XIN_ENG_20061103.0184

ANKARA, Nov. 3 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Turkish police seize 160 kg of heroin in Istanbul

Turkish police confiscated 160 kg of heroin stashed in two trucks in an operation in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul on Friday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Four suspects were arrested in the operation in Avcilar district of Istanbul, facing charges of dealing illicit drugs.

In another operation on the same day, gendarmerie officers, acting on a tip-off, found 30 kg of heroin hidden in a car in Baskale town of Van province in eastern Turkey, Anatolia said.

The report said that the gendarmerie forces received help from a sniffer dog in finding the heroin in Baskale, adding that a full- scale manhunt is underway to arrest the owner of the car.

Turkey is on a key transit route for gangs smuggling drugs from Asia and the Middle East to markets in western Europe.

In 2005, Turkish security forces seized 6,663 kg of heroin, 140 kg of morphine, 34 kg of opium, 6,002 kg of hashish, 40 kg of cocaine, some 1.23 million captagon pills and 5.76 million ecstasy pills, official figures showed.

Nov. 3 , 2006

Friday


XIN_ENG_20051125.0271

LANZHOU, Nov. 26 , 2005 (Xinhua)

years

China experienced little change in its average precipitation over the past three decades, according to an analytical report released recently by Chinese scientists.

Experts with the Research Institute of Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) analyzed observatory data from 385 meteorological stations nationwide.

According to the report, the nation's average precipitation reached its minimum in the 1970s and has since remained basically unchanged.

However, the development trend of precipitation varied in different regions.

Precipitation in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qilian Mountain, northeast China, the southeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and east China tended to increase noticeably.

Meanwhile, precipitation in the central part of northwest China, the southwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and most stretches of central and north China tended to decrease obviously.

Zuo Hongchao, who took part in the precipitation investigation, said the research was of great importance, as changes in precipitation would impact water resources, agricultural production and the ecological system in China.

Nov. 26 , 2005

the past three decades

the 1970s


XIN_ENG_20061114.0409

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 14 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Brazilian vice president recovering after tumor-removing operation

The surgery to remove a malignant tumor from the abdomen of Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar was successful, said a medical team on Tuesday.

Alencar felt well after the six-hour operation, said his spokesman, noting the vice president was still at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the United States, undergoing after-surgery medical procedures. The center is regarded as one of the best oncology institutes in the world.

Alencar is expected to be off duty till Dec. 7, but he planned to return to Brazil on Nov. 25.

The tumor was detected on Oct. 30 shortly after he was elected vice president along with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for another four-year term.

The 75-year-old vice president had gone through several surgical operations to remove tumors. In 1997, two tumors were removed from his kidney and his stomach respectively. In 2000, he underwent a surgery to remove a tumor from his prostate. In July 2006, doctors removed a four-centimeter tumor from his rectum.

Nov. 14 , 2006

Tuesday

Dec. 7

Nov. 25

Oct. 30

July 2006


XIN_ENG_20061121.0214

BEIJING, Nov. 21 , 2006 (Xinhua)

China to increase education spending: Premier

The Chinese government will raise the proportion of annual government expenditure on education to 4 percent of the country's GDP, Premier Wen Jiabao has announced.

He said government would help further spread and consolidate compulsory education, speed up occupational education, improve education at higher institutes and deepen education reforms.

From July to November, Wen presided over four forums on education development with teachers, educational experts, middle school masters, university presidents and officials.

"China's economy has maintained high-speed growth for 28 consecutive years and become the fourth largest economy of the world. The country's sustainable development and prosperity hinge on education," Wen said.

The government always paid great attention to education. Compulsory education has been launched in rural areas and universities and colleges had enrolled a larger number of students. "The public education demand has been satisfied to some extent.

"But we should realize that some problems still exist in education development. We shall promote sustainable and healthy educational development by increasing investment, deepening reform and strengthening management," Wen said.

He said the nine-year compulsory education, which was important for promoting social equity and building a harmonious socialist society, should be vigorously extended.

Schools should reduce student assignments and encourage them to attend more extracurricular activities, so that they will have time to learn more about society and enhance their sense of social responsibility, he said.

Wen said more efforts should be put into developing occupational education, as it would help alleviate the shortage of skilled workers and help more migrant workers and urban unemployed obtain jobs.

Educational reform should be deepened in universities and colleges so as to train more university graduates to think of innovation.

"China needs high-quality teachers. The government will intensify support for education so as to attract the best people into teaching," he said.

He ordered local governments to raise salaries and benefits for teachers in rural areas.

Nov. 21 , 2006

July to November

28 consecutive years


XIN_ENG_20061101.0429

BEIJING, Nov. 2 , 2006 (Xinhua)

policy committee

China's central bank has removed the country's former statistics chief Qiu Xiaohua from its monetary policy consulting body, said the General Office of the State Council, or China's cabinet, on Wednesday.

Qiu Xiaohua was dismissed from the top job at the National Bureau of Statistics on Oct. 12 for his suspected involvement in the 10 billion-yuan (1.25 billion U.S. dollars) Shanghai social security fund fraud.

Xie Fuzhan, the newly appointed NBS head, has replaced Qiu as one of the 13 commissioners on the Monetary Policy Committee of the People's Bank of China, said the Office.

Xie had been deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council before taking up the NBS post.

Nov. 2 , 2006

Wednesday

Oct. 12


XIN_ENG_20051126.0126

KABUL, Nov. 26 , 2005 (Xinhua)

7 arrested in Kabul for possessing explosives

Seven persons were arrested on Saturday along with their two cars full of explosives in Afghan capital Kabul, the spokesperson of Ministry of Defense said.

"This afternoon at about 3:30, Afghan National Army (ANA) seized two cars full of explosives in the city of Kabul, and arrested four persons in the car. The third car was also seized by ANA after finding the direct relation with the first two cars although there is no explosive inside, and the three persons in the car were arrested afterwards," spokesperson Zahir Azimi told Xinhua.

The spokesperson refused to comment about if there is any suicide attack attempts behind it.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have intensified attacks against Afghan and foreign troops this year, especially by use of suicide attacks.

A people was arrested in eastern Nangarhar province on Friday for taking many explosives in his body and the suicide explosion attempt. On the same day, another suicide attacker in the province exploded the bomb in his body and injured one passerby.

The Afghan government has sent more troops for further investigation.

Nov. 26 , 2005

Saturday

this year

Friday

the same day


AFP_ENG_20061227.0393

PARIS, Dec 27 , 2006, 2006

The AFP world news agenda at 2100 GMT

What's coming up around the world:

+ Ethiopian, Somali troops near capital

+ Iraq prepares for rapid Saddam execution

+ Israel to resume Gaza strikes

-- TOP STORIES --

MOGADISHU: Covering developments after Ethiopian troops backing government forces ousted Islamist fighters from a key southern town and moved closer to the capital, amid calls from African and Arab nations that they withdraw. (SOMALIA-UNREST-ETHIOPIA)

BAGHDAD: Reporting as Iraqis brace for the execution of former dictator Saddam Hussein and a possible backlash from his supporters, amid controversy over the US detention of Iranian agents. (IRAQ)

JERUSALEM: Reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to order resumption of strikes against rocket-firing militants in Gaza after a Palestinian rocket wounded two Israeli teenagers. (MIDEAST-CONFLICT-GAZA-CEASEFIRE)

-- OTHER AGENDA ITEMS --

CRAWFORD, Texas: Reporting as President George W. Bush welcomes his top aides to his Texas ranch for final consultations on his planned strategy change in Iraq. (US-IRAQ-BUSH)

HONG KONG: Covering developments after Internet and phone services were disrupted across much of Asia after an earthquake damaged undersea cables, leaving the region in a virtual blackout. (ASIA-QUAKE-INTERNET)

JAKARTA: Reporting from Aceh on relief and rescue efforts after flash floods and landslides on Sumatra island which have killed more than 100 people and forced more than 400,000 to flee their homes. (WEATHER-INDONESIA-FLOODS)

MINA, Saudi Arabia: Around two million Muslim faithful converge on Mina near Mecca to begin the annual hajj pilgrimage. (SAUDI-RELIGION-ISLAM-HAJJ)

MOSCOW: Reporting as Russia and Belarus have just four days to agree on a price for natural gas exports before Russian giant Gazprom cuts off supplies to the ex-Soviet republic, with a possible knock-on effect for western Europe. (BELARUS-RUSSIA-ENERGY-GAS-DIPLOMACY-COMPANY-GAZPROM)

NEW YORK: Covering as mourners gather to pay their respects to late soul legend James Brown, who will lie in state at Harlem's Apollo Theater from 1800 GMT. (AFPENTERTAINMENT-MUSIC-US-BROWN)

TEHRAN: Following developments after Iran's parliament approves a bill obliging the government to "revise its cooperation" with the UN nuclear watchdog in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Tehran. (IRAN-NUCLEAR-POLITICS-IAEA)

Dec 27 , 2006

four days


XIN_ENG_20051111.0276

BEIRUT, Nov. 11 , 2005 (Xinhua)

UN investigators meet Lebanese president over Hariri's killing

Two UN investigators met with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud Friday night over the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and took a statement from Lahoud, according to the presidential office.

The investigators came to the presidential palace in Baabda to take the statement.

A UN commission said in an interim report last month that Lahoud was not a suspect in the Feb. 14 killing, but a suspect made a call to the president's phone minutes before the blast.

The report claimed that investigations found "converging evidence" of both Syrian and Lebanese involvement in Hariri's killing.

Syria has denied any role in the murder and dismissed the findings as politically motivated.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Oct. 31, demanding Syria cooperate fully with the UN probe or face possible "further action."

Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis is scheduled to present a final report to the United Nations on the probe on Dec. 15.

Nov. 11 , 2005

Friday night

last month

Feb. 14

Oct. 31

Dec. 15


XIN_ENG_20061123.0017

BEIJING, Nov. 23 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Mongolian PM refutes reports on receiving refugees from DPRK

Mongolian Prime Minister Miegombyn Enkhbold on Thursday refuted news reports claiming that Mongolia was setting up refugee camps for people from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"There are some news reports or rumors that Mongolia is preparing to receive refugees or setting up refugee camps in Mongolia, but these reports are groundless," Enkhbold told reporters at the Mongolian Embassy in Beijing.

Mongolia and the DPRK have longstanding relations and Mongolia has always supported a nuclear weapon-free Korean Peninsula, Enkhbold said.

"Our position is to solve the nuclear issue through political dialogue and cooperation," the prime minister said. "The Mongolian government is willing to implement the UN resolution on Korean nuclear issue."

"We hope for the success of the six-party talks and we support the initiatives and activities of the six parties," Enkhbold said.

As part of the UN refugee commission, Mongolia will treat refugees from a humanitarian point of view, he said.

Nov. 23 , 2006

Thursday


XIN_ENG_20061108.0023

BEIJING, Nov. 8 , 2006 (Xinhua)

MOR official

No specific timetable is now available for work to begin on the 1,320-km-long high-speed railway connecting China's capital with the country's economic hub of Shanghai, an official with the Ministry of Railways said on Wednesday.

The statement was a response to an earlier report carried by a Shanghai-based business newspaper saying that construction would likely start at the end of this year.

The MOR source added that no official data is available either for investment needed by the railroad project.

According to China Business News, the budget for the project has been revised up from the initial estimate of some 130 billion yuan (16.5 billion U.S. dollars) to more than 170 billion yuan (21.5 billion U.S. dollars). If another three independent projects are taken into account, the total investment will likely rise to approximately 200 billion yuan (25.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The revised cost estimate takes account of funds required for land appropriation.

A feasibility report on the railroad project is now awaiting approval, and preparations have entered the final stage, the newspaper said.

One of the three independent projects related to the high-speed railway, Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge, is now under construction, with investment estimated at 4.8 billion yuan (607.6 million U.S. dollars). The bridge design includes six railtracks, two for the Beijing-Shanghai railroad, two for the Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway and two more for subway services in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, the newspaper added.

In general, the Ministry of Railways -- via its investment vehicle China Railway Construction Investment Co. -- takes a stake of at least 51 percent in railway construction projects in China, local governments along the route account for 20%, and the remaining 29 percent or so comes from the public.

This month the railway construction investment company will have talks with the governments of Hebei, Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui provinces and Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai cities on jointly establishing a company to run the project, the newspaper revealed.

The insurance sector also intends to invest in the high-speed railway, with a possible input of 40 billion yuan (5.1 billion U.S. dollars), the paper said.

The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will stretch 1,320 kilometers and trains will be designed to travel at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour. The project will shorten the travel time between the two cities from 14 hours to five hours. Construction will take five years.

Nov. 8 , 2006

now

Wednesday

the end of this year

now

now

This month

five years


AFP_ENG_20061204.0289

PRISTINA, Serbia, Dec 4 , 2006, 2006

Violence would derail Kosovo status process, US warns

Any violence in Kosovo could derail the nearly completed process to give the UN-administered province a new status, a senior US diplomat warned on Monday.

"We want to reiterate our desire to see this process, which is now in the concluding stages, completed without delay," US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Rosemary DiCarlo told local reporters.

"To do so, we all need to ensure that the people of Kosovo move forward according to the terms set by the process, that there will be no violence which will hurt considerably the aspiration of the people of Kosovo to see this process to conclusion."

Special UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari is expected to reveal his proposal early next year on the future status of Kosovo, whose ethnic-Albanian majority is seeking independence from Serbia, a demand Belgrade strongly opposes.

The UN-run province remains tense more than seven years since the end of its 1998-1999 conflict between Serbian forces and separatist ethnic Albanian guerillas.

Frustrations over the wait for determining Kosovo's status have occasionally turned violent among ethnic Albanians, who comprise around 90 percent of the province's two million population.

"Unilateral actions will be counterproductive," said the EU representative to the Kosovo talks, Stephan Lehne.

"You have to show the maturity and commitment to help the international community partnership with you to bring this process to its essential conclusion," said Lehne.

DiCarlo and Lehne made the statements after meeting with Kosovo Albanian leaders and their negotiating team.

Dec 4 , 2006

Monday

early next year


XIN_ENG_20051115.0214

SHANGHAI, Nov. 15 , 2005 (Xinhua)

win over Ljubicic

World number one Roger Federer kept in low status Tuesday as the two-time defending champion of the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup was pulled into tiebreaker of decider before avoiding a defeat at just the second match in Shanghai.

It took two hours and 17 minutes of the 24-year-old Swiss to defeat the in-form Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4), with a forehanded shot out of Ljubicic's reach for the tiebreaker win.

After Sunday's stumble win from Federer against Argentina's David Nalbandian, the last man having qualified for the elite eight-man field, nothing wrong from the tennis super star could be more shocking, even another rare fightback and a tiebreaker.

With all the embarrassments of backhand errors, weak returns and slow paces, Federer just repeated his sluggish form shown in Nalbandian's match, being broken twice in the second set after taking the first using an advantage of serving first.

Forced the decider, the superlative, who has compiled another outstanding season with an ATP-best 11 titles including two Grand Slam and a record four ATP Masters Series crown, should have shortened his work of Ljubicic in the ninth game before his two match points in hand were denied by the Croatian with some placement shots.

Ljubicic, who enjoyed his best season by winning two ATP titles in eight finals and broke into top ten for first time, then continually moved Federer to play close to the net and transferred errors from the Swiss to his own benefit before holding on to force tiebreaker.

With the victory, Federer saved his near-perfect record at the Tennis Masters Cup, increased his winning streak to 33, and extended his season-best match record to 79-3.

The Shanghai match was the first in six weeks for Federer, 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.

Nov. 15 , 2005

Tuesday

Sunday

six weeks

the second year

October 2


XIN_ENG_20061122.0042

HARBIN, Nov. 22 , 2006 (Xinhua)

China to build gene bank for Siberian tigers

Chinese zoologists plan to establish a gene bank for the endangered Siberian tigers within three years to ensure heredity diversity for the large cats.

"By 2009, we will have established a DNA bank from samples of more than 750 tigers at the park," said Liu Dan, chief engineer of the Harbin-based Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park in northeast China, the world's largest Siberian tiger breeding base.

He said nearly half of the tigers with high genetic quality will be selected for further reproduction, while the others will be sent to zoos.

"The move aims to expand heredity diversity by reducing inbreeding among the tigers," he said.

Experts believe inbreeding of the tigers is partly blamed for apparent genetic degeneration, which includes slow physical development, blurred stripes, deformities and underdeveloped organs.

Siberian tigers, among the world's 10 most endangered species, mostly live in northeast China and the Far East area of Russia. Of the 400 estimated to live in the wild, only 10 to 17 live in northeast China.

The center is home to more than 750 Siberian tigers, up from just eight when it was founded in 1986.

More than 90 of the 100 or so tigers born at the park every year survive and the park's tiger population is expected to exceed 1,000 by 2009, according to the park.

Nov. 22 , 2006

three years

every year


WSJ891030-0027
 = 891030
 891030-0027.
 National Intergroup
@  To Report Charge
@  For Third Quarter
 10/30/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 NII
 TENDER OFFERS, MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS (TNM)
 PITTSBURGH

   National Intergroup Inc. said it expects to report a charge of $5.3 million related to the sale of its aluminum unit's extrusion division for the third quarter.

   The company said it has agreed to sell the extrusion division for $15 million to R.D. Werner Co., a closely held firm based in Greenville, Pa.

   The charge is offset by an after-tax gain of about $30 million in the quarter from the previously announced pact to sell National Aluminum's rolling division.

   National Intergroup in the year-ago third quarter earned $22.5 million, or 97 cents a share, including a gain of $18 million from the sale of a steel tube company.
Revenue was $778.6 million.

   The company also said it continues to explore all options concerning the possible sale of National Aluminum's 54.5% stake in an aluminum smelter in Hawesville, Ky.

   The sale of the extrusion division is subject to audit adjustments for working capital changes through the closing.

   The agreement also provides for potential payments of additional proceeds to National Aluminum over the next two years, depending on the plant's shipping levels.

   The extrusion unit produces bare and painted custom extrusions for building products and construction industries.
In fiscal 1989, it had sales of about $40 million and an operating loss of $1.5 million.

the third quarter

the quarter

the year-ago third quarter

the next two years

fiscal 1989


WSJ891027-0078
 = 891027
 891027-0078.
 Thursday's Markets:
@  Earnings
@  Data Cause
@  Stock Fall
@  ---
@  Industrials Sink 39.55;
@  Bonds Slip, but Dollar
@  Soars Against Pound
@  ----
@  By Douglas R. Sease
@  Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
 10/27/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 MONETARY NEWS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, TRADE (MON)
STOCK INDEXES (NDX)
STOCK MARKET, OFFERINGS (STK)
FINANCIAL, ACCOUNTING, LEASING (FIN)
BOND MARKET NEWS (BON)
FOREIGN-EXCHANGE MARKETS (FRX)
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT (TRE)

   Some lousy earnings reports whacked the stock market, but bond prices fell only slightly and the dollar rose a little against most major currencies.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 39.55 points, to 2613.73, in active trading.
Long-term Treasury bonds ended slightly higher.
The dollar rose modestly against the mark and the yen, but soared against the pound following the resignation of Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson.

   Analysts have complained that third-quarter corporate earnings have n't been very good, but the effect hit home particularly hard yesterday.
Compaq Computer nose-dived $8.625 a share, to $100, and pulled other technology issues lower after reporting lower-than-expected earnings after the stock market closed Wednesday.
Later yesterday the nation's major auto makers added to the gloom when they each reported their core auto operations were net losers in the third quarter.

   The less-than-robust third-quarter results came amid renewed concern about the volatility of stock prices and the role of computer-aided program trading.
Taken together, the worries prompted a broad sell-off of stocks.
The number of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange that fell in price yesterday exceeded 1,000, a key measure of underlying sentiment among technical analysts.

   Although the government said the economy grew an estimated 2.5% in the third quarter, in line with expectations, analysts are increasingly predicting much more sluggish growth -- and therefore more corporate earnings disappointments -- for the fourth quarter.

   "There are a lot more downward revisions of earnings forecasts than upward revisions," said Abby Joseph Cohen, a market strategist at Drexel Burnham Lambert.
"People are questioning corporate profits as a pillar of support for the equity market."

   The bond market was unmoved by the economic statistics.
While bond investors would  have preferred growth to be a little slower, they were cheered by inflation measures in the data that showed prices rising at a modest annual rate of 2.9%.
That is another small encouragement for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in coming weeks, they reasoned.

   In major market activity:

   Stock prices fell sharply in active trading.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 175.2 million shares.
Declining issues on the Big Board outstripped gainers 1,141 to 406.

   Bond prices were barely higher.
The Treasury's benchmark 30-year rose fractionally.
Yield on the issue was 7.88%.

   The dollar rose modestly against most major currencies.
In late New York trading the dollar was at 1.8400 marks and 142.10 yen compared with 1.8353 marks and 141.52 yen Wednesday.
The dollar soared against the pound, which was at $1.5765 compared with $1.6145 Wednesday.

third-quarter

yesterday

Wednesday

Later yesterday

the third quarter

third-quarter

yesterday

the third quarter

the fourth quarter

coming weeks

Wednesday

Wednesday


XIN_ENG_20051126.0191

ALGIERS, Nov. 26 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Algerian president flies to Paris for medical treatment

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika went to Paris for medical treatment on Saturday after experiencing digestive disorder, his office said in a statement.

Bouteflika received a medical check-up the same day in the capital Algeria "due to digestive disorder" and was later sent to Paris for further treatment on the advice of the doctors who examined him, the statement said.

The statement also quoted the doctors as saying "the president's condition is not a source of concern."

Bouteflika's office said he would now not attend the Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona on Sunday as planned.

Bouteflika, born in March 1937, was elected president in 1998 and secured a second term in office in April 2004.

Nov. 26 , 2005

Saturday

Sunday

March 1937

April 2004


AFP_ENG_19970429.0348

ROME, April 29 , 1997 (AFP)

Nazi officer Hass was spy for Italians, Americans: lawyer

Karl Hass, who is being tried along with fellow ex-Nazi officer Erich Priebke for the massacre of 335 civilians in 1944, went on to work as a spy for the Italians and the Americans, a lawyer for the victims' families said Tuesday.

Giancarlo Maniga told a court here that Hass, who remained in Italy after the end of the war, "in 1951 ... passed into the service of the Americans and in 1953 of the Italian interior ministry and in 1955 he supplied Italian documents to the Soviets."

Maniga also said that Hass, 84, was involved in a number of bloody attacks carried out by right-wing extremists during the 1970s.

He asked that documents from the trials held over the attacks -- one in Milan in 1969 that left 16 people dead and another in Brescia in 1974 that killed eight people -- be included in the current proceedings.

The trial of Hass and Priebke opened on April 14 before a military tribunal in the top security prison in Rebibbia.

Priebke, who was extradited from Argentina in 1995, has already been tried once before in connection with the killings. He was found guilty of murder last August, but the military tribunal ruled that the crime was covered by Italy's 20-year statute of limitations.

Priebke was freed, but the verdict sparked an outcry and he was immediately rearrested.

Hass, Priebke's former commander, confessed while testifying in the earlier trial to taking part in the massacre. He admitted shooting two of the hostages "to set an example to his men."

The Ardeatine Cave massacre in the southern suburbs of Rome was one of most notorious crimes committed in Italy during World War II.

Following the deaths of 33 Nazi soldiers in an attack by resistance fighters, the SS commander for Rome Herbert Kappler, who was later jailed for his role, ordered that 10 Italian hostages should be killed in retaliation for every German death. He delegated the task to Priebke, his deputy.

Earlier in Tuesday's hearing, a lawyer for the Jewish community in Rome asked that documents from Kappler's trial be included in the current proceedings.

Kappler took responsibility for the killings, thus ensuring that Priebke and Hass would go free.

April 29 , 1997

Tuesday

the 1970s

April 14

last August

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20051116.0429

COLOMBO, Nov. 17 , 2005 (Xinhua)

2nd Ld: Sri Lankans head to polls for new president

Sri Lankan presidential election started Thursday morning as 13.3 million men and women began to cast their ballots to choose their new president from 13 contenders.

A grand of 13,327,160 people aged over 18 are eligible to vote on Thursday during a nine-hour polling period from 7:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) to 4:00 p.m. (1000 GMT).

The election is staging at 10,486 polling stations islandwide including 233 cluster polling stations set up in the government controlled areas for the voters residing in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel controlled areas.

Among the 13 candidates, Sri Lanka's main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sri Lankan Prime Minister and the ruling party's candidate Mahinda Rajapakse are two of front runners.

An independent poll survey had shown that the issue of cost of living and the peace process with Tamil Tigers were the two main issues in the election.

Rajapakse has pledged a tough line on the Tamil rebels as he forged election pacts with the leftist JVP (People's Liberation Front) and the Sinhalese nationalist party JHU (National Heritage Party).

In his manifesto, Rajapakse said the ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was short-sighted and national security was compromised by that pact.

Rajapakse proposed to critically examine the merits and demerits of the steps taken so far to deal with the ethnic issue and consider a fresh approach.

"The ceasefire agreement will be amended so as to ensure that acts of terrorism would not be permitted in any way. The ceasefire monitoring mechanism would also be reviewed and new steps taken," said Rajapakse.

By contrast, the opposition United National Party leader Wickremesinghe vowed to bring about a permanent resolution to the ethnic problem through a political solution based on the current framework.

"The agreement arrived between the government and the LTTE and the Oslo and Tokyo Declaration, which guarantees the unity, democratic character and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, has created the framework of a solution acceptable to all communities of the country," Wickremesinghe said.

Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe also have different opinions on economic policy. Rajapakse vowed to build up a "national economy" by attributing the positive attributes of free market economy with domestic aspirations. Wickremesinghe put more emphasis on free market policies and foreign investment.

Meanwhile, the LTTE has reiterated Wednesday that it will advise Tamil people not to vote and denied newspaper reports that the LTTE was now actively encouraging people to vote in the presidential elections, a pro-Tigers Website TamilNet said.

"Tamils cannot place our trust on either of the parties or their candidates in the presidential election," Head of the LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Pulidevan was quoted as saying.

A neck and neck campaign race and fine weather are expected to have more voters to the election booths.

Nov. 17 , 2005

Thursday morning

Thursday

7:00 a.m.

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_19970428.0172

SINGAPORE, April 28 , 1997 (AFP)

Evening rubber prices

Monday's evening rubber prices in Singapore cents per kilo provided by the Singapore Commodity Exchange:

Buyers    Sellers

Int 2 RSS May         156.50    157.50 Nominal (N)

Int 3 RSS May         156.50    157.50 N
Int 4 RSS May         151.25    152.25 N

Int 5 RSS           147.50    148.50 N

No. 1 Air Dried Sheet     176.50    178.50 N

April 28 , 1997

Monday

May         156.50    157.50 N

Int 4 RSS May         151.25


AFP_ENG_19970402.0278

CAIRO, April 2 , 1997 (AFP)

Egypt, Pakistan discuss military cooperation

A Pakistani military chief arrived here Wednesday for talks on military cooperation with Egypt.

Farooq Feroze Khan, chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff committee, went straight into talks with President Hosni Mubarak and said he invited him to visit Pakistan.

Khan also told reporters he would meet later with his Egyptian counterpart Magdi Hatata to discuss military cooperation between the two countries.

Egypt and Pakistan already cooperate in the fight against terrorism and signed an extradition treaty in 1995.

Egyptian Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi said Tuesday that Cairo is seeking the extradition of an Islamic militant arrested recently in Pakistan.

Last week, sources close to security agencies in the Pakistani city of Peshawar said they had arrested an Egyptian and six other foreigners suspected of having links to Islamic extremists.

April 2 , 1997

Wednesday

Tuesday

Last week


XIN_ENG_20051117.0024

BEIJING, Nov. 17 , 2005 (Xinhua)

China reports rising number of entries and exits in 3rd quarter

China reported rising number of entries and exits in the third quarter of this year, with that of foreign nationals up 16.1 percent year-on-year to 10.63 million.

The number of entries and exits of Chinese mainland people amounted to 16.51 million in the third quarter, up 7 percent.

And entries and exits by Hong Kong and Macao residents rose by 8.9 percent to 49.76 million and the figure of Taiwan residents increased by 9 percent to 2.25 million, according to a briefing made by the Ministry of Public Security Thursday.

Nov. 17 , 2005

the third quarter of this year

the third quarter

Thursday


AFP_ENG_19970407.0657

TOKYO, April 8 , 1997 (AFP)

Japan to respond 'appropriately' to dollar's rise: Mitsuzuka

Japan's Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said his ministry would respond "appropriately" to the dollar's gains against the yen, hinting at measures to check the US unit's rapid rise to a 51-month high.

The impact of an excessively low yen is the same as the impact of an excessively strong yen, Mitsuzuka told a regular press conference.

"Our stance in the February G7 meeting was to respond appropriately to the dollar's gains, and that an excessively low yen means (the same as) an excessively high yen" in terms of the adverse impact, Mitsuzuka said.

"We will take the same stance in line with this policy," he said.

The dollar was quoted at 125.74-76 yen in Tokyo at 10 a.m. (0100 GMT), up from 124.68-71 yen late Monday and in line with 125.73 yen in New York late Monday.

The dollar climbed to as high as 125.85 yen here Tuesday, the highest level since January 18, 1993, when the US unit hit 125.86 yen.

"The dollar is likely to test the upper limit today, with the psychological ceiling seen at around 126.20 yen," a dealer at a European bank said.

"The dollar's advance since last Friday is too fast, but the US unit is supported by a wide gap between US and Japanese interest rates," he said.

"Japanese investments in foreign bonds will be unstoppable for the time being, resulting in a higher dollar.

More political leaders in Japan are likely to voice concern over the higher dollar, as the financial authorities are uncomfortable with the US unit at above 125 yen," he said.

April 8 , 1997

10 a.m.

Monday

Monday

Tuesday

January 18, 1993

today

last Friday


XIN_ENG_20051129.0329

LIMA, Nov. 29 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Japan

The Peruvian government signed several deals on Tuesday with China and Japan on cooperation in the fields of mining, geology and energy, local press reported on Tuesday.

Peru's official Institute of Geology, Mining and Metallurgy (IGMMP) signed a memorandum of understanding on exchanging scientists and cooperating with China's geological service in the fields of mining and geology.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines signed a deal with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency to boost rural electrification, particularly with resort to renewable energies like solar energy, wind power, hydro-electric power and geothermal energy.

Nov. 29 , 2005

Tuesday

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20061109.0236

BEIJING, Nov. 9 , 2006, (Xinhua)

market

Warner Brothers International Cinemas (WBIC), a subsidiary of the U.S. media giant Time Warner, has decided to pull out from six theatres it currently runs with Chinese partners, according to Thursday's Beijing News.

The news report quoted a media announcement by WBIC, saying that "it has ceased investment in China's movie theater market due to major regulatory changes".

The Chinese government in 2005 barred foreign investors from holding majority stakes in joint ventures in the entertainment sector.

WBIC will pull out of six theaters in six cities including Shanghai and Nanjing. "The final plan is under discussion," said the announcement.

The company has plans in 2004 to build 40 movie theatres in China by 2008 through local partners.

In 2003 China allowed seven cities to open theatres with 75 percent foreign investment on a trial basis.

The Shanghai Film Group Corp. has shown interest in buying stakes in the six theaters.

In 2005, eight theaters invested or managed by WBIC in China had total box office revenues of 120 million yuan (15 million U.S. dollars).

Nov. 9 , 2006

currently

Thursday


AFP_ENG_19970424.0618

TOKYO, April 25 , 1997 (AFP)

Unarmed Peruvian rebels were executed: Japanese hostages

The hostages freed from the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima Friday reiterated claims elite Peruvian troops executed rebels captured alive and unarmed during the assault, according to press reports here.

According to several ex-hostages held for four months by the Tupac Amaru (MRTA) revolutionary movement, at least two rebels were executed by the soldiers after being taken prisoner.

One of the two was first led into a building next to the Japanese ambassador's residence in the assault in Lima Tuesday, according to a front page report in the Mainichi Shimbun daily.

The former hostages, whose names have not been given, said the two rebels were disarmed when they were captured. When the assault started one of the two, Ernesto "Tito" Cruz, took off his jacket, which had attached to it several handgrenades.

He then lay on the floor alongside the hostages as the elite troops stormed the residence. He was taken prisoner and his hands were tied with cord as he was taken away, according to the former hostages.

A young female rebel was also captured alive on the first floor of the residence.

She shouted "Don't shoot him!" but the hostages said those around her did not understand what this meant.

On Thursday the freed hostages told the daily Asahi Shimbun they saw rebels killed by the Peruvian forces after they had given themselves up.

"I saw a murder," one of the hostages said. He told how one rebel put his hands in the air but was nevertheless shot.

Another hostage said he saw a rebel captured alive by the Peruvian forces who led him away.

"I realised the rebel they had taken had been shot when I heard all 14 rebels died in the assault," he said.

All 14 rebels, two soldiers and one hostage died during the assault.

April 25 , 1997

Friday

four months

Tuesday

Thursday


AFP_ENG_20061203.0513

PARIS, Dec 3 , 2006, 2006

by Barnaby Chesterman

Sochaux and Lille joined Lens in second place on Sunday as the battle for the 'other two' Champions League places hots up in France.

Sochaux beat ailing giants Marseille 1-0 while Lille won 3-1 at Nancy.

With champions Lyon running away with the league again this season, the real race is for second and third place and a spot in next season's money-spinning Champions League competition.

Rabiu Afolabi scored the winner for Sochaux with 13 minutes left to play against the increasingly troubled Marseille, who now have only two wins in their last 10 league matches.

But despite their lofty position, Sochaux coach Alain Perrin, formerly of Portsmouth, is not getting carried away.

"If we start to let things happen, or start thinking we can rely on team-mates and each person can relax a little, all those are things that can pull the rug from under the feet of a successful team," said Perrin.

"Our work is psychological now to keep the pressure on this team to continue to perform."

Nancy took the lead early in the second half at home to Lille through Benjamin Gavanon.

But just past the hour mark Mathieu Bodmer restored parity and minutes later Mathieu Debuchy gave the visitors the lead before Souleymane Youla's injury time clincher.

On Saturday, Lyon broke another French record after a 1-0 win at Le Mans gave them their 14th win from the first 16 matches this season.

That win bettered the mark of 13 wins from the opening 16 contests set by Paris St Germain in the 1985/86 season. And incredibly it was Lyon's coach Gerard Houllier who was in charge of that team as well.

The victory moved Lyon on to 43 points but was due more to industry than flair as former Arsenal forward Sylvain Wiltord headed home a free-kick from Brazil midfielder Juninho just before the hour mark.

Houllier was not interested in his team's record-breaking feat, preferring to concentrate on improving another record they broke last season.

That was when Lyon won a record fifth title in a row and they now look almost certain to add a sixth to that run with their nearest challengers already 14 points off the pace.

"We have taken a giant step towards the title," said a beaming Houllier when interviewed by Canal Plus.

"What pleased me was that we cleared the ball when we had to, when you're under the cosh, you're under the cosh. Today we controlled the game. This was a victory for hard work. Solidarity and control paid off."

Houllier may have been letting himself get carried away by a narrow victory at one of the league's minnows, but Le Mans coach Frederic Hantz had a more sobre assessment of the situation.

"Football is a game played by 11 players and at the end, Lyon win," Hantz said.

Lyon's next league game is away to PSG whose Sunday match against Toulouse had to be postponed for security concerns.

In it's place, around 1,200 fans marched in protest at the killing of a fan by an off-duty police officer the previous month after a UEFA Cup tie.

The fan was among a mob attacking a French-Israeli fan and chanting antisemitist and racist slogans.

Lens won 3-0 at home to last seasons runners-up Bordeaux. Vitorino Hilton opened the scoring on 40 minutes and Daniel Cousin made the points safe on 57 minutes before Issam Jemaa's late cherry on the cake.

Struggling Monaco gave their beleaguered fans something to cheer about with a 3-0 coasting against Valenciennes.

St Etienne are fifth after a 2-0 win over Lorient, in which both sets of fans demonstrated their support for PSG's ultras.

Dec 3 , 2006

Sunday

this season

now

now

Saturday

the 1985/86 season

last season

now

Today

the previous month

40 minutes

57 minutes


AFP_ENG_20061208.0111

BERLIN, Dec 9 , 2006, 2006

German police search for polonium 210 in Hamburg flat

German police said Saturday they had drawn a blank with a first search of a flat in Hamburg used by Dmitry Kovtun, a contact of the poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, for traces of the radioactive substance polonium 210.

"Hamburg police are taking every measure to check if polonium 210 is present in the apartment," they said in a statement.

A police spokesman said early Saturday the initial examination of the flat had come up with "no convincing result," but more in-depth tests would be needed.

Investigators believe Kovtun, a 41-year-old businessman, could have been in contact with the highly radioactive substance which killed Litvinenko on November 23.

Kovtun, one of three Russians who met Litvinenko in London on November 1, shortly before the former intelligence agent fell ill, was reported Friday to be suffering from radiation sickness.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed medical official in Moscow as saying that Kovtun had briefly fallen into a coma Thursday but had since recovered consciousness.

The death of Litvinenko from polonium poisoning, which British authorities are treating as murder, has prompted a media outcry, heightened by allegations from the dead agent's friends that he was killed on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hamburg police appealed to "people who had any contact" with Kovtun to come forward. A special telephone number was available for concerned members of the public to call.

Dec 9 , 2006

Saturday

early Saturday

November 23

November 1

Friday

Thursday


AFP_ENG_19970419.0385

TOKYO, April 20 , 1997 (AFP)

Japanese firms develop chip to connect automation equipment

Fuji Electric Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Steel Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. have jointly developed a universal intermediate semiconductor aimed at helping connect factory automation equipment, a newspaper said Sunday.

The three companies said introduction of the new application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) would lead to a cut in production costs by simplifying connections in factory automation systems, Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

The new chip incorporates a central processing unit and a memory device to transmit input and output signals and data among factory automation equipment.

The newly developed integrated circuit is designed to enable connections among robots, numerically-controlled machine tools and sensors, the paper said.

The daily said the three Japanese companies would introduce the semiconductor, which could be used to link automated factory equipment regardless of its manufacturer, to their factories.

The firms would also sell the chip to other companies, it said.

Nissan was in charge of providing technology for connecting factory automation equipment and conducted tests, while Kawasaki Steel provided chip technology, with Fuji Electric developing software for the project.

Kawasaki will produce the ASIC with plans to begin a sample shipment in June and supply 1.3 million units annually by 2000.

Fuji will develop and sell ASIC-equipped factory automation equipment.

Nihon Keizai said that use of the semiconductor was likely to standardize factory automation equipment connections and lead to improvement in productivity.

April 20 , 1997

Sunday

June


XIN_ENG_20061124.0282

DOHA, Nov. 24 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Bahrain advances into second round at Asiad basketball tournament

Bahrain advanced into the second round of the 2006 Doha Asian Games men's basketball tournament after beating Macao, China 91-56 here on Friday.

Mahmood Ghuloom scored 30 points to lead Bahrain to its second win in two days.

"Ghuloom was excellent, scoring 30 points in just 30 minutes," said Bahrain head coach Salman Ramadan. "In the second half we were in the driving seat so I rested my players."

Bahrain established a comfortable 71-39 lead after three quarters and Ramadan rested his big shooters in the final quarter.

Bahrain, who was awarded a 20-0 victory over India on Thursday following the opponent's withdrawal, has secured a top finish in Group A and a berth in the next round where it will face Qatar, South Korea, Iran, Jordan and Group C winner from the first round.

Despite the loss, Macao, China's head coach Zeng Zhaozhong wasn 't too disappointed.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of, our team is so young," he said.

Later on Friday, Mongolia held off a strong late surge from Palestine to claim its first victory at this tournament 78-70.

Trailing 59-45 amid the third quarter, Palestine fought hard to pull within 73-70, but that's the closest they could get.

In Friday's other action, Afghanistan, 65-57 winner over Hong Kong, China on Thursday, lost to Syria 84-66 while Kazakhstan beat the United Arab Emirates 89-71.

Nov. 24 , 2006

Friday

two

30 minutes

the second half

three quarters

the final quarter

Thursday

Friday

the third quarter

Friday

Thursday


AFP_ENG_20061214.0263

BAGHDAD, Dec 14 , 2006, 2006

=(PICTURE)=

Gunfire and the squeal of tires echoed through downtown Baghdad on Thursday as gunmen in military uniforms sealed off a commercial street and snatched dozens of merchants in yet another brazen kidnapping.

At first, said witnesses, people were too stunned to move as around 20 silver sports utility vehicles without registration plates swooped down on the street and disgorged some hundred gunmen in camouflage fatigues.

The gang brandished waving assault rifles and the US-issued Glock pistols issued by the United States to Iraq's government security forces.

"They told people 'We are on official business, don't panic'," said Mohammed al-Motaie, a tea seller who witnessed the events.

A masked man selected individuals from the crowd and the gunmen hurled them into the waiting vehicles.

"One of the people being taken shouted he was from (Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's) Dawa Party," said Sami Mirza, a guard at one of the stores. "They said, 'Welcome, come with us, we were looking for you'."

He added that the gunmen stole money from the shops as well.

"They broke into the store of the building's owner and I wanted to open fire, but I was afraid they would kill him inside the shop," added the frightened guard.

Panic soon broke out as suspicions swept the street, one of the most important centers for autoparts in the city, that this was not an official venture at all.

"Then they started grabbing people haphazardly -- Sunnis, Shiites," said al-Motaie.

"I left my son for five minutes to have a nap at my house nearby, when I came back he was gone," said Sabah Abbu, a 50-year-old Christian with a small restaurant in the area.

"I contacted him immediately but his mobile was switched off."

Qassim Mohammed Ibrahim, a Shiite store owner, kept dialing numbers over and over on his phone. "They took away my three brothers," he said his eyes brimming with tears. "I have no one left."

People in the street said they called authorities who said they had no knowledge of any type of operation taking place in that area.

"Their response came very late," an official from a Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said in disgust.

One policeman who was there, guarding a bank, said he felt helpless even though he was armed.

"How can I fight people in military or government uniforms?" he asked. "I have only 30 bullets in my gun while they had enough weapons and ammunition to face down an army."

Their cars full, the gunmen left after about half an hour, firing a fusillade of shots into the air as they drove away from the site, sending cars reversing across Baghdad's bridges to get out of their way.

Pedestrians could also be seen running away along the banks of the Tigris and scurrying for safety across the bridges.

Kidnappings in broad daylight have become just another deadly feature of daily life in Baghdad as lawlessness increasingly takes over the battered city.

The kidnappings are believed to be the work of shadowy gangs and are largely done for profit, although in some cases they result in the execution of the victims for apparently sectarian motives.

A new wave of panic swept the traumatized people of Rashid street when army forces pulled up to the site a little while later. People were terrified that they too were fakes.

"After this, I don't think anyone would dare open their shop in this place, especially after the government didn't defend them," said Mirza.

Dec 14 , 2006

Thursday

five minutes

half an hour


XIN_ENG_20061126.0137

NICOSIA, Nov. 26 , 2006 (Xinhua)

deadlock

Cyprus' Foreign Minister George Lillikas left for Finland on Sunday for negotiations on Turkey's EU entry bid but said he was not optimistic about the outcome concerning Cyprus issue.

"We are going with readiness, good will and positive spirit," Lillikas told Cyprus News Agency (CNA) at Larnaca airport, adding that the information they got from different sources didn't show any optimism.

Turkey, aspiring to become an EU member, refuses to implement the EU-Turkey Customs Union Protocol by opening its ports and airports to Cypriot vessels and aircraft.

As the holder of the EU rotating presidency, Finland is launching a last-ditch initiative to avert a possible EU-Turkey crisis regarding its EU course.

Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has invited his Turkish and Cypriot counterparts to the Finnish city of Tampere, to work out a possible solution at the sideline of the Euro- Mediterranean Conference.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a group of Greek officers.

In 2004, the internationally-recognized Republic of Cyprus entered the EU in the name of the whole island and now has EU veto powers over its rival Turkey.

Nov. 26 , 2006

Sunday

now


XIN_ENG_20061111.0053

HARARE, Nov. 11 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Zimbabwe-Botswana ties under spotlight

The 24th session of the Botswana- Zimbabwe Joint Permanent Commission on Defense and Security ended in south Zimbabwe city of Masvingo on Friday after intensive deliberations on critical bilateral issues, The Herald reported on Saturday.

The four-day meeting discussed bilateral issues of mutual interest in areas of defense and state and public security between Zimbabwe and Botswana, the newspaper said.

In a statement issued at the end of the meeting held at Great Zimbabwe, the Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Didymus Mutasa said the commission discussed a wide range of issues that were pertinent to Botswana and Zimbabwe and also of concern to the region.

These included wildlife matters, stock theft, illicit trafficking of drugs, gold, diamonds, firearms and the containment of general crime along the common border, immigration and customs issues.

The commission also applauded the co-operation and communication that exists at provincial and operational levels and urged this interaction to continue, said Mutasa.

Zimbabwe and Botswana's co-operation in wildlife management including the establishment of the Shashe/Limpopo and Kavango/ Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation areas was greatly appreciated by the commission which hailed the move as an indication of close cooperation.

To this end, the commission also hailed the donation of a male black rhino to Botswana by Zimbabwe as a gesture of goodwill that sought to further strengthen existing cordial relations.

Mutasa said the commission also expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the memorandum of understanding on the construction of Kazungula Bridge by Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, especially as the bridge was going to play a pivotal role in the region's socio-economic development.

In response, Botswana Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Phandu Skelemani hailed the joint permanent commission on defense and security between the two countries which he said had been a successful platform to amicably solve any sticking problems between the two countries.

Skelemani said the commission was a platform to come up with developmental initiatives that could benefit the people of Botswana and Zimbabwe. He also extended an invitation to the Zimbabwean delegation to attend the 25th session that will be hosted by Botswana next year.

Nov. 11 , 2006

Friday

Saturday

next year


XIN_ENG_20051110.0006

HANOI, Nov. 10 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Vietnam athletes to SEA Games cautious about bird flu

Vietnam has taken precautions against bird flu, instructing local athletes at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (23rd SEA Games) not to eat poultry, and supplying them with the bird flu medicine Tamiflu.

Vietnam's Sports and Physical Culture Committee has recently asked all athletes not to have dishes made from poultry and relevant products to prevent potential bird flu infection, the committee said Thursday, adding that the country's Ministry of Health has supplied a sufficient amount of Tamiflu to local athletes at the 23rd SEA Games slated for between late November and early December in the Philippines.

Up to 92 Vietnamese people have been infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1 since the disease started to appear in the country in late 2003. Of them, 42 have died, the Health Ministry announced early this week.

Local media on Thursday reported that a 43-year-old man from northern Hai Phong city died on Nov. 2 due to infection of bird flu virus strain H3N0.

At the approaching event, Vietnam has eyed 60-70 gold medals or the third place. "We pin greatest hope on our wrestlers and martial arts athletes," Nguyen Hong Minh, head of the country's 23rd SEA Games delegation, told Xinhua recently.

Among sports, Vietnam has aimed 6-8 golds at wrestling, 5-6 at pencak silat, 4-5 at judo, 5-6 at shooting, and 3-4 at taekwondo, he said.

At the 22nd SEA Games in 2003, hosts Vietnam topped the medal table with 158 golds, 97 silvers and 91 bronzes, far ahead of second-placed Thailand on 90-93-98.

Nov. 10 , 2005

Thursday

late November and early December

late 2003

early this week

Thursday

Nov. 2


AFP_ENG_19970421.0463

PARIS, April 21 , 1997 (AFP)

Bardot slams Moscow "massacre"

Former film star Brigitte Bardot on Monday attacked city fathers in Moscow over what she called the "massacre" of stray animals in the Russian capital ahead of celebrations for its 850th birthday.

In an open letter to Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov she said she was "shocked and horrified" at the killings of animals in a clean-up of the streets ahead of the celebrations in September.

"The millions spent in particular on poison for animals .. could be used to help less well off people who make sacrifices every day," said the former screen idol turned animal rights activist.

She called on the Moscow mayor to launch a program of sterilization for animals instead of killing them "to make your city's name shine when it celebrates in (the anniversary) September."

April 21 , 1997

Monday

850th birthday

September

the anniversary) September


AFP_ENG_20051212.0180

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 12 , 2005

Factfile on Tanzania

President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania has been in power for 10 years and is due to stand down after presidential and legislative elections on Wednesday.

GEOGRAPHY: Mainland Tanganyika merged with the Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar and Pemba to form the nation of Tanzania in 1964. The east African country of 945,000 square kilometres (364,900 square miles) shares borders with Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

POPULATION: Estimated 35.9 million in 2003 (World Bank figures). Tanzania hosts some 400,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees.

CAPITAL: Dodoma (administrative). Dar es Salaam (economic).

LANGUAGES: Swahili and English (official languages). Many local languages are spoken.

RELIGION: Christian (40 percent), Muslim (40 percent), Animist. Of Zanzibar's one million inhabitants, 98 percent are Muslim.

HISTORY: The British established a protectorate on Zanzibar in 1890 and the Germans took control of the mainland in 1891. German East Africa became British territory in 1920 and took the name Tanganyika. This became independent in 1961, under the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as prime minister. The founding father of Tanzania and follower of African-style Socialism was elected president one year later.

Zanzibar and Pemba -- which both became independent in 1963 -- joined Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Nyerere handed power to Ali Hassan Mwinyi in 1985. Zanzibar and Pemba kept a semi-autonomous status with a separate president and government.

After three decades with one political party, a multi-party system was adopted in Tanzania in 1992. Benjamin Mkapa won the first multi-party general elections in October 1995, as candidate for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM Revolutionary Party), in a poll with "serious irregularities" according to international observers. In Zanzibar, outgoing President Salmin Amour, of the CCM, narrowly won the election.

Mkapa was reelected in 2000 with 71.1 percent of the vote. The CCM won an absolute majority in parliament. In Zanzibar's elections, the opposition and international observers denounced massive fraud, and CCM candidate Amani Abeid Karume won after the main opposition party refused to take part.

ECONOMY: Coffee, cotton, tobacco, sisal and tea are the main exports. The economy of Zanzibar depends mainly on spices, particularly cloves from Pemba island, trade and tourism.

The mining sector has developped considerably in the past 10 years, after the adoption of a liberal economic policy in the middle of the 1980s.

GDP: 220 dollars per inhabitant in 2003 (World Bank).

FOREIGN DEBT: 7,901 billion dollars (6,532 billion euros) in 2004 (World Bank). Tanzania was one of the 18 poorest countries on the planet that saw their debts cancelled by the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial countries in June 2005.

ARMED FORCES: Estimated at 27,000 soldiers, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies (2004/2005).

The US embassy in Dar es Salaam was the target of a bomb attack on August 7, 1998 that killed 11 Tanzanians and injured 72.

Dec 12 , 2005

10 years

Wednesday

one year

three decades

October 1995

the past 10 years

the 1980s

June 2005

August 7, 1998


AFP_ENG_19970408.0800

BEIJING, April 9 , 1997 (AFP)

China, Vietnam start talks on sea dispute in Beijing (repetition, correcting date)

Expert-level delegations from China and Vietnam started discussions early Wednesday on a territorial dispute in the oil-rich South China Sea.

Held at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, the talks are aimed at solving a potentially troublesome dispute over waters contested between Beijing and Hanoi.

They were arranged at Vietnam's request after the China National Offshore Oil Corp. deployed an exploratory oil rig in the disputed area on March 7.

The Kantan III rig was finally withdrawn on April 1.

The disputed zone lies south of the Gulf of Tonkin, almost equidistant from the central-Vietnamese coast and the Chinese island of Hainan. The area is believed to be rich in natural gas.

It is not covered by regular bilateral talks on contested areas in the South China Sea.

China and Vietnam have twice run into territorial disputes in the South China Sea, first in 1974 over the Paracel islands and again in 1988 over the Spratly Islands.

April 9 , 1997

early Wednesday

March 7

April 1


XIN_ENG_20051104.0200

SAIHAN, Inner Mongolia, Nov. 4 , 2005 (Xinhua)

China

The white characters "Xingxing Breeding Farm" can still be seen on the red brick wall, but there is no poultry there.

On Oct. 14, chickens suddenly dropped dead by the dozen in the farm in Tengjiaying Village in Saihan District of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. On Oct. 19, the State Bird Flu Reference Lab confirmed that they died of H5N1 bird flu.

After being sprayed with disinfectant at two checkpoints, 24 reporters, in protective suits and masks, were allowed to enter the village Thursday.

The road to the Xingxing Breeding Farm in the village was covered by lime, a kind of white, chalky disinfectant powder.

Coving nearly one hectare of land, the farm had some 7,000 poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks and pigeons.

Before the outbreak of the bird flu, owner of the farm Qin Zhijun, 44, had an average income of more than 100,000 yuan (12,340 US dollars) every year.

"I have been raising chickens for 20 years, but I had never seen chickens dying like that," Qin said.

On Oct. 14, Qin found his chickens dead for no apparent reason and made a report to the local government. When the dead chickens were proved to have died of bird flu, all the 7,000 poultry and birds were killed in two days. Meanwhile, the local government ordered closure of the farm and a three kilometers radius around it.

The area within five to eight kilometers radius from the farm was considered "bird-flu-threatened" and all poultry in the area should receive vaccination.

"At first, it was hard to bear," said Qin. ``I did not feel like eating, nor sleeping. I was frustrated."

"Now I have thought it over and over again. I believe the government will not leave us alone. We could still start from scratch again."

Qin said his wife and he himself are fortunate enough to stay healthy. Nevertheless, the couple are still under medical monitoring and not allowed to leave the courtyard. Doctors come to take their temperatures every week.

After the outbreak of bird flu in the region, a total of 25 people in close contact with dead poultry and their dejecta received medical monitoring and 11 of them have been relieved of monitoring. The other 14 are in good condition, said a local government official.

China has not reported any human infection of bird flu so far.

There are 380 households in Tengjiaying Village. Only Qin has a poultry farm. Many other households in the village breed cows, a backbone industry in the region.

Qi Xiuzhi, 50, is a neighbour of Qin. Qi has raised two chickens herself. But they had been killed together with other poultry in the village after the outbreak of the disease.

"Every one knows there is something wrong with Qin's poultry," said Qi.

Qi said there were days when panic hung over the village and relatives outside the village dared not come for visit. "It's over now," Qi said.

Apart from checkpoints, the ground covered with lime powder, and a notice of closure on the wall, the village is not different from any other small village in China.

Seeing so many people with protective suits coming in, especially some foreigners with blue eyes and big noses, villagers stood far away, watching, chatting with each other in dialect, and laughing loudly. No one wore protective suits like reporters.

As the village has been under closure, villagers have to pass checkpoints after being disinfected and registered every day when they go out and come back.

"It's troublesome," said a villager who declined to give his name, "But what else can we do? We know it's a contagious disease."

Qin said he knew he would lose a lot of money this time, even though the government had promised to pay compensation. But he said he wants to raise chickens after the disease dies out.

"What else can I do?" said Qin."It's all I know how to do."

The local government has promised to help farmers like Qin recover production by providing interest-free or low-interest loans to them and helping them build new coops.

Compensation will be paid to farmers, at an average of 30 yuan per chicken. The central government will cover 10 yuan while the local governments will cover the remainder.

Since Autumn this year, China has reported four cases of bird flu outbreaks in Anhui, Hunan, Inner Mongolia and the latest Liaoning province.

Nov. 4 , 2005

Oct. 14

Oct. 19

Thursday

every year

20 years

Oct. 14

two

Now

every week

now

Autumn this year


XIN_ENG_20061122.0299

CAIRO, Nov. 22 , 2006 (Xinhua)

2nd Lead: exiled Hamas leader arrives in Cairo on unexpected visit

The exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Khaled Meshaal arrived in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Wednesday night on a surprise visit, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

Meshaal and his accompanying delegation would hold talks with senior Egyptian officials on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories, means to revive the stalled peace process and the forming of a Palestinian unity government, MENA said in a short dispatch, without giving more details.

However, Contacts with the Egyptian foreign ministry failed to confirm the report.

Reports on Meshaal's visit to Egypt were abundant since late October.

On Oct. 29, a senior Egyptian official told Xinhua that Meshaal would visit Egypt soon, but failed to give an exact date.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at that time that Meshaal, now in exile in Syria, would visit Cairo in four or five days.

But Meshaal didn't come to Egypt in the end. Instead, he sent a delegation, which was led by Hamas representative in Syria Imad al- Alami, to Cairo on Oct. 31.

Nov. 22 , 2006

Wednesday night

late October

Oct. 29

four or five

Oct. 31


XIN_ENG_20051107.0083

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 7 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Malaysia Stock Exchange sinks lower on selling pressure

The Malaysia Stock Exchange closed lower on further selling of some key bluechip shares on Monday, the first day after a four-day festival holiday in the country.

The benchmark Composite Index slipped 2.39 points throughout the day to end at 911.53, the Emas Index eased 0.40 of a point to 207.80 and the Second Board Index declined 0.17 of a point to 84. 14.

Losers beat gainers 343 to 303, 271 counters were unchanged, 408 counters untraded and 40 counters suspended.

Turnover was higher at 330.52 million shares worth 920.62 million ringgit (245.50 million US dollars) from 226.08 million shares worth 548.59 million ringgit (146.29 million US dollars) last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, turnover on the Main Board rose to 257.10 million shares worth 885.14 million ringgit (236.04 million US dollars) from 171.59 million shares worth 523.36 million ringgit (139.56 million US dollars) last Wednesday.

The Second Board volume increased to 20.20 million shares worth 12.65 million ringgit (3.37 million US dollars) from 18.45 million shares worth 10.98 million (2.93 million US dollars).

Volume on the Mesdaq market rose to 52.11 million shares worth 21.14 million ringgit (5.64 million US dollars) from 35.54 million shares from 13.68 million ringgit (3.65 million US dollars).

Dealers said the market this week will be cautious of developments in external factors such as the spread of the bird flu, and indications of funds flowing out of Asia with the hike in US interest rates.

Nov. 7 , 2005

Monday

the day

last Wednesday

last Wednesday

this week


nyt_20130321_women_senate

2013-03-21

Once Few, Women Hold More Power in Senate

An hour before her colleagues gathered for their first vote of a new Congress, Senator Kelly Ayotte slipped into an empty Senate chamber to savor the grandeur of her legislative home. As Ms. Ayotte, a freshman Republican from New Hampshire, sat down at the wooden desk where generations of lawmakers from her state had cast their votes, a doorman marched toward her with purpose.

The desks, he sternly told her, were for senators only.

Ms. Ayotte's induction that January day in 2011 into the most rarefied ranks of the nation's political class, female senators, had begun. "The desk thing really stuck with me," Ms. Ayotte said. "There still just aren't that many of us."

In the 90 years since Rebecca Felton of Georgia became the first woman in the United States Senate - sworn in for a mere 24 hours - women remain an anomaly in the upper chamber. But with 20 female senators now in office, an all-time high, women have morphed from the curiosity they were for much of the 20th century into an important new force on key committees and legislation.

A record nine women now lead committees, including some of the most powerful ones. For the first time there is a woman - Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat - in charge of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which dispenses billions of dollars annually throughout the government and has long been particularly dominated by men. Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, is the first chairwoman of the Budget Committee and is charged with shaping the Democratic strategy in the fiscal battle dominating Capitol Hill.

One of the biggest bills to pass the Senate last year was farm legislation led by Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who presides over the agriculture committee. Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, shepherded the highway bill.

"We are growing in number," said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota. "But more importantly, we are growing in our power. When I first started just six years ago, it was unusual to have a woman managing a bill."

Just as important, even male senators say, is the potential the women hold for changing the tenor of the Senate and pushing for compromise in the highly partisan atmosphere on Capitol Hill.

"I don't want to generalize, because this isn't true of all of them, but they tend to be interested in finding common ground," said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio. "So I think it's going to have, and is having, a positive impact on the Senate."

While partisan division is the central characteristic of the modern Congress, women have begun to crack away at the gridlock by forming coalitions that have surprised leaders of both parties. Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, and Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, led the repeal in the Senate of "don't ask, don't tell" in 2010, allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military.

This year, all four of the female Senate Republicans split with their party and voted with Senate Democrats to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which had lapsed during the last Congress.

An hour

January day

the 90 years

a mere 24 hours

now

20th century

now

annually

last year

six years ago

This year


XIN_ENG_20061122.0384

KATHMANDU, Nov. 23 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party declares to be an opposition

Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party (NWPP) decided not to join the interim government, but play a "strong role" as an opposition in the interim legislature, local newspaper The Himalayan Times reported Thursday.

President of NWPP Narayan Man Bijukchhe said that since Nepal is currently at its "weakest stage" in history, political parties should exercise extreme caution and see to it that foreigners don' t intervene in its affairs.

A meeting of the party's central council held in Bhaktapur on Wednesday also agreed that the king's fate should be decided through a referendum. However, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ( CPA) signed on Nov. 21 stipulated that, "to decide the issue of whether or not to retain the monarchy by simple majority in the first meeting of constituent assembly".

It demanded that a government with independent personalities be formed to ensure free and fair constituent assembly elections. In a statement, the party further demanded "stern action" against those found guilty by the Rayamajhi Commission, and the commission 's report "must be strongly implemented".

The party has drawn the attention of the concerned to adopt the interim constitution at the earliest.

It further demanded that India withdraw its army personnel stationed at Kalapani, dismantle the Laxmanpur Bund and repatriate Bhutanese refugees.

When the CPA was signed on Nov. 21, Narayan Man Bijukhchhe of NWPP was the only Seven Party Alliance leader who was not present in the stage.

Nov. 23 , 2006

Thursday

Wednesday

Nov. 21

Nov. 21


XIN_ENG_20051123.0291

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 , 2005 (Xinhua)

US mortgage rates decline this week

Mortgage rates in the United States declined this week after having increased for 10 consecutive weeks, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Wednesday in its weekly nationwide survey.

During the week ending Nov. 23, rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.28 percent, the survey showed. That was down sharply from last week's rate of 6.37 percent, the highest level in more than two years.

The survey also showed that rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing a home mortgage, fell to 5.81 percent this week from 5.90 percent.

Meanwhile, rates on one-year adjustable rate mortgages(ARMs) dropped to 5.14 percent from 5.20 percent last week. Rates on five- year hybrid adjustable rate mortgages went down to 5.75 percent from 5.86.

A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 5.72 percent, 15-year mortgages were at 5.15 percent and one-year ARMs averaged 4.27 percent. Freddie Mac began tracking five-year ARMs this year.

Analysts say that mortgage rates declined this week because investors had been less worried about inflation than before.

"Lower oil prices -- at least compared to the last several months -- have helped to alleviate some of the inflation fears that the market has been experiencing lately," Freddie Mac's chief economist Frank Nothaft said.

Nov. 23 , 2005

this week

10 consecutive weeks

Wednesday

the week

Nov. 23

last week

more than two years

this week

last week

five- year

A year ago

this year

this week


AFP_ENG_20061202.0082

DOHA, Dec 2 , 2006, 2006

Chinese women win Trap team gold

China bagged the women's Trap team event of the Asian Games with a tally of 195 points at the Lusail shooting ranges here on Saturday.

North Korea won the silver with 186 points and South Korea the bronze with 174 points after the individual qualification rounds which also decides the winner of the team event.

The individual Trap final will be held later on Saturday.

Dec 2 , 2006

Saturday

Saturday


AFP_ENG_19970414.0251

MARSEILLE, France, April 14 , 1997 (AFP)

Tapie granted day-release jail

Jailed politician Bernard Tapie left prison Monday after a judge granted his request for day-release custody, 10 weeks after he was jailed over a football match-rigging scandal.

Tapie, who was jailed for eight months in February, is expected to resume working during the day after granted the part-time regime under regulations which allows such leniency for first-time offenders jailed for under a year.

On Monday he was released from the Luynes prison near Aix-en-Provence to be transferred by prison van to the day-release prison at Baumettes in Marseilles, an AFP correspondent said.

Tapie is expected to work for an old Marseilles business colleague, Michel Bigoin, as a representative for his shipbuilding and defence group SECNA. No contract has yet been signed, but Bigoin said Tapie will "be trying to renew links with potential clients."

Under the terms of his custody, he will have to return to the Baumettes prison by 7:00 p.m. every evening.

The day-release regime will be suspended from May 12-30 during a trial involving Tapie's role in illegal funding of his former footbal club Olympique de Marseille (OM).

Tapie, a former French MP and Euro-deputy, has faced a string of legal actions in recent years which have reduced him from a succesful businessman-turned-politician to a prison inmate.

April 14 , 1997

Monday

10 weeks

eight months

February

a year

Monday

7:00 p.m. every evening

May 12-30

recent years


AFP_ENG_20051203.0437

OSAKA, Japan, Dec 4 , 2005

= (PICTURE) =

Japan's ace Miki Ando has vowed to bounce back for a qualification for the Olympics after her disastrous performance at the Grand Prix series NHK Trophy figure skating competition here.

The 17-year-old Ando, the only female skater to have performed a quadruple in competition at the 2004 world junior championships, fell twice in her free skating to finish fourth Saturday.

Ando was behind fellow Japanese Yukari Nakano, who captured her first Grand Prix win, and Fumie Suguri, the runner-up.

But Ando, as well as Nakano, earned a place in the Grand Prix Final later this month in Tokyo and she is likely to be chosen for the Olympics by the Japan Skating Federation if she finishes among the top three.

Japan has three tickets in the women's competition for the Olympics.

Mao Asada also reached the elite six-women Grand Prix Final with her victory at Paris and runner-up finish at Beijing, but at age 15 she is ineligible for the Olympics.

"I'm really glad that I reached the Grand Prix Final, because I thought I failed to qualify. It's wonderful that three of us from Japan qualified for the Final," said Ando, who will be 18 on the last day of the GP Final.

"I really want to take part in the Olympics. Until last season, I felt just happy whenever I skated my own performance, but now I feel like I cannot win unless I try to win. I want to smile on the podium next time."

Nakano, a 20-year-old from Tokyo, said she was surprised with her first victory as well as a place in the Grand Prix Final despite a fall at landing a triple axel in the free skating.

"I'm not going to think about the Olympics, because I'm sure I will be under heavy pressure if I think about it. It is important to always perform solid and try to do as well as I usually do in practice," Nakano said.

Suguri, who was fifth in the Salt Lake City Olympics, the 2004 world champion Shizuka Arakawa and Yoshie Onda have to wait until the national championships for their chances to qualify for Torino.

"I feel as if it has cast a gleam of hope upon my way towards the Olympics," said two-time world bronze medallist Suguri, 24, who put an end to her injury-affected season with the runner-up finish in Osaka.

"I'm not in good form physically, so I just tried to do what I was able to do at this moment," she added. "When I think about how far I've completed my programme, it's less than 80 percent."

Dec 4 , 2005

fourth Saturday

this month

the last day

last season

now


XIN_ENG_20061103.0398

BEIJING, Nov. 4 , 2006 (Xinhua)

for African Union

China will build a conference center for the African Union to support African countries in their efforts to strengthen themselves through unity and support the process of African integration.

Chinese President Hu Jintao made the remarks here Saturday when addressing the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

"To strengthen unity and cooperation with Africa is a key principle guiding China's foreign policy. China will continue to support Africa in implementing the new partnership for Africa's Development and in its effort to strengthen itself through unity, achieve peace and stability and economic revitalization in the region and raise its international standing," Hu said.

Forty-one heads of state or government and senior officials of 48 African countries that have diplomatic ties with China, including Prime Minister of Ethiopia which co-chairs FOCAC, Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the Commission of the African Union (AU) and representatives from regional and international organizations attended the landmark gathering highlighting "friendship, peace, cooperation and development".

Nov. 4 , 2006

Saturday


XIN_ENG_20051108.0062

KAMPALA, Nov. 8 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Ugandan gov't licenses private firm to recruit countrymen for foreign jobs

The Ugandan government has issued a license to a private firm, Job Potential and Property Markets ( JPPM) to recruit Ugandans who want to work abroad.

An official from the External Employment Unit (EEU) in the Ministry of Labor, Nava Nabagesera was quoted by local media on Tuesday as saying that the license issuance to JPPM brought a new era for Ugandans who will now be able to work without fear of being deported.

"A number of companies applied, we verified the requirements of the companies and among them was that they had to have over fifty jobs ready. They can start work and what remains for us is to supervise and monitor them. It is a big break through as Ugandans will not have to work under pressure. It will help build the economy," said Nabagesera.

JPPM's Managing Director, Paul Muhumuza said they were ready for recruitment.

"We are going to recruit people for professional and casual jobs. We have already signed agreements with different corporate bodies and were only waiting for the license to start work. Now that we have been licensed, we are going to start the recruitment.

He said their target so far was Britain, the United States, South Africa, Canada and China, which is in need of English teachers.

"We have about 15,000 jobs and the gates are open. We will be getting particulars of personalities, train them and process the papers including work permits and visas. We will then connect then to factories and other corporate companies," said Muhumuza.

In August this year, the Ugandan government launched the EEU to help Ugandans officially get jobs outside the country.

The move followed an increase in the number of unemployed youths in the country. Recent statistics indicate that at least 10, 000 students graduate annually from universities and other institutions of higher learning in the country but cannot access jobs.

Nov. 8 , 2005

Tuesday

now

Now

August this year


XIN_ENG_20061121.0306

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 21 , 2006 (Xinhua)

S. Africa, India, Brazil to cooperate on tax, customs

South Africa, India and Brazil have agreed to enhance their cooperation on tax and customs to boost trade and economic development in the countries, South African Revenue Services (SARS) said on Tuesday.

India's revenue secretary, Brazil's federal revenue secretary and SARS Commissioner Pravin Gordhan signed the joint declaration in Pretoria on Tuesday, committing their organizations to closer ties across a wide range of areas on both the revenue and customs fronts, the SAPA news agency reported.

"The move also seeks to thwart smuggling, drug trafficking, fraud and tax avoidance in the three nations," said Logan Wort, a SARS spokesman.

Central to the declaration was an agreement to exchange information between the three revenue authorities to help identify high-risk transactions and speed up the processing of imports and exports. The officials also agreed to share information on tax, the SAPA said.

"Where appropriate, they agreed to perform simultaneous tax audits on common business entities," said Wort.

Another area for further cooperation will be working together to develop common positions for trade facilitation negotiations.

The declaration was part of outcomes of a three-day inaugural meeting of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Heads of Revenue Administrations.

The meeting was conducted under the auspices of the IBSA Dialogue Forum established between the three countries to further economic cooperation, following the first IBSA heads of government summit in Brazil in September.

The heads of revenue administrations also agreed to establish an IBSA Revenue Administration Working Group to further expedite links between their organizations.

Trade between South Africa, Brazil and India had risen sharply over the past few years and was expected to grow even more significantly once a formal trade agreement was in place between the IBSA partners, said Wort.

Trade between Brazil and South Africa rose to more than 10 billion rand (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005 from 6.6 billion rand (0.9 billion dollars ) two years earlier.

Between India and South Africa the trade totaled more than 14 billion rand (1.96 billion U.S. dollars) last year, more than doubling that of 2003, Wort said.

Nov. 21 , 2006

Tuesday

Tuesday

September

the past few years

two years earlier

last year


WSJ891026-0066
 = 891026
 891026-0066.
 Total Assets Protection Inc.
 10/26/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 TAPP
 ARLINGTON, Texas

   Total Assets Protection Inc., rebounding from its earlier loss, expects to report earnings from operations of about $200,000 for the third quarter, J.C. Matlock, chairman, said.

   Net income includes an extraordinary gain of about $100,000 from the reversal of bad debt and interest income.
Revenue was about $4.5 million.
In the 1988 third quarter, the company posted a net loss of $876,706, or 22 cents a share, on revenue of about $5.1 million.

   Total Assets plans and designs computer centers, computer security systems and computer backup systems.

the third quarter

the 1988 third quarter


XIN_ENG_20061107.0273

BEIJING, Nov. 7 , 2006 (Xinhua)

KMT, PFP table anti-Chen bills for Friday's legislative session

The Chinese Kuomintang Party (KMT) and the People First Party on Tuesday put forward their own bills, respectively, for Friday's session of Taiwan's "legislative yuan", to oust Chen Shui-bian who has been implicated in corruption, according to reports by Taiwan media.

It has been the third such bill ever since Chen's family came under fire for alleged involvement in corruption early this year.

But the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) said all its members will not participate in the legislative meeting to cast their votes, same to what it did during the two previous votings.

The previous anti-Chen votings failed to succeed, due to the opposition by the DPP and the abstaining by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).

Nov. 7 , 2006

Tuesday

Friday

early this year


XIN_ENG_20051130.0257

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 30 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Roundup: HIV prevalence in S. Africa "levels off", dire situation persists

A study in South Africa, a country worst hit by HIV/AIDS, showed the epidemic may have been leveling off but dire situation could persist as millions of HIV- positive people remain unaware of their risk of potentially infecting others, given a wide existence of unsafe sex and ignorance.

An estimated 4.8 million South Africans, or 10.8 percent of the country's total population, are living with HIV/AIDS, according to the national survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

The results were published in Johannesburg on Wednesday, one day ahead of the annual World AIDS Day that once again singles southern Africa out as "epicenter" of global AIDS pandemic.

HIV prevalence among young adults in the 15-49 age group increased slightly from 15.6 percent in 2002 to 16.2 percent in 2005, which "may be an indication that the epidemic in the general population of South Africa has entered a phase of leveling off," said Olive Shisana, principal investigator and CEO of HSRC.

The HSRC figure was less than the South African health department's estimate of 6.3 million infections last year and some 5 million estimated by the United Nations (UN) most recently.

Shisana told a press briefing on Wednesday that the population- based HSRC survey was different from studies only among pregnant women, whose data could be limited by over-representation of poorer African females.

The UN AIDS agency UNAIDS said almost 30 percent of women attending antenatal clinics in South Africa were tested HIV positive in 2004.

In its 2005 AIDS report released recently, UNAIDS said the epidemic in South Africa has evolved at an "astonishing" speed, with national adult HIV prevalence of less than 1 percent in 1990 soaring to almost 25 percent within 10 years.

Young females, Africans and residents in poverty-stricken informal settlements run much higher risks of being infected with HIV than males, whites and those living in formal settlements, the HSRC study found.

MORTALITY INCREASES, IGNORANCE PERSISTS

Thomas Rehle, a health expert with HSRC, said while the HIV infection level may keep steady in next several years after a steep rise, AIDS-related mortality will continue to increase.

The estimate of HIV positive population by Actuarial Society of South Africa, from last year's 5 million to 5.2 million this year, also suggested HIV prevalence is leveling off in South Africa.

But Rob Dorrington, the society's AIDS committee member, said this was not because new infections were falling, but rather that the number of infected people dying was approaching the number of people who were getting infected, national newspaper Business Day reported.

The society estimated 530,000 South Africans were newly infected between mid-2004 and mid-2005 while 340,000 AIDS patients died during the same period, reducing the average life expectancy down to a mere 51 years.

The HSRC estimated 2.5 million children in South Africa were orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Shisana said the HSRC survey has nevertheless raised some concerns, particularly high HIV infection rate among young girls.

"Of great concern is the finding that young women in the 15-24 age group are up to four times more likely to be HIV positive than young men in the same group," she said.

Females in this group were almost 17 percent likely to get infected in 2005, compared with 12 percent in 2002. HIV prevalence could be as high as some 33 percent among women aged 25-29.

Having sex at young age, multiple sexual partnerships and having older sexual partners increased their risk of HIV infection.

Shisana said half of the respondents in the study who were tested HIV positive did not think they were at risk of HIV infection.

Put it in another way, more than two million South Africans walking on street are HIV positive but think they are not, which can be a big risk of potentially infecting others, she said.

Although overall basic HIV/AIDS knowledge is high, many South Africans are still uncertain about HIV causing AIDS, condoms preventing HIV infection or HIV transmission from mother to child, she said.

ACCEPTING HIV/AIDS AS REALITY

The HSRC study discovered nearly half of South Africans aged 15 and older finding nothing wrong with marrying an HIV-positive person and would not have a problem having sex with them.

"These results suggest that South Africans are accepting HIV/ AIDS as a reality in South Africa and that stigmatization in society is becoming less of a factor, especially in urban areas," said Shisana.

The study found that 90.7 percent of South Africans were willing to care for HIV-positive family members and that 79.8 percent were against the exclusion of HIV-positive children from schools.

Although South Africans acknowledged the government's efforts in dealing with HIV/AIDS, a significant number were unhappy with the financial and human resources allocated to dealing with the scourge, Shisana said.

UNAIDS said this month that at least 85 percent of South Africans who needed antiretroviral drugs were not yet receiving them by mid-2005.

Nov. 30 , 2005

Wednesday, one day

last year

Wednesday

recently

10 years

next several years

last year

this year

the same period

mere 51 years

this month


XIN_ENG_20051129.0167

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 29 , 2005 (Xinhua)

AIDS blamed for 40 percent child deaths in South Africa

HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death of South African children under the age of five, the Children's Institute said in Cape Town on Tuesday.

"Forty percent of deaths of children under the age of five years are directly attributable to AIDS and a further 30 percent to diseases of poverty," CI Director Marian Jacobs said.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is first among a number of factors that are standing in the way of realizing child rights in South Africa, and the country needs a comprehensive response to children infected and affected by the disease.

This is the message from the Children's Institute, as it launched a publication on the situation of South Africa's children to coincide with World AIDS day on December 1.

This year's edition, the South African Child Gauge 2005, focuses on the theme of children and HIV/AIDS.

The professor said: "The second major obstacle to the realization of child rights is the ongoing income inequality and widespread poverty that continue in the country."

"The unemployment rate is rising alongside the HIV infection rate and this is of great concern, because poverty deepens the effects of HIV/AIDS on households, while the disease in turn aggravates already existing poverty," she added.

With a total population of 47 million, an estimated 5.2 million South Africans, or 11 percent of the population, are infected with HIV, according to a report the Actuarial Society of SA in local daily here on Tuesday.

Nov. 29 , 2005

Tuesday

five years

December 1

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20051130.0029

SINGAPORE, Nov. 30 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Asia Media Festival trade events opens in Singapore

The Asia Media Festival (AMF) trade events opened in Singapore Wednesday with participation of 4, 500 foreign trade delegates and 200 international sellers from 40 countries.

With the AMF events for the public including film screenings on display for two weeks, half a million participants for both consumer and trade events are expected this year.

"The Asia market with its diverse culture and flavor offers tremendous opportunities to the media industry," Singapore Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang said at the opening ceremony.

He announced that Discovery Networks Asia, the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore and a local production company will jointly adapt Asian-made documentaries for international audiences.

Singapore will be capable of transferring films to high- definition (HD) format by early 2006 while a trial to test HD television services will be carried out by the middle of next year, according to the minister.

Organized by Reed Exhibitions and hosted by the MDA, the Asia Media Festival is an annual fiesta in the media and entertainment industry, and will last until Dec. 2.

Nov. 30 , 2005

Wednesday

two weeks

this year

early 2006

next year

Dec. 2


XIN_ENG_20051122.0371

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 , 2005 (Xinhua)

US seeks to update quarantine rules

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday announced updates to quarantine regulations in order to better prepare for possible outbreaks of infectious diseases such as bird flu.

The stricter regulations were proposed at a time when global concerns are increasing about a potential outbreak of a bird flu pandemic as the bird flu virus strain is feared to mutate to become easily transmissible among humans quickly.

This is the first substantial overhaul of federal quarantine rules in at least 25 years, officials said.

The rules focus on early discovery and control of infectious diseases that may result from international transportation and interstate movement.

The rules include expanding the definition of ill passengers, allowing the CDC easier access to airline and ship passenger lists, and facilitating the CDC ability to offer vaccinations and medical treatment to quarantined people.

The changes are part of the CDC efforts to enhance its capacity to protect Americans from infectious agent from abroad. In the past 18 months, the CDC has set up 10 new quarantine stations at airports, ship ports and land-border crossings. It originally had only eight.

The proposed regulations are open for public comment for two months as of Nov. 30.

Nov. 22 , 2005

Tuesday

at least 25 years

the past 18 months

two months

Nov. 30