XIN_ENG_20061120.0134

HARBIN, Nov. 20 , 2006 (Xinhua)

UNDP helps train personnel for China's underdeveloped regions

More than 1,000 Chinese public servants and professionals are travel to Europe by the end of the year to study methods to modernize China's underdeveloped northeastern and western regions.

China's Ministry of Personnel and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Monday jointly launched the three-year training program.

Public servants and professionals from the northeast and west will go to Britain and Italy before the end of the year to study laws and regulations on personnel resources and experiences in developing modern agriculture and manufacturing in the two countries.

The UNDP provided one million U.S. dollars for the program which has a total investment of 2.5 million U.S. dollars, according to sources with the government of Daqing, a city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, where the launch ceremony was held.

This is the second time that the two sides have cooperated in training personnel for China's underdeveloped areas.

More than 1,200 public servants and professionals from 12 provinces and autonomous regions of west China participated in training programs and were sent abroad from 2002 to 2004 to study environmental protection, energy efficiency, and the prevention and treatment of desertification.

The Chinese government initiated the strategy to develop its vast western regions in 2000, targeting 12 underdeveloped areas, to narrow the gap with the fast-growing east.

Major tasks include improving infrastructure, ecological and environmental protection, and healthcare, and promoting education.

The central government also launched a strategy to rejuvenate its northeast industrial bases in 2003. The strategy is aimed at developing new and essential growth areas of the national economy.

Nov. 20 , 2006

the end of the year

Monday

the end of the year


XIN_ENG_20051103.0212

COLOMBO, Nov. 3 , 2005 (Xinhua)

EU upgrades diplomatic level in Sri Lanka

The European Union (EU) has upgraded its representation level in Sri Lanka to maintain good relations between EU and the Indian Ocean island country, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday in a press release.

EU's delegation is now a fully-fledged diplomatic mission with an accredited Head of Delegation of ambassadorial rank based in Colombo, said the press release.

With the upgrading, the staff of the EU delegation will be doubled and all operational decisions will be managed locally in Colombo by the expanded team.

EU is a major development partner of Sri Lanka with over 150 million euros in aid to tsunami relief and reconstruction, and over 70 million euros in conventional development expenditure.

EU offers Sri Lanka its most concessional trading status, which assures the country of maximum access for its exports to EU and had made EU one of Sri Lanka's most important trading partners.

EU's new Head of Delegation, Julian Wilson, presented credentials to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Monday.

Nov. 3 , 2005

Thursday

now

Monday


XIN_ENG_20051125.0186

MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 25 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Factbox of women's all-around world champion Chellsie Memmel

Following is the factbox of American Chellsie Memmel, who won women's all-around at the 38th gyamnastics world championships here on Friday:

Chellsie Memmel, the United States

Place of birth: West Allis, WI, the United States

Date of birth: Junuary 23, 1988

Height: 154 cm

Weight: 50 kg

Club: M Gymnastics in the United States

Coach: Andrew Memmel, her father, and Laurie Glazer

Idol: her parents

A steady performer, she helped the American team win its first world team title in 2003 and was a co-champion on uneven bars that year.

She missed the 2004 National Championships and Olympic trials due to a broken foot. She still made the Olympic travelling squad as an alternate but did not compete at the event.

She was named the 2003 TOPS Co-Athlete of the Year with Carly Patterson.

She is the oldest of three daughters to Andrew, a collegiate all-American gymnast at Wisconsin, and Jeanelle, an all-American at Centenary. Her parents own the M Gymnastics club, where her younger sister Mara is also a competitive gymnast. Another sister, Skyler is also a gymnast.

Her ambitions is to coach gymnastics in the future.

Nov. 25 , 2005

Friday

that year

the future


XIN_ENG_20061107.0216

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 , 2006 (Xinhua)

U.S. stocks open higher

U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday as investors were waiting for election results.

In the opening trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.84 to 12,107.39. The Standard  Poor's 500 index rose 0.08 to 1,379.86, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 0.64 to 2,366.59.

Crude oil prices rose slightly in electronic trade Tuesday amid supply concern of Nigeria.

Output of 55,000 barrels per day of oil was cut in Nigeria when armed protesters forced the closure of a flow stationbelonging to the Italian oil company Agip in the the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Nigeria is the largest African oil producer or the sixth largest oil exporter in the world with a daily crude output of 2.6 million barrels.

Nov. 7 , 2006

Tuesday

Tuesday


AFP_ENG_19970416.0272

NEW DELHI, April 16 , 1997 (AFP)

Indian industry chiefs hail interest rate cut, new lending rules

Delighted Indian industry chiefs Wednesday predicted the newly- announced cut in interest rates and relaxation of lending rules would spark growth as businesses revived expansion plans.

A.S. Kasliwal, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was responding after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday announced a one-percent interest rate cut to 11 percent in its monetary policy for the six months to September.

It also relaxed rules on bank lending to companies.

"The policy will give the banking sector freedom and flexibility to meet credit requirements of the productive sector," he said.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Shekhar Dutta also welcomed the RBI's new policy, saying it would "broaden and deepen the financial and capital market reforms.

"The policy reflects the continuation and direction of economic reforms and the measures announced will propel the pace and momentum of growth.

"The reduction of lending rate by one percent will reduce the cost of borrowing and help reduce project costs," the CII chief added.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry said the RBI policy "will give a boost to the capital market."

All-India Association of Industries president Vijay Kalantri added: "Freedom to banks to assess potential borrowers ... will benefit the commercial sector."

The RBI allowed banks more independence in giving credit and permitted them to extend loans to firms against their shares.

Commercial banks are expected to match the RBI's rate cut by reducing their prime lending and term deposit rates.

A national forum of banking executives, however, went againsts the trend by warning Wednesday the relaxed rules could lead to more bad loans being made.

All India Bank Officers Confederation secretary R.C. Agarwal added the RBI had restricted freedom of domestic banks following a multi- billion-dollar securities scandal in 1992.

Nine Indian and foreign banks were held responsible for artifically jacking up share prices with borrowed funds.

The RBI said Tuesday the aim of its policy was to "maintain a monetary expansion of 15 to 15.5 percent with the expectation of bringing down the interest rate to a reasonable level."

April 16 , 1997

Wednesday

Tuesday

the six months

Wednesday

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20051129.0018

KATHMANDU, Nov. 29 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Nepali people benefit from solar electrification

Some 300 homes involving 2,000 people of Katunje-2 village in Nepali Dhading district have benefited from Solar Electrification Project (SEP).

With the total cost of 16 million Nepali rupees ( 228,571 US dollars ), the project was executed by Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a public undertaking of the Indian government in partnership with Nepali Alternative Energy Promotion Center, a semi-governmental organization, a press statement of Embassy of India reaching here said Tuesday.

The project involves the provision of a solar panel, a maintenance free battery and a home lighting system of 75 watts, as well as planning, implementation and maintenance.

So far, India has executed 10 solar electrification projects worth 160.7 million ruppes (2.29 million dollars) in various districts in Nepal.

Nov. 29 , 2005

Tuesday


XIN_ENG_20061130.0382

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Metro train kills one, injures another in Washington area

A Metro train struck two employees working on the track near the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., on Thursday, killing one and critically injuring another, officials said.

The workers, both men, were walking the tracks doing routine inspections when the accident took place in the morning.

They were hit by an empty four-car train from Huntington to the Alexandria rail yard, which was near the Eisenhower Station, in Alexandria, Virginia, Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato said.

A section of the Yellow Line was shut down following the accident, and shuttle buses were used to transport passengers in several stations. Officials said the accident was under investigation.

Thursday's fatality was the 14th for the Metrorail system in its 30-year history and the third serious one involving Metro trains and its workers, media reports said.

Also on Thursday, two freight trains derailed in North Baltimore, a small town in Ohio. One of the trains derailed, sending wreckage into another train nearby knocking some of its cars off the track.

It was not known immediately how many people were injured in the accident and what caused the first train to derail, reports said.

Nov. 30 , 2006

Thursday

the morning

Thursday

Thursday


XIN_ENG_20061110.0234

LUANDA, Nov. 10 , 2006 (Xinhua)

WFP halves rations for hungry Mozambicans

A funding shortfall of over 70 percent has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to halve its rations to hungry Mozambicans, ahead of the critical "lean season" between harvests, when food stocks generally run out, said a report reaching here from the Mozambican capital of Maputo on Friday.

The report said the food aid agency urgently requires 10 million U.S. dollars to feed 460,000 people till next March when another harvest is due.

The WFP currently assists 292,000 vulnerable people, but a 77 percent shortfall in funding has deprived hundreds of thousands of people of half the ration of cereals and corn-soya blend they have been using to fight starvation.

"We are very concerned, because we are not talking about small numbers: some 240,000 people have no food security; half of those people are living in arid areas where they can not farm; they have nothing, " said Paulo Zacula, director of Mozambique's National Disaster agency.

The director said, "we are about to enter a period of emergencies with possible cyclones and floods. We should have stockpiles of food in case of emergencies,"

Karin Manente, WFP acting country director in Mozambique, said, "By this time, we have usually pre-positioned food stocks in areas that become inaccessible during such emergencies."

She added that due to the huge shortfall, some WFP-supported activities might have to be discontinued or suspended this month unless new donations were received, according to the report.

Nov. 10 , 2006

Friday

next March

this month


AFP_ENG_20061213.0243

KATHMANDU, Dec 13 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - RECASTS, UPDATES with talks starting ///

Nepal's government and Maoist leaders began fresh talks Wednesday aimed at hammering out an interim constitution that could result in the suspension of the monarchy.

Officials said the two sides, who signed a landmark peace deal last month to end a decade of civil war, were still at odds over who should be the Himalayan nation's new head of state -- with the Maoists hoping to end the reign of embattled King Gyanendra.

"The leaders will try to sort out the differences on some crucial issues, including who to be the head of the state in the interim period," Ramesh Lekhak, a government negotiator and Minister for Labour, told AFP.

King Gyanendra was stripped of most of his powers in May, after massive protests forced him to end direct rule.

Technically, he is still the head of state -- albeit with no power over the army and no political role.

Some members of the multi-party interim government are arguing the job should be left empty until scheduled elections next year for a constitutional assembly that will decide once and for all whether the 238-year-old monarchy should stay or go.

But the fiercely-republican Maoists want to see Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala -- the respected octogenarian architect of the peace deal -- or left-wing parliament speaker Subash Nemwang named as interim head of state, a move that would complicate the king's chances of a comeback next year.

Either way, the king looks set to temporarily lose his job.

Maoist negotiating team leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara told AFP that a further sticking point was the slow process of "arms management" -- implementing an agreement for the rebels to be confined to camps with their weapons and placed under United Nations supervision.

The UN has an initial batch of 35 monitors slated to arrive within the next few weeks, but is still some way off being able to monitor the tens of thousands of fighters the rebels claim they have.

The prime minister has warned the process, which will involve the rebels entering government and parliament, may not be able to move forward as long as rebels and their weapons roam free.

At least 12,500 people were killed during the rebel "people's war" that officially ended with the signing of a peace accord. The former insurgents, however, still control large tracts of the countryside.

Despite the hiccups, the Maoists insisted that the peace process as a whole was still firmly on track and an agreement likely.

"We are hopeful Wednesday's meeting will finalise the issue and give the final shape of the interim constitution," Mahara said.

The political parties in government and rebels are one-time foes who formed a loose alliance in late 2005.

Together they spearheaded mass protests in April that forced Gyanendra to abandon 14 months of absolute rule. He said he had seized direct power to crush the Maoist rebellion.

After the king reinstated parliament, it promptly stripped him of most of his powers, and his future will be definitively decided in constituent assembly polls due to be held before June 2007.

Although tainted by allegations of abuse of power, he is still revered by many in the deeply conservative kingdom as a Hindu deity.

Meanwhile, Gyanendra and Queen Komal reportedly headed south for the winter to escape the cold, following pressure on them to keep a low profile after the peace deal.

Dec 13 , 2006

Wednesday

last month

the interim period

May

next year

next year

the next few weeks

Wednesday

late 2005

April

June 2007

the winter


XIN_ENG_20051110.0249

XI'AN, Nov. 10 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Buddha Finger Sarira to be enshrined in ROK for one month

About 1,000 Buddhists held a religious ceremony on Thursday in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to see off the holy Buddha Finger Sarira, which is heading for the Republic of Korea (ROK) for one month of enshrinement there.

The ceremony was chaired by Master Monk Yi Cheng, president of the Buddhist Association of China, and Master Monk Sheng Hui, who is in charge of the escort, at Famen Temple of Xi'an, one of the four sacred places in Chinese Buddhism.

The Buddhists, from both China and the ROK, saluted the images of Buddha and chanted aloud sutras from Buddhist classics at the ceremony.

The Buddha Finger Sarira, or the finger bone relic of Buddhism founder Sakyamuni, is regarded as China's state treasure. It is going to the ROK at the invitation of the ROK Buddhist Association.

This is an important event in the 1,600-year history of friendly relations between the two countries, said Master Monk Sheng Hui.

The enshrinement of the Buddha Finger Sarira in the ROK could bring the ROK people happiness, improve social morality and boost friendship between the two countries, said Hui Cong, head of the inviting Buddhist delegation from the ROK.

The Buddha Finger Sarira will stay in the ROK from Nov. 11 to Dec. 20.

Since it was unearthed from a secret chamber at the Famen Temple in 1987 after being buried underground for nearly 1,000 years, the Buddha Finger Sarira has been sent to Thailand and China's Taiwan Province and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for enshrinement. The three activities, arranged respectively in 1994, 2002 and 2004, attracted millions of Buddhist believers.

Nov. 10 , 2005

Thursday

one month

Nov. 11

Dec. 20

nearly 1,000 years


XIN_ENG_20061102.0323

CAIRO, Nov. 2 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Cairo to host annual international film festival from Nov. 28

The annual 30th Cairo International Film Festival will be held from Nov. 28 to Dec. 8, with some 19 films from 16 countries to be shown.

Chinese film "The Road", directed by Zhang Jiarui, will be among the films for competition. Three Egyptian films and two Mexican films will also be shown at the festival.

According to a press release by the organizer, there will be a five-member international jury led by Egyptian director and writer Daoud Abdel Sayed during the festival.

The film festival will be held with a series of form and content reforms as the festival's logo being changed from "The Pyramid" to "The Pharaonic Life Key" while the prizes also being changed to "the Golden Life Key", "the Silver Life Key" and "the Bronze Life Key".

Another remarkable change of this year's film festival was the guest of honor, not a sole country, but a whole continent -- the Latin America.

In recent years, France, Italy and China were honored at the festival for their outstanding contributions to the Seventh Art ( the art of cinema) during the past century.

Furthermore, this year's film festival will hold a conference on anti-piracy, during which the current practices of film piracy, ways to reduce its harmful impact on investors and consumers, and the economic growth process will be discussed.

Nov. 2 , 2006

Nov. 28

Dec. 8

the festival

this year

recent years

this year


XIN_ENG_20051123.0180

BEIJING, Nov. 23 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Beijing gets new fuel cell cars for Olympic fleet

Beijing Public Transportation Corp. got here Wednesday three brand new fuel cell passenger cars from world leading automaker Daimler-Chrysler.

The three new cars, prototypes of the green vehicle fleet serving the Beijing Olympics, will be used in Beijing's hi-tech zone, or Zhongguancun Area, for public transportation in an 8.19-km route.

The experimental commercial use of the fuel cell cars is the first of its kind in any developing country.

The Beijing Public Transportation Corporation has prepared all facilities for hydrogen refilling, which is vital for fuel cell cars, data collection systems, training for drivers and service management.

The Global Environment Fund and the United Nations Development Program supported the experimental project for promoting free-emission fuel cell cars in China, which will host the 2008 summer Olympics and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

The three cars were shown at the Fourth International Clean Vehicle Technology Conference and Exhibition.

At the inaugural for the exhibition, Ma Songde, vice-minister of Science and Technology, said that the development of energy-saving vehicles is one task for build an energy-saving society and an environment-friendly economy.

As the world's most populous country and a developing one, Ma said, China should cultivate an auto industry oriented for saving energy and protecting the environment.

Fuel cells transfer hydrogen to electric power, which produces no pollution. Many big auto companies in the world invest much into the research and development of such environment-friendly vehicles.

An industrial policy guideline issued by the government in 2004 supported the development of vehicles using clean energies.

Ma said Chinese companies need to combine their own innovative capacity with the latest technologies licensed by multinational auto makers to shape the cutting-edge in the industry.

At present, Chinese auto makers have already developed more than 100 kinds of hybrid cars and fuel cell cars, many of which were shown at the Beijing exhibition.

Nov. 23 , 2005

Wednesday

2008 summer


AFP_ENG_20061217.0433

BEIJING, Dec 18 , 2006, 2006

URGENT  Six-nation talks on NKorea's nukes start

Six-nation talks aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear program began here Monday, a South Korean official said, just over two months after the reclusive nation conducted its first atomic test.

Dec 18 , 2006

Monday

two months


bbc_20130322_332

2013-03-22

BP to buy back $8bn in shares after Russian sale

Oil giant BP has said it will buy back $8bn of shares, returning to shareholders the money they had put into a complicated Russian venture.

It said it "expected to return to BP shareholders an amount equivalent to the value of the company's original investment in TNK-BP".

BP agreed to sell back its 50% stake in TNK-BP to Russia's Rosneft in October in return for $17.1bn in cash and shares.

It invested in TNK-BP in 2003.

BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said: "We expect our stake in Rosneft will generate long-term value for BP and its shareholders. But this buyback programme should also allow our shareholders to see benefits in the near-term from the value we have realised by reshaping our Russian business."

BP expects the share buyback programme could take between 12 and 18 months to complete.

"In 2003 BP invested around $8bn in cash, shares and assets in the formation of TNK-BP," the oil giant said. "Over the following decade BP received a total of $19bn in dividends from the joint venture."

Although BP's involvement in the Russian joint venture has been lucrative, relations with its partners have often been fraught with disagreement. In 2011, the AAR consortium attempted to block a drilling joint venture in the Arctic between BP and Rosneft through the courts and the plan was eventually dropped.

As well as internal wrangles, BP employees at TNK-BP have fallen foul of Russian authorities.

While serving as head of TNK-BP, Bob Dudley - now the head of BP as a whole - had his office bugged and raided by the police and met with onerous back-tax demands, legal action and visa problems.

He eventually fled the country in 2008.

But the tie-up with Rosneft will keep BP in Russia, allowing it to continue to explore and exploit the country's vast energy resources, including in the Arctic region. And Rosneft benefits from BP's expertise in exploring in difficult and potentially hazardous conditions.

October

18 months

the following decade

now


XIN_ENG_20051117.0261

HANOI, Nov. 17 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Trans-national drug trafficking ring uncovered in Vietnam

Vietnamese police have uncovered a trans-national drug trafficking ring alleged to have trafficked 1, 000 heroin cakes, each weighing 0.35 kilograms, into the country from neighboring Cambodia since 2002, Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday.

Heroin was brought into Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City via southern Kien Giang province's Ha Tien town, which borders Cambodia, before heading to Quang Ninh province and other northern localities, the report quoted the police as saying.

Late last month, local police arrested Kong Hung, a Cambodian, in Ha Tien town, with five heroin cakes. The man, who was a member of the ring, admitted that he has so far this year transported 194 heroin cakes across the border.

Nov. 17 , 2005

Thursday

Late last month

this year


AFP_ENG_20051216.0469

LONDON, Dec 16 , 2005

Nearly one in four Britons fat: official

British adults have got fatter in the last 10 years with almost one in four now officially obese, according to official statistics released Friday.

In men, obesity rates almost doubled in 10 years, from 13.2 percent in 1993 to 23.6 percent in 2004, a study by the Health and Social Care Information Centre found.

For women, the increase was slightly lower, growing from 16.4 percent to 23.8 percent.

But findings that children's body mass index -- a measure of weight in relation to height -- continued to grow again raised fears that they will be larger than their parents and put an additional burden on health services.

Despite the research's gloomy picture, the number of people doing 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise at least five times a week increased in the period, from 32 to 35 percent of men and 21 to 24 percent of women.

There was also a rise in the number of people eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day.

More people kicked the smoking habit with the study showing a six percent fall in the number of male smokers from 28 percent to 22 percent.

Women in Britain now smoke more than men with the research showing a three-percent dip in female smokers between 1993 and 2004 to 23 percent.

The research involved about 8,000 adults and 2,000 children aged two to 15.

Dec 16 , 2005

last 10 years

Friday

10 years

a week

now


AFP_ENG_20061221.0166

ORDUBAD, Azerbaijan, Dec 21 , 2006, 2006

Azerbaijan to meet Gazprom over gas price hike

Azerbaijani officials are to hold talks Friday with Russian gas giant Gazprom over an increase in Russian gas export prices, the head of Azerbaijan's state oil company said Thursday.

"Talks between Azerbaijani government representatives and Gazprom on the issues of the price and volume of delivery of gas will begin in Moscow tomorrow," Rovnag Abdullayev, head of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR said.

Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom wants to increase the price for gas sold to Azerbaijan from 110 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters to 230 dollars as part of a series of price hikes for former Soviet republics.

It also wants to more that halve its annual deliveries of some four billion cubic meters to Azerbaijan, potentially creating a shortage of the fuel in the Caspian state, which has major oil and gas reserves of its own, but suffers from poor infrastructure.

"Azerbaijani consumers will not be left without gas," Abdullayev told journalists during a visit to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan region.

Azerbaijan has reacted to Gazprom's demands by threatening to cut exports of its own oil through Russian territory, in a move that would deprive Russia of lucrative transit fees.

Dec 21 , 2006

Friday

Thursday

tomorrow


AFP_ENG_20051215.0336

KARACHI, Dec 15 , 2005

= (PICTURES) =

Kamran Akmal smashed his second successive one-day century to help Pakistan hand England a crushing 165-run defeat in the third day-night limited overs international here on Thursday.

Akmal followed his 102 in the second match with a brilliant 109 and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq hit an unbeaten 22-ball 51 as England conceded their highest-ever one-day total of 353-6 in 50 overs.

England never looked remotely in the hunt and lost wickets at regular intervals. They were dismissed for 188 in 42 overs, with supersub Ian Bell topscoring with 37 not out.

Pakistan lead the five-match series 2-1.

The result equalled England's previous worst one-day defeat of 165 suffered against the West Indies at St. Vincent in the 1993-94 series.

The tourists lost opener Matthew Prior (two) to a run out in the seventh over when fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar picked up Marcus Trescothick's drive and threw the stumps down at the non-striker's end.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan then removed Trescothick (22) and Vikram Solanki (nought) in his fourth over to leave England struggling on 40-3.

It became 4-79 when Mohammad Sami trapped Andrew Strauss leg before for 23. Allrounder Andrew Flintoff hit seven boundaries in his 36 before he was bowled by supersub Yasir Arafat.

Leg-spinner Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik then shared five wickets between them to wrap up the innings on a day totally dominated by Pakistan.

Earlier, Akmal had added 104 for the third wicket with Mohammad Yousuf (68) after Trescothick surprisingly put them in on a pitch full of runs.

The 22-year-old, whose century helped Pakistan win Monday's second match at Lahore by seven wickets, laid the cornerstone for a big Pakistan total by giving them a flying start of 74 with Salman Butt (29).

Akmal, who survived a caught and bowled chance off Paul Collingwood, struck 12 boundaries off 111 balls to notch up his third one-day hundred before holing out at long-on with a tired shot off the bowling of Collingwood.

His fall brought in popular all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who delighted the packed 33,000 crowd with a rapid-fire 14-ball 31 studded with three fours and two sixes.

Afridi, who returned after serving a one-Test and two one-day games ban for scruffing the pitch in the second Test last month, was finally run out in a mix-up with Yousuf.

Yousuf suffered the same fate five overs later after hitting seven boundaries during his 65-ball knock. But his fall opened the way for a late- order flurry as Pakistan notched up 109 off the last ten overs.

Razzaq hit five fours and three sixes during his brisk knock of 22 balls, while Inzamam smacked four boundaries and a six as the pair added 78 off just 39 balls to scuttle a hapless England attack.

Plunkett was the best of England's bowlers, taking two wickets for 61 off seven overs. James Anderson was hit for 72 off his ten and Steve Harmison 62 off his eight.

England brought Vikram Solanki in for big-hitting Kevin Pietersen who returned home after suffering back and ribcage problems.

The match was played under tight security with over 3,000 policemen and paramilitary troops cordoning off the ground. England, who refused to play a Test here, had sought extra security in the violence-prone city.

The previous highest total conceded by England in all one-day internationals was 326-8 made by India at Lord's in 2002.

The fourth match will be played at Rawalpindi on Monday.

Dec 15 , 2005

Thursday

Monday

last month

Monday


AFP_ENG_19970416.0651

TOKYO, April 17 , 1997 (AFP)

Japan's trade surplus down 26.8 percent in March

Japan's trade surplus in March was down 26.8 percent from a year earlier at 818.3 billion yen (6.49 billion dollars) but up from 686.7 billion yen in February, the finance ministry said Thursday.

Exports were up 10.5 percent at 4.54 billion yen while imports were up 24.4 percent at 3.72 billion yen, it said.

For the fiscal year ending in March, the trade surplus narrowed 29.6 percent to 6,421 billion yen.

A ministry official said the decline in Japan's trade surplus was "slowing", apparently referring to the impact of the weaker yen.

Tokyo Research Institute economist Toshio Sumitani said the March surplus was below his forecast for a trade imbalance of one trillion yen.

"Imports were stronger than expected ... Crude oil prices have fallen recently, so I did not expect strong imports," he said, citing "extraordinary factors" for the increase.

Sumitani also noted that exports to the United States remained high and this was expected to continue boosting the surplus in the coming months.

"The pace of the movement in the trade surplus year on year is slowing, because of slowing exports to the Asian and European markets," he said.

In March alone, Japan's surplus with the United States, its biggest trading partner, surged 11.2 percent to 380 billion yen with exports up 14.3 percent at 1,260 billion yen and imports up 15.7 percent at 880 billion yen.

The surplus with Asia shrank 17.9 percent to 635 billion yen, with exports up 7.6 percent at 1,922 billion yen and imports increasing 27.0 percent to 1,287 billion yen.

With the European Union, the trade surplus narrowed 39.2 percent to 131 billion yen. Exports to the EU countries rose 2.5 percent to 676 billion yen with imports down 22.8 percent at 545 billion yen.

April 17 , 1997

March

a year

February

Thursday

the fiscal year

March

March

coming months

March


AFP_ENG_19970416.0328

NAIROBI, April 16 , 1997 (AFP)

Inflation soars in Kenya

Kenya's three-month annualised inflation rose to 35.6 percent in March from 14.7 percent in February as a result of food shortages caused by widespread drought earlier this year, the Central Bank said Wednesday.

The overall month-on-month inflation also rose to 15.6 percent in March from 11.9 percent in February, with the average annual inflation increasing to 10.7 from 9.9 percent during the same period.

"The surge in the overall inflation during the first quarter of the year was traced to the severe decline in agricultural output following the drought", the bank's monthly economic review for April says.

The food price index increased by 43 percent during the year to March 1997, compared to the earlier increase of 17 percent during the same period last year.

The Kenyan shilling gained against major currencies in March when it was trading at 54.90 to the dollar compared with 54.93 in February.

The overall balance of payments in the year up to February 1997 was a surplus of 504 million dollars compared with a deficit of 102 million dollars in the year to February 1996.

April 16 , 1997

March

February

earlier this year

Wednesday

March

February

the same period

the first quarter of the year

April

the year

March 1997

the same period last year

March

February

the year up to February 1997

the year to February 1996


XIN_ENG_20061127.0187

KAMPALA, Nov. 27 , 2006 (Xinhua)

China joins force with Uganda in fighting malaria

A three-day anti-malaria training program opened here on Monday as part of China's efforts to join force with Uganda to fight malaria.

"Malaria has serious implications on all aspects of our lives, at individual, family, community level and at national level. We can not afford to keep silent and live with it," said Stephen Malinga, Uganda's minister of health, who opened the training program in Kampala on Monday.

He also hailed the Chinese government for financing the course, saying it is an indication of the growing cordial relation between the two countries.

"There are a lot of technologies in China, in medicine, which the world is freshly discovering. It is the challenge for participants in this short course to utilize this opportunity to learn from Chinese experts," Malinga said.

Ministry of Health statistics indicate that malaria kills over 80,000 Ugandans per year, mostly pregnant women and children, and still ranks as the number one killer in the east African country.

He Shijing, the charge d'affairs of the Chinese embassy in Kampala, said the Chinese government is fulfilling its pledge of donating anti-malaria medicine and carrying out anti-malaria training programs in Uganda.

"The Chinese experts are here, ready and willing to work hard together with their Ugandan colleagues to reduce the influence of malaria, to share experience and to improve Ugandan people's health through direct contribution of anti-malaria medicine and treatment expertise," he added.

In recent months, various Chinese anti-malaria drugs have been introduced on the Ugandan market as the Ugandan government embarked on various measures, including the indoor spraying of the DDT, to combat the disease spread by female anopheles mosquitoes.

Nov. 27 , 2006

Monday

Monday

recent months


XIN_ENG_20061125.0037

LUSAKA, Nov. 25 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Alien plant species threatens ecosystem of Zambia's Victoria Falls

Ecosystem of Zambia's Victoria Falls is under serious threat from an invasive alien species (IAS) of weed called Lantana Camara, a conservationist has warned.

The situation was very serious as the weed was killing off natural vegetation, Geoffrey Howard, eastern Africa regional program coordinator of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was quoted by Saturday's The Post as saying.

Lantana is regarded as one of the worst weeds because of its invasiveness, its potential to spread and its subsequent economic and environmental impact, according to Howard.

The weed is a serious threat to biodiversity in several World Heritage-listed areas and poses a problem in gardens because it can cross-pollinate with weed varieties to create new, more resilient forms, he added.

Howard said if left unattended to, the weed could become the dominant vegetation in the Victoria Falls area and that the other plant species were in danger of becoming extinct.

He said his organization was working with the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe to come up with the best way to tackle the weed.

Nov. 25 , 2006

Saturday


AFP_ENG_20051217.0110

BAGHDAD, Dec 17 , 2005

charges ///

Political leaders in Iraq and abroad focused Saturday on a government for the war-torn nation while a high-profile secular candidate charged that an electoral commission had failed in its mission.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq cautioned that ballots from Thursday's legislative poll were still being counted and official results would not be available before the end of the year.

Unofficial estimates, however, suggested polarized results similar to those from elections in January, and Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Iraqi National Concord Front, a list strongly supported by Sunni Arabs, said he was ready to join a coalition.

But former planning minister Mehdi al-Hafez told media in Baghdad: "The results that have been announced are incorrect and are meant to influence public opinion."

He spoke after reports of a sweeping victory for the main religious Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), in nine southern provinces.

"There were many violations in several provinces and there is widespread concern among the electorate, who feel state bodies and the electoral commission failed in their task," Hafez said.

Hafez who ran for office alongside former prime minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite, pressed for an official investigation to remove all doubts about the poll's credibility.

Dulaimi in contrast appeared to accept the commission's work, and said: "We will work towards finding a strong coalition in the national assembly that can protect the rights of Iraqis."

The current government, an alliance of Kurds and religious Shiites, took months to form and has been accused of sidelining the country's disaffected Sunni Arab minority.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has said that if the UIA lost, which is unlikely, he would work with whoever won "even if they are not qualified."

Jaafari met Saturday with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites, in all likelihood to discuss the political future of the country.

The religious Shiite UIA, according to estimates from commission sources and party officials, appeared to have swept the largely Shiite south, while a Kurdish alliance had a purportedly commanding lead in the north.

An international mission said Friday that the Iraqi election has generally met international standards, and hailed the organisers for meeting a "difficult challenge."

Iraqi Shiites and Sunni Arabs staged rallies throughout Iraq on Saturday to champion their legislative candidates as the country emerged from a three-day security lockdown.

Facing anemic poll numbers at home over his Iraq policy, US President George W. Bush has trumpeted the election as a victory for the Iraqi people and US policy in Iraq and is hoping a strong government will quickly coalesce.

The new 275-member parliament is to appoint a president and two vice presidents. The presidential council will then have 15 days to name a prime minister, who has 30 days to form a cabinet with parliamentary approval.

A spokesman for Bush said he has contacted the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates and asked them to help Iraq establish a new government.

US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and General George Casey, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said in a statement: "The newly elected leaders should come together quickly and build bridges for national unity."

The UN Security Council also called for "the rapid formation of a representative government" and stressed "the importance of inclusiveness, dialogue and national unity as Iraq's political development moves forward."

While few deaths occurred during the vote, ongoing instability in Iraq was underlined by a mortar attack Friday that killed four children playing football and an Iraqi soldier near the western town of Haditha.

Dulaimi told reporters Saturday that insurgents had agreed not to attack polling stations and thanked them for holding to their promise.

In an interview Friday, Bush admitted that the elections would not solve the problem of the insurgency in Iraq, and that violence would likely continue.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Central Investigating Court issued an arrest warrant for Mullah Halgurd al-Khabir, accused of masterminding the August 23 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people, among other attacks.

Dec 17 , 2005

Saturday

Thursday

the end of the year

January

Saturday

Friday

Saturday

15 days

30 days

Friday

Saturday

Friday

August 23


XIN_ENG_20051124.0279

BRUSSELS, Nov. 24 , 2005 (Xinhua)

operations

The European Union (EU) and Canada signed an agreement on Thursday, facilitating Canada's participation in EU crisis management operations.

The agreement was signed by EU's foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana and Canadian ambassador Jeremy Kinsman in the margins of an EU-Canada leaders' video-conference.

Until now, Canada's participation in EU-led crisis management operations has been on ad hoc basis.

Canada has participated or is currently involved in several EU- led operations in Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Nov. 24 , 2005

Thursday

now


AFP_ENG_20061205.0376

LIMA, Dec 5 , 2006, 2006

URGENT  45 killed in Peruvian bus accident

A passenger bus drove off a cliff in a remote part of southeastern Peru on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people and injuring two others, local police said.

Dec 5 , 2006

Tuesday


AFP_ENG_20061212.0668

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 12 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - RECASTS ///

The UN Security Council on Tuesday capped a special debate on growing Middle East turmoil by reaffirming its commitment to the vision of Israel and an independent Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.

"The Security Council reaffirms its profound attachment to the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," said a statement read by Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani.

Qatar, which holds the council's rotating presidency for this month, scheduled the debate amid growing concern about the deteriorating situation across the Middle East, with conflicts raging in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iraq.

The 15-member council emphasized that "there can be no military solution to the problems of the region and that negotiation is the only viable way to bring peace and prosperity to peoples throughout the Middle East."

It welcomed last month's Gaza truce agreement reached by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and cautioned that "action by the international community cannot be a substitute for determined measures by the parties themselves."

It again called on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority to accept the three pinciples set by the Middle East Quartet -- The European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- as a basis for resuming peace talks with Israel.

But the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Palestinian government since its historic win in the January polls, has so far refused the three principles -- renounce violence, agree to abide by past peace deals or recognise Israel -- even implicitly.

Opening the debate, outgoing UN chief Kofi Annan pleaded for "a new and urgent push for peace" between Israelis and Palestinians.

He reiterated that the Roadmap, the blueprint for peace drawn up by the Quartet, remained "the reference point around which any effort to re-energize a political effort on the Israeli-Palestnian track should be centered."

But US deputy ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff warned that "the ultimate responsibility for progress toward peace rests with the parties, and with their fulfillment of the parallel obligations they have agreed to undertake in accordance with the Roadmap."

"The role of the international community, therefore ... must be to help create the environment that will enable the parties to come together to resolve their differences," he added.

In his last report on the Middle East released Monday, Annan also stressed the need to find "new ways of protecting Palestinian and Israeli civilians" from violence, and to establish clear parameters for settling final status issues such as the fate of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.

Commenting on Annan's ideas, China's UN envoy Wang Guangya said that "they deserve serious consideration" by the Security Council.

Slamming the council for its passivity in tackling the issue, the Chinese ambassador said that the powerful body "should transform itself as soon as possible from 'firefighter' to 'problem shooter,' come up with innovative ideas and take an active and pragmatic approach" to help solve the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry again urged Israel "to freeze all settlement activity, including the 'natural growth' of existing settlements, and to dismantle all outposts built since 2001 in line with the provisions of the Roadmap."

And he pressed the Palestinian Authority to make every effort "to prevent terrorism."

Israel's UN deputy representative Daniel Carmon, for his part, stressed that "direct negotiations ... is the only way forward."

"Israelis, Lebanese, and Palestinians all deserve better ... We must join hands in fighting extremism and radicalism, incitement and intolerance, terrorism and hate," he added.

Dec 12 , 2006

Tuesday

this month

last month

January

Monday


AFP_ENG_19970420.0083

NEW DELHI, April 20 , 1997 (AFP)

Gujral vows to improve India's ties with Pakistan

United Front coalition leader Inder Kumar Gujral on Sunday said he would improve India's relations with Pakistan after forming his new government.

Gujral said the alliance government would follow an independent foreign policy and added he would also try and improve relations between India and its other neighbours.

The new United Front leader, who has served as India's foreign minister under three governments and who is expected to be named prime minister later Sunday, promised normal ties with arch-rival Pakistan.

"This area will be given considerable importance by the new government," he said.

Gujral said he has evolved a "five-point doctrine" to improve India's foreign relations in the region and said the subject would be a "priority area".

The former diplomat said India's ties with Europe, the United States, China and Russia "would get the equal attention of the United Front government."

As foreign minister in his predecessor H.D. Deve Gowda's government, Gujral helped end a three-year freeze on official talks between India and Pakistan last month.

He also eased travel restrictions for Pakistanis visiting India before holding talks with Pakistani foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan in April.

That, ironically, was due to pave the way for a meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries at a regional summit next month in the Maldives. Now Gujral looks set to represent India there himself.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

April 20 , 1997

Sunday

last month

April

next month

Now


XIN_ENG_20061115.0201

HONG KONG, Nov. 15 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Hong Kong chief to visit Guizhou Province next week

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive Donald Tsang will lead a delegation, comprising officials and local business leaders, to visit southwestern Guizhou on Nov. 21, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

The three-day tour aims to promote economic and trade cooperation between Hong Kong and the Pan-Pearl River Delta region, which groups Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan.

The tour will be Tsang's third visit to the Pan-Pearl River region since he assumed the office of HKSAR Chief Executive in 2005. He will lead another business delegation to Jiangxi early next year, according to the government spokesman.

During the trip, Tsang will visit local enterprises and tourism-related infrastructure. He will also take part in the Hong Kong-Guizhou Business Co-operation Symposium and the Hong Kong-Guizhou Tourism Seminar.

Nov. 15 , 2006

Nov. 21

Wednesday

early next year


XIN_ENG_20061115.0089

TAIYUAN, Nov. 15 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Death toll in north China colliery gas blast rises to 41

The death toll from a colliery blast in north China last week has risen to 41 with six others still missing, local government sources said on Wednesday.

Rescuers found another body Wednesday morning in the Jiaojiazhai Colliery in Xinzhou, a city in the central northern area of Shanxi Province, according to a provincial coal mine work safety conference held on Wednesday.

A gas explosion occurred at 11:45 a.m. on Nov. 5. at the Jiaojiazhai Colliery, when 393 miners were working in the pit. Three hundred and forty-six escaped after the blast.

Search and rescue efforts are continuing though rescuers believe the six missing miners have little chance of survival, given the high density of toxic gas and serious cave-ins following the blast.

Also on Wednesday, one miner was confirmed dead following a colliery flood that trapped eight in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The accident, in which one miner is still missing and six were injured, occurred Tuesday at the privately-owned Dahenan Colliery in Huazi Township in Dengta, a city about 50 kilometers south of provincial capital Shenyang.

Surging demand for winter coal has spurred production but also caused a string of deadly accidents.

In the coal-rich Shanxi Province, two recent colliery accidents, including the Jiaojiazhai Colliery blast, have killed at least 67 people.

Nov. 15 , 2006

last week

Wednesday

Wednesday morning

Wednesday

11:45 a.m.

Nov. 5.

Wednesday

Tuesday


AFP_ENG_20061211.0411

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Dec 11 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - UPDATES toll ///

Four people, among them a woman and her two children, were crushed to death after an explosion caused by a defective heating system razed a five-storey building housing families of the Turkish military here early Monday, officials said.

Eight people were pulled injured from the wreckage of the building in the center of Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Four others remained trapped under the rubble, land forces commander General Ilker Basbug, who flew in from Ankara to inspect the rescue efforts, told reporters.

Two of them were said to have responded to rescuers.

Police detained the man who repaired the heating system on Sunday evening for questioning, the Anatolia news agency reported.

At least two children were among the rescued, Anatolia said. Security officials said none of the injuries were life threatening.

The army set up a security perimeter as dozens of rescuers from civil defense and military teams frantically digged the debris for more survivors and ambulances stood by.

Diyarbakir is home to a major military garrison comprising thousands of troops.

The destroyed building in the city center was part of a complex of two five-storey billets comprising of about a dozen apartments.

Turkey maintains a strong military presence in the southeast, where it has been fighting a Kurdish insurgency for self-rule for the past 22 years.

Dec 11 , 2006

early Monday

Sunday evening

the past 22 years


WSJ891027-0127
 = 891027
 891027-0127.
 Mutual Funds:
@  Investors Yank Billions From Junk Funds
@  ----
@  By Michael Siconolfi
@  Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
 10/27/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 TROW
 MUTUAL AND MONEY-MARKET FUNDS (FND)
BOND MARKET NEWS (BON)
 NEW YORK

   Billions of investors' dollars are pouring out of the nation's junk-bond mutual funds, undermining a pillar of support in the already reeling junk market.

   Last week alone, an eye-popping $1.6 billion flowed out of the junk funds, or nearly 5% of their total assets, according to estimates by Dalbar Financial Services Inc., a Boston research firm.

   In the past two months the nation's 88 junk funds have lost a total of about $6 billion -- more than 15% of assets -- through sales or transfers of junk-fund shares, Dalbar says.
It made the estimates based on data collected from more than a dozen big junk funds.

   Interviews with three major fund groups -- Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. -- confirm the trend.
Their junk funds combined have had net outflows totaling nearly $500 million, or about 13% of their junk fund assets, in the past two months.

   Some fund managers say negative publicity has exacerbated investors' concern about recent declines in junk-bond prices.
"People have been seeing headline after headline after headline and saying: `I ca n't take it anymore -- I'm getting out,'" says Kurt Brouwer of Brouwer amp Janachowski, a San Francisco investment adviser.

   The withdrawals could spell trouble for the $200 billion junk market.
If the heavy outflows continue, fund managers will face increasing pressure to sell off some of their junk to pay departing investors in the weeks ahead.
Such selling could erode prices of high-yield junk bonds, already weakened by a rash of corporate credit problems.

   Mutual fund groups have n't lost control of much of the outgoing money, says Louis Harvey, Dalbar's president.
Mutual fund officials say that investors have transferred most of it into their money market accounts, and to a lesser extent, government-bond funds.
So the impact on the $950 billion mutual fund industry as a whole probably will be slight.

   But tremors are likely in the junk-bond market, which has helped to finance the takeover boom of recent years.
Mutual funds are the among the largest holders of junk, accounting for more than a quarter of the entire high-yield, high-risk market.
The 88 mutual funds investing solely in junk bonds hold assets of about $32 billion.
Other funds hold a smattering of junk bonds, too.

   The $1.5 billion Fidelity High Income Fund has had a net outflow of about $150 million in the past two months.
About $60 million streamed out last week alone, double the level of the week following last month's Campeau Corp. credit squeeze.
About 98% of the outflow was transferred to other Fidelity funds, says Neal Litvack, a Fidelity vice president, marketing, with most going into money market funds.

   "You get a news item, it hits, you have strong redemptions that day and for two days following -- then go back to normal," says Mr. Litvack.
The fund, with a cash cushion of more than 10%, has " met all the redemptions without having to sell one thing," Mr. Litvack says.
He adds: "Our fund has had {positive} net sales every month for the last three years -- until this month."

   Vanguard's $1 billion High Yield Bond Portfolio has seen $161 million flow out since early September; $14 million of that seeped out Friday Oct. 13 alone.
Still, two-thirds of the outflow has been steered into other Vanguard portfolios, says Brian Mattes, a vice president.
The fund now holds a cash position of about 15%.

   At the $932 million T. Rowe Price High Yield Fund, investors yanked out about $182 million in the past two months.
Those withdrawals, most of which were transferred to other T. Rowe Price funds, followed little change in the fund's sales picture this year through August.
"The last two months have been the whole ball game," says Steven Norwitz, a vice president.

   Junk-fund holders have barely broken even this year, as fat interest payments barely managed to offset declining prices.
Through Oct. 19, high-yield funds had an average 0.85% total return (the price change plus dividends on fund shares), according to Lipper Analytical Services Inc. That's even less than the 4.35% total return of the Merrill Lynch High-Yield Index.

   Fidelity's junk fund has fallen 2.08% this year through Oct. 19, Lipper says; the Vanguard fund rose 1.84%; and the T. Rowe Price fund edged up 0.66%.

   People who remain in junk funds now could get hit again, some analysts and fund specialists say.
Many funds in recent weeks and months have been selling their highest-quality junk issues, such as RJR Nabisco, to raise cash to meet expected redemptions.

   Funds might be forced to accept lower prices if they expand their selling to the securities of less-creditworthy borrowers.
And then, asset values of the funds could plunge more than they have so far.

   Says Michael Hirsch, chief investment officer of Republic National Bank and manager of the FundTrust Group in New York: "It's a time bomb just waiting to go off."

Last week

the past two months

the past two months

recent

the weeks ahead

recent years

the past two months

last week

week

last month

every month

the last three years

this month

early September

Friday Oct. 13

now

the past two months

this year

August

The last two months

this year

Oct. 19

this year

Oct. 19

now

recent weeks and months


XIN_ENG_20061130.0147

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 30 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Malaysia stock market stays firm with CI hitting new high

The Malaysia stock market closed broadly higher Thursday on strong foreign buying in blue chips, pushing the Composite Index (CI) over the 1,080-level.

At the closing, the 100-quality stock CI surged 16.06 points to 1,080.66, its best level since 1997. It opened higher by 1.25 points to 1,065.85 and reached an intraday high of 1,086.37.

The Second Board Index went up one point to 91.56, the Industrial Index gained 27.10 points to 2,215.67 and the Mesdaq Index advanced 0.17 of a point to 118.12.

Gainers led losers 594 to 264 while 298 counters traded unchanged.

Volume increased to 1.58 billion shares valued at 2.77 billion ringgit (748.65 million U.S. dollars) from 977.02 million shares worth 1.70 billion ringgit (459.46 million U.S. dollars) on Wednesday.

Nov. 30 , 2006

Thursday

Wednesday


AFP_ENG_19970419.0058

HANOI, April 19 , 1997 (AFP)

Singaporean office project agreed in Ho Chi Minh City

A Singaporean firm has signed a deal to build a 10 million-dollar office complex in Ho Chi Minh City, a report said Saturday.

Yuan Cheny Singapore is to take a 70 percent stake in the joint venture project with the Transport Services 3 company, under Vietnam's Ministry of Transport, holding the balance, the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper said.

The project is to build a 19-storey office block in central Ho Chi Minh City, due for completion in 1999.

April 19 , 1997

Saturday


AFP_ENG_19970428.0071

MOGADISHU, April 28 , 1997 (AFP)

URGENT At least 17 killed in Mogadishu clashes

At least 17 militiamen and civilians were killed and 26 other people wounded during heavy factional fighting which erupted in the Somali capital overnight, medical sources and witnesses said Monday.

April 28 , 1997

Monday


AFP_ENG_19970410.0485

LONDON, April 10 , 1997 (AFP)

British mercenary boss tells of ordeal in Papua New Guinea

British mercenary boss Tim Spicer, freed in Papua New Guinea on the eve of his trial for illegal firearms possession, told Thursday how he was threatened with a gun to his head and beaten up after being captured there.

Spicer, who arrived back in Britain late Wednesday, said he narrowly missed death on a number of occasions after being captured by local defence forces who staged a civil and military revolt after his mercenary band were discovered.

The former British soldier told a news conference in London that he was beaten up, intimidated and threatened with death by rebels in the local army before being dramatically released on Tuesday.

He condemned Papua New Guinea Defence Force Brigadier General Jerry Singirok, and accused him of betrayal.

Spicer, 44, said he and his 65 mercenaries were recruited for 24 million pounds (39 million dollars) by the government of the South Sea nation to help overthrow a nine-year rebellion on the copper-rich island of Bougainville.

He was arrested three weeks ago, was mistreated for six days and then placed under house arrest until charges against him were dropped, he told assembled reporters.

His military consultancy company Sandline International had only been paid half the agreed fee, he said, and was negotiating for the rest of the money and for the return of equipment, including helicopters.

The company was cooperating fully with the Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the government's hiring of Spicer's Sandline International mercenary group, he added.

"We have acted both legally and constitutionally at the behest of both the government and military," Spicer said.

April 10 , 1997

Thursday

late Wednesday

Tuesday

three weeks ago

six days


AFP_ENG_20061224.0140

ASHGABAT, Dec 24 , 2006, 2006

ATTENTION - ADDS Boucher quotes on energy ///

The United States sees opportunities for expanded cooperation in Central Asia and wants a peaceful transition of power in Turkmenistan following the death of the country's president, a senior US official said here Sunday.

"There are many opportunities in this region for cooperation," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher told reporters here after holding talks with officials in Ashgabat.

Those opportunities include closer work with nearby Afghanistan and other countries in the region as well as "cooperation with those of us who are further away," Boucher said.

He called on the new government in Turkmenistan to "take advantage of these opportunities for the benefit of the people of Turkmenistan" and reiterated calls from Washington and other world capitals for stability in the energy-rich country.

"We're certainly hoping for a peaceful and stable transition" of power in Ashgabat following the death Thursday from a heart attack of Saparmurat Niyazov, the country's iron-fisted ruler for more than two decades, who died leaving no successor and no clear system in place for choosing one.

The United States, Russia and China are among major world powers that are anxious to consolidate strong relations with the authorities in Turkmenistan which has the fifth largest known natural gas reserves and is a key link in energy supplies to Europe.

Western energy firms are eager to expand strategic energy routes between sources of supply in Central Asia and the Caspian region and markets in western -- routes that bypass Russia, a giant sitting between these two ends of the energy flow.

Asked about different possible pipeline routes from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Russia, Boucher said: "Those will be decisions that the government will have to make."

Boucher was then asked in particular about a proposal to build a pipeline that would bypass Russia, stretching from Turkmenistan across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and on to Western markets.

"This is a project of interest to us and of interest to people in the region... as with any project, if it has a commercial foundation and it can be done in the region, we'd like to see it done," Boucher said.

Speculation about US designs in Central Asia is running high in Moscow and other capitals closer to Central Asia, and Boucher said he met with journalists in Ashgabat "so you all have the real story as opposed to what's being written about".

Earlier Sunday, Boucher attended funeral ceremonies in Ashgabat, where Niyazov's body lay in state in one of the presidential palaces he had built. The CEO of Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom, Alexei Miller, was also there.

Scores of foreign dignitaries and tens of thousands of local mourners filed through the palace and past Niyazov's open casket, which was then transported to his birthplace in the village of Kipchak outside Ashgabat where he was enterred in a family mausoleum.

Dec 24 , 2006

Sunday

Thursday

more than two decades

Sunday


AFP_ENG_19970411.0072

SYDNEY, April 11 , 1997 (AFP)

Australian stocks down 0.5 percent

Australian share prices slipped 0.5 percent Friday in the face of falling base metal prices and lingering concerns over an inflation report due out in the United States, brokers said.

The Australian Stock Exchange's main indicator, the all ordinaries index, fell 12.4 points to 2,380.5.

April 11 , 1997

Friday


WSJ891026-0021
 = 891026
 891026-0021.
 Business Brief -- Consolidated Freightways Inc.:
@  Third-Quarter Net Fell 77%
@  On Emery's Expected Loss
 10/26/89
 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)
 CNF
 EARNINGS (ERN)
TRANSPORTATION, TRUCK AND SHIP LINES, RAILROADS (TRA)

   Consolidated Freightways Inc. reported a 77% drop in third-quarter net income, citing expected losses in its Emery Worldwide shipping business.

   The Menlo Park, Calif., company said net was $7.4 million, or 22 cents a share, down from $32.3 million, or 86 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue totaled $1.01 billion, a 43% increase from $704.4 million, reflecting the company's acquisition of Emery earlier this year.

   Profit also suffered because of "intense" discounting in its long-haul trucking business, the company said.

   Analysts had expected Consolidated to post a slim profit, and the company's stock was down only 25 cents to $30.25 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday.
"They have to continue to tighten their belts," said Craig Kloner, an analyst at Goldman, Sachs amp Co.

third-quarter

a year ago

earlier this year

yesterday


AFP_ENG_20051212.0535

NEW YORK, Dec 12 , 2005, 2005

'Brokeback Mountain' sweeps film critics awards

Taiwanese director Ang Lee's gay cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain" swept the New York Film Critics Circle on Monday, increasing the Oscar buzz surrounding the recent release.

The film was voted best picture of 2005, while Lee took the best director prize and Heath Ledger was named best actor.

The best actress award went to Reese Witherspoon for her portrayal of the wife of Johnny Cash in the biopic of the legendary singer's life, "Walk The Line."

Based on a short story by novelist Annie Proulx, "Brokeback Mountain" chronicles the gay romance between cowboys -- played by Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal -- who meet while working on a ranch in 1963.

The film has emerged as the critics' Oscar favourite with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association voting it best picture at the weekend, with another best director nod for Lee.

The movie is sure to feature when nominations are announced Tuesday for the Golden Globes, which are seen as a potential bellwether for films which could dominate the Academy Awards.

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named "Good Night and Good Luck" its best film of the year, but also gave "Brokeback Mountain" a nod by naming Lee best director.

Dec 12 , 2005

Monday

the weekend

Tuesday

the year


XIN_ENG_20051112.0153

TEHRAN, Nov. 12 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Urgent: Iran vows to keep enrichment at home

Iran's nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said on Saturday that Iran would not move uranium enrichment to other countries.

Nov. 12 , 2005

Saturday


XIN_ENG_20051110.0350

LUANDA, Nov. 10 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Angolan women's handball beats Congo-Brazzaville

The Angolan women's national handball team, called "Angola 30 years", Thursday defeated Congo-Brazzaville 28-25 in their opener of the international tournament in Cabinda, Angolan North province, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the national independence.

The Angolan women dominated the match by running ahead with a 7-0 scroing spree in the first 10 minutes, ending the first half 18-11 thanks to their superiority and maturity.

In the second half, Angola's Romanian coach made tactic changes to test the defensive skills of the hosts, who managed to hold on their advantages for eventual victory.

The tournament features Angola (A and B), Congo Brazaville and Ivory Coast.

Nov. 10 , 2005

Thursday

the first 10 minutes

the second half


XIN_ENG_20051118.0071

MOSCOW, Nov. 18 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Chechen prime minister hospitalized after Moscow car crash

Chechen Prime Minister Sergei Abramov has been admitted to a hospital in Moscow after being injured seriously in a car accident here, NTV television reported Friday.

"He is in the emergency care unit at the moment. His condition is stable," the Russian NTV television said.

Abramov's hospitalization came just days before a regional election in Chechnya, where he is the second most senior official of the restive southern Russian republic.

The accident occurred Thursday evening when the car, in which Abramov was riding on his way to the airport for a flight to Chechnya, collided with a KAMAZ truck, NTV reported.

A spokesman for the Chechen administration in Moscow, Ziyad Sabsabi, ruled out the possibility of an assassination attempt on Abramov, the Interfax news agency reported.

Abramov, who was appointed prime minister of the Russian republic in March 2004, survived a roadside bomb in July 2004, but one of his bodyguards was killed during the attack.

Nov. 18 , 2005

Friday

hospitalization

days

Thursday evening

March 2004

July 2004


XIN_ENG_20061103.0294

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 , 2006 (Xinhua)

U.S. busiest ports to get mobile radiation detectors

Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will use mobile radiation detectors to check containers for nuclear materials as trucks leave the harbor, authorities confirmed on Friday.

The federal government will provide the radiation detectors to the ports so as to enable them to prevent terrorist attacks, law enforcement officials said.

The devices, which will check cargo containers on ships, trucks and trains, are part of a group of 24 portable scanners that will be delivered by January.

The monitors will supplement 85 stationary radiation detectors that have been used at 14 port terminals since June 2005. The devices scan shipping containers for nuclear materials as trucks leave the harbor.

In addition, customs officers use small hand-held detectors on the docks and wharves to check cargo as it is unloaded from ships.

By early next year, the additional scanners will allow customs to scan 100 percent of containers that leave the ports by truck and train. The devices also can be moved outside the harbor to help other law enforcement agencies.

"The technology we have deployed enhances our critical mission of preventing terrorists or others from attempting to smuggle weapons of mass destruction through U.S. borders," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham told the Los Angeles Times.

But critics say the devices have difficulty reading the low levels of radioactivity emitted by nuclear weapons; and they cannot detect radioactive materials if they are well shielded.

Nov. 3 , 2006

Friday

January

June 2005

early next year


XIN_ENG_20061110.0152

BEIJING, Nov. 10 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Ministry

China's efforts to contain rabies seem not to have taken effect yet as the number of people killed by the disease climbed slightly to 326 in October, China's Health Ministry reported here Friday.

Rabies accounted for 46 percent of all fatalities caused by infectious diseases reported on the Chinese mainland in October, according to the ministry.

In September rabies caused 318 deaths. The country has recorded 2,254 rabies cases in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 29.69 percent over the same period last year.

The disease emerged as the top public health priority four months ago after it caused the deaths of three people in southwest China's Yunnan Province and local authorities in Yunnan and Shandong provinces sought to curb the risk through mass killings of dogs.

Campaigns to clamp down on stray dog were also launched in many other places including Beijing.

The Health Ministry has launched a program to conduct regular monitoring of rabies across the country to collect evidence and use it as a basis for drafting regulations that can effectively control rabies.

Rabies was followed by tuberculosis, AIDS, hepatitis B and infant tetanus on the list of the most deadly infectious diseases in China.

Nov. 10 , 2006

October

Friday

October

September

the first nine months

the year

last year

four months ago


XIN_ENG_20061112.0143

HANOI, Nov. 12 , 2006 (Xinhua)

APEC meetings provide golden chance for local businesses: official

The APEC-2006 Economic Leaders' Week on Nov. 12-19 will provide a golden opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to promote their products, a Vietnamese business leader told local media prior to the event.

"As the host of the APEC Year 2006, our enterprises must take full advantage of the golden opportunities brought about by leaders and enterprises of APEC member economies in 2006 and the following years," Vietnam News Agency quoted Hoang Van Dung, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( VCCI), as saying on Sunday.

Dung, who is also President of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)-2006, also said that the question is what the Vietnamese business circles should do to capitalize on the opportunity.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economic leaders' week will include a CEO Summit, an ABAC conference, an APEC investment forum and a trade and investment promotion forum called Doing Business with Vietnam, which have drawn hundreds of business executives from 21 member economies, in addition to the APEC economic leaders' meeting.

At the meetings, Dung said, "We will propose that APEC economic leaders work together for the establishment of a free trade zone among APEC members as soon as possible."

A development policy for small and medium-sized businesses, which provides assistance in capital and personnel training, simplifies administrative procedures and helps improve businesses' competitive edge by reducing input costs will also be proposed at the meetings, said Dung.

Nov. 12 , 2006

Nov. 12-19

APEC Year 2006

the following years

Sunday

week


AFP_ENG_20051216.0123

TOKYO, Dec 16 , 2005

Toyota makes early retreat from Indy-car

Toyota said Friday it had withdrawn from the Indy Racing League (IRL), one year earlier than initially planned.

Toyota had planned to pull out of the US-based open wheel racing series after the 2006 season but decided to advance the withdrawal by one year with a Toyota engine-powered team switching to another company.

The pullout follows General Motors' decision last November to withdraw Chevrolet from the IRL after the 2005 season and leaves Honda as the lone enginemaker in the series next season.

Honda and Toyota withdrew from IRL's rival, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), in 2002. It now runs as Champ-car and has only Cosworth engines.

Toyota's 2003 IRL debut brought immediate success as Scott Dixon of New Zealand won the first race in Miami and captured the season crown while Toyota-powered Brazilian Gil de Ferran won the Indianapolis 500.

Chevy did not win an IRL race or pole in 2004, leaving Toyota in an uphill battle with Honda which has outspent its rivals in development.

Honda-powered cars won 14 of 16 races last year with Toyota racers taking only the first and last races of the season.

Toyota-powered cars have won twice this season, American Sam Hornish in March and his Penske Racing teammate Castroneves last Saturday at Richmond, Virginia. But Penske's cars have been the only competitive Toyotas in 2005.

Dec 16 , 2005

Friday

one year

2006 season

one year

last November

2005 season

next season

now

last year

March

last Saturday


XIN_ENG_20051130.0035

TOKYO, Nov. 30 , 2005 (Xinhua)

US ambassador defends forces' presence in Japan

US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said Wednesday the presence of American troops in Japan ensures the safety of its ally.

"In the last 60 years Japan has been at peace, and the world has been spared another World War. The large part of the reason for that success lies in the presence of US troops here in Japan," he told a press conference, saying the troops' presence had helped Japan in building itself into the No. 2 economy in the world.

While defending the US military realignment in the country and responding to long-standing Japanese grievances about burdens as host, he played down the US role in influencing Japan's foreign policy in handling relations with Asian neighbors.

He said Japan and the United States acting together will create "powerful force for good in Asia and the world."

"I think if we increase the capability of US forces, we increase the security in Japan," Schieffer said.

Japan and the United States agreed recently on an interim security report which enables smoother military cooperation between them.

The agreement are being fiercely opposed by governments and communities in regions hosting US forces.

Schieffer reminded the Japanese who complain about the burden that it is the United States that has "born a heavy burden" in the alliance.

He said the United States, in real dollars, are spending 10 time as much as Japan on defense.

When asked about the US role in influencing Japan's foreign policy in Asia, Schieffer said Washington has no "direct role" in these affairs and is not the "final arbitrary" in the dispute between Japan and its Asian neighbors.

Japan's political relations with China and South Korea are on the rocks because of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the war criminal-honoring Yasukuni Shrine as well as other history-related issues.

After his meeting with US President George W. Bush on Nov. 16, Koizumi said if Japan keeps close relationship with the United States, its ties with Asian countries will go better.

As for the US attitude toward tuning Japan's Self-Defense Forces into an army stated by a constitutional revision, Schieffer said it rests with Japan's own decision.

Nov. 30 , 2005

Wednesday

the last 60 years

Nov. 16


XIN_ENG_20051119.0090

BEIJING, Nov. 19 , 2005 (Xinhua)

1st Ld: US president arrives in Beijing

US President George W. Bush arrived here Saturday evening for a three-day visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Bush's presidential plane Air Force One landed at Beijing's Capital Airport.

This is Bush's third China trip as US president since 2001 and also his first China visit in his second term of office.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are to meet with President Bush, and they will discuss a wide range of issues.

Nov. 19 , 2005

Saturday evening


XIN_ENG_20061110.0160

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 10 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Former Malaysian PM Mahathir recuperating well

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was admitted to hospital for mild heart attack, has been recuperating well Friday.

Mahathir is currently in stable condition at the Coronary Care Unit and is expected to be transferred to a normal ward in one or two days' time, the National Heart Institute (NHI) said Friday.

He went through a routine blood, x-ray and echocardiography tests Friday morning, the NHI said in a statement.

The former prime minister and his family members also expressed their gratitude to all Malaysians and foreign friends who had sent their best wishes and prayers for Mahathir's speedy recovery, said the statement.

Though Mahathir was advised to rest, he has already started receiving visitors Friday.

Mahathir, who will turn 81 next month, was rushed to the NHI early Thursday morning after complaining of chest pains. The institute later said he suffered from a mild myocardial infarction.

The former leader had a coronary artery bypass surgery in 1989, and in 1999 he undergo full treatment for a lung infection.

Mahathir had been Malaysian prime minister for 22 years before he retired on Oct. 31, 2003.

Nov. 10 , 2006

Friday

one or two days

Friday

Friday morning

Friday

Thursday morning

22 years

Oct. 31, 2003


AFP_ENG_19970403.0007

BEIJING, April 3 , 1997 (AFP)

Beijing reins in arbitrary fees to attract foreign investment

China's capital city has introduced a "card" system to protect foreign investors from officials' arbitrary illegal fees, mayor Lu Yucheng was quoted as saying Thursday.

The cards, issued to foreign-funded enterprises, identify a limited list of officially-sacntioned fees and give firms the right to refuse to pay any charge not cited, he said.

Only three bodies in the city -- the municipal government, the municipal bureau of finance and the municipal bureau of price -- are authorised to establish new fees, the report said.

Investors in China have long complained of cost overruns caused by local officials' legion unpredictable fees.

Though government policy has sought to attract investment, the practices of corrupt individual administrators and departments often undermine the effort.

Three centres have been set up in the city to receive foreign investors' complaints, Lu said.

April 3 , 1997

Thursday


AFP_ENG_19970430.0327

AMMAN, April 30 , 1997 (AFP)

King Hussein grants refuge to HAMAS official jailed in US by Randa Habib

Jordan's King Hussein has decided to grant refuge to Mussa Abu Marzuk, political leader of the Palestinian militant group HAMAS, after convincing Washington to free him, officials announced Wednesday.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), a fierce opponent of the Oslo accords with Israel for limited Palestinian autonomy, immediately welcomed the king's intervention.

"King Hussein wants this gesture to defuse a crisis sparked by the situation of Mr. Abu Marzuk whom Israel asked the United States to extradite," a senior Jordanian official told AFP.

The official, asking not to be named, said Jordan's decision to take in Abu Marzuk set a precedent since the Palestinian is the holder of a Yemeni passport and not Jordanian.

"The personal efforts of the king and his credibility within the US administration have been fruitful. The HAMAS official will soon be released by Washington and will be able to come to Jordan," he said.

Information Minister Samir Motaweh later told the official news agency Petra that Abu Marzuk would come to Jordan "without any commitment" on his part. The decision was part of the kingdom's efforts to help the peace process, he said.

Abu Marzuk, who has lived in the United States since 1982, was arrested on arrival in New York by immigration authorities in July 1995, and Israel demanded his extradition to face terrorism charges.

But in January he called off an appeal against extradition and asked to be handed over to the Jewish state, catching Israeli officials off guard as they feared damage to the peace process if he was returned.

Israel itself withdrew the extradition request on April 6, clearing the way for Abu Marzuk to be returned to either Jordan or Egypt, the only two Arab states to have peace treaties with Israel.

The Jordanian official said King Hussein raised the issue during a Washington visit in early April. "The king proposed this alternative to the United States and Israel ... and he was able to convince them."

Last week, a HAMAS delegation met here with Jordan's Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali.

The HAMAS representative in Amman, Mohammad Nazzal, said Wednesday that his organisation "welcomes the Jordanian decision to take in Mr. Mussa Abu Marzuk." It was "highly appreciated by HAMAS and the entire Palestinian people."

The organisation is "in contact with all the parties to organize the arrival in Jordan" of Abu Marzuk, he told AFP, without giving a date.

Abu Marzuk has denied any link to anti-Israeli bomb attacks by HAMAS, saying he works only on the organisation's extensive fundraising and social activities.

HAMAS does not have an office here, but some of its officials have Jordanian nationality and live in the kingdom.

April 30 , 1997

Wednesday

July 1995

January

April 6

early April

Last week

Wednesday


XIN_ENG_20051124.0219

BERLIN, Nov. 24 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Agency says 170,000 World Cup tickets still available

About 170,000 hospitality tickets from an original contingent of 346,950 are available, the International Sports and Entertainment AG (iSe) announced on Thursday.

The prices of the tickets for the games next year in Germany are between 633 and 15,000 euros.

"We are confident to be sold out at the World Cup," iSe Managing Director George Tayler told a press conference in the southern German city of Munich.

The company expects huge demand for tickets once the World Cup draw has taken place in Leipzig on December 9, Tayler was quoted by the German news agency DPA.

Regular tickets cost between 35 for the cheapest group and 600 euros for the most expensive final game. However, hospitality tickets start at 633.

Those who want to see the final in Berlin must buy a package including games in other cities.

"Our price is below that of France in 1998," Tayler said.

The iSe paid the world soccer body FIFA 180 million euros for the hospitality tickets license and may gain an estimated 700 million euros if all the tickets were sold out.

Nov. 24 , 2005

Thursday

next year

December 9


XIN_ENG_20061128.0423

MOSCOW, Nov. 28 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Defense chief says Russia unable to influence NATO enlargement

Russia is unable to influence the process of NATO enlargement, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday.

Ivanov's remarks came as leaders from 26 NATO member countries were meeting in Riga, Latvia, for a summit focused on its mission in Afghanistan and its future role. U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the transatlantic military alliance's door remains open to European countries.

"We can take a critical posture and say we disapprove of this or that country's admission to NATO, but I believe it would be very wrong," Ivanov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as telling students at St. Petersburg State University.

"Each country is free to decide what bloc it should be a member of," Ivanov said. "We have no intention of joining NATO," he added.

NATO has recognized Albania, Croatia and Macedonia as formal aspirant countries. Georgia and Ukraine also have intentions to join, but are in an earlier stage of the process. The three Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- joined the alliance in 2004.

Nov. 28 , 2006

Tuesday

Tuesday


APW19980308.0201
 NEWS STORY
 03/08/1998 06:26:00

w2106 Cx1f wstm-
r i Cx13  Cx11  BC-Turkey-Yugoslavia-Kos     03-08 0243

 BC-Turkey-Yugoslavia-Kosovo,0242

Ethnic Albanians in Turkey protest Serb attacks in Kosovo

UR AP Photos IST101-102 QL

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) _ Some 1,500 ethnic Albanians marched
Sunday in downtown Istanbul, burning Serbian flags to protest the
killings of ethnic Albanians by Serb police in southern Serb Kosovo
province.
The police barred the crowd from reaching the Yugoslavian
consulate in downtown Istanbul, but allowed them to demonstrate on
nearby streets.
``Stop the bloodshed in Kosovo,'' the protesters chanted.
Meanwhile in the capital, Ankara, a few hundred ethnic Albanians
laid a black wreath at the gate of Yugoslavian embassy.
Ethnic Albanians comprise 90 percent of the population in
Kosovo, but Serbs maintain control through a large military and
police presence. Serbian police say they are trying to eliminate
the pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army and restore order.
At least 51 people were reported killed in clashes between Serb
police and ethnic Albanians in the troubled region in recent days.
Turkey, worried about civil war in Kosovo spilling to the whole
Balkans, urged all Balkan states to sign a joint declaration that
the Kosovo crisis be solved peacefully and without any change of
borders.
Turks feel they have special ties to the whole region, which
they ruled for hundreds of years during the Ottoman Empire. They
also share Islam with the ethnic Albanians.

(PROFILE
(WS SL:BC-Turkey-Yugoslavia-Kosovo; CT:i;
(REG:EURO;)
(REG:BRIT;)
(REG:SCAN;)
(REG:ENGL;)
(REG:MEST;)
(LANG:ENGLISH;))
)

AP-NY-03-08-98 0626EST

03/08/1998 06:26:00

Sunday

Meanwhile

recent days


XIN_ENG_20051104.0179

SINGAPORE, Nov. 4 , 2005 (Xinhua)

GlaxoSmithKline to set up new R plant in Singapore

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a world famous pharmaceutical company, is building a new research and development (R) plant in Singapore with an investment of 115 million Singapore dollars (about 68 million US dollars).

According to Channel NewsAsia report on Friday, the plant, which is expected to begin operation in the third quarter of 2007, will develop techniques for drug production and produce drugs for clinical trials.

Planning to employ some 40 scientists, the plant is said to be "GSK's first investment in upstream manufacturing process development in Singapore."

As one of the largest pharmaceutical investors in Singapore, GSK has put more than one billion Singapore dollars (about 589 million US dollars) in fixed assets in the city state and plans to further expand its operations here, including establishing more drug discovery centers.

Headquartered in Britain and with operations based in the United States, GSK runs seven such drug discovery centers in the world with one located in Singapore.

Nov. 4 , 2005

Friday

the third quarter of 2007


XIN_ENG_20061121.0058

SAITAMA, Japan, Nov. 21 , 2006 (Xinhua)

Results of men's volleyball World Championship

Following are the results from the first round matches of 2006 men's volleyball World Championships which held here on Tuesday:

Group A in Saitama:

Egypt lost to China, 2-3 (25-22, 25-22, 30-32, 20-25, 16-18);

Puerto Rico vs Poland;

Japan vs Argentina;

Group B in Fukuoka:

Cuba bt Greece, 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12);

Australia vs Brazil;

Germany vs France;

Group C in Nagano:

Iran lost to Bulgaria, 0-3 (19-25, 18-25, 23-25);

Czech Republic vs Venezuela;

Italy vs United States;

Group D in Sendai:

Tunisia lost to Canada, 2-3 (15-25, 29-27, 25-21, 21-25, 13-15);

Serbia Montenegro vs South Korea;

Russia vs Kazakhstan.

Nov. 21 , 2006

Tuesday

25-22, 25-22, 30-32, 20-25, 16-18

25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12

19-25, 18-25, 23-25

15-25, 29-27, 25-21, 21-25, 13-15


AFP_ENG_19970418.0459

BERLIN, April 18 , 1997 (AFP)

Prison sentences demanded over "Wall deaths"

The prosecution in the trial of former East German military officials held responsible for the deaths of people killed trying to flee to the West called Friday for the court to impose prison sentences.

A sentence of four years was demanded for the former deputy defence minister Joachim Goldbach, with lesser sentences for three other generals.

The four are accused of complicity in murder and attempted murder over defence ministry "shoot-to-kill" orders given to guards on the Berlin Wall and the installation of automatic firing apparatus along the inter-German border.

Such installations were not for the military defence of the East German state but directed entirely against the population, the prosecutor said.

Five former border guard officers meanwhile went on trial in Berlin Friday accused of installing particularly deadly fragmentation mines along the frontier with West Germany. Nine people were killed and numerous others wounded by these mines, the court heard.

More than seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of people killed in all trying to escape from East Germany is not known exactly, but according to a specialist body there were more than 860 who died in this way.

April 18 , 1997

Friday

four years

Friday

More than seven years


XIN_ENG_20051114.0043

GAZA, Nov. 14 , 2005 (Xinhua)

musical odyssey

China Exclusive: Glory in mind, Chinese monks restart a Buddhist musical odyssey

By Chen Siwu, Gui Juan

KAIFENG, Henan, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- To Buddhist Master Longjiang, listening to popular music is an act that infringes upon his faith. Even the great names in classic music are as strange as the world's remotest corner.

"Beethoven?" he shook his head and gazed reporter with a blank face as if reporter were from another planet. "Mozart?" he again shook his head.

"I've never heard about them before," the 80-year-old Buddhist master replied while sitting in a room surrounded by drums at the Grand Xiangguo Temple, a noted Buddhist monastery in Kaifeng, an ancient city along the mud-clogged Yellow River in central China.

When it comes to Buddhist music, however, Master Longjiang was recognized without question as one of the most skillful monks at the monastery that was once known for its band and religious melodies.

First built in 555 AD, the temple, whose current name means the Monastery of Great Assistance to State, has its prestige and influence reach the peak during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and became the intercourse arena for poets, artists, musicians, and the commons and nobles because of its close connection with the royal family and its outstanding music.

Though such devotion and tradition in the temple survived numerous wars, floods and dynasties replacement, the temple's splendor was dilapidated and fell to its bottom in 1927 when warlord Feng Yuxiang, then ruler of Henan Province, ordered his soldiers to expel the monks and turn the site into a market. It became a Buddhist monastery in 1992 again.

To revive Buddhism and reclaim the temple's glory in music, the abbot Great Master Xinguang selected 22 full-time musician monks, mostly young monks older than 15, to reorganize a Buddhist musical band in 2002.

"As part of Buddhist culture," said Master Yuanjie, the band's deputy head, "Buddhist music has its broadness and profoundness, it contains sacred chanting and instrumental music."

"Our temple has a great past in Buddhist music and we just need to pick up the lost part of it," he said, "Master Longjiang is our treasure."

Longjiang is currently the only monk in the band who knows how to play certain musical instruments and read the musical staff.

The instrument Yuanjie mentioned was called "bili", a 20-cm long flute-like tin tube with seven holes. Other instruments used by the band members include wooden fish, tambourine, flute, horn and a Yamaha electronic organ.

"You need some energy to play the 'bili'," said Longjiang, "you can't make a sound if you are not strong enough."

Longjiang once bet Yuanjie, 26, a lunch that Yuanjie couldn't blow the flute-like instrument. And he won.

"It is all a result of hard practice," said the 80-year-old master. He said he heard Buddhist music for the first time when he was 12 and decided to convert to the religion.

Generation difference is evident within the Buddhist band. For example, Longjiang can only read the staff while those young monks only know about the numbered musical scores.

The Nike sock wearing by some young monks and their interest in computer installed with Microsoft's Windows system also reflect their connection to the outside world.

"Compared with our generation, few young people now can endure the hardship during training," Longjiang said. "If you don't give things, you can't get things."

To train those young musician monks, the temple has invested 2 million yuan (about 125,000 US dollars) during the past three years to buy instruments and invited professional musicians to instruct the band.

"To keep its life, Buddhist music must keep its youth," Master Yuanjie said.

Nov. 14 , 2005

Nov. 14

now

the past three years


XIN_ENG_20051104.0326

COLOMBO, Nov. 5 , 2005 (Xinhua)

ADB to help Sri Lanka reconstruct highway network

The Sri Lankan government has decided to reconstruct highway network in the country with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Daily News reported on Saturday.

With an estimated cost of 208 million US dollars, the project, which aims at rehabilitating a number of grade A and B roads in western, central and eastern provinces, will receive the assistance from the ADB, Highways Ministry Secretary S. Amarasekere was quoted as saying.

"The ADB will provide 150 million dollars of the estimated cost of the project including the expenses regarding land acquisition. This is the first time that a donor has agreed to provide funds for land acquisition," he said.

Among the highways to be reconstructed under the project are the Puttalam-Anuradhapura, Udakanda-Mahiyanganaya, Nuwara Eliya- Badulla and the Hatton-Nuwara Eliya highways.

The Sri Lankan government and the ADB finalized negotiations on the implementation of the project on Wednesday, Amarasekere said.

"We are hopeful that the reconstruction could be commenced early next year," he added.

Nov. 5 , 2005

Saturday

Wednesday

early next year


XIN_ENG_20051117.0386

KOMPONG SPEU, Cambodia, Nov. 18 , 2005 (Xinhua)

Cambodia destroys more surface-to-air missiles

Cambodia destroyed two C-125M (SA-3) surface-to-air missiles on Friday aimed to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.

Meas Sophea, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and commander of the army, presided over the destruction ceremony. Some diplomats also attended the ceremony.

Meas Sophea said the destruction was ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of international terrorists

The 36 surface-to-air missiles were discovered recently at a military base. The Defense Ministry started destroying them at the RCAF Armor Center in Kompong Speu province on Oct. 25, and all have been destroyed by Friday.

The surface-to-air missiles developed by the former Soviet Union are fired from fixed-position launchers to destroy aircraft, cruise missiles and assault helicopters flying at low and medium altitude. Cambodia imported the missiles in 1980.

"We don't need to keep them because we are now at peace," Chao Pirun, director of the ministry's technical and materials department, said earlier.

Last year, RCAF destroyed all 233 of its shoulder-fired surface- to-air missiles with assistance from the US government.

Nov. 18 , 2005

Friday

Oct. 25

Friday

now

Last year


AFP_ENG_19970401.0092

MOSCOW, April 1 , 1997 (AFP)

Former Russian army chief under corruption probe

Russian prosecutors have opened a corruption probe against a former commander-in-chief of the army, the Interfax agency reported Tuesday.

They want to know how General Vladimir Semionov built himself a lavish villa on the outskirts of Moscow, the agency said, quoting the prosecutors.

The general was sacked in December at the request of Defence Minister Igor Rodionov for "activities incompatible with his office and bringing the honour and dignity of the military into disrepute".

Semionov is suspected of "abuse of power." Semionov, who had been army chief since 1991, refuted the allegations against him.

Rodionov said last month that a number of other Russian armed forces generals were likely to be dismissed soon for corruption, without naming any of them.

April 1 , 1997

Tuesday

December

last month