XIN_ENG_20061122.0252

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 , 2006 (Xinhua)

U.S., Colombia sign trade promotion agreement

The United States and Colombia signed a trade promotion agreement Wednesday, eliminating tariffs and other barriers to trade in goods and services between the two countries.

Still, the agreement, signed at InterAmerican Development Bank in Washington by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John Veroneau and Colombian Commerce Minister Jorge Humberto Botero, will require a final approval by the U.S. Congress.

"The agreement will deepen and strengthen our trade ties by providing new opportunities for U.S. businesses, manufacturers, farmers and ranchers to export their goods and services to one of Latin America's most robust economies," said Veroneau in a statement.

"For Colombia, this agreement will provide permanent access to the U.S. market, which will aid in sustaining real growth, creating more jobs, and attracting new investment," Veroneau said.

Colombia is currently the 31st largest U.S. goods trading partner. In 2005, U.S. goods exports to Colombia totaled nearly 5. 5 billion dollars. Two-way goods trade between the two countries during 2005 amounted to 14.3 billion dollars, according to the statement.

The statement said that many products from Colombia already enter the U.S. market duty-free under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) which expires on Dec. 31, 2006. This new agreement helps Colombia to expand its current access and lock in duty-free treatment for Colombian products.

Building on ATPA, the agreement will ensure that U.S. products exported to Colombia likewise benefit from duty-free treatment, the statement said.

Nov. 22 , 2006

Wednesday

Dec. 31, 2006


AFP_ENG_19970420.0167

LONDON, April 20 , 1997 (AFP)

British press whacks Tories harder than Labour

Britain's newspapers -- tabloid and quality alike -- have already cast their vote in the May 1 elections, ganging up on Prime Minister John Major's Tory party and backing Labour party leader Tony Blair.

According to CMS Precis, a media monitoring company, an analysis of favourable, unfavourable and neutral articles published on each of the two main parties over the last three weeks reveals harsher treatment for the government than the opposition.

Unlike its predecessors, Blair's "New Labour" party has won wide print support while the Conservatives have seen their traditional backers walk away.

The bastions of left-wing journalism, The Guardian and The Mirror, now have The Sun in their pro-Blair camp. The Times hesitates, The Daily Express vacillates and the pin-striped businessman's staid companion, The Financial Times, seems on the point of making Blair the star of its pink pages.

While the Tories still retain a number of "friendly" newspapers, such as The Daily Telegraph, their image and their elections messages are generally taking a cruel beating in the 14 million newspapers Britain sells every day.

Perhaps the hardest blow was the loss of the once ferociously Conservative Sun newspaper, with a circulation of four million, the world's biggest-selling paper.

Owned by Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born US media magnate, the paper trumpeted on page one its switch to Blair, who Murdoch sees as a keen advocate of the policies espoused by former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

On Friday's front page of The Times, another paper in Murdoch's stable, the officially Conservative stance seemed overlooked when the story started "The government's European policy was in confusion last night..."

In fact, the desire of many of the pro-Tory papers to see a more anti- European position from the government has resulted in much attention on splits in Major's party.

"Battle for Britain" was how The Daily Mail headlined a story on the divisions, urging Eurosceptics to come forward and stand up to Major.

Blair was ready to capitalise on the issue, with a recent contribution -- in The Sun -- titled: "My Love for the pound by Tony Blair - Sun Exclusive!"

In an April 16 editorial, the paper said: "We don't want our laws, our taxes and our interest rates imposed on us by unelected foreigners... If Labour can acknowledge that fact, they will govern from a position of even greater strength."

It is in that leftward step by Conservative papers and the move to the right by Tony Blair that many observers see a waltz that is going to carry both partners right up to the polling date.

April 20 , 1997

May 1

the last three weeks

now

every day

Friday

last night

April 16


XIN_ENG_20061121.0009

JAKARTA, Nov. 21 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Indonesian Merapi volcano calms down after spewing hot clouds

Mt. Merapi in Indonesia's Java island calmed down Tuesday morning after spewing hot clouds up to three kilometers down from its peak Monday night.

The local government in Sleman district had called on people living on the volcano's slope to increase their awareness for possible more hot clouds and floods of cold lava.

"Merapi is still in the status of alert, and we are still monitoring its development," Sleman district head Ibnu Subiyanto was quoted by the national Antara news agency as saying.

In April, thousands of people living in the slopes of the mountain, located in the border area between Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, were evacuated as it spewed volcanic materials and hot clouds up to six kilometers away from its peak.

Two were killed in the last eruption.

Indonesia sits astride the "Ring of Fire," a series of volcanoes and fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia to New Zealand.

It has more active volcanoes than any other nation.

The eruption of Mt. Merapi in 1994, killed 60 people. About 1, 300 people were killed when it erupted in 1930.

Nov. 21 , 2006

Tuesday morning

Monday night

April


AFP_ENG_19970423.0497

WASHINGTON, April 23 , 1997 (AFP)

Dalai Lama brings hopeful message on Tibet before White House meeting (pictures) (ADDS details)

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, opened an international gathering of legislators here Wednesday with a hopeful message about the future of his Himalayan homeland.

China, whose invasion of Tibet caused the Dalai Lama to flee to India in the 1950s, "is changing," he told a rapt audience overflowing a US congressional chamber.

"A growing number of Chinese show concern, in some cases a spirit of solidarity" with Tibetans, he said, opening a World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet that drew delegates from 27 countries. "There is real hope."

Speaking without notes and in English for 30 minutes, the Buddhist monk cut a smiling saffron-and-burgundy figure in a room usually dominated by pinstripes.

He was to meet later in the day with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the White House, which will surely draw consternation from Beijing.

Organizers said he would seek greater US support for the six million Tibetans now living under what Western governments and human rights groups describe as increasingly heavy-handed and abusive Chinese rule.

China's official media reserve their most colorful insults for Taiwan leaders and the Dalai Lama alike, routinely accusing both of "trying to split the (Chinese) motherland."

During the Dalai Lama's recent six-day visit to Taiwan, one official Chinese newspaper accused the Buddhist monk and the Taiwan authorities of conniving together to divide China.

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama indicated that he would likely open an office in Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province, within a month: "It is finalized," he told reporters.

"I feel indirectly that I'm helping the Chinese government," the 61 -year-old cleric said. "Stability under a weapon isn't genuine stability -- genuine stability comes from satisfaction."

China would likely dispute both those assertions, and a newsletter from the Chinese embassy here left little doubt this week that it wants to thwart international support for 1989 Nobel laureate and his followers.

An eight-page embassy document described substantial economic advances in Tibet under Chinese rule and attacked the Dalai Lama's own human rights record, saying "the laws the Dalai Lama used in Tibet were the cruelest in the world."

The conference this week is hosted by the International Campaign for Tibet and Tibet's parliament in exile.

The Dalai Lama was also expected to meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He earlier held private talks with members of Congress.

China's People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama was forced into exile in 1959 after a failed Tibetan uprising against Beijing's rule.

April 23 , 1997

Wednesday

the 1950s

30 minutes

now

Wednesday

a month

this week

this week


AFP_ENG_20061223.0079

AMMAN, Dec 23 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - ADDS Abbas spokesman  ///

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has indefinitely postponed a visit to Jordan that had been scheduled for Sunday, Palestinian ambassador Atallah Khairy told AFP.

"President Abbas is determined to attend the Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem in accordance with the tradition set by the late Yasser Arafat," Khairy said Saturday.

Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told reporters in Ramallah that the Palestinian president planned to travel to Jordan on Monday.

Abbas had been due to hold talks with King Abdullah II after deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip between his secular Fatah faction and the ruling Islamist movement Hamas following his call last weekend for early elections.

Abdullah hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during the latter's surprise visit to Jordan last week.

Dec 23 , 2006

Sunday

Saturday

Monday

last weekend

last week


XIN_ENG_20061119.0180

ANKARA, Nov. 19 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Boat carrying immigrants sinks in Aegean

A boat carrying 25 people to Europe sank in the Aegean Sea near Izmir province in western Turkey on Sunday morning, local Cihan News Agency reported.

The boat was reportedly carrying 25 illegal immigrants, fourteen of them were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard while three others, who managed to swim ashore, were seized in the Ulamis quarter of Izmir, according to the report.

The Turkish Coast Guard could not find the missing eight immigrants and the search for them continues, the report said.

those captured illegal immigrants from Somalia and Palestine were transferred to the Foreigners Office of the Izmir Security Authority to await deportation, added the report.

Nov. 19 , 2006

Sunday morning


AFP_ENG_19970409.0329

GENEVA, April 9 , 1997 (AFP)

Denmark, allies brace for human rights clash with China by Jacques Boyer

Denmark will fight to the last to muster maximum support for its draft resolution condemning human rights violations in China despite threats from Beijing, diplomats said here Wednesday.

The Danish delegation will present a draft resolution before the UN Human Rights Commission on Thursday and the 53 member countries will vote on the text next Tuesday.

Denmark had been expected to present its resolution on Wednesday, but diplomats said it was waiting until the last minute in the hope of winning as much support as possible.

"We are seeking to get as many co-sponsors as possible. There is no reason to present it today," one diplomat said. The deadline for proposing the resolution is 1600 GMT Thursday.

Denmark stepped in Saturday and announced it would put forward the motion critical of China after the European Union failed to agree on a joint position for the annual human rights debate.

The EU has previously sponsored a critical resolution on China each year since the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing in 1989, but France this year blocked a common EU stance.

Paris was supported by Germany, Italy, Spain and Greece, drawing fire for putting trade considerations first.

While enthusiastically praising France and its allies, China warned Tuesday that any country supporting the resolution would harm its relations with the Asian giant.

"Supporting this resolution will not be beneficial to any nation's ties with China," foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said.

But Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen said Tuesday that Denmark would not be swayed by Chinese warnings of retaliation, nor by Beijing's sudden announcement that it would sign the UN convention on economic, social and cultural rights before the end of the year.

Petersen added that the divisions in Europe on the subject, which he said were the first in seven years with regard to China, constituted "a serious setback for the European Union's common foreign policy."

At least 11 EU members as well as the United States and several other countries have already decided to co-sponsor the draft resolution, but diplomats said the resolution had little chance of being adopted.

They said no Asian country was expected to back the text after the defection of Japan, and African and South American countries are also expected to hold back.

All previous resolutions have been defeated as a result of intense lobbying by Beijing, which presents the debate as a clash between North and South.

April 9 , 1997

Wednesday

Thursday

Tuesday

Wednesday

the last minute

today

Thursday

Saturday

each year

this year

Tuesday

Tuesday

the end of the year

seven years


AFP_ENG_19970418.0357

JERUSALEM, April 18 , 1997 (AFP)

State prosecutor reaches decision on Netanyahu

Israel's state prosecutor Edna Arbel said Friday she has already decided on whether to press corruption charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a botched appointment of attorney general.

Arbel told public radio that her decision, due to be announced on Sunday night, had been "very difficult to take." The grounds for the decision will be drafted and passed on to new attorney general Eliakim Rubinstein for approval.

"The prosecutor's office has enough proof to reach a conclusion and we do not need any more investigation," the 53-year-old state prosecutor said in a separate radio interview.

"The differences between the first version of the affair as presented on Israeli television and the conclusions of the police inquiry will be clear. The media pressure made the inquiry more difficult," she said.

The conclusions "will speak for themselves," said Arbel, while Rubinstein said he agreed.

She said earlier the same day that there were "different opinions, but no real divergences" in her office on police recommendations that Netanyahu be indicted for fraud and breach of trust.

Police announced Wednesday they had recommended the charges against Netanyahu over the short-lived appointment in January of Likud activist Roni Bar-On as attorney general.

Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani said investigators also recommended legal action against Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, Netanyahu's chief of staff Avigdor Lieberman and the head of the Shas party, Arieh Deri.

Police suspect Deri of "attempted blackmail" by conditioning his support in a key government vote over the peace process with the Palestinians on Bar-0n's appointment.

In exchange for his support, Bar-On was slated to lift fraud and bribery charges facing the Shas leader. Rubinstein was named in Bar- On's place in February.

April 18 , 1997

Friday

Sunday night

Wednesday

January

February


XIN_ENG_20061108.0079

CAIRO, Nov. 8 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Xinhua Middle East news advisory -- Nov. 8

The following are some of major Mideast news stories due to be covered or pursued by Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.

-- Monitoring the security situation in Iraq after a genocide trial of ousted President Saddam Hussein resumed.

-- Monitoring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after an Israeli tank shell killed 18 Palestinians.

-- Monitoring the latest developments of Iran's nuclear file.

Nov. 8 , 2006

Wednesday


XIN_ENG_20061116.0161

BEIJING, Nov. 16 , 2006 (Xinhua)

foreign-funded banks before Dec. 11

China will allow foreign-funded banks to conduct Renminbi business for Chinese citizens before Dec. 11 in line with its commitments to the World Trade Organization, said Song Dahan, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office of China's State Council, on Thursday.

The government would also remove regional restrictions and other limits on foreign-funded banks, giving them the same treatment as Chinese banks, said Song at a press conference on China's new regulations on foreign-funded banks.

According to the regulations issued Wednesday, Chinese branches of foreign banks remain banned from engaging in Renminbi services with Chinese citizens unless an individual, with the approval of the banking regulatory body, makes a fixed deposit of a minimum one million yuan (127,000 U.S. dollars).

The government will encourage and guide foreign banks to transform their branches into or set up incorporated banks registered in China, which will enjoy the benefits of the country's banking sector, said Song.

He said that the banks would be supervised by the Chinese banking authorities to minimize risks and ensure domestic financial stability.

Foreign banks with Chinese corporate status can issue Renminbi credit cards, said Wang Zhaoxing, assistant chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

He also encouraged foreign financial institutions with good credit to buy shares of Chinese commercial banks.

"The opening of China's banking sector is comprehensive and all directional," said Wang.

Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, the country has seen the number of foreign-funded banks growing and their business scope expanding, said Song.

China has fully opened its foreign exchange business to foreign-funded banks and allowed 111 foreign financial institutions to offer Renminbi services for Chinese and foreign enterprises in 25 cities.

The CBRC data show the assets of foreign-funded banks in China totaled 105.1 billion U.S. dollars in September, accounting for 1.9 percent of all banking institutions in the country.

Since 2001, China has taken a series of measures to gradually open its financial markets, including the introduction of the QFII (qualified foreign institutional investors) scheme in 2003 to allow foreign institutional investors such as UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup Global Markets Limited to engage in the securities sector on the Chinese mainland.

In order to cope with competition from foreign banks, the country has initiated reforms of its state-owned banks which had high non-performing loan ratios.

Three of its four largest state-owned commercial banks are now listed on the stock market.

Nov. 16 , 2006

Dec. 11

Thursday

Wednesday

September


AFP_ENG_20061214.0627

ROME, Dec 14 , 2006, 2006

Morricone says Oscar is 'nice surprise'

Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who is to receive an honorary Oscar in February, on Thursday said the award was "a nice surprise" which made him happy.

Morricone is the man behind the memorable music used in 1960s spaghetti westerns such as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and classic movies such as "Cinema Paradiso" and has composed more than 300 scores in a career spanning 45 years.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday he will be presented with the award at the 2007 Oscars in Hollywood on February 25.

"I am stunned but happy because the Oscar is coming my way while I am still fully active in my profession," the 78-year old said.

"In my life, I've never sought the centre stage. I have never asked a director to be allowed to work with him and I've never asked anybody to promote me, especially not in America. The Oscar is a nice surprise. I had stopped thinking about it," said Morricone, who is to conduct a Christmas concert in Milan on Saturday.

Morricone made a name for himself by composing the music for Sergio Leone's spaghetti western "For a Fistful of Dollars". He went on to write the scores of classics such as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,", "Once upon a Time in America" and "Cinema Paradiso".

Dec 14 , 2006

February

Thursday

45 years

Wednesday

February 25

Christmas

Saturday


XIN_ENG_20051107.0127

CHANGCHUN, Nov. 7 , 2005 (Xinhua)

NE China province earmarks emergency funds against bird flu

Northeast China's Jilin Province has decided to invest 10 million yuan (about 1.2 million US dollars) in bird flu prevention and control, said a senior local official Sunday.

The province set up the fund to better ensure the success of prevention, supervision and emergency operations related to the bird flu, said Li Bin, deputy governor of the province, which borders the bird flu-afflicted Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Liaoning Province.

In addition, local governments at different levels will also appropriate relevant funds ranging from 200,000 yuan (24,691 US dollars) to 500,000 yuan (61,728 US dollars) for the campaign, Li said.

"We must try our best to prevent the outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu in Jilin," said the vice governor, urging the local governments at all levels to take effective measures to keep the disease out of the province.

Since the outbreak of bird flu among birds in its neighbouring regions, Jilin has taken a series of measures, including poultry vaccination and monitoring, to prevent outbreak of the bird flu as well as human infection of the virus.

Nov. 7 , 2005

Sunday


WSJ_20130321_1145

March 21, 2013

The Terminal Cancer Patient Who Won a Marathon

In competitions against the clock, some athletes display an ability to seize control. Think of the Clark-Kent-to-Superman routines that John Elway and Michael Jordan often pulled in the final seconds.

But Iram Leon stands on the sidelines of his own race against time. Lodged in his brain is an untreatable and inoperable cancerous tumor that statistics suggest will kill him before he is 40, eight years from now. Medical science is advancing at a rate that doesn't preclude the development of a treatment, but it's not clear if it will come in time.

"No one knows what technology will be available in five years," said Allan Friedman, Duke University Hospital neurosurgeon in chief, who in 2011 removed as much of Leon's brain tumor as possible.

The torment of enduring that wait can paste a cancer patient to the couch, a surrender heavily associated with deadlier outcomes. Some seek escape in their careers, but that is no longer an option for Leon, who early this year was forced to step down as a juvenile probation officer in Travis County, Texas, a position he had held for almost seven years. His thinking is no longer clear, said Leon, adding, "I was making too many mistakes on the stand."

But Leon can still run. Two years after his brain-cancer diagnosis, he recently ran a sub-five-minute mile for the first time since high school. What has startled the medical community even more is what Leon did this month in Beaumont, Texas. He won the Gusher Marathon, finishing in 3:07:35. That was one second slower than his personal record in the 26.2-mile event, set days before he underwent brain surgery in early 2011.

March 21, 2013

eight years

now

five years

early this year

almost seven years

Two years

this month

days

early 2011


XIN_ENG_20051129.0143

BERLIN, Nov. 29 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Power blackout enters fourth night in western Germany

Thousands of people in western Germany spent their fourth night without electricity after this week's record snowfall damaged power lines throughout the region, authorities said on Tuesday.

As many as 35,000 people in the towns of Steinfurt and Borghorst had their power cut again after a pylon toppled, bringing others down with it. The region is expected to have its electricity supply switched back on next Tuesday.

Some 20,000 residents of Ochtrup will receive power from portable generators. Most farms in the area are being powered in this way. The blackout in the town has lasted four days, since the pylons along a three km stretch fell down under the weight of ice on Friday, German news agency DPA said.

Power had been restored to 200,000 people over the weekend in North Rhine-Westphalia, said the most populous state's Interior Ministry.

The weight of thick ice and snow, rarely seen in more than 100 years, damaged about 50 electric poles on Friday, throwing much of the region around the city of Muenster into darkness.

Police said that treacherous road conditions had caused 2,000 accidents leaving some 140 people injured and a damage bill which is expected to cost millions.

Power companies blamed the extreme weather conditions for the blackouts, rejecting any responsibility for the damage.

The government is likely to summon executives of electricity companies and civil-defense experts to explain the matter.

Nov. 29 , 2005

this week

Tuesday

next Tuesday

four days

Friday

the weekend

more than 100 years

Friday


XIN_ENG_20051119.0109

SHANGHAI, Nov. 19 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Federer makes Masters final with perfect win over Gaudio (updated)

Top seed Roger Federer made an easy through to Sunday's final of the ATP tennis Masters Cup as the Swiss crushed Argentina's Gaston Gaudio here on Saturday without losing a game.

It's the first time back to the 1970s that a year-ending match of world tennis ending up in less than an hour and with a score of 6-0, 6-0.

Federer, holding a 4-0 record against Gaudio and having won his last 13 matches against Argentine opponents before Saturday's match, won on 5 aces, 22 winners and 9 out of 11 net points against 16 unforced errors in the semifinal match less than 50 minutes.

Gaudio, seeded 7th on a rank of ninth in the world for the 4.45 million US dollars season-ending event, cracked just 3 winners throughout the match while making 9 double-faults and 22 unforced errors.

Committing 4 double-faults in a game, Gaudio was broken by the world number one Federer in as early as the second game and his first serve into the match, which set the tune of the match.

Before Saturday's match against Gaudio, the two-time defending champion Federer had kept in low as he was pulled into deciders in his Red Group opener against 12th-ranked David Nalbandian on Sunday and was even forced tiebreaker when facing the world No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic on Tuesday.

But all the embarrassments could not be found on the in Saturday's semis. He proved himself without any weaknesses, especially his backhand which was suspected to be his weaker side and again prolonged his near-perfect record at the Tennis Masters Cup.

Federer has built upon an imposing 16-1 record at the Masters Cup, with his only loss came to Lleyton Hewitt in the Shanghai 2002 semifinals.

It seemed a task impossible for anybody, not just the 26-year-old Gaudio, to win over Federer who has been beaten by no man since June.

With Saturday's victory, Federer reached his third consecutive Tennis Masters Cup final and extended his winning streak to 35 matches, the fifth-longest winning streak in the Open Era and a span that takes in five titles including two grand slam titles.

And the Shanghai match was the first in six weeks for the superlative Swiss, who has already clinched the world No. 1 year-end ranking for the second year in succession. He last competed in Bangkok, winning his 11th title of the season on October 2.

After American veteran Andre Agassi and second seed Rafael Nadal pulled out due to injuries on Monday, Federer, who overcame the effects of the ankle ligament injury scare, has been left the only top-five player in the elite field.

Nov. 19 , 2005

Sunday

Saturday

Saturday

5 aces

Saturday

Sunday

Tuesday

Saturday

June

Saturday

six weeks

the second year

October 2

Monday


AFP_ENG_20051202.0108

CHENNAI, India, Dec 3 , 2005

= (PICTURES) =

Incessant rain and thundershowers wiped out the morning session of the second day's play in the first cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka on Saturday.

With the Chepauk outfield waterlogged and little chance of the sun breaking through to dry the ground, there was unlikely to be any play on the second day after the first day was washed out.

Umpires Daryl Harper and Mark Benson may call off play during the scheduled lunch break at 11:30 am (0600 GMT) if the weather does not improve.

Cyclone Baaz, which was hovering in the Bay of Bengal, weakened into a depression late on Friday but brought rain through the night to leave this southern metropolis drenched.

Bad weather has already deprived Chennai of its last three international matches.

India's one-day internationals against New Zealand in 2003 and South Africa last fortnight were abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The second Test against Australia in October last year was drawn after the final day's play was washed out with India on the doorstep of victory.

Local cricket officials, fearing another rain-affected match, chose to sell only daily tickets for the Sri Lanka Test.

The three-Test series is Sri Lanka's first on Indian soil in eight years.

Dec 3 , 2005

Saturday

the second day

Friday

the night

last

last fortnight

October last year

eight years


XIN_ENG_20051116.0377

MADRID, Nov. 16 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Spanish coast guards arrest 36 illegal immigrants off Spanish coast

The Spanish coast guards on Wednesday arrested 36 illegal immigrants, including three women and two minors, on a boat off the coast of Granada in southeast Spain, local media reported.

One of the children was suffering from severe hypothermia and was taken to hospital in Granadan town Motril. The rest of the detainees were taken to a police reception center in Motril, where they would receive humanitarian aid from the Red Cross Organization.

The coast guards have arrested 2,669 undocumented immigrants off the coast of Granada so far this year. In November alone, the coast guards have already detained 201 immigrants, the majority of whom came from Africa to seek a better life in Spain.

Nov. 16 , 2005

Wednesday

this year

November


XIN_ENG_20051116.0132

GAZA, Nov. 16 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Israeli forces fire heavy artillery at targets in northern Gaza

Israeli army forces fired heavy artillery at targets in the northern Gaza Strip late Tuesday, Palestinian security sources said Wednesday.

The sources said that the Israeli troops shelled at least 15 artillery barrages into an open area in northern Gaza, but no casualties or damage were reported.

Israel Radio confirmed that the artillery shelling came in response to an anti-tank missile launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli army troops arrested some 9 Palestinians throughout the West Bank areas in a predawn arrest campaign, most of the arrested were members of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas).

Palestinian sources said that Israeli army jeeps stormed the city of Ramallah and arrested three Hamas members in the city and nearby al-Bereeh.

Israeli jeeps also incurred into the city of Hebron and arrested three other Hamas members in the Karma village in southern Hebron and the Israeli soldiers seized computer sets and mobile phones from the detainees' houses, eyewitnesses said.

Some ten Israeli armored vehicles also stormed the village of Allar in Tulkarem and seized the house of a wanted Islamic Jihad member Mohammed Amer, witnesses said, adding the soldiers arrested Amer's 20-years-old sister and took her to unknown place.

Nov. 16 , 2005

Tuesday

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_20061204.0474

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 , 2006, 2006

Iraq Shiite leader opposes US troop pullout

The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party urged senior US officials Monday not to withdraw US troops from his country but to transfer more military authority to the government in Baghdad.

Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, head of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told reporters he had "frank and transparent" talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the future US role in Iraq.

Iraq's government "asked for American forces to remain in Iraq while transferring more authority to Iraqi officials and forces to enable them to deal with terrorism," he said.

Hakim also heads the Iranian-backed United Iraqi Alliance, a conservative Shiite coalition which is the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament, but he insisted he was carrying no message from the Iranians for Washington.

The cleric was due to meet later Monday with President George W. Bush as the US leader mulls a major shift in US policy on Iraq.

Bush and Rice met last week in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who also demanded that his government take over greater responsibility for the country's security some three-and-a-half years after US forces toppled Saddam Hussein.

Since his Republican party lost control of Congress in elections last month that were dominated by voter unhappiness over the war in Iraq, Bush has been under intense pressure to unveil a plan for gradually reducing the US military role there.

He is due to receive on Wednesday a much-awaited report from the congressionally-mandated Iraq Study Group, which is expected to call for a withdrawal of almost all US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008, while leaving some soldiers behind for training and support of Iraqi forces.

Dec 4 , 2006

Monday

Monday

last week

some three-and-a-half years

last month

Wednesday


XIN_ENG_20061108.0275

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Urgent: U.S. defense secretary steps down, Bush says

U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was stepping down, one day after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

Bush made the announcement during a press conference at the White House.

Former CIA Director Robert Gates would succeed Rumsfeld, he said.

Nov. 8 , 2006

Wednesday

one day


WSJ891027-0090
 = 891027
 891027-0090.
 Dividend News:
@  CMS Energy Corp.
 10/27/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 CMS
 DIVIDENDS (DIV)
EARNINGS (ERN)

   CMS ENERGY Corp. said management would recommend to its board today that its common stock dividend be reinstated at a "modest level" later this year.
The Dearborn, Mich., energy company stopped paying a dividend in the third quarter of 1984 because of troubles at its Midland nuclear plant.
In addition, CMS reported third-quarter net of $68.2 million, or 83 cents a share, up from $66.8 million, or 81 cents a share, a year ago.

today

later this year

the third quarter of 1984

third-quarter

a year ago


XIN_ENG_20051116.0162

SHANGHAI, Nov. 16 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Tickets for 2006 Masters to sell 40% off to this year's buyers

Tennis fans that purchased tickets for this week's Tennis Masters Cup will be given the option to buy tickets for the 2006 event at a discounted rate, said Wednesday the organizers.

It's announced in a statement released by the organizing committee that the price will be 40% off on tickets for next year's championship at the Qi Zhong Stadium, which was carried out as a compensation for fans after big names withdrew from the ATP year-ending tournament.

The organizers also confirmed that ticket prices in 2006 will remain the same as 2005.

Replacement tickets will only be in the same section of the stadium as the original ticket. Tennis fans are advised to retain their ticket stubs as proof of purchase. Any application for a discounted ticket without the ticket stub will not be honored.

Wang Liqun, deputy director for the event jointly held by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the world governing body, and the ATP, had promised Tuesday that tennis fans will be compensated for the withdrawals and absentees of tennis masters.

"Fans who have already bought tickets for this tournament will be able to enjoy a discount next year in the Tennis Masters Cup with no price raising," said Wang.

By the same token, the ATP has also promised that in the next three to six months, some of the top-notch or first-class tennis players will come to Shanghai to meet fans and endorsers.

The Masters Cup, which is always at risk of absenteeism as it comes at the end of the season, has been without five of the world's leading six players after only the second day.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal Monday announced his pulling out with a left foot injury before his Masters debut even started, and minutes later Andre Agassi further long line of withdrawals at the ATP season-ending event, blaming a bad ankle sprain sustained playing racquetball.

The loss, having severely diminished the tournament's status as the showcase for the finest talent in the men's game, had seen third-ranked Andy Roddick pulling out before the tournament with a back problem and Australian Open winner Marat Safin with a knee injury.

Lleyton Hewitt, ranked fourth, remained in Sydney with his wife, actress Rebecca Cartwright, who is expecting the couple's first child within two weeks.

Top-ranked Roger Federer was left the only top-five player in the elite field, but the two-time defending champion might not go the distance with a sore right ankle.

"We certainly feel regret, and the regret actually comes from not only the fans, but the organizing committee and also the ATP," said another deputy director of the tournament Qin Weichang Tuesday evening.

As an immediate action from the organizers for apologizing to fans, Nadal went on court Monday night between matches and to the media center to say sorry for his withdrawal. Also the 19-year-old Spaniard spared 40 minutes Tuesday afternoon to meet with his fans, which drew about 500 to attend.

Nov. 16 , 2005

this week

Wednesday

next year

Tuesday

next year

the next three to six months

the end of the season

the second day

Monday

two weeks

Tuesday evening

Monday night

Tuesday afternoon


XIN_ENG_20051129.0009

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 29 , 2005 (Xinhua)

UN worried about hindrance of earthquake relief by winter weather

The onset of winter conditions in the earthquake areas of Pakistan has severely hampered the relief operations of the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations, resulting in the grounding of some helicopters and the cancellation of some road deliveries.

"This development shows why it is very important for us to do more and quickly too as we keep the focus on the relief phase," said the UN's chief of Emergency Operations, Andrew MacLeod, here on Tuesday. "It also shows why Operation Winter Race still remains so important."

Operation Winter Race has been designed to provide urgently needed shelter to thousands of people between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of altitude before the onset of winter, according to the UN. It has so far resulted in the construction of more than 19,000 shelter units by the military and another 40,000 by the humanitarian community and Pakistan civil society.

"Even as winter threatens people's health and safety, the race is not lost - it is just more difficult. We need ongoing and additional support in the next few days so we could reach as many of the remaining vulnerable people as possible," the UN Emergency Operations chief said.

Since the earthquake struck on Oct. 8, the UN and its partners in the NGO and humanitarian community have been racing against time to provide food, shelter, clothing and medicine to the estimated 3.5 million affected people.

But rain and snow in some parts of the earthquake zone coupled with significant drops in temperature have made the relief operations particularly difficult and increased the numbers seeking medical assistance for weather related ailments. Some roads have been closed completely and others have been declared unsafe.

"Even as sufficient pledges have been made for recovery and reconstruction, relief is still less than 50 percent funded. And now, and winter and nature are reminding us: 'Concentrate on relief in order to save lives, reconstruct later.'" Andrew MacLeod stressed.

Nov. 29 , 2005

Tuesday

winter

Oct. 8


WSJ891030-0168
 = 891030
 891030-0168.
 Two Rival Bidders
@  Extend Offers
@  To Buy Connaught
@  ----
@  By Suzanne McGee
@  Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
 10/30/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 CSESF F.INM Z.CIG CHIR EUROP RHPOY CANDA
 TENDER OFFERS, MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS (TNM)
MEDICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGY (MTC)
 TORONTO

   Two rival bidders for Connaught BioSciences extended their offers to acquire the Toronto-based vaccine manufacturer Friday.

   Institut Merieux S.A., which offered 942 million Canadian dollars (US$801.2 million), or C$37 a share for Connaught, said it would extend its bid, due to expire last Thursday, to Nov. 6.

   A C$30-a-share bid by Ciba-Geigy Ltd., a pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, and California-based Chiron Corp., a bioresearch concern, was extended to Nov. 16.
It had been due to expire Friday evening.

   Merieux previously said it would ensure its bid remained open pending a final decision by Canadian regulators on whether to approve the takeover.
Merieux, a vaccine and bioresearch firm based in Lyon, France, is controlled 50.1% by state-owned Rhone Poulenc S.A.

   The Canadian government previously said Merieux's bid did n't offer enough "net benefit" to Canada to be approved, and gave Merieux an until mid-November to submit additional information.

   Merieux officials said last week that they are "highly confident" the offer will be approved once it submits details of its proposed investments to federal regulators.

   Both offers are conditional on regulatory approvals and enough shares being tendered to give the bidders a majority of Connaught's shares outstanding.

   Institut Merieux, which already holds a 12.5% stake in Connaught, said that at the close of business Thursday, 5,745,188 shares of Connaught and C$44.3 million face amount of debentures, convertible into 1,826,596 common shares, had been tendered to its offer.
At the close of business Thursday, Ciba-Geigy and Chiron said 11,580 common shares had been tendered to their offer.
At last report, Connaught had 21.8 million shares outstanding.

   Separately, the Ontario Supreme Court said it will postpone indefinitely a ruling on the lawsuit launched by the University of Toronto against Connaught in connection with the Merieux bid.

   In a statement prepared by lawyers for the university and Connaught, the parties said they agreed that as a result of reaching a C415 million research accord, "It is unnecessary that there be a judgment on the merits {of the case} at this time."

   Lawyers for the two sides weren't immediately available for comment.

   The university had sought an injunction blocking Connaught's board from recommending or supporting an offer for the company by Merieux.

Friday

last Thursday

Nov. 6

Nov. 16

Friday evening

mid-November

last week

Thursday

Thursday


AFP_ENG_19970413.0441

SEOUL, April 14 , 1997 (AFP)

URGENT Kim Jong-Il promotes 123 generals, monitors say

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has promoted 123 new generals in a move seen here as one of the final steps to pave the way for his formal assumption of power this year, monitors here said Monday.

April 14 , 1997

this year

Monday


XIN_ENG_20061115.0175

CHANGSHA, Nov. 15 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Starting line-up of China against Iraq at Asian Cup qualifiers

Following is the line-up of China national football team against Iraq at an Asian Cup qualifier here on Wednesday:

Goalkeeper: Li Leilei

Defenders: Sun Xiang, Xu Yunlong, Zhang Yaokun, Cao Yang

Midfielders: Zheng Zhi, Wang Dong, Du Zhenyu, Zhao Junzhe

Forwards: Li Jinyu, Han Peng

Nov. 15 , 2006

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_19970429.0161

NEW DELHI, April 29 , 1997 (AFP)

India to deploy troops in Bihar after leader's indictment: daily

India will send paramilitary troops to Bihar state because of fears of a backlash to the possible prosecution of its chief minister, The Statesman newspaper said Tuesday.

The daily quoting home ministry sources said the troops would be deployed in the eastern state because of worries that political turmoil could lead to violence in Bihar.

An Indian government spokesman, however, denied that federal forces were being sent to Bihar.

The state government has been pressing the Indian government for police assistance "to deal with leftwing extremists operating in certain parts of Bihar," the spokesman said.

The official said New Delhi had sent police reinforcements more than a week ago to Bihar. "It has got nothing to do with the current situation," he claimed.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Sunday said it would prosecute state Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in a multi-million- dollar financial scandal.

Yadav, who is also the president of the largest party in India's ruling coalition, has refused to quit his post and has warned his supporters would "take the issue to the streets."

India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party) and other rivals of Yadav have called a general shutdown on May 3 in Bihar to demand his ouster.

April 29 , 1997

Tuesday

daily

a week ago

May 3


AFP_ENG_20061227.0089

JERUSALEM, Dec 27 , 2006, 2006

Israel PM orders resumption of Gaza strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered the army Wednesday to resume strikes on militants in Gaza after a rocket attack wounded two Israeli teenagers despite a month-long truce, his office said.

After meeting with his security officials, Olmert ordered the defense establishment "to act locally against Qassam rocket launching cells," said the statement, referring to the homemade rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"At the same time Israel will continue to respect the ceasefire and work with the Palestinian Authority in order ... for them... to take immediate steps to stop the Qassam fire," it said.

The statement seemed to indicate that Israel would not launch a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, but carry out air strikes against rocket launching cells, as called for by Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Dec 27 , 2006

Wednesday


XIN_ENG_20051111.0072

TOKYO, Nov. 11 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Dollar steady in Tokyo despite strong Japanese GDP

The US dollar dipped against the yen Friday in Tokyo, but its losses were slight considering a Japanese government report saying the country's economy grew more than expected in the July-September period.

At 5 p.m. (0800 GMT), the dollar traded at 117.81-83 yen, compared with Thursday's 5 p.m. quotes of 118.15-25 yen in New York and 117.64-66 yen in Tokyo.

The dollar moved between 117.65 yen and 118.19 yen during the day, most frequently trading at 117.75 yen.

The euro was quoted at 1.1700-1702 dollar and 137.84-88 yen, against Thursday's 5 p.m. quotes of 1.1682-1692 dollar and 138.08- 18 yen in New York and 1.1767-1769 dollar and 138.43-47 yen in Tokyo.

The dollar weakened slightly against the yen after the report showed early in the morning that Japan's economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.7 percent in the third quarter, beating a consensus market forecast of 1.1 percent.

But dealers said yen buying seen in response to the GDP data was not more than position-squaring following overnight solid gains for the dollar.

Dealers believe demand for the dollar is highly likely to persist as the currency has attracted bargain hunters even with few fresh buying incentives.

Nov. 11 , 2005

Friday

the July-September period

Thursday

Thursday

the morning

the third quarter


XIN_ENG_20051117.0195

CHANGSHA, Nov. 17 , 2005 (Xinhua)

against bird flu

Experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that public awareness of the deadly bird flu virus is crucial.

"Public education and awareness is very important," Dr. Julie Hall, WHO's epidemic alert and response coordinator in China told Xinhua in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan province, after they concluded an investigation into three pneumonia cases.

The public should be aware of the symptoms and be able to report quickly so that infections can be reduced and the areas can be disinfected if a bird flu outbreak occurs, she said.

However, experts said the subtype H5 of avian influenza virus is still a rare disease in humans. "It takes considerable effort for this virus to jump from animals to humans, requiring very close contact with infected live animals. Man cannot catch the disease from well-cooked poultry," said Dr. Hall.

A joint expert team of WHO and China's Ministry of Health (MOH) arrived in Hunan on Monday to probe three suspicious pneumonia cases.

"This has been a very constructive, very positive visit," she said. "We believe the authorities here have worked tremendously hard to detect these cases."

China's Ministry of Health confirmed two human bird flu cases in the country Wednesday. The two confirmed cases involve a nine-year-old boy in Xiangtan County of Hunan and a 24-year-old woman farmer in Zongyang County of Anhui Province. The boy's sister died of pneumonia-like symptoms last month and was suspected to have contracted bird flu.

Roy Wadia, WHO spokesman in Beijing, said it is not surprising to see confirmed human cases reported in China, which indicates the importance and urgency of fighting the highly pathogenic virus.

China is facing a tremendous challenge in controlling the disease in animals as well as strenghtening the early detection for any possible human cases, said Dr. Hall.

Key areas for strenghening include raising public awareness, trying to reduce panic, and encouraging people to report and seek health care if they have contact with sick poultry, the expert said.

WHO will help with the revision of a national guidline for prevention and control of the disease. "Seeing the experiences in Hunan and Anhui province, we believe there is a very good foundation here in China for early response and early detection of cases," Dr. Hall said.

She said WHO will continue to assist China in curbing the epidemic in the future.

Nov. 17 , 2005

Thursday

Monday

Wednesday

last month

the future


XIN_ENG_20061121.0228

BEIJING, Nov. 21 , 2006 (Xinhua)

governments

Environmental law enforcement has hit obstacles in parts of China and certain local government officials have been half-hearted in dealing with pollution, said a Chinese environmental official on Tuesday.

Some large state-owned companies and listed companies ignored environmental rules and local governments disregarded initiatives to rectify their performance, said Lu Xinyuan, chief of the environmental supervision bureau of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

Lu cited a case in Liupanshui city, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, where a vice mayor was held responsible for making false environmental reports to inspectors from State Council departments.

On Sept. 22, the vice mayor told the inspection team "there are no coal chemical companies in the city", when more than 30 coke chemical or other chemical companies were operating in Liupanshui.

Lu said the vice mayor broke the Law on Civil Servants which forbids public servants from making false reports.

Environmental problems were also striking industrial parks. Most of the 20 industrial parks inspected had failed to carry out environmental assessments before construction.

Central departments would send more inspectors this month to investigate local environmental protection, but Lu declined to identify the areas to be investigated.

Major industrial pollutants climbed in the first nine months compared with the same period last year, driven by fast economic growth and high emissions of sulfur dioxide, figures from the SEPA showed.

Twelve billion tons of wastewater was discharged in the first nine months, up 2.4 percent from the same period last year, while sulfur dioxide emissions were up 4.2 percent.

Nov. 21 , 2006

Tuesday

Sept. 22

this month

the first nine months

last year

the first nine months

last year


AFP_ENG_19970402.0016

RANGOON, April 2 , 1997 (AFP)

Authorities maintain security in run-up to Burmese new years

Burma's military authorities maintained extra security in the capital Wednesday ahead of Burmese new year festivities, when huge crowds will hit the streets just after widespread communal unrest.

Government offices are building makeshift platforms, known as "pandals," by streets to stage entertainment and to throw water at passers-by during the new year festival from April 13 to April 17.

But some key ministries have begun to dismantle platforms outside their offices that had already been assembled, indicating concern about crowd control during the normally rowdy public festival, witnesses said.

Tanks were stationed near the mayor's office, one of the three main pandals where senior officials and diplomats are welcomed to mingle, be blessed with water and view the performers and floats in various contests.

Unrest broke out in the central city of Mandalay last month, when Buddhist monks attacked Moslem properties that left a dozen mosques destroyed.

Some 150 monks have been disrobed, and 10 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) have been detained in connection with the attacks, a Mandalay resident told AFP.

Among those detained was Htin Gyaw, one of the NLD candidates elected in 1990 to a parliament never convened by the junta because the opposition party would have held over 80 percent of the seats.

Analysts say the military government has been targeting prominent NLD members recently in a wave of arrests under various charges.

Only sporadic incidents have been reported in Rangoon recently, but more than 100 monks were picked up for questioning last month after a flurry of stonings and vandalism aimed at mosques and Moslem houses.

First degree security alerts were said to have been imposed in Rangoon, Mandalay, Sittwe and two other cities.

Committees of senior monks, Islamic elders and government authorities have been formed to head off further troubles, officials said.

But tensions remained among the country's 400,000 monks, as grievances against the authorities, believed to have been behind the attacks have yet to be resolved, analysts said.

April 2 , 1997

Wednesday

April 13

April 17

last month

recently

last month


WSJ900813-0157

900813-0157.

   Iraqi Chief Links
   Kuwait Pullout
   To Israeli Move
   ---
   U.S. Rejects the Initiative,
   Aimed at Rallying Arabs,
   And Readies Blockade
   ----
   By Gerald F. Seib and Walter S. Mossberg
   Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal

08/13/90

WALL STREET JOURNAL (J), PAGE A3

   MDEST FORGN

MONETARY NEWS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, TRADE (MON)
PETROLEUM (PET)
FOOD PRODUCTS (FOD)

EXECUTIVE (EXE)
STATE DEPARTMENT (STD)
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT (DEF)

   WASHINGTON -- Iraq's Saddam Hussein, his options for ending the Persian Gulf crisis growing increasingly unpleasant, assumed the role of embattled Arab hero in offering his first rough proposal for a negotiated end to the confrontation.
   The Iraqi leader, in an "initiative" designed as much to rally Arab public opinion as to launch meaningful negotiations, announced yesterday that he will withdraw his troops from Kuwait only if Israel withdraws from the West Bank and Syria from Lebanon. He apparently hopes to lure support from Arabs who have spurned him so far by suggesting that Iraq will use its occupation of Kuwait as a lever to solve the Arab world's most frustrating problem, the 23-year Israeli occupation of land claimed by Palestinians.

   Even as Saddam Hussein was searching for a ploy to ease his isolation, though, the international pressure against him clicked up another notch. The White House yesterday disclosed that Kuwait's ousted government has formally asked the U.S. to enforce the total trade embargo the United Nations has imposed on Iraq, allowing the U.S. and other nations to immediately begin stopping ships carrying Iraqi goods.
   Secretary of State James Baker, speaking on ABC News' "This Week," said the Kuwaiti request gives the U.S. and other countries "a legal basis for stopping the export of oil and that sort of thing." The U.S. maintains that under the U.N. charter, the Kuwaiti request triggers steps for the collective enforcement of international sanctions.
   Mr. Baker declined to use the word blockade, but said that
"interdiction" of Iraqi shipments would begin " almost instantly." In a statement, the White House said it would do "whatever is necessary" to ensure compliance with the sanctions.
   Other Bush administration officials said that the international naval force in the area -- consisting of American, British, French, Canadian, Soviet, German and Australian ships -- may be used both to stop oil exports from leaving Iraq and Kuwait and to stop shipments of food and
other goods from going in. President Bush implied as much yesterday when reporters asked whether the interdiction would apply to food. The president responded, "Everything, everything." While shying away from actually using the word "blockade," Mr. Bush acknowledged that the U.S. and others were trying to block shipping to Iraq. "No point getting into all these semantics," he said. "The main thing is to stop the oil from coming out of there."
   The naval interdiction force is part of an overall American strategy that officials say is designed to leave the Iraqi leader with only the stark choice of backing out of Kuwait or launching new attacks to change his situation.
Though they insist they are n't trying to lure Saddam Hussein into an attack, officials hope that if he strikes again, the U.S. and its allies will have such an impressive force in place in Saudi Arabia that they will be able to crush him in
retaliation.
   Iraq's first option, of course, may be simply to  sit tight and hope it can endure a trade embargo longer than the West can live without Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil. Speaking on the ABC program, Abdul Amir al-Anbari, Iraq's ambassador to the U.N., asserted that an embargo on Iraq could plunge the U.S. into a "depression" and the rest of the world into an economic "crisis."
   Iraq clearly is trying to woo back more Arab support in case the conflict drags on, hoping that its neighbors eventually will help it survive a prolonged war of economic attrition with the West. So Saddam Hussein on Friday tried to scare other Arab leaders into supporting him by calling on
Arabs to rise up in a holy war against leaders who invited American and other Western soldiers into Saudi Arabia to protect the oil-rich kingdom.
   Then yesterday, he tried to entice Arab leaders with his proposal for a diplomatic solution linking his occupation of Kuwait with Israel's occupation of the West Bank. The proposal also called for replacing American and other Western troops in Saudi Arabia with Arab forces. The Bush administration immediately said it "categorically " rejects the proposals. And President Bush yesterday, asked whether he was at least glad Iraq is discussing negotiations, replied: "I do n't see anything to be pleasing in there at all."
   American strategists are  calculating  , though, that the trade sanctions -- enforced by an effective though perhaps undeclared naval blockade -- will hold tightly enough to convince Iraq that it will lose in the long run by simply standing pat.
   At that point, rather than go through the humiliation of backing out of Kuwait, the Iraqis might well conclude that they need to lash out in some way to shake things up. In that event, Saddam Hussein appears to  have three choices.
   The first would be to  launch the much-feared direct invasion of Saudi Arabia, hoping to seize some Saudi oil fields and improve his bargaining position. But that option is growing less and less likely as thousands of American, British, Egyptian, Syrian and Moroccan forces assemble in and around Saudi Arabia to protect the kingdom. The Saudis even have in their possession 48 Kuwaiti jet fighters, virtually the entire Kuwaiti air force, which managed to escape the Iraqi invasion, Saudi officials said. The Saudi "window of vulnerability . . . is closing very fast," Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, said over the weekend.
   The second possibility would be to  start a fight with Israel, in hopes that all Arabs would have to move behind Iraq in a fight against their common Israeli enemy. In such an event, Saddam Hussein also might calculate, the Saudis would be under pressure to kick out U.S. troops because of America's close ties with Israel.
   Iraq could start hostilities with Israel either through a direct attack or by attacking Jordan. Israel has publicly declared that it will respond to an Iraqi attack on Jordan because it wo n't allow Iraq's dangerous army to take control of Jordan's long border with Israel.
   Iraq's third attack option would be to  start an undeclared war on the U.S. and other Western nations through terrorism.
Two Middle East terrorists with records of successful attacks against Western targets, Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas, have ties to Baghdad. And even terrorist groups that opposed Iraq in its war with Iran show signs of swinging behind Saddam Hussein now that he is in a confrontation with the U.S.    And Iraq still has thousands of Americans and other Westerners under its control in Iraq and Kuwait. They are n't being allowed to leave and could become hostages.
   If Iraq chooses a simple war of nerves and economic attrition, the Bush administration knows a long stalemate could try the patience of the American public and the West in general, and could open the possibility that moderate Arabs -- even including Saudi Arabia -- might drop out of the effort against Iraq and accept some deal from Saddam Hussein.
   But U.S. officials have sized up Saddam Hussein as a man who, despite some recklessness, will back down if he must.
"This is a guy who is impulsive, and therefore capable of big miscalculations," says one senior administration official involved in managing the crisis. The official  adds , though,
that "at the same time, we think he is someone who is capable of rational judgments when it comes to power. And when he finds something is unprofitable, then one can see certain accommodations."
   Thus, administration aides will be trying to calculate whether Saddam Hussein's proposed diplomatic formula for getting out of Kuwait represents the first sign he is searching for a way out or simply is a public relations stunt.
   There are disagreements among experts about how much pressure will be needed to make Saddam Hussein decide he's up against the wall and whether simple economic pressure will ever be enough. The biggest worry is that if he decides he needs a way out of his predicament but does n't see a face-saving method, he could lash out in dangerous and unpredictable ways.
   U.S. officials claim they already see signs Saddam Hussein is getting nervous. In the first days after President Bush announced the dispatching of U.S. troops, they note, the Iraqi leader made several nationwide addresses indirectly -- having them read by a television announcer. "That shows he's nervous about pinpointing his location, either because he's afraid we'll find him, or that internal enemies will," says one U.S. official.
   The unpredictability of Iraq's leader is a principal reason the U.S. is going to such great lengths to build a mammoth force in and around Saudi Arabia. Pentagon officials say the goal is to put 40,000 troops in the region by the end of the month. But the administration is n't putting any upper limit on how high the force could go after that, calculating that it would be a mistake to underestimate and an advantage to keep Saddam Hussein guessing. U.S. commanders in charge of planning for Middle East crises have indicated in the past that they were capable of deploying as many as 300,000
troops.
   And the U.S. is taking similar steps to ensure that its naval force is adequate to carry out a blockade of Iraq and support a war if necessary. Over the weekend, Pentagon officials confirmed reports that a fourth U.S. aircraft carrier -- the John F. Kennedy -- and its powerful group of support ships could head for the Middle East within a few days. Three other carriers and their escort vessels already are stationed within striking distance of Iraq or are steaming toward the area.
   But unless the military situation changes drastically, military officials say, the most likely plan will be for the Kennedy to eventually replace the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, which has been on patrol since March and was scheduled to return to port before hostilities erupted in Kuwait.
   ---   Andy Pasztor contributed to this article.

yesterday

yesterday

yesterday

Friday

yesterday

yesterday

the weekend

the end of the month

Over the weekend

March


AFP_ENG_20051202.0102

BEIJING, Dec 3 , 2005

Coal mine blast kills 16 in southwest China

A coal mine blast has killed 16 miners in southwestern China, the latest disaster to strike the country's notoriously dangerous mining industry, state media said Saturday.

The gas explosion took place early Friday morning at the Zhonghe Coal Mine in Shuicheng county, Liupanshui city, Guizhou province, while 31 miners were working in the shaft, the China News Service website reported.

In another mine accident, 42 workers remained trapped in a flooded coal shaft in central China's Henan province, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Saturday.

The news came as the death toll from last Sunday's explosion at the Dongfeng coal mine near Qitaihe in the northeastern Heilongjiang province rose to 169.

China's mines, many of them illegal, are considered the most dangerous in the world, especially in recent years, with demand for raw materials escalating to help fuel China's rapid economic growth.

Only last month, 16 miners were killed in a gas explosion at the Shagou colliery, also in Liupanshui city.

More than 6,000 miners died in accidents in China last year, according to previously released government figures. Independent estimates say the real figure could be as high as 20,000.

Victims' relatives often accuse management of having little regard for safety standards and of systematically exploiting workers for quick profits.

Dec 3 , 2005

Saturday

Friday morning

Saturday

last Sunday

recent years

last month

last year


XIN_ENG_20051130.0321

LIMA, Nov. 30 , 2005 (Xinhua)

14 countries, UN to watch Bolivia's elections

Observers from 14 countries and the United Nations will watch the upcoming general elections in Bolivia, Foreign Minister Armando Loaiza said Wednesday in a statement.

Some 140 observers from "friendly nations," including members of the Organization of American States (OAS) and from the United Nations (UN) would watch the Dec. 18 elections at Bolivia's polling stations, said the statement.

The OAS mission, headed by Horacio Serpa, Colombia's former presidential candidate, has already arrived in La Pas, the administrative capital of Bolivia, it said.

The voters are also expected to elect regional governors and decide if there should be a citizens' assembly to decide on a new political reform package in the poorest country in South America.

The elections are a result of a parliament decision made in July following growing civil unrest and political opposition which caused the resignation of then-President Carlos Mesa and the temporary appointment of Eduardo Rodriguez in June.

Nov. 30 , 2005

Wednesday

Dec. 18

July

June


XIN_ENG_20051130.0075

HONG KONG, Nov. 30 , 2005 (Xinhua)

HK stocks close lower -- Nov. 30

Hong Kong stocks went down 91.62 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 14,937.14 on Wednesday.

Nov. 30 , 2005

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_19970420.0195

SEOUL, April 20 , 1997 (AFP)

VIP welcome hints at top NKorean defector's future in the South

The red carpet welcome accorded to North Koreas's top defecter Hwang Jang-Yop on his arrival in the South Sunday provides hints about how he will spend the months to come, analysts said here.

Unlike most defector arrivals, which routinely degenerate into fights between TV cameramen and security officers for access to the dazed, ill-dressed North Koreans, Hwang, the North's top ideologue, could have been a foreign minister.

Dressed in an impeccable three-piece dark suit, he waved elder- statesmanlike from the top of the red-carpeted stairs drawn up to his Air Philippines flight, after Philippine military officials had disembarked.

The greying 74-year-old author of the North's failed Juche (self- reliance) ideology was then escorted with bows to the VIP lounge of the military airport, presented with bouquets of flowers, and offered the microphone.

With whirring TV cameras sending his message live nationwide, he soberly thanked his hosts for helping him in his "quest" -- a mission to seek peace between the North and the South.

The few questions shouted by a tightly-controlled journalists' pool, were quickly silenced by security men, but only after the dapperly- dressed Hwang had told them he considered himself a seeker of peace, not a defector.

Then, speech over, instead of being bundled into a bus -- the usual fate of defectors -- Hwang entered a sleek black limousine to ride in convoy with motorcycle outriders to an unknown destination.

An ambulance followed.

Yonhap News Agency said Hwang was expected to be invited to meet with South Korean President Kim Young-Sam at the presidential Blue House, but gave no date, details and no sources for its report.

Security sources said that under the agreement hammered out with China where he defected on February 12, Hwang would remain incommunicado, probably for a month or more, in a safehouse somewhere in Seoul.

Security was a top priority, they said, an obvious reference to attempts by armed North Korean agents' attempts to recapture Hwang in Beijing, and to sometimes lethal attacks by agents here against defectors in the South.

Hwang's bullet-proof vest showed as he climbed into his limousine.

Reports, repeatedly denied by the top intelligence Agency for National Security Planning (NSPA), that Hwang was carrying "a list" of North Korean agents in the South ratchetted up concerns for his safety.

The NSPA and foreign ministry officials have said Hwang has so far devoted the 67 days since his defection -- a month in Beijing and another month in a secret hideout in the Philippines -- to writing, reading, walking and worrying about his family.

He slept a scant four hours a night, ate frugal meals and no breakfast, and -- fluent in Russian and Japanese -- kept up with the news and preferred to read children's fairy stories before sleeping, they said.

April 20 , 1997

months

February 12

a month

67 days


AFP_ENG_19970421.0132

MANILA, April 21 , 1997 (AFP)

Asian megacities to increase from nine to 20 by 2025

The number of Asian cities with populations of more than 10 million, or "megacities," is projected to increase from nine to 20 by 2025 as the region continues to face the spectre of urban migration, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday.

The continent's urban population is forecast to double from the current 1.1 billion to 2.5 billion by 2025, by which time Asia will be home to half of the world's people, the Manila-based bank said in its annual report released here.

Such growth is expected to lead to more pollution, traffic jams, water shortages, increased crime and the proliferation of slum areas, ADB said, and urged proper management of megacities to avert an urban catastrophe.

Megacities would need up to 40 billion dollars annually over the next decade "to provide services at levels sufficient to sustain productivity, and achieve improvements in the quality of life."

A large proportion of these funds would go to improvements in transport and communication, energy, and water supply and sanitation, the bank said.

To raise this amount, "traditional ways of financing capital costs and recovering current costs will have to be supplemented" by funding from the private sector, increased property tax collection and access by local government to the capital markets.

"Although funding may not be sufficient at present, it is crucial for megacities to anticipate the needs of infrastructure and service provision now," it said.

Beijing, Bombay, Calcutta, Jakarta, Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai, Tianjin and Tokyo have been classified by the bank as megacities.

Eleven more are candidates for megacity status in the next 28 years -- Bangalore, Bangkok, Dhaka, Hyderabad, Karachi, Lahore, Madras, Manila, New Delhi, Shenyang and Rangoon, the bank said.

"Of the total projected 20 megacities, half will have populations of 20 million or more and 10 will be in South Asia," the bank said.

"While megacities can be expected to dominate the economic transformation of Asia, the quality of life for their residents will be very much related to the quality of their management," ADB added, endorsing moves to privatize services such as water and sewerage systems.

April 21 , 1997

Monday

the next decade

now

the next 28 years


XIN_ENG_20061126.0112

BAGHDAD, Nov. 26 , 2006 (Xinhua)

U.S. soldier killed north of Baghdad

One U.S. soldier has been killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

"A Task Force Lightning Soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was killed and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle while they were conducting operations in Diyala Province Saturday, " the military said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the military said that two more U.S. marines died from wounds sustained due to "enemy action" in separate incidents in Iraq's volatile Anbar province on Saturday.

Since the U.S.-led war in Iraq broke out in March 2003, about 2, 875 U.S. soldiers have been killed in the war-torn country, according to media count.

Nov. 26 , 2006

Sunday

Saturday

March 2003


AFP_ENG_19970425.0137

TOKYO, April 25 , 1997 (AFP)

Japan suffers first post-war failure in life insurance sector by Shingo Ito

Japan's Finance Ministry ordered the troubled Nissan Mutual Life Insurance Co. Friday to suspend most of its operations, marking the first insolvency of a Japanese life insurer since World War II.

Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said the order followed a report from the company outlining difficulties in restructuring its business following huge losses suffered during the "bubble" economy of the late 1980s.

With accumulated losses of about 200 billion yen (1.6 billion dollars), the company itself decided on the action at a board meeting Friday morning.

"Our action to order the suspension followed its decision, and the decision was made at its own discretion," the finance minister said.

Mitsuzuka said the ministry would take step "to protect policy holders" and was preparing measures to assume control of the company's assets.

Among the measures, the ministry is arranging to transfer contracts to other insurance companies to prevent a credit crisis.

"The order of suspension is to ensure the credibility of the industry and to dispel policy-holder concerns," Mitsuzuka told a news conference.

Asked about the possibility of similar cases, Mitsuzuka said: "We expect this case to be the first and last in the insurance industry."

Nissan Mutual president Hiroshi Yonemoto said the net loss in the 12 months to last March was estimated at 52.5 billion yen, the company's first net loss ever. He added that unrealised losses totalled about 100 billion yen on securities holdings and a further 43.6 billion yen on properties and loans.

"We had thought we could handle the situation through restructuring efforts, but the situation did not allow us to," Yonemoto said.

Nissan Mutual is Japan's 19th-largest life insurer with 5,000 employees and close ties with Nissan Motor Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd.

Yonemoto said he would seek continued support from Nissan after transferring existing contracts to other life insurers.

"We have explored a variety of options including a merger but under current legislation, this was the only option we could choose," he said.

In a statement, Mitsuzuka said the suspension followed difficulties stemming from the sale of high-yielding pension policies and a subsequent downturn in share prices, causing a deterioration in returns.

To protect policy-holders, Mitsuzuka appointed the Japan Life Insurance Association to control and manage its assets and liabilities.

The suspension of business covers the handling of policy cancellations, entering into new contracts and lending to policy- holders. But Mitsuzuka said the company would be allowed to keep making payments to policy-holders and continue other operations to ensure payouts are met when they fall due.

Mitsuzuka also said he would ask associated industries and a policy holders' protection fund set up by the insurance sector last year to help clean up the mess. The protection fund is supposed to disburse up to 200 billion yen in assistance to the life insurance industry.

"There is unlikely to be a similar case to Nissan Mutual Life," Mitsuzuka said, noting that other Japanese life insurance companies have been able to restructure their business activities despite difficult conditions.

Makoto Fukuda, head of the finance ministry's insurance department, said Nissan Mutual Life's accumuluated losses were about 200 billion yen, exacerbated by recent declines in share prices. As a result, he said, unrealised gains on securities holdings at the end of March were zero.

Speaking a separate news conference, Fukuda said heavy selling of high-yielding pension funds caused an "abnormal situation" in the company's financial condition. "This product has no problem but it is a problem with the way it was sold by the company," he said.

Fukuda also said that the company's mutual ownership probably prevented it from boosting equity to deal with its difficulties.

While the life insurance association has the authority to work out the bail-out scheme, he said Hitachi and Nissan Motor might participate.

"We cannot say that the Hitachi-Nissan group is entirely irrelevant, as they have been sending managers to Nissan Life," Fukuda said.

Fukuda said his ministry had "no immediate plan to inject public funds to bail out Nissan Life" but added that it planned to protect employees and launch an investigation into the present financial condition of Nissan Life.

April 25 , 1997

Friday

late 1980s

Friday morning

the 12 months

Nissan

last year

the end of March


XIN_ENG_20051126.0148

JERUSALEM, Nov. 26 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Israeli president says coming elections a true referendum

Israeli President Moshe Katsav said on Saturday that the upcoming general elections due in March will be a true referendum on Israel's political path.

"This time, it is the true referendum," Katsav said in an interview with Israel Radio. "We must reach a decision in the debate that has been going on for 38 years since the Six-Day War."

"The parties must present the voters with clear, responsible positions on all the issues that are on the balance, including the state's permanent borders," Katsav added.

Meanwhile, Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Saturday confirmed reports that he was approached by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new party, and said he would decide whether to join it in the coming days.

"The only thing before my eyes is the country's interest, and the chances to bring about peace," Peres told Israel Radio. " There are no personal considerations in my decision."

The 82-year-old politician said he would make a final decision on the matter in the coming days.

Sharon officially asked Katsav to dissolve parliament on Monday. After quitting the center-right Likud party he co-founded decades ago, Sharon announced the formation of a new centrist party named Kadima (Forward).

President Katsav has issued a decree to call a snap election, scheduled for March 28, which is widely expected to reshape Israel 's political landscape.

Prospects of reviving long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, economy and social welfare are to be in the heart of the March ballot, said analysts.

Nov. 26 , 2005

Saturday

March

38 years

Saturday

coming

Monday

decades ago

March 28

March


XIN_ENG_20061129.0111

HONG KONG, Nov. 29 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Hong Kong stocks close higher -- Nov. 29

Hong Kong stocks went up 141.40 points, or 0.76 percent, to close at 18,780.93 on Wednesday.

Nov. 29 , 2006

Wednesday


WSJ891027-0079
 = 891027
 891027-0079.
 Di Giorgio Corp. Seeks
@  To Sell Certain Units
 10/27/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 DIG
 TENDER OFFERS, MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS (TNM)
 SAN FRANCISCO

   Di Giorgio Corp. said it's continuing talks with potential buyers of certain units, but has reached no agreement on any deals.

   Di Giorgio, a food wholesaler and building products maker, is seeking alternatives to an unsolicited $32-a-share tender offer of DIG Acquisition Corp., a unit of Rose Partners Limited Partnership.
DIG is the vehicle being used to pursue to acquisition.

   Robert Mellor, Di Giorgio's executive vice president, said the company stands to reap more money through the sale of individual units to others than by accepting DIG's offer.


XIN_ENG_20061119.0023

MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 19 , 2006 (Xinhua)

G20 meeting notes world economy remains positive

Group 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors finished their 8th meeting here Sunday, noting the outlook of the world economy remains positive, while the global economic growth is expected to slow slightly from the rapid pace of the past few years.

Attendants at the two-day meeting, under the theme of "Building and Sustaining Prosperity," discussed world economic conditions, energy security, demographic change, climate change and International Monetary Fund and the World Bank's reforms.

Since above average growth in the global economy has seen spare capacity decline, which has increased the risks to inflation, countries need to continue the normalization of monetary policy, they said in a final communique issued on Sunday.

On energy security, the attendants said global demand for energy and minerals commodities is set to increase significantly over the coming decades driven by a strong world economy, rising incomes, and ongoing industrialization and urbanization in many economies.

"We agreed that enhancing global trade by strengthening markets, and ensuring sustainability by promoting investment and encouraging efficiency, are the best ways to deliver lasting resource security," they said in the communique.

Meanwhile, police numbers doubled at barricades around the meeting venue in case of a possible fresh attack by the protesters Sunday.

On Saturday, 2,000-3,000 protesters held demonstrations against the meeting and clashed with police.

A number of police officers were injured and one of them was taken to hospital with a suspected broken wrist.

The Group 20 is an informal forum which first met in December 1999 following the Asian financial crisis. The group members represent around 85 percent of global gross domestic product, 80 percent of world trade and two-thirds of the world's population.

Nov. 19 , 2006

Sunday

the past few years

Sunday

Sunday

Saturday

December 1999


XIN_ENG_20051117.0198

SHANGHAI, Nov. 17 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Nalbandian beats Ljubicic to reach semis at Masters

Argentina's David Nalbandian breezed past unformed Ivan Ljubicic for a second berth to the semifinals of the season-ending ATP tennis Masters Cup, beating the Croatian 6-2, 6-2 here on Thursday.

The sluggish Ljubicic, who failed to show any of his tennis as that in latest matches, returned the serve from Nalbandian out of rebound to end up his misery in just one hour and seven minutes.

Committing 7 unforced errors besides 11 forced ones, the Croatian was down 5-0 shortly into the match.

With the victory, the 23-year-old Nalbandian, who converted five out of total six break points into winners on Thursday, joined world number one Roger Federer and top Russian Nikolay Davydenko to qualify for the semis at the 4.45 million US dollars event.

Ljubicic, who enjoyed his best season by winning two ATP titles in eight finals and broke into top ten for first time, cracked five aces throughout the match but failed to hold his nerve against the steady-handed Nalbandian.

The 26-year-old sensation of the late-season, who hardly upset the superlative Swiss Federer in his Red Group opener on Sunday, had earned a place in Shanghai thanks to his autumn efforts, including the indoor title win over the past month in Metz and Vienna as well as the final encounters in both the Masters Series Madrid and Paris two week ago.

Nov. 17 , 2005

Thursday

one hour

Thursday

Sunday

the past month

two week ago


XIN_ENG_20051112.0091

NEW DELHI, Nov. 12 , 2005 (Xinhua)

US trade chief pushes for balance in farm talks

US Trade Representative Rob Portman Saturday said India must help in solving the standoff in farm talks to conclude the current round of global trade negotiations, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

"Unless we solve this problem of agriculture and non- agriculture market access, it would not be possible to move this round including a reduction in industrial tariff," Portman told a meeting with Indian industry here.

"But unless the European Union comes out with a proposal to reduce its tariff, it would be difficult to move ahead in the round," he told members of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Portman, on a two-day visit to India, said New Delhi must reduce agriculture tariff for greater market access to developed countries like the United States, even while admitting that unless European Union cuts subsidies, the talks will remain inconclusive.

His visit came ahead of a crucial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Hong Kong next month and in the backdrop of the deadlock in negotiations at Geneva and London last week to conclude the Doha round of global trade talks.

Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the India and the United States had agreed to double bilateral trade to 40 billion US dollars by 2008.

India currently exports merchandise worth 14 billion US dollars to the United States and imports goods worth 7 billion US dollars.

In the 30-minute talks, discussions also veered around the upcoming Ministerial of the WTO in Hong Kong to conclude the next round of trade talks that have so far been deadlocked over rigid positions of developing and developed countries.

Nov. 12 , 2005

next month

last week

currently


WSJ891102-0047
 = 891102
 891102-0047.
 Travelers Profit Rose
@  11% in Third Quarter
@  Despite Hugo Claims
 11/02/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 TIC
 EARNINGS (ERN)
 HARTFORD, Conn.

   Travelers Corp.'s third-quarter net income rose 11%, even though claims stemming from Hurricane Hugo reduced results $40 million.

   Net advanced to $94.2 million, or 89 cents a share, from $85 million, or 83 cents a share, including net realized investment gains of $31 million, up from $10 million a year ago.
But revenue declined to $3 billion from $3.2 billion.

   Travelers estimated that the California earthquake last month will result in a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge of less than $10 million.

   The insurer's earnings from commercial property/casualty lines fell 59% in the latest quarter, while it lost $7.2 million in its personal property/casualty business, compared with earnings of $6.1 million a year ago.

   Travelers's employee benefits group, which includes its group health insurance operations, posted earnings of $24 million, compared with a loss of $3 million last year.

   In the first nine months, net was $306 million, compared with a loss of $195 million in the 1988 period.
The year-ago results included a $415 million charge in the 1988 second quarter for underperforming real estate and mortgage loans.

third-quarter

a year ago

last month

fourth-quarter

the latest quarter

a year ago

last year

the first nine months

the 1988 period

year-ago

the 1988 second quarter


AFP_ENG_20051211.0341

ATHENS, Dec 11 , 2005

charges

Coastguard officials at the main Greek port of Piraeus have arrested the Bulgarian second engineer of a British-flagged tanker sought on manslaughter charges, the Greek merchant marine ministry said Sunday.

Vladimir Bankov, 39, will be taken to a prosecutor in the northern city of Salonika under a local warrant issued in 2000, a ministry source told AFP.

Bankov, a second engineer on board the British-flagged Zim Shenzhen, is accused of premeditated manslaughter, the source said.

The ministry did not provide any further details on the crime case.

Dec 11 , 2005

Sunday


XIN_ENG_20061128.0308

BEIJING, Nov. 28 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Postal charge increases approved by Chinese government

The Chinese government has approved price rises by the State Post Bureau for mail and postcard deliveries.

The State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) and the State Post Bureau announced the price hikes from Nov. 15.

China's law on pricing requires government departments to hold hearings on price hikes for any public services, but the postal prices would not be subject to a hearing, said an SDRC official.

The cost of posting a postcard rose from 0.6 yuan (0.08 U.S. dollars) to 0.8 yuan, while the local rate for a letter rose from 0.6 yuan to 0.8 yuan per 20 grams for the first 100 grams and 1.2 yuan for each additional 100 grams.

For ordinary domestic letters, the price rose from 0.8 yuan to 1.2 yuan per 20 grams for the first 100 grams. Charges for each additional 100 grams remain two yuan.

Figures provided by the SDRC show the per capita cost of the increase is 0.33 yuan per year, so a hearing would have been unreasonable, the official said.

The increase is aimed at alleviating the service's financial problems and paving the way for its transformation into a state-owned enterprise, an SDRC spokesperson had said earlier.

Postal charges were last raised in 1998.

Nov. 28 , 2006

Nov. 15


AFP_ENG_20051217.0286

SKOPJE, Dec 17 , 2005

to EU members ///

Macedonian leaders cracked open the champagne Saturday to celebrate a decision by European Union leaders to bring their country closer to membership of the bloc, describing the move as recognition for recent reforms.

"This is a big day for us, we received recognition for everything we have done in the recent past," Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski told the state-owned Mia news agency after winning a green light to open accession negotiations with Brussels.

"The path is paved now and we know that we have real friends (in the EU) that value all our efforts. I congratulate all citizens of Macedonia for such a great success," Buckovski said.

In a separate address to the nation, President Branko Crvenkovski said the decision to give Macedonia candidate status "also brings a huge obligation to continue with even more devotion along the same road towards the goal."

"Macedonia has strength, knowledge, the will and determination to achieve its strategic goal," Crvenkovski said.

Fulfiling a promise given publicly a while ago, the EU's representative in Skopje, Erwan Fouere invited Buckovski, Crvenkovski and other Macedonian top officials into a popular cafe in downtown Skopje and toasted them with Irish whiskey.

At the celebration Buckovski gave bouquets of red roses to Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European integration Radmila Secerinska, saying the two women were the most responsible for the success.

The Macedonian government met in extraordinary session to define an "action plan" of further steps necessary ahead of the beginning of talks on membership, although EU leaders did not set a date for negotiations to start.

Ahead of the session, Buckovski opened a large bottle of champagne to celebrate the decision with members of his cabinet.

"Today we got a visa for our European path. Macedonia finally leaves the Balkan road paved with cobblestones and joins a highway that leads to Europe," Buckovski said.

"The European Union showed it believed in Macedonia's story. Today it is clear that Europe needs Macedonia," he added.

Agron Buxhaku, a top official of the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union of Integration, party allied in the ruling coalition with Crvenkovski's social democrats, said Macedonia had made a significant breakthrough.

"This is a very important step for the country that should mobilize all of us to fully achieve democratic standards and economic reforms," Buxhaku said.

Leader of the strongest Macedonian opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski, welcomed the decision, but called the government to increase efforts "for the good of all citizens."

The news from Brussels had been long awaited in Skopje. Following overnight special programs waiting for the announcement, electronic media on Saturday devoted their news programs to reports and reactions.

"I have been dreaming of this moment for almost 15 years," since Macedonia gained independence in 1991, Ljupka Nikolovska, a 45-year old teacher, jubilantly said.

Few thousand people defied heavy snow and gathered Saturday evening in Skopje's main square to join celebration and listened some of Macedonia's most popular music stars.

The joyful street party ended in fireworks, but the celebration was expected to continue in restaurants and cafes that were exceptionally allowed to work overnight instead of having to close by midnight as usual.

Macedonians were also given an opportunity over the weekend to make telephone calls to any EU country at price of a local call -- telecommunication companies' contribution to the national-wide celebration.

The tiny ex-Yugoslav republic has been praised for its concerted effort to implement reforms following the end of the ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001 which threatened to spiral into all-out civil war.

The embassy of the United States in Skopje welcomed the EU leaders' decision in a statement.

"The European Council decision sends a positive message not only to Macedonia, but to all countries of the western Balkans, thereby enhancing regional stability," the US embassy said.

Dec 17 , 2005

Saturday

recent past

now

a while ago

Today

Today

Saturday

almost 15 years

Saturday evening

the weekend


XIN_ENG_20061127.0438

KATHMANDU, Nov. 28 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Nepal to host Himalaya tourism meeting in December

The Nepali secretary for culture, tourism and civil aviation Madhav Prasad Ghimire has kicked off preparations for the forthcoming Himalaya Tourism Conference 2006 on December 11-12 in Kathmandu.

Organized by the Nepal Mountaineering Association in collaboration with the Nepal Tourism Board, International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, World Wildlife Fund, Nepal and Himalaya Environmental Trust, the international event will coincide with the celebration of the golden jubilee of the first ascent of Mt. Manaslu and Mt. Lhotse, a leading newspaper, The Himalayan Times, reported on Tuesday.

According to Ghimire, with the peace process in place, it was important to inform the international community that Nepal was a safe destination to travel.

Outlining the main objectives of the conference, he told reporters on Monday that it was firstly to revive and promote mountain tourism in the country and secondly, to discuss ways to reduce the negative impact of tourism on the environment and preserve the mountain culture.

The third main objective was to extend the benefits of tourism which was confined to urban areas to seep down to rural areas as well.

Nov. 28 , 2006

December 11-12

Tuesday

Monday


AFP_ENG_20061222.0408

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, Dec 22 , 2006, 2006

NASA waves off first Florida shuttle landing try

NASA opted not to bring down the space shuttle Discovery on a first Florida landing attempt Friday due to bad weather conditions, the space agency announced.

The US space agency left open the possibility that after another 90 minutes conditions will have changed to allow a descent to Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

If not, the shuttle can still possibly land at one of two other sites Friday: Edwards Air Force Base in California and the White Sands test facility in New Mexico.

Dec 22 , 2006

Friday

another 90 minutes

Friday


XIN_ENG_20051123.0218

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 , 2005 (Xinhua)

US may cut three brigades in Iraq early next year: report

The US Defense Department tentatively plans to reduce the number of US forces in Iraq in early 2006 by as many as three combat brigades, but will keep at least one brigade "on call" in Kuwait in case more troops are needed quickly, several senior military officers said.

The Pentagon made the tentative plan based on the assumption that there would not be any major surprises in Iraq, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Pentagon authorities have set a series of "decision points" during 2006 to consider further force cuts that, under a "moderately optimistic" scenario, would drop the total number of troops from more than 150,000 now to fewer than 100,000, including 10 combat brigades, by the end of the year, the officers were quoted as saying.

Military commanders continued to favor a gradual, phased reduction, saying that too rapid a departure would sacrifice strategic gains made over the past 30 months and provide a propaganda windfall to insurgents, the report said.

The current number of US forces in Iraq represented an increase of more than 15,000 troops over a base level this year of about 138,000, including 17 combat brigades. The equivalent of another brigade's worth of combat power was added this fall to bolster security for the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum and the coming Dec. 15 vote on a new national government.

Nov. 23 , 2005

early 2006

Wednesday

the end of the year

the past 30 months

current

this year

this fall

Oct. 15

Dec. 15


XIN_ENG_20061129.0474

NICOSIA, Nov. 29 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Cypriots need more information on euro: EU commissioner

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia on Wednesday called on the Cypriot government to make the people well informed and prepared before they adopt the euro.

"There is some demand for more information about the euro, about the consequences of joining the euro," Almunia told reporters upon his arrival.

He said that his trip was a good opportunity to establish agreements between all the sectors involved to avoid that the introduction of the euro will create problems in price.

He also said that the Cypriot economy is "doing quite well regarding growth."

"Regarding micro-economic figures, I think that the situation is positive and the evolution that we analyzing and monitoring is going to the right direction," he said.

Almunia arrived in Cyprus for a conference on changeover of the euro. Cyprus is planning to enter the euro zone in 2008.

Nov. 29 , 2006

Wednesday