens and some 13 billion dollars in investments.

April 18 , 1997

Friday

July 1

Wednesday

Friday

Friday

this year

this week


AFP_ENG_19970402.0427

TIRANA, April 2 , 1997 (AFP)

Albania, Italy agree on need for speedy deployment of force

Albania and Italy agreed Wednesday on the need for the speedy deployment of an Italian-led force here, patching up their differences over a boat disaster in which dozens of Albanian refugees drowned.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi flew into southern Albania for talks with his Albanian counterpart Bashkim Fino.

Fino said Albania wanted the proposed 5,000-strong Italian-led international force to be sent immediately.

"Albania is ready (for the force), the other countries are ready, we must not waste any more time. Each day lost damages Albania," he told reporters, after the meeting.

Franz Vranitzky, the former Austrian chancellor heading the OSCE mission to Albania, told journalists that "the United Nations have given us three months," adding that the soldiers should be on the ground "in the space of 10 or 14 days."

The force's mission, approved by the UN Security Council March 28, involves securing roads, junctions, warehouses and aid depots, as well as in distributing the aid.

Albania's deputy defence minister, Alfred Moisiu, told AFP Tirana itself would set up a volunteer force of 3,000 "well armed" and "well paid" soldiers to support the international force.

Prodi said he had asked Fino to confirm that "the Albanian government still wanted the international operation to start as soon as possible. The prime minister assured me that that was what the government wanted," he said.

After their meeting, Fino went on to Athens for talks with Greek and other European officials.

The meeting seemed to clear the air clouded by the disaster Friday in which more than 80 Albanian refugees were believed killed in the sinking of an Albanian boat which collided with an Italian navy vessel.

Albanian anger at the drownings had raised doubts about whether Italian troops will be sent to southern Albania and military sources in Rome said Tuesday they believed Italian troops would not go to the south of the country.

That seemed less certain however Wednesday as pressure mounted to get the mission on the ground quickly.

"It has to be done quickly," said Vranitzky, head of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe humanitarian mission to Albania, after talks in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini.

Vranitzky also told journalists "we have a chance to avoid" the errors committed in the former Yugoslavia, where there was an initial lack of international coordination.

"Albania has need of aid, of restoring public order, of economic reconstruction and in restoring confidence in its political system," Vranitzky said.

Dini said the force's deployment, which "not yet been decided, will be decided in common."

The comments came before a meeting in Rome of the countries which will supply the force's troops, whose mission is to protect humanitarian aid channels in the chaos-worn country.

In Brussels, EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Emma Bonino added to the calls with a warning that food supplies in Albania had reached alarming levels.

"There is no famine yet but we are concerned that stocks have been reduced below safety levels," she told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Bonino said EU food and medical aid could be sent to Albania quickly using logistical structures established in the former Yugoslavia. "But only if we can solve the protection problem."

The proposed international force's role would be strictly confined to protecting the humanitarian convoys, Bonino noted. "There is no mandate for disarming rebels or anything else of that nature," she said.

Italy is expected to provide some 2,000 soldiers; France said Tuesday it was sending 1,000; Greece has promised up to 700 troops; Turkey, 500; Romania, 400. Hungary ruled out sending troops while Spain and Portugal are still considering their contribution.

April 2 , 1997

Wednesday

three months

10 or 14

March 28

Friday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20051119.0088

LUSAKA, Nov. 19 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Zambian gov't projects 2006 budget

The Zambian government has proposed 10,133 billion kwacha (about 2.5 billion US dollars) for the 2006 national budget, Saturday's The Post reported.

The newspaper cited the green paper on the 2006-2008 Medium Term Expenditure Framework as saying that total revenue and grants next year are projected to be 9,084 billion kwacha (or 2.3 billion dollars).

"Thus from the projected total revenues and the proposed expenditures for the period 2006-2008, the overall financing requirement is estimated to stand at 1,049 billion kwacha (about 262 million dollars) in 2006 or 2.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," said Secretary to Treasury Situmbeko Musokotwane.

The 2006 budget represents an increase of 776 billion kwacha ( about 194 million dollars) from the 2005 budget which stood at 9, 357 billion kwacha (2.3 billion dollars).

Musokotwane projected that between 2006 and 2008 the government anticipated external financing for capital projects to reduce steadily.

"Approximately an average of 68.6 percent of the capital expenditures will be financed from external resources compared to the 85 percent in 2005-2007 period," Musokotwane stated.

"In 2006, the government proposes to spend 42 percent of the projected total expenditure on general public services," he said.

General public services include functions such as administration and operation of or support to the executive and legislative arms of government, administration of financial and fiscal affairs and services.

He further said the government has projected to spend 7.8 percent of the total expenditures in 2006 on defense.

Health is anticipated to take up 7.6 percent of the total expenditure in 2006 while education will consume 15.1 percent, according to Musokotwane.

Also in the 2006-2008 Expenditure Framework, the Zambian government further proposed a budget of 10,459 billion kwacha (2.6 billion dollars) for the year 2007 and 11,153 billion kwacha (2.8 billion dollars) for 2008.

Nov. 19 , 2005

next year

2005-2007 period

the year 2007


XIN_ENG_20061103.0230

BEIJING, Nov. 3 , 2006 (Xinhua)

41 African leaders arrive for Beijing Summit

With the touchdown of the airplane taken by Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe at Beijing airport on Friday evening, 47 delegations of the 48 African countries, including 41 heads of state or government, have arrived for a landmark China-Africa summit due to open Saturday.

Also arriving on Friday were leaders from 16 African nations. Representatives from international organizations, including the African Union and the United Nations, have also arrived.

The last delegation headed by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is expected to arrive early Saturday morning.

The two-day Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the grandest diplomatic event since 1950s, will highlight " friendship, peace, cooperation, and development".

Nov. 3 , 2006

Friday evening

Saturday

Friday

Saturday morning


XIN_ENG_20051128.0170

MANILA, Nov. 28 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Philippines enjoys early lead in 23rd SEA Games (updated)

The host Philippines enjoyed early lead in the medal standings with 12 golds, eight silvers and 12 bronzes for a total of 32 medals as the 23rd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) went into its second day.

Mercedita Manipol gave the Philippine team its first gold medal of Monday, also the sixth gold since the start of the games, when she outlasted her rivals in the 10,000 meters athletics event. She finished in 35 minutes and 38 seconds, followed by her rivals from Myanmar and Vietnam. Thailand won the men's 10,000 meters event.

Local wushu bet Pedro Quina took another gold for the Philippine team by winning the Nanquan category in Wushu-Taolu event. He also beat rivals from Malaysia and Indonesia to get the coveted gold medal in the sword-wielding event.

Quina's victory came after Filipino karateka Gretchen Malalad defeated her Malaysian opponent to win a gold medal at the individual 60 kg women's kumite event.

The Philippines on Monday defeated defending champion Thailand in the snooker team event. They upped the country's gold medal tally to nine.

Vietnam's players got a sweeping victories at the track and field venue in the afternoon. Vu Thi Hung walked away with the gold medal in the women's 100 meter dash by clocking 11.61 seconds. They also won the gold and the silver in the men's high jump.

Bonban Pamang from Thailand won the gold in women's javelin throw by setting a new SEA Games record at 55.6 meters. Singapore secured the bronze medal for the event.

Suryo Agung Wibowo of Indonesia claimed the title in the men's 100 meter dash with a winning clocking of 10.57s.

Malaysia secured the victory in the men's 110 meters hurdles at a time of 14.08s.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo surprisingly arrived at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex where the track-and-field competitions were held at about 5:00 p.m local time. Accompanied by mayor of Manila, she watched the final of the men's 3,000 meters steeplechase. She was photographed together with the Philippine medal winners.

According to the website of the 23rd SEA Games as of 5:00 p.m., Vietnam surpassed Malaysia with 10 golds, five silvers and 10 bronzes for a total of 25 medals. Malaysia is third in the medal tally.

Nov. 28 , 2005

second day

Monday

35 minutes and 38 seconds

Monday

the afternoon

a time of 14.08s

5:00 p.m.


PRI19980115.2000.0186
 NEWS STORY

 Former savings and loan chief, Charles Keating,  is facing more legal
 troubles in California.
 A federal appeals court  has reinstated his state convictions
 for securities fraud.
 NPR's Elaine Corey has more from San Francisco.

 In nineteen ninety-one Charles Keating  was convicted in state court of
 helping  to defraud thousands of investors who bought high risk
 junk bonds sold by Keating's employees at Lincoln savings and
 loan.
 The bonds became worthless when the bankrupt thrift  was seized
 by government regulators.
 Keating's convictions  were thrown out in nineteen ninety-six on a
 technicality.
 And on that basis Keating  was released from prison before he
 was eligible for parole.
 Now the ninth US circuit court of appeals  has ruled that
 the original appeal  was flawed since it brought up issues that
 had not  been raised before.
 That means the convictions stand, a ruling likely  to send
 Keating's lawyers back to state court where they must  start over with a new appeal.
 Elaine Corey, NPR news, San Francisco.

Former

nineteen ninety-one

nineteen ninety-six

Now


AP900815-0044
AP-NR-08-15-90 1337EDT
u i PM-GulfRdp 8thLd-Writethru   08-15 1334
PM-Gulf Rdp, 8th Ld-Writethru,a0605,1368
Saddam Seeks End To War With Iran; Bush To Urge Jordan To Close
Port
Eds: SUBS 28th graf pvs, Crown Prince... to CORRECT spelling of
Hassan; pick up 29th graf pvs, `A CBS...'
LaserPhotos WX6,7,XSAV1,NY5,10,TOK1,XAAFB1,AMM1, LaserColor XAAFB1
By CHRISTOPHER BURNS
Associated Press Writer

   Iraq's Saddam Hussein, facing U.S. and Arab troops at the Saudi
border, today sought peace on another front by promising to
withdraw from Iranian territory and release soldiers captured
during the Iran-Iraq war.
   Also today, King Hussein of Jordan arrived in Washington seeking
to mediate the Persian Gulf crisis. President Bush on Tuesday said
the United States may extend its naval quarantine to Jordan's Red
Sea port of Aqaba to shut off Iraq's last unhindered trade route.
   In another mediation effort, the Soviet Union said today it had
sent an envoy to the Middle East on a series of stops to include
Baghdad. Soviet officials also said Soviet women, children and
invalids would be allowed to leave Iraq.
   President Bush today denounced Saddam's ``ruinous policies of
war,'' and said the United States is ``striking a blow for the
principle that might does not make right.''
   In a speech delivered at the Pentagon, Bush seemed to suggest
that American forces could be in the gulf region for some time.
``No one should doubt our staying power or determination,'' he said.
   The U.S. military buildup in Saudi Arabia continued at fever
pace, with Syrian troops now part of a multinational force camped
out in the desert to guard the Saudi kingdom from any new thrust by
Iraq.
   In a letter to President Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran, read by a
broadcaster over Baghdad radio, Saddam said he will begin
withdrawing troops from Iranian territory on Friday and release
Iranian prisoners of war.
   Iran said an Iraqi diplomatic delegation was en route to Tehran
to deliver Saddam's message, which it said it would review ``with
optimism.''
   Saddam appeared to accept a border demarcation treaty he had
rejected in peace talks following the August 1988 cease-fire of the
eight-year war with Iran.
   The move seemed aimed at heading off more trouble with Iran,
which had condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2 but also
criticized the multinational force dispatched to Saudi Arabia.
   Saddam said he sought to ``turn the gulf into a lake of peace
free of foreign fleets and forces that harbor ill intentions
against us.''
   In other developments:
   _The Pentagon said that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney is
considering urging Bush to order a national callup of armed forces
reserves for active duty because of the drain on units sending
soldiers abroad. Bush can call up to 200,000 reservists for up to
180 days without seeking congressional approval.
   _Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Gremitskikh said special
ambassador Mikhail Sytenko left Tuesday for consultations with the
governments of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries.
Sytenko, a former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations,
is also expected to visit Baghdad, Gremitskikh said at a regular
news briefing today.
   _The outlook darkened for about 3,000 Americans caught in Iraq
and Kuwait when Saddam sent his forces into the small, oil-rich
sultanate.
   The Iraqi ambassador to Greece said in Athens the Americans and
other stranded foreigners could leave ``as soon as the threats from
the United States and its allies are eliminated.'' ABC quoted an
Iraqi Foreign Ministry official in Baghdad as saying Americans in
Iraq are ``restrictees'' who will stay there until the crisis ends.
   _The Soviet Foreign Ministry said Soviet women, children and
invalids would be permitted to leave Iraq. Spokesman Yuri
Gremitskikh said the first group of 230 evacuees was assembling in
Baghdad today, but evacuation plans were hampered by desert heat
and lack of transportation.
   Nearly 9,000 Soviets were among the hundreds of thousands of
foreigners trapped in Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq has agreed to allow all
880 Soviets in Kuwait to leave, but only by a 1,200-mile road route
through Iraq and to the Iraq-Jordan border.
   _The British Foreign Office said today conditions in Kuwait
appear to be deteriorating. There have been reports of wholesale
looting but food and gasoline were still available, said a
spokesman, who by custom was not identified. Banks remained closed.
   _The Iraqi ambassador to Venezuela said on Tuesday that Iraq
would retaliate against Venezuela and other OPEC oil cartel members
if they boost oil production to fill the gap created by blocked
supplies from Iraq and Kuwait. With Kuwait now ``annexed,'' Iraq
has control of 20 percent of the world's oil reserves. A steep rise
in world oil prices followed the Kuwait invasion.
   The U.N. Security Council on Aug. 6 ordered a global embargo on
trade with Iraq as punishment for seizing Kuwait. Bush then sent
U.S. troops and planes to Saudi Arabia, saying Iraqi troops massed
nearby in Kuwait threatened Saudi Arabia and its vast oil reserves.
   Twelve Arab League nations voted for an Arab force to protect
Saudi Arabia, with the vanguard of Syria's contingent arriving
Tuesday, according to diplomatic sources in Riyadh, the Saudi
capital.
   Egyptian and Moroccan troops are already there.
   The predominantly Moslem nation of Bangladesh said today its
troops would join multinational forces in Saudi Arabia. The size of
the contingent was not disclosed.
   Turkey and Saudi Arabia in effect shut down Iraq's major oil
outlets through those countries, but according to Jordanian
officials, a smaller line into Jordan remained operating.
   Truckloads of goods rolled into Iraq from Jordan on Tuesday and
Iraqi-bound cargo was unloaded from ships at the Red Sea port
ofAqaba despite the U.N.-ordered sanctions.
   King Hussein was reportedly carrying a message to Bush from
Iraq's Saddam, with whom the king met Monday. The monarch will meet
Bush on Thursday in Kennebunkport, Maine.
   Crown Prince Hassan, King Hussein's brother and political
adviser, was asked today about the message the king was said to be
carrying. In an interview from Jordan on ABC, he declined to
discuss details, but said: ``I don't think that his majesty would
be traveling at this crucial moment if the Iraqi leadership did not
have a rational approach to the future.''
   A CBS News report citing unidentified Jordanian sources said
that Saddam's message called for an international conference to be
convened to discuss an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait. In exchange,
the buildup of U.S. forces in the region would halt. Bush, however,
says he sees no short-term hope for a diplomatic solution to the
gulf crisis _ at least until economic sanctions force Saddam to
withdraw his army.
   Bush held out the prospect of more aid to Jordan if it
cooperates with the trade embargo.
   On Tuesday, the United States and Soviet Union conferred in
Washington on putting an anti-Iraq naval blockade under a United
Nations umbrella.
   The United States has provided most of the naval vessels so far
to block Iraqi trade, with Britain, West Germany and Australia
among the other nations lending support at sea.
   The embargo is meant to cripple Iraq by cutting off its exports
of oil and imports of food and military supplies. Iraq imports
about three-quarters of its foodstuffs.
   U.S. allies and other U.N. members have objected that the
Security Council embargo resolution did not specifically authorize
such a naval operation.
   Bush told a news conference on Tuesday that the naval barricade
now in force might be extended to Jordan's Aqaba ``if it is a hole
through which commerce flows'' in and out of Iraq.
   In Saudi Arabia, today is the eighth day of ``Desert Shield,''
the operation designed to confront an estimated 200,000 Iraqi
soldiers now in Kuwait. Iraq boasts an army of 1 million members.
At least 50,000 U.S. troops are expected to be committed to Desert
Shield within weeks, including Marines, Army air assault forces,
paratroopers and infantry.
   Iraq said it invaded Kuwait because of disputes over oil and
money. It accused Kuwait of deliberately slashing Iraqi oil
revenues by overproducing oil and driving down prices, among other
charges.
   Iraq has 17 million residents, and Kuwait about 1.9 million.

08-15-90 1337EDT

today

today

Tuesday

today

today

some time

now

Friday

August 1988

eight-year

Aug. 2

up to
180 days

Tuesday

today

today

today

Tuesday

now

Aug. 6

Tuesday

today

Tuesday

Monday

Thursday

today

this crucial moment

Tuesday

Tuesday

now

today

eighth day

now

weeks


XIN_ENG_20051111.0195

GUANGZHOU, South China, Nov. 11 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Super Dan out of men's singles at China Open badminton

Current world No. 1 Lin Dan of China was ousted from the men's singles competition at the China Open badminton here on Friday.

Lin Dan lost to his teammate Chen Hong, another china top player, in straight sets 15-5, 15-8.

Both of them were not amazed to see the result, "Today Lin Dan is out of order," Chen said, "That's why I won the game."

"We know each other very much, and his style is not secret to me, which is another reason I beat him,"Chen said.

Although losing the match surprised the spectators, Lin seemed still relaxed after the match.

"Actually winning or losing is not very important for me, now I focus on adapting to new 21-point rule settled by International Badminton which will change the traditional 15-point set."

Chen Hong next will clash with sixth-seeded Peter Gade of Denmark in the semifinals, and China's 19-year-old young player Chen Jin will face his teammate, third-seeded Bao Chunlai.

Nov. 11 , 2005

Friday

now


AFP_ENG_20061214.0660

NEW YORK, Dec 14 , 2006, 2006

Wall Street notches fresh highs as economic concerns ease

Wall Street's main indexes leapt to fresh highs Thursday as investors appeared encouraged by the latest economic news and shook off a jump in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a new all-time record closing high with a gain of 96.46 points (0.78 percent) to 12,413.96 at the closing bell.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite meanwhile climbed 21.44 points (0.88 percent) to 2,453.85, its highest level since February 2001. The Standard and Poor's 500 advanced 11.95 points (0.85 percent) to a preliminary close of 1,425.16, a new six-year high for the broad-market index.

In economic news, the US Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims fell 20,000 to 304,000 in the past week, the latest in a string of stronger-than-expected data.

While this highlighted concerns about a tight labor market and inflation, it also suggested economic growth is not faltering.

"The two straight weeks of nice declines reinforces the belief that companies are holding on to employees in anticipation of an economic rebound, despite recent numbers showing a slowdown in activity," said John Wilson, equity strategist at Morgan Keegan.

Dec 14 , 2006

Thursday

February 2001

the past week


XIN_ENG_20061106.0202

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Wildfire in southern California burns 300 acres of brush

A wind-fueled wildfire burned 300 acres of brush in southern California Monday, threatening homes and choking the sky with gray clouds of smoke, officials said.

Firefighters rushed to Fontana in San Bernadino Country, some 80 km east of Los Angeles, after the fire began about 7:35 a.m near Ineterstate 15, the main road from southern California to Las Vegas.

About 150 firefighters were at the scene, where a golf course and a development of houses were nearby.

The fire began in vegetation but spread south to a walled commercial lot used for the assembly and storage of wooden pallets, according to a Los Angeles Times website report.

Exploding propane tanks in the pallet yard sent debris across the street, but no damage to the homes was reported, said Fontana Mayor Mark Nuaimi.

The blaze came as southern California authorities issued a red flag warning indicating a high risk of wildfires because of strong winds, high heat and low humidity. The warning was due to expire at 6 p.m.

Four firefighters were killed last month in a rampant wind- driven wildfire, which was apparently caused by an arson and burned some 40,000 acres of rugged terrain and destroyed 34 houses in the nearby Riverside County.

Another firefighter died last week, failing to survive the burns over 90 percent of his body when the flames swept over the National Forest Service fire crew in the Riverside fire.

Nov. 6 , 2006

Monday

7:35 a.m near Ineterstate 15

last month

last week


AFP_ENG_20051216.0176

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 , 2005

by Stephanie Griffith

The US Congress ends the year divided as never before, over issues ranging from the Iraq war, to immigration reform and a series of ethics scandals.

Many political observers now say relations between ruling Republicans and rival Democrats on Capitol Hill are the worst they have ever seen. They predict the wrangling will not improve as the United States heads toward mid-term elections in November.

"People naturally disagree about who is responsible for the partisan tone and tactics in Washington DC these days, but most agree on this -- its worse, its more intense, and its nastier," said Nancy Roman, vice president at the New York based Council on Foreign Relations.

Much of the bickering is over Iraq, which has caused sparring between the two political parties and among factions within them.

The Republicans dominate the Senate and House of Representatives.

It has been weakened by a number of scandals, particularly involving House leader Tom DeLay. But the rift in the party became evident when the Senate last month voted 79-19 in favor of a resolution calling on President George W. Bush's administration to show clearer signs of progress in Iraq.

Republicans were also divided over support for an anti-torture proposal that Republican maverick Senator John McCain has forced the White House to accept.

The Democrats have also struggled to find a common voice on Iraq, torn between the public disenchantment with the US military campaign and the need to offer a viable alternative to the administration's "stay the course" approach -- particularly after Democratic Representative John Murtha last month called for an immediate troop pullout.

On most other issues, however, the political battles in Congress have been drawn along traditional lines -- with Republicans and Democrat squaring off against each other.

Senator Lindsey Graham told US television this week that Iraq more than any other issue has given parties on both sides ammunition to attack each other.

"There is no political consensus in this country. Democrats or Republicans are struggling. We've lost our national unity when it comes to Iraq," he said.

"I wish we would quit running ads against each other and try to find consensus."

In a letter to fellow lawmakers this month, leading Republican, Senator Richard Lugar, lamented the negative tone and called for greater comity.

"The quality of congressional debate has an impact on events in Iraq and our prospects for success," wrote Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We should continually strive to elevate our debate by studying thoughtful sources of information and embracing civility in our discourse," he said.

The Council on Foreign Relations concluded in a study that the Congress wars were even weakening the United States on the world stage.

"People in both parties are complaining that they do not know what the other side thinks on critical foreign policy issues. They say there is generally less engagement and ideas are not being sharpened through debate -- the tough questions are not being probed," the report concluded.

"The job is to diminish and destroy any chance at political success before the guts of the policy are even contemplated," the document continued.

"Over time, the political game has overtaken the deliberative-policy process, which results in a dumbing-down of policy."

Still, some in Congress said the complaints are overblown.

"The people in this country think that everything that is done in this Congress is always so partisan -- Republicans and Democrats never get along, we never talk to each another, we never agree on anything," Republican Chuck Grassley said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

"As a practical matter, nothing gets done in the United States Senate that isn't somewhat bipartisan," Grassley said.

Dec 16 , 2005

the year

now

November

last month

last month

this week

this month

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20061116.0415

BEIJING, Nov. 17 , 2006 (Xinhua)

China's public servants branded rude slobs by Communist chief

Rude, bad-tempered slobs: that was the verdict of a Chinese Communist Party chief when he posted a critique of government officials on the Internet.

The posting by Zhang Xinshi, CPC secretary of Suqian city, or senior governor, was intended to upbraid junior officials who dealt with the public -- but it quickly attracted massive public support and sparked a nationwide debate over the behaviour of government officials.

Posted on the government website, "Detailed Problems with the Deportment of Suqianers" criticized unreservedly the demeanor of the citizens, with special contempt for the bad example set by many public servants set in the city.

"Some cadres totally disregard etiquette on public occasions. Some often talk unbearably loud as if there were no one else present or answer their phones in an abnormally high pitch for fear that others would not know he is talking on the phone," Zhang wrote.

He even detailed the stink caused by official who failed to flush the toilet after use.

The essay struck a raw nerve with the public, who seemed to awaken from apathy.

Nearly 1,000 comments were posted within one day of the essay's release, mostly hailing Zhang's self-examination while bitterly attacking the rudeness of his subordinates.

A netizen named "Lan Keer" wrote: "Officials are representing the image of a place. If they are bad-mannered, how can the government ask the public to maintain a courteous environment in the city?

"It really is a progress for the leader to realize the problem and his attention to detail shows a sense of responsibility."

"Miss Right" wrote: "I am touched by what the official did because he is a man speaking out from a real sense of justice. Many officials scorn such trifles, but they don't know these trifles are actually what we people care about most."

The medium of Zhang's critique also received praise.

"He chose a proper channel to make the denouncement. If he had said this at a conference or via governmental publications, nobody would have responded," said "Seagull", adding the posting showcased the real function of a government website.

It was more than a medium for releasing documents and investment information. A government website should be a communication platform between officials and the public, he said.

However, a "coalition" of Internet users branded the critique "self-advertising".

"Without the posting who would know about the CPC leader in Suqian? The guy finally managed to bring himself nationwide fame and who knows whether he will get a promotion because of it?" one asked.

Professor Yu Xianyang, with the People's University, said Zhang had vividly reflected public perceptions of government officials, regardless of his real intentions.

Many public servants in Suqian were sloppily dressed, spat and dropped litter and made a racket in public places. "Perhaps he has no choice but to do this," Yu said.

Codes of conduct, which should be taught in primary school, had become something that officials failed to abide by. Zhang said it shamed thousands of the bad-mannered government staffs.

The majority of Chinese public servants were well-educated and had to undergo rigorous tests to acquire a post in the government, but their spirit and enthusiasm were ground down by routine drudgery, Yu said.

Some even lost their sense of the most basic courtesy.

All levels of government had made economic construction their main priority, but bad manners could eclipse economic growth in the minds of the public, said Yu.

China has about five million public servants, 90 percent of them a grassroots level.

In Suqian, Zhang's posting resulted in a series of measures to enforce courtesy in public servants -- just as it is enforced in China's primary schools.

Nov. 17 , 2006

one day


AFP_ENG_20051203.0420

BAMAKO, Dec 4 , 2005

= (PICTURES) =

Africa's woes from wars to fairer trade, illegal immigration to a brain drain, come under the spotlight at a second and final day of a summit of African and French leaders here on Sunday.

French President Jacques Chirac and, for the first time at an Africa-France Summit, representatives of all 53 African states, including more than 20 heads of state, have gathered in the Malian capital, Bamako.

With crunch global trade talks looming in Hong Kong, the need to ensure a better deal for poor African nations in world trade was one of the themes to focus leaders' minds here on the opening day.

"African farmers must receive a fair reward for their work. We cannot accept a situation in which hasty and generalised liberalisation of agricultural trade ruins the efforts of the least developed nations," Chirac said.

Ministers of the 148 World Trade Organisation members head to Hong Kong from December 13 to take stock of the 'Doha Development' round of negotiations, launched in the Qatari capital in 2001.

The talks have largely stalled over the degree to which rich countries offer financial support to their agriculture sectors.

Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure said cotton was "symbolic of inequitable trade". "Are we going to continue in Africa sowing cotton to harvest deficits, while others, more affluent, sow the same cotton to harvest subsidies?" Toure said.

West African governments want the WTO meeting to fix a date to eliminate all cotton subsidies, which they say price their top export earner out of world markets.

The crisis in France's former colony of Ivory Coast, divided since fighting broke out in 2002 pitting President Laurent Gbagbo against rebels who control the north, is another source of concern.

Chirac said, during talks with the leaders of South Africa and Niger here, that France, which has 4,000 troops deployed in Ivory Coast, wanted a new prime minister appointed in Ivory Coast soon, a French delegation source said.

Ivorian political and rebel parties have been unable to agree on who should head an interim government.

Summiteers have also addressed how to tackle immigration and the alleviation of poverty to keep Africans, tempted to seek better living conditions elsewhere, at home.

"Together, we must encourage co-development and enable Africans to enjoy decent conditions for living and working in their own countries," Chirac, 73, said.

The Bamako summit is the first time he has travelled outside of Europe since his week-long hospitalisation in September for a vision problem that doctors said was caused by a minor vascular "incident".

Dec 4 , 2005

Sunday

December 13

September


AFP_ENG_20051215.0058

MANILA, Dec 15 , 2005

ATTENTION - ADDS presidential reactions ///

Philippine police detained Thursday a former defence secretary who had declared himself president and urged the armed forces to withdraw their support for President Gloria Arroyo.

Retired general Fortunato Abat, 80, was bundled into an unmarked police van and taken in for questioning with two other members of his self-proclaimed cabinet to face possible charges of inciting sedition, the authorities said.

There was no indication that either the military or the public were taking Abat's call to overthrow Arroyo very seriously, although rumours of a coup plot have been rife for weeks in Manila.

"There can only be one president," said police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil.

Though the government had considered Abat more of a nuisance than a security threat, Arroyo's chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters: "We have to do something because we cannot let the people feel there is a violation of law and nothing is being done."

Abat had urged the military and the public to support calls for the ouster of Arroyo, who survived an impeachment vote in the legislature in September over allegations she cheated to win the May 2004 presidential election.

Abat failed to rally popular support and the military said they stayed loyal to Arroyo, who survived a military uprising in 2003.

Abat's son, a middle-level officer in the Philippine Army, was relieved of his post as deputy commander of a brigade deployed north of Manila, the military said Thursday.

Colonel Victor Abat was accused by superiors of sending mobile telephone text messages that supposedly urged other military officers to join acts of "destabilization" that the military would not specify.

"I have deemed it proper to relieve him because he had been spreading text messages enjoining officers and men of the army to join the destabilization move," said army chief Lieutenant General Hermogenes Esperon.

Rumours have swirled in recent days that a new coup plot was being hatched against Arroyo whose approval rating has plunged to record lows due to a six-month campaign from the opposition to oust her.

These rumours have grown after a Marine officer, Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon, facing charges for a foiled mutiny against Arroyo in 2003, escaped Wednesday shortly after a court hearing.

Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye charged that his escape was "well-planned and well-coordinated."

"We believe that he is now being coddled by some shadowy groups and personalities for their self-serving destabilization activities," Bunye said.

He did not identify the groups although in the past the government has said members of the opposition had been involved in efforts to destabilize Arroyo.

Meanwhile, Ermita said Arroyo met with senior military commanders late Wednesday on her return from an East Asian summit in Malaysia.

"We cannot be too complacent about reports that we have received and (discussed) actions that have to be done," he added.

Dec 15 , 2005

Thursday

weeks

September

May 2004

Thursday

recent days

Wednesday

now

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_20061220.0508

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 , 2006, 2006

URGENT  US wants vote on Iran sanctions resolution Thursday

The United States is pushing for a UN Security Council vote imposing sanctions on Iran on Thursday despite remaining differences over details of the measure, the State Department said Wednesday.

Dec 20 , 2006

Thursday

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_20061217.0286

BAGHDAD, Dec 17 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - UPDATES throughout ///

The latest in a series of mass kidnappings spread terror in Baghdad on Sunday as peace talks between Iraq's bitterly divided factions produced a limited agenda for constitutional reform.

The violence in the war-torn capital also provided a grim backdrop to an unannounced visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who flew in to offer support to his beleaguered Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki.

At least 25 aid workers were hauled off at gunpoint from a Baghdad office of the Iraqi Red Crescent aid agency by a gang of 50 gunmen sporting police uniforms -- the second such mass abduction in Baghdad in three days.

The hostage-takers, jumping out of around 10 pick-up trucks, raided the Red Crescent building in the Karrada district in broad daylight, snatching at least two dozen men but leaving women behind, witnesses and officials said.

Nada Doumani, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), part of the same movement as the Red Crescent, said 25 aid workers and an unknown number of visitors were taken.

"We condemn such an attack against civilians and humanitarian workers. It is a breach of international humanitarian law. The building was clearly marked with the Red Crescent symbol," she said.

Meanwhile, a short distance away another gang -- again in the uniforms of the Shiite-dominated security forces -- shot dead one Sunni local councillor and kidnapped three more from their car, a security official said.

The latest abductions came three days after gunmen wearing military uniforms snatched dozens of businessmen from a commercial street in Baghdad, before releasing around 29 of their captives, all Shiites.

Less than a kilometre from the site of the kidnapping, protected behind the high walls of the fortified Green Zone, Blair stood shoulder to shoulder with Maliki and gave strong backing to his efforts to reunite the country.

He told the Iraqi leader that Britain will "stand four square behind you and the Iraqi people in ensuring that your democracy is not destroyed by terrorism, by sectarianism, by those who wish to live in hatred rather than peace".

British public support for the war has slipped amid mounting sectarian violence and military casualties, but Blair angrily dismissed the idea that the 2003 US and British invasion of Iraq had triggered the chaos.

Instead, he blamed "the same forces worldwide that are trying to prevent moderation, prevent modernisation, and prevent people expressing their will for democracy, through violence".

Blair flew from Baghdad to the southern port city of Basra where Britain has more than 7,000 soldiers fighting militias and training Iraqi forces. He met soldiers before flying on to the next leg in a Middle East tour.

The visit, planned in secret to protect him from attack, came as the Iraqi government held fresh peace talks to fend off civil war.

The national reconciliation conference began Saturday and marked the first attempt by the coalition government to draw former members of ousted leader Saddam Hussein's armed forces and Baath party into the political process.

But only a small number of representatives from movements outside the political process turned up, and the proposals which working groups suggested will have to be ratified by the cabinet or parliament.

"The only important practical measure recommended by the conference is paying sizeable pensions to former soldiers," Naseer al-Ani told AFP.

"Other than that, participants reiterated slogans about national unity and expressed good intentions for reforms that will have to be approved (by government and parliament)," said Ani.

The four committees that compiled the string of recommendations, after two days of talks that Maliki hoped would isolate insurgents, will now work on implementing their suggestions with government and parliament.

One recommendation would see Iraq reinstate compulsory military service, another suggests independent deputy ministers to be appointed alongside political appointees, and a third wants the Iraqi constitution reviewed.

On Saturday, Maliki called on Saddam-era army officers to join his armed forces to fight the insurgency and urged parliament to review a law banning former Baathists from administrative posts.

Iraq is in the grip of a dirty war between rival Sunni and Shiite factions battling for turf and political power in the chaos that has descended on the country as the government and US military battle Sunni insurgents.

Besides the kidnappings, Iraq endured a fresh round of shootings on Sunday that left three security officials dead and at least 21 bodies dumped in Baghdad, Baquba and the northern oil capital of Kirkuk, officials said.

Dec 17 , 2006

Sunday

three

three days

Saturday

two days

Saturday

Sunday


AFP_ENG_19970429.0591

BIARO, Zaire, April 29 , 1997 (AFP)

Refugees flow into Biaro, as aid trickles through by Christophe Parayre

Around 10,000 exhausted and hungry Rwandan refugees flowed into Biaro on Tuesday, as humanitarian organisations managed to push through 10 tonnes of aid for the first time in a week.

Other refugees, meanwhile, continued to arrive in the camp, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the south of Kisangani.

Some 30,000 people had been housed in Biaro until the beginning of last week, but the refugees, along with 55,000 others at nearby Kasese, fled after reportedly being attacked by villagers and rebel forces.

Groups of refugees have now begun emerging from the forest to head back for Biaro in search of humanitarian aid.

On Monday, a humanitarian mission found more than 5,000 refugees in the Biaro camp.

One man in a torn, filthy T-shirt and carrying a bundle on his head, described his flight.

"I heard gunfire in the middle of the night and I fled into the forest, as far away as possible. I left everything in the camp, I've got nothing left," he said.

"Then some Zairean villagers told us peace had returned, that we could go back to Biaro. We walked for two days to get here. But there are still lots of people in the forest, they are afraid to come back. You often hear firing."

Tuesday's aid shipment marked the first time since April 20 that international organisations have been able to get supplies through to the starving, exhausted and often diseased refugees, as Kabila's rebels have held back aid convoys for "security" regions.

Even on Tuesday, rebels only allowed through three trucks -- compared with the 11 requested by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) -- and the humanitarian organisations were held up until midday at Lula, just outside Kisangani, until a military escort could be provided.

Moreover, aid workers were only allowed to spend two hours in Biaro assisting refugees and they were prevented from travelling outside the camp, officially for security reasons.

At various points on the route linking Kisangani and Biaro, as well as in the camp, there was a strong smell of decomposing bodies.

The majority of rebels who spoke to AFP accused the mainly Tutsi rebels of massacring numerous Hutu refugees -- a charge vehemently denied by the rebels.

Witnesses said that on Tuesday they saw a group of about 15 rebel soldiers near Biaro order the weak and starving refugees to continue their trek to Ubundu, 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Kisangani), a region to which rebels forbid access.

There was also concern over the fate of more than 500 refugees, mostly men, made by rebels, who promised food would be distributed, to board a train heading for Ubundu, which people in Biaro said they feared was "a train of death."

Earlier on Tuesday, Zairean rebels asked UN staff to prepare to fly home a first group of about 1,000 Rwandan refugees from Kisangani in eastern Zaire, the UN refugee agency said.

Antonella Gesulfo of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in Kisangani that the rebels had told the UNHCR that the Hutu refugees were travelling to the city from Biaro by train.

"This was a surprise for us, it wasn't planned, but if it helps us speed up repatriations, why not?" Gesulfo said. The United Nations faces a monumental task if it is to find and fly home tens of thousands of exhausted and terrorised refugees within a 60-day rebel deadline starting Thursday.

The ultimatum, imposed by rebel leader Laurent Kabila on Sunday, has already been rejected as unreasonable by both the United States and United Nations.

French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette on Tuesday further denounced the ultimatum and urged that humanitarian organisations must be given immediate access to refugees.

European foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg also called on Kabila to guarantee humanitarian organisations access to conflict zones.

In Biaro, the humanitarian lorries unloaded biscuits, powdered milk, medicines, covers and cooking utensils.

Because of the limited supplies available, only children were allowed biscuits, amid disorderly scenes, with refugees, driven by hunger, jostling for food.

Some 170 unaccompanied children were among a group of refugees to be taken by the lorries which brought in the aid to a transit centre close to Kisangani, from where they were to be flown home to Rwanda on Wednesday, a UNHCR spokesman said.

April 29 , 1997

Tuesday

a week

the beginning of last week

now

Monday

two days

Tuesday

April 20

Tuesday

Tuesday

Tuesday

Thursday

Sunday

Tuesday

Wednesday


XIN_ENG_20051114.0334

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Finland opens commercial mobile TV license for bidding

HELSINKI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua)-- The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications announced on Monday that it will start accepting applications for a license of commercial mobile TV license.

Finland has thus become the first European country to issue a license for a commercial TV service for mobile phones.

The service will be based on DVB-H (digital video broadcasting - handheld) transmission technology.

Finland is one of many countries experimenting with TV on mobile phones. TV service for mobile phones has been tested last spring in a trial network in its capital, Helsinki. Around 500 people were involved in the test, which showed mobile TV was favorably received.

Susanna Huovinen, the transport and Communications minister, said that the government wants to promote the development of innovations, including mobile TV.

The operating license will be awarded early next year.

Nov. 14 , 2005

Nov. 14

Monday

last spring

early next year


XIN_ENG_20061121.0116

ABUJA, Nov. 21 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Nigeria to host food security summit

Nigeria is to host a summit on food security in Africa from Dec. 4 to 7 to assess the implementation of resolutions on food security taken in the past, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported on Tuesday.

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Malam Adamu Bello was quoted as saying that forthcoming summit was "a follow-up action aimed at assessing the level of implementation of such past resolutions."

According to him, all member countries will be expected to present an update on the implementations of the recommendations of the African Union 2003 Maputo Declaration on food security in Africa.

Bello said "issues about availability, accessibility and affordability of food would feature prominently at the summit."

It will also review national programs and projects that are making significant progress in contributing to the attainment of national food and nutrition security, the minister added.

In 2003, African heads of state and government committed their governments in the Maputo Declaration to allocating at least 10 percent of their national budgets for agriculture and rural development within five years.

Nov. 21 , 2006

Dec. 4

the past

Tuesday

five years


XIN_ENG_20051111.0309

RABAT, Nov. 11 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Morocco: more kinds of poultry importation banned

Morocco's Agriculture Ministry announced on Friday that it had widened its ban on imports of poultry into the country to include wild birds such as pigeons and falcons.

All Moroccan citizens, as well as importers, have to comply with the enacted regulations, and all banned poultry discovered at border checkpoints will be returned or slaughtered, according to a statement issued by the Agriculture Ministry.

The statement also emphasized that no bird flu cases have been found in Morocco so far, and the country's veterinary administration will continue to closely monitor domestic poultry as well as the latest development of worldwide bird flu pandemic.

The ministry has announced a ban on the importation of live poultry and bird-related products from countries affected by the fatal strain of virus H5N1 on Oct. 17, and carried out more strict sanitary checks on poultry farms, border checkpoints and slaughterhouses.

Nov. 11 , 2005

Friday

Oct. 17


XIN_ENG_20061107.0128

TEHRAN, Nov. 7 , 2006 (Xinhua)

1st LD: Iran urges Saddam's death sentence to be carried out

Iran here Tuesday described former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as a criminal who deserved to die, urging for the death sentence on him to be carried out.

"We want the correct, fair and legal verdict against this criminal (Saddam)... could be enforced," Iran's government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told a news conference.

"There's no doubt that he (Saddam) is a criminal dictator, we hope no pressures will be made to pullback this verdict," said Elham.

The spokesman also refuted suggestions that the execution of Saddam may exacerbate the violent conflict between Iraq's Shiite and Sunni communities.

Iran wanted the former Iraqi leader would get further trials for other alleged crimes against humanity, including his waging war against Iran in 1980-1988, Elham added.

He stressed that "I think it's quite clear such kind of suggestion is mischief-making, Saddam has both Shiite and Sunni blood on his hands, his very existence is anti-human."

Nov. 7 , 2006

Tuesday


AFP_ENG_20061213.0284

ROME, Dec 13 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - UPDATES with audience with pope  ///

Pope Benedict XVI, who hopes one day to visit the Holy Land, on Wednesday met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in Italy as part of a brief European tour mainly aimed at drumming up support for sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme.

The Israeli leader was given a private audience with the pope and was then to meet the Vatican head of government, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone. The head of the Roman Catholic Church said in August he hoped to visit the Holy Land, if possible "in times of peace".

Olmert, who flew to Italy on the second and final leg of a European visit, was then to meet his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi.

In Germany, his previous stop, Olmert won backing for anti-Tehran sanctions from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that "unfortunately the time has come for sanctions" after Iran had turned its back on attempts to persuade it to stop enriching uranium.

Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin told AFP that Rome too was expected to rally behind moves by Israel and the United States to try to bring Iran into line.

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, says his country's nuclear programme is aimed at purely civilian use.

Also during his talks with Prodi, Olmert will "underline the importance for Israel of Italy's participation in the Interim United Nations Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)," Eisin said,

Rome is to send 2,500 troops and take over command of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, which was beefed up after a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in July and August.

As part of the UN force, German navy ships have been patrolling the Lebanese coast to prevent any arms smuggling into the country.

Olmert will also raise possible ways of reviving dormant peace talks with the Palestinians, provided Europe continues to boycott the Hamas-led Palestinian government, Eisin said.

"Germany, Italy and Europe in general have a role to play to advance the peace process," Eisin said. "But there cannot be any recognition of the Hamas government as long as this movement does not recognize Israel and does not give up its mission to destroy it."

Although Olmert said in Berlin on Tuesday that Israel remained opposed to talks with Syria as "the time is not ripe", Rome, which for its part favours dialogue with Damascus, is expected to discuss how European nations could play a role as an interface between the two camps.

Italy too will urge Israel to agree to place the disputed Shebaa Farms area, a small corner of land sandwiched between Lebanon, Syria and Israel, under UN administration, Italian diplomatic sources said.

The sources said this would bolster the hand of beleaguered Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora whose country has demanded sovereignty over the area since 1967, while Israel argues it is part of the Syrian Golan Heights annexed at the time.

The UN has offered to administer the territory pending a settlement.

"We will also seek how to develop the European observer mission at the Rafah border (between Gaza and Egypt) to guarantee better freedom of movement," the Italian sources said.

Dec 13 , 2006

one day

Wednesday

August

July

August

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20051122.0128

BEIJING, Nov. 22 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Chinese FM has phone coversation with Syrian counterpart

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing had a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart Faruk al-Shareh Tuesday night, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The two exchanged views on regional issues, said a ministry press release without giving any details.

Nov. 22 , 2005

Tuesday night


AFP_ENG_20061201.0018

BEIJING, Dec 1 , 2006, 2006

After 2008 Olympics, China looking to host 2014 World Cup

China plans to apply to host the 2014 World Cup as part of its efforts to continue attracting major international sporting events following the 2008 Beijing Olympics, state press said Friday.

"Following the 2008 Beijing Olympics, our plan is to apply to host the 2011 World Swimming Championships and the 2014 World Cup," the Beijing Times quoted Sun Kanglin, head of the Beijing Sports Bureau as saying.

No other details of the bid were made available.

Soccer's ruling body FIFA has already announced that World Cup 2014, although a formal vote to determine the tournament hosts will be made at the FIFA Congress in 2008.

Even if China has no chance for 2014, any potential bid could pave the way for the Asian nation to host a later World Cup event.

China participated in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea for the first-time-ever, but failed to qualify for the 2006 edition in Germany.

Under FIFA's policy of rotating the World Cup between continents, South America is guaranteed the right to host the 2014 finals, and Brazil has long been regarded as the front-runner.

Argentina and Chile could co-host the 2014 World Cup if Brazil was incapable of staging the greatest event in football, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was quoted as saying in April.

China is fast gaining a reputation as being able to hold major world sporting events ahead of Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics.

The city has already won wide praise from International Olympic Committee chiefs for its preparations for 2008, while test events for the Games this year went smoothly.

China also already hosts major golf, tennis and motor racing events.

Dec 1 , 2006

Friday

April

this year


XIN_ENG_20051115.0359

ATHENS, Nov. 15 , 2005 (Xinhua)

UN official urges Greece to protect rights of minors

A UN senior official has warned Tuesday that some 2,000 children are drawn into child sex rings in Greece each year, adding that the Greek government must implement a national policy to protect the rights of minors.

"Greece has made significant progress in the area of human rights during the last decade, but this has to be continued, especially as far as children's rights are concerned," said Juan Miguel Petit, the special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, quoted by the local English-language daily Kathimerini.

Concluding a six-day trip to Greece, the UN official highlighted shortcomings in Greece's protection of minors, such as the conditions in which Gypsy children live near the center of Athens.

The district is to be redeveloped into a new football stadium as home to Athens Panathinakos club, despite concerns of human rights groups over the forced relocation of families living in the area.

The conditions children had to endure were unacceptable. Most of the 400 children who left Albania on their own last year ended up in Greece, often with the help of traffickers, Petit said.

The UN official recommended that the Albanian and Greek governments should cooperate more closely over the issue.

He also advised the creation of a central body that would oversee the creation of a coherent policy on children's rights in Greece, so the current overlapping between state organizations would be avoided.

Meanwhile, Lambros Kanellopoulos, head of UNICEF's office in Greece, revealed that research had shown some 2,000 children are being sexually exploited by organized gangs in various parts of the country.

Nov. 15 , 2005

Tuesday

each year

the last decade

last year


XIN_ENG_20051118.0132

TIANJIN, Nov. 18 , 2005 (Xinhua)

China sees decline of computer virus infection ratio

About 80 percent of China's computers have been infected with virus in 2005, 8 percent lower than last year.

This is the first time of drop for the PC virus infection ratio in China over the past five years, said sources with the Eighth International Conference of the Association of Anti Virus Asia Researchers (AVAR) here Friday.

According to a latest survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Securities, China's companies, institutions and government offices have more access to the information technology this year.

They all strengthened the work concerning information network safety and are rewarded with a drop of virus infection ratio, said Zhang Jian, deputy director of the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center.

The survey also said that China is not hit by serious virus so far this year.

According to the analysis of types of computer virus, the worm virus infection ratio is obviously higher than others, accounting for 74 percent.

Zhang said that China still lacks professionals of network safety maintenance.

He urged the governments at all levels to provide more training chances for the related workers and specialists and increase investment for the development of anti-virus technologies and software.

Nov. 18 , 2005

last year

the past five years

Friday

this year

this year


AFP_ENG_19970421.0447

UNITED NATIONS, April 21 , 1997 (AFP)

Baker launches new peace bid in forgotten West Sahara conflict

UN envoy James Baker launches a fresh initiative on Western Sahara beginning Tuesday, in a bid to revive plans for a long-delayed political settlement for the disputed mineral-rich territory.

Baker, who was named the personal envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for Western Sahara last month, made few predictions on what he hoped to achieve before his departure.

During a visit here for consultations earlier this month, the former US secretary of state said it was premature to envisage changes to a UN peace plan providing for a referendum on the future of the territory claimed by both Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.

The UN-proposed referendum would determine whether Western Sahara should become part of Morocco or an independent state.

With a UN-monitored ceasefire holding since 1991, a resolution to the conflict which has festered for 22 years since Spain's withdrawal from the territory has been put on the international community's back burner for the past year.

During his mission, the 66-year-old Texan diplomat will hold talks with Moroccan and Polisario Front leaders and meet with officials in Algiers and in Nouakchott, the capital of neighboring Mauritania.

UN spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt said Baker would make "a fresh assessment of the situation" during his mission, expected to last until the end of the month.

Western diplomats here said Monday that Baker could assess the chances of a resumption of direct talks between the Polisario Front and Morocco, which could move forward the peace process.

However Morocco publicly insists that developments must take place within the framework of the UN peace plan.

UN plans for the identification of voters in the referendum have been on hold for the past 12 months amid disagreements over who would be entitled to take part.

Polisario stands by the 1974 census carried out by Spain, the former colonial ruler, fixing the number of Western Sahara voters at around 74,000. But Morocco wants to add tens of thousands of others who according to Moroccan officials fled the Spanish colony to seek refuge in Morocco.

"If there could be a resolution of this problem, there could be not just economic benefits for the region and for the parties, involved but political benefits as well," says Baker.

April 21 , 1997

Tuesday

last month

this month

22 years

the past year

the end of the month

Monday

the past 12 months


AFP_ENG_20061204.0579

MOSCOW, Dec 4 , 2006, 2006

URGENT  Ex-Russian PM released from hospital: report

Former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, the victim of a suspicious poisoning last week, has been released from hospital in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported late Monday quoting his spokesman.

Dec 4 , 2006

last week

Monday


XIN_ENG_20051103.0356

YANGON, Nov. 4 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Myanmar stresses eye care services in rural areas

The Myanmar health authorities have stressed the need for eye care services in the country especially in the rural areas where the majority of the blind exist, a state- run newspaper reported Friday.

It was emphasized at a conference of eye ophthalmologists which is underway, the New Light of Myanmar said.

In Myanmar, there are some major eye diseases in prevalence such as cataract, trachoma and vitamin-C deficiency which can cause loss of sight.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has since 1999 launched a campaign aimed at bringing down the rate of avoidable blindness to less than 0.5 percent of its population as part of its efforts to eliminate such avoidable blindness by 2020 set by the World Health Organization.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2003, a "Vision Myanmar Program" has also been established by the Myanamr health ministry and the Royal Adelaide Hospital of Australia to provide opportunities for Myanmar eye surgeons to receive post-graduate training at the Australian hospital.

The program provides for Australian specialists to visit Myanmar annually to conduct training at two eye hospitals in Yangon and Mandalay where about 7,000 to 1,200 surgical operations on eye patients are respectively carried out each year.

In fighting blindness, Myanmar has also since 1964 launched trachoma control and blindness program to tackle the problem of blindness and the incidence of trachoma is being brought down from 43 percent to less than 4 percent.

Official statistics show that a total of 46,530 eye patients were cured under Mynamar's blindness control program which was implemented from 1989 to 1999. Of them 34,440 were cured of cataract and 12,090 cured of glaucoma.

Nov. 4 , 2005

Friday

each year


AFP_ENG_20051216.0335

ISTANBUL, Dec 16 , 2005

Turkey's top mafia boss jailed for 14 years

Turkey's most notorious mafia leader was sentenced Friday to more than 14 years in jail for a gang-related attack on a cafe but told his relatives "it is not important, do not be sad," the Anatolia news agency said.

Alaattin Cakici was convicted of ordering an armed attack in 2000 that injured 15 people at a cafe frequented by a rival gang, and sentenced to 14 years, nine months and 20 days.

"It is not important. Do not be sad," the 52-year-old told relatives as he was being escorted out of the court building, Anatolia said.

It was the second time the mafia boss had been tried over the attack.

He had already spent three years in jail, but the appeals court overturned part of the ruling and asked that his sentence be increased.

Cakici is a former far-right militant turned mob leader in the 1990s. He claims to have links with the country's intelligence services and to have enjoyed protection by politicians.

Cakici, who was extradited from Austria last year, is indicted in five other cases.

He risks life imprisonment for two of them -- for ordering the murders of his wife 1995 and of four other people, including his former right-hand man, in 1996.

He will also stand trial for his role in the failed privatization of the public Turkbank in 1998, which toppled the government then in power.

Dec 16 , 2005

Friday

14 years, nine months

three years

the 1990s

last year


AFP_ENG_19970411.0052

SYDNEY, April 11 , 1997 (AFP)

Quit or we'll vote you out, Australian PM tells embattled senator

Australian Prime Minister John Howard warned Friday that embattled senate deputy president Mal Colston would be voted out if he does not resign amid deepening scandal by the May 6 resumption of parliament.

Howard earlier this week bowed to intensifying pressure to dump the senator over fraudulent travel allowance claims and called for his resignation saying he had referred the allegations to police for investigation.

But the prime minister went a step further Friday and told a television chat show audience: "I'm sure he'll be gone as deputy president before the senate resumes and if he's not we'll vote him out."

He also promised to change the rules for travelling allowances to make the system more transparent, adding he was "quite serious" about devising a system that is as fraud-proof as possible.

Clearly concerned about the damage the scandal appears to be causing the government, he said: "I repeat, 99 percent of members of parliament on both sides are very honest, hardworking men and women."

Colston, whose Brisbane home has been besieged by media crews for two days, was taken to hospital late Thursday suffering from what doctors would describe only as "a medical condition."

"Senator Colston has allowed me to make a statement that says he's here with a medical condition, and he's here to rest," a spokesman said.

The ex-Labor senator turned independent was appointed to the key senate job eight months ago as a reward for giving Howard's conservative coalition the majority it lacked in the upper house by quitting Labor and switching his vote.

Howard's decision followed a statement by Colston staffer Christine Smith retracting earlier evidence accepting responsibility for almost 7,000 dollars (5,500 US) misclaimed for travel allowances "due to sloppy bookingkeeping."

Colston had to repay the cash, which had been claimed for 43 nights in Canberra when he was actually at home in Brisbane.

It also emerged that he was forced in 1983 to repay more than 6,000 dollars misclaimed for charter air travel from a company owned by his wife, and in 1982 repaid nearly 4,200 in misclaimed travel expenses.

The Labor opposition and centrist Democrats, who along with a handful of independents hold the balance of power in the Senate, want Colston to resign from politics altogether -- which would rob Howard of his upper house majority.

Howard refused for weeks to dump Colston, but explained Smith's new statement changed "the basis on which the matter had been seen previously."

The prime minister's announcement came only hours after the government admitted fraud charges had also been laid against a government MP and a former government senator over similar alleged irregularities.

April 11 , 1997

Friday

May 6

this week

Friday

two days

Thursday

eight months ago

weeks


AFP_ENG_20051209.0149

LONDON, Dec 10 , 2005

Santa sacked for being too nice to children

A British Santa got the sack and was booted out of his grotto by bouncers for spending too long chatting to children, a newspaper reported Saturday.

It was more "Go! Go! Go!" than "Ho! Ho! Ho!" for actor Alan Seymour, 57, who was told to clear off when he refused to stick to a strict 30-second time limit with each Santa-loving child, the Daily Mirror said.

The sessions cost 17.50 pounds (26 euros, 30.70 dollars) each. The actor was accused of losing customers because bored children were spending too long queuing up for the grotto.

Seymour, complete with white beard and red suit, claims he was frogmarched out by the heavies as he got one sack more than he bargained for.

"There's no way it can be done in 30 seconds. People were complaining they didn't have long enough with Santa," he told the tabloid.

"Children were bringing me lists they had written. They also wanted to have their picture taken," he explained.

"I was hustled out by bouncers. It was very humiliating. I was trying to do my job as best I could for the children. They're being ripped off."

Seymour's turn as Santa went up the chimney after just one hour at the Santa Land exhibition at Earl's Court in central London.

Promoters Dreamtime Events said: "He was taking about 10 minutes with each family. We find people would rather have a brief visit than spend hours in a queue."

However, it seems the spirit of Christmas is not completely dead.

The firm claimed Seymour had been offered alternative Santa shifts in the region.

Dec 10 , 2005

Saturday

30 seconds

one hour

10 minutes


XIN_ENG_20061120.0161

BEIJING, Nov. 20 , 2006 (Xinhua)

death

The Chinese government will tighten safety provisions in elementary and secondary schools after six children were trampled to death at a school in east China.

Local education departments should conduct thorough inspections of corridors and stairways and check school buildings, canteens, dormitories and bathrooms, Education Minister Zhou Ji said Monday at a teleconference on the school administration.

Six middle school students, five boys and a girl aged 12 and 13, died and 39 were injured in east China's Jiangxi Province on Saturday evening.

"The root of the accident lies in the school's faulty management," Zhou said. "The accident has taught us a hard lesson, and exposed serious safety risks in schools."

The ministry would evaluate the work of school principals, who played a key role in safety and had ultimate responsibility for safety administration, Zhou said.

Principals who failed to meet the standards of their posts would be demoted and those whose dereliction of duty or misconduct caused accidents will be seriously punished, he said.

The local government of Jiujiang City, where the tragedy occurred, appears to be holding the school responsible for the incident. The school principal has been detained by the local authorities.

According to the ministry, China has more than 450,000 elementary and secondAcoordingary schools with more than 210 million students and more than 120,000 kindergartens with 22 million children.

Zhou also called for immediate measures to eliminate safety risks involving food poisoning, student fights and other mass incidents.

Nov. 20 , 2006

Monday

Saturday evening


XIN_ENG_20061122.0253

LAGOS, Nov. 22 , 2006 (Xinhua)

One hostage killed in rescue operation in south Nigeria

One foreign oil worker was killed and another injured on Wednesday in a hostage rescue mission launched by the Nigerian military.

They were among the seven oil workers taken hostage by gunmen from an oil installation in south Nigeria on early Wednesday. The other five were freed in the operation.

No details of the dead and the wounded were available now.

Occupying oil facilities or taking oil workers hostage is common in southern Nigeria as local people are angry for not benefiting from oil exploration and instead suffer from pollution discharged from the industry.

Nov. 22 , 2006

Wednesday

early Wednesday

now


AFP_ENG_20061218.0011

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 , 2006, 2006

by Maxim Kniazkov

Newly-minted US Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes control of the Department of Defense Monday, facing deepening divisions among government officials and policy experts about handling violence-torn Iraq.

Gates, a 63-year-old seasoned Washington insider who owes much of his career to president George Bush, the father of the current US leader, will be sworn in at a Pentagon ceremony just three days after his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, who is blamed for the current mess in Iraq, was given a full-honors send-off.

The former Central Intelligence Agency director, known for his professionalism more than political skills, was offered the job one day after US voters, angry over the gruesome Iraqi carnage, stripped the Republican Party of its majority in both chambers of Congress in the November 7 elections.

Shortly thereafter, the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel of foreign policy luminaries, declared that the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating" and recommended wrapping up US combat operations there by early 2008.

President George W. Bush, who has withheld a wholesale endorsement of the report, is expected to announced a new Iraq policy early next year.

Gates, who was confirmed in his new job by an overwhelming 95-2 US Senate vote on December 7, is likely to be involved in shaping this new strategy, but how much exactly remains unknown.

"There are a lot of people who are going to be involved in the process," White House spokesman Tony Snow said evasively when asked on Friday about Gates's future role.

"But, ultimately," added the press secretary, the president "is the one who has to make the important decisions."

Options under consideration reportedly include boosting the number of US soldiers in Iraq by between 20,000 and 50,000 to secure its chaotic capital, forge an alliance between moderate Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis at the expense of radicals on both sides, or even throwing the US lot with majority Shiites.

But advocates of the "victory-still-possible" approach received a bucketful of cold water Sunday from one of the chief architects of the allied victory in the 1991 Gulf War, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell.

Powell, who later went on the become secretary of state when the United States invaded Iraq, said that "we are losing" the war because US troops have been unable to quell the insurgency and stave off sectarian violence.

"If victory means you have gotten rid of every insurgent, you have peace throughout the country, I don't see that in the cards right now," the retired general told CBS News.

And he dismissed as unrealistic plans for throwing more troops into Iraq, arguing that "the American army isn't large enough to secure Baghdad."

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid for his part indicated he would be willing to support a troop increase only as a stop-gap measure tied to "a program to get us out of there ... by this time next year."

Supporters of sending more troops to Iraq, which also include Republican Senator John McCain, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, also face rising public opposition.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg opinion pull conducted on December 8-11 found that 59 percent of Americans believed that Bush should adopt the Iraq Study Group's recommendation of reducing American troops by early 2008.

A similar survey conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post showed that only 17 percent of respondents supported the idea of boosting troop levels while 52 percent opposed it.

Some of non-governmental policy experts, meanwhile, have come to the conclusion the United States has now simply run out of good options.

"US policy in Iraq must come to grip with two realities: Iraq is in a civil war, and Iraq is a failed state," Carlos Pascual and Kenneth Pollack, two top Brookings Institution foreign policy experts wrote earlier this month.

Dec 18 , 2006

Monday

current

three days

one day

November 7

early 2008

early next year

December 7

Friday

Sunday

now

next year

December 8-11

early 2008

earlier this month


AFP_ENG_19970409.0436

WASHINGTON, April 9 , 1997 (AFP)

Hong Kong democracy leader scoffs at fundraising limits

Hong Kong democracy leader Martin Lee scoffed at draft regulations Wednesday that would bar Hong Kong politicians from accepting funds from abroad after the territory reverts to China in July.

Hong Kong's pro-China leader in waiting, Tung Chee-hwa, "is really the guilty party in this regard," Lee, in Washington as part of a 15-stop North American speaking and fundraising tour, told reporters here.

Lee also rejected any link between suspected Chinese efforts to funnel illicit donations last year to US congressional campaigns -- allegedly to influence US China policy -- and his own foreign fundraising for the Hong Kong Democratic Party.

Hong Kong's future government, unlike the US Congress, "will have no say in defense and foreign affairs," Lee said, noting that his party will have no role in government after Beijing regains control of Hong Kong on July 1.

"They are so afraid of us ... because we have the support of the people of Hong Kong," the Democratic Party leader said. "They will do anything to stop us."

Lee estimated that his own foreign fundraising efforts since March in Canada and the United States had netted 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars (about 320,000 dollars US).

In Hong Kong, Tung's office issued a "consultation document" arguing that Hong Kong faced a legal vacuum after the July 1 handover and was "extremely vulnerable to external forces" that required firm laws.

The paper proposed barring local political groups from "financial assistance or loans of any kind" from any alien or foreign organization, a reference that includes Taiwan individuals and groups, it said.

It also proposed empowering the government to outlaw parties based on national security considerations and the police to bar political ralllies.

April 9 , 1997

Wednesday

July

last year

July 1

March

July 1