Input: They split into five groups and altogether visited about 150 members of congress, congressional aides, and government officials, using their experience of investing in and managing enterprises in China to explain the necessity of extending giving China most - favored - nation trading status.

five

China

China


Input: With the once - a - year deliberations by the American administration and congress concerning the question of China's most - favored - nation trading status again approaching, American businesses in Washington are universally concerned that the disputes among America's political parties in this big election year could make this question even more complicated, hence the organization of groups to carry out a lobbying campaign directed at them that is organized and is planned.

American

American

China

Washington

America


Input: Zhen Wang, a businessman of Chinese descent who is representing the Guangzhou chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Xian Ni Lei De Group and is participating in the lobbying team, said to this reporter that, as a follow - up action to this lobbying effort, he prepared to mobilize tens of thousands of distributors who belong to the company to write to their local congressional representatives to support extending China's most - favored - nation trading status.

Zhen Wang

Chinese

Guangzhou

China

the American Chamber of Commerce

the Xian Ni Lei De Group

tens of thousands


Input: The head of the Guangdong branch of the American Chamber of Commerce, the attorney Yonghua Kang, said the Clinton administration had already demonstrated that it wanted to extend China's most - favored - nation trading status and because of this, the focus of this round of lobbying was those members of congress who are more conservative.

Guangdong

China

the American Chamber of Commerce

Yonghua Kang

Clinton


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Changchun, December 16th, by reporter Changqing Zhou

Xinhua News Agency

Changchun

December 16th

Changqing Zhou


Input: This year, the United Nations Development and Planning Office held a Tumen River Area International Tourism Conference in Jilin, China, actively supporting projects such as China's Changbai Mountain's ice and snow winter tourism, etc., while at the same time, still providing funds for training international economic and trade talent here.

This year

the United Nations Development and Planning Office

a Tumen River Area International Tourism Conference

Jilin, China

China

Changbai Mountain


Input: The United Nations Industrial Development Organization recently implemented a thorough investigation into the current state of industrial projects in the Tumen River region, and made some suggestions about future industrial development projects in this area.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization

the Tumen River region


Input: They also invited some experts to implement an appraisal of the industrial projects put forward by related countries, and then after the appraisal, entered these projects into the Industrial Development Organization's network to attract international business.

the Industrial Development Organization's


Input: International societies represented by the United Nations Development and Planning Office and the Industrial Development Organization have always given active support and effective promotion to the Tumen River region's international cooperation and development program.

the United Nations Development and Planning Office

the Industrial Development Organization

the Tumen River region's


Input: The Tumen River development program, aiming at building up the Tumen Delta, where the three countries of China, Russia and North Korea meet, into a cosmopolitan hub for the circulation of material and a center for economy and trade, was initially proposed by Chinese experts such as Shishen Ding, etc.

Tumen River

the Tumen Delta

three

China

Russia

North Korea

Chinese

Shishen Ding


Input: In 1991, the United Nations Development and Planning decided to support it and announced it to the world.

the United Nations Development and Planning


Input: Since the end of 1995, when the program changed from the appraisal phase into the implementation phase, the three countries: China, Russia and North Korea, have all implemented some infrastructure construction and activities for attracting business and investment, and have initially started bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

the end of 1995

three

China

Russia

North Korea


Input: Concerned countries and the international societies have also given support to this program.


Input: For several years, the United Nations Development and Planning Office has, as always, supported the Tumen River development, and actively helped the three countries: China, Russia and North Korea, to attract world business and to help implement feasibility studies for development projects.

several years

the United Nations Development and Planning Office

Tumen River

China

Russia

North Korea


Input: In 1995 and 1996, with the help of the United Nations Development and Planning Office and the Industrial Development Organization, China and North Korea successively held the " Tumen River region investment and trade negotiation conference ", and both made relatively good achievements.

1995 and 1996

the United Nations Development and Planning Office

the Industrial Development Organization

China

North Korea

Tumen River region


Input: In the near future, the Russian Tumen River Region Negotiation Conference will also be held in Vladivostok.

the Russian Tumen River Region Negotiation Conference

Vladivostok


Input: Moreover, the Industrial Development Organization has also entrusted China's Northeast Teacher's University, which has considerably researched the regional economy, to implement the preliminary investigation and research for analysis of the circulation of materials via the sea, land and air transportation system of the Northeast Asia region in the next twenty years.

the Industrial Development Organization

Northeast Teacher's University

the next twenty years

China

the Northeast Asia region


Input: The Tumen River Development Program has also received strong support from governments and enterprises of many countries.

The Tumen River Development Program


Input: For instance, the Finnish government has allocated 1 million US dollars as a subsidy for the preliminary work of the Tumen River Development; Sweden has put forth funding to do feasibility studies on the linking of the Chinese and Mongolian railways and the construction of a new Northeast Asian continental bridge.

Finnish

Chinese

Mongolian

Northeast Asian

1 million US dollars

the Tumen River Development

Sweden


Input: Moreover, the Japanese Import and Export Bank has signed a contract with Russia to participate in the construction of Russia's Zalubinau port expansion project.

the Japanese Import and Export Bank

Russia

Russia

Zalubinau


Input: At the invitation of concerned Chinese departments, Japan has also made investigations into the comprehensive development of the regions along the railway from China's Changchun to Huichun.

Chinese

Japan

China

Changchun

Huichun


Input: Shuoren Jin, mayor of Huichun in Jilin Province, said: " International societies' support and participation play an active and key role in Huichun's development and opening up.

Shuoren Jin

Huichun

Jilin Province

Huichun


Input: The last few years has been the period when Huichun's overall strength has been enhanced most remarkably, the appearance of urban and rural areas has changed most noticeably and the most real benefits have been gained by people. "

The last few years

Huichun


Input: According to investigations, South Korean enterprise circles have invested nearly 100 million US dollars in Huichun, and foreign - invested enterprises have become an important pillar of the local economy.

South Korean

100 million US dollars

Huichun


Input: In order to promote the development of the Tumen River region, South Korea donated one million US dollars to establish the Tumen River development fund.

the Tumen River region

Tumen River

South Korea

one million US dollars


Input: Now, 100,000 US dollars has been taken from the fund to make an evaluation of the environment in China's Huichun's frontier cooperative area in the expectation of providing consultation on the environmental aspect for the entry of large quantities of foreign capital into this area.

100,000 US dollars

China

Huichun


Input: Zhezhu Quan, vice governor of Jilin Province who is in charge of the work of economy and trade, said: " International societies are welcome to join us for joint promotion of the Tumen River development undertaking, and the development of the regional economy so as to benefit the people of Northeast Asia. "

Zhezhu Quan

Jilin Province

Tumen River

Northeast Asia


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, Dec. 20th, by reporter Yu Wu

Xinhua News Agency

Shanghai

Dec. 20th

Yu Wu


Input: From January to November of this year, the Shanghai's total foreign trade export volume for the year reached 22.02 billion US dollars, increasing by 73% compared with 1993.

January to November of this year

the year

Shanghai

22.02 billion US dollars


Input: This reporter learned from the municipal foreign economy and trade committee that in the past 5 years, through foreign trade system reform and implementing a " big foreign trade " strategy, Shanghai's total import and export volume is steadily increasing at about 14% per year, and its foreign trade has entered its fastest period of development in history.

the past 5 years

Shanghai

about 14%


Input: Shanghai estimates that this year's value of exports could exceed 14.5 billion US dollars, among which finished industrial products account for 93.1%, having increased 4.1% over 1993.

Shanghai

year

14.5 billion US dollars


Input: Mechanical and electronic products account for 31.5% of the total export value, up from 17.9% of 5 years ago.

5 years ago


Input: Currently, Shanghai has established trade contacts with 205 countries and regions, and Southeast Asia, Oceania, Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa have become new markets opened up by Shanghai.

Shanghai

South Africa

Shanghai

Southeast Asia

Oceania

Latin America

the Middle East


Input: According to Xiaoming Zhu, director of the Shanghai Foreign Economic and Trade Committee, Shanghai has sped up implementing a business strategy of diversity in foreign trade enterprises to meet the requirements of national policy.

Xiaoming Zhu

the Shanghai Foreign Economic and Trade Committee

Shanghai


Input: This gradually changes the entire city's 725 foreign trade enterprises of various kinds into market economic principles that autonomously manage business and are responsible for their own profits and losses.


Input: By such economic means as merging, holding stocks, sharing stocks, etc., foreign trade group companies such as Oriental International, Lansheng, and those in foreign economy, light industry, machinery and livestock production, etc. have been successively organized, raising the scale of operations.

Oriental International

Lansheng


Input: Now, Shanghai has formed 6 export forces: foreign trade, industrial trade, self - management enterprises, enterprises subordinate to central government departments and enterprises in Shanghai invested by other provinces and cities, and foreign investment enterprises.

Shanghai

Shanghai


Input: Besides, Shanghai maintains the trinity of harmonious development: the goods trade, technology trade and services trade, while implementing the " Dragon's head program ", and optimizing its export goods structure.

Shanghai


Input: It takes full advantage of the policy for the new Pudong region to breed new growth of foreign trade export.

Pudong


Input: According to estimates, Shanghai's technology export transaction value could reach 650 million US dollars this year, which is 3.53 times that of 1993.

Shanghai

650 million US dollars

this year


Input: The technology trade and the service trade account for about 14% of total exports.

about 14%


Input: 80 types of " Dragon's head merchandise " such as clothing, textile products, vessels, steel, electronic computers, household electrical appliances, containers, etc. have developed quickly and account for more than half of the entire city's export volume.


Input: From January to November, the new Pudong region's foreign trade export volume was 2.8 billion US dollars, accounting for 1/5 of the entire city's export volume.

January to November

Pudong

2.8 billion US dollars


Input: It is reported that in the past 5 years, Shanghai, through such methods as actively purchasing export goods from other provinces and cities and by holding activities such as the East China Export Goods Trade Fair, etc., has strengthened its influence as a port city on the entire country.

the past 5 years

Shanghai

the East China Export Goods Trade Fair


Input: At the same time, it develops multinational operations and vigorously opens up diversified markets.


Input: According to the latest statistics, Shanghai has founded 218 trade - oriented companies and organizations abroad, organized 6 regional overseas group companies, and it has approved overseas non-trade enterprises reaching 260 with a total investment of 200 million US dollars.

Shanghai

200 million US dollars


Input: The business of Shanghai in foreign engineering contracts is also developing quickly.

Shanghai


Input: This year, 586 new foreign engineering contracting and labor contracts have been signed with contracted funds of 265 million US dollars.

This year

265 million US dollars


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Guiyang, December 22nd, by reporter Fang Fang

Xinhua News Agency

Guiyang

Fang Fang


Input: Guizhou Mao - tai Distillery, which is well - known in China and abroad, plans to implement a technology renovation project with an investment surpassing 400 million RMB to further increase the output of Mao - tai in the next three years.

Guizhou

China

Mao - tai Distillery

Mao - tai


Input: In order to solve the enormous need for capital, the company is now striving to issue stock and to attempt more financing channels.


Input: The information was revealed a few days ago by Keliang Ji, the board chairman of the Guizhou Mao - tai Distillery -LRB- Group -RRB- Company of China.

Keliang Ji

the Guizhou Mao - tai Distillery -LRB- Group -RRB- Company of China


Input: Keliang Ji said this expansion project would increase the annual output capacity of Mao - tai by 2,000 tons, reaching an output of 6,000 tons per year by 2000.

Keliang Ji

Mao - tai


Input: Mao - tai, which is praised as China's " national alcoholic drink ", has a very long history, and is called one of the world's three famous distilled spirits, the other two being French Cognac and the UK's Scotch whiskey.

Mao - tai

China

UK

French

Scotch


Input: Because the art of manufacturing Mao - tai is complicated and its production cycle is long, the output of Mao - tai is extremely limited.

Mao - tai

Mao - tai


Input: The annual output only reached 1,200 tons in 1987.


Input: In recent years, under the support of the national Ministry of Finance and the Light Industry Headquarters, the Mao - tai Distillery invested 530 million yuan RMB to successively implement a two - phase expansion and technology renovation.

Ministry of Finance

the Light Industry Headquarters

the Mao - tai Distillery


Input: Currently, it has an annual production capacity of 4,000 tons.


Input: In 1997, this plant made over 4,400 tons of Mao - tai; with sales income exceeding 500 million yuan RMB, and profit and taxes reaching 370 million RMB, both being the best levels in history.

Mao - tai


Input: Mao - tai, which is made in the Chishui river valley area in the northern part of Guizhou Province in southwest China, is known for its extremely special fermentation technique.

Mao - tai

Chishui river valley

Guizhou Province

China


Input: The water used comes from the Chishui river that flows over cinnabar quality soil and selectively uses such locally produced raw materials as sorghum, high quality wheat, etc. and is fermented during the period from the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival to the Double Ninth Festival.

the Chishui river


Input: After a total of 10 months fermentation, which requires adding material twice, distilling 7 times, fermenting 8 times, and braising and boiling 9 times, the spirit is then put into specially made earthen jars, sealed and stored for over three years.


Input: Finally, it is finished by veteran brewers carefully mixing additives.


Input: What makes Mao - tai even more famous is that first generation leaders of new China had used it to entertain distinguished guests such as former president Nixon of the US, Tanaka Kakuei, former prime minister of Japan, etc.

Mao - tai

China

US

Japan

Nixon

Tanaka Kakuei


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 26th, by reporter Xidong Wang

Xinhua News Agency

Beijing

December 26th

Xidong Wang


Input: China plans to formulate many new preferential policies to ensure positively, reasonably and effectively utilizing foreign investment and to improve the pattern of opening up to the outside world.

China


Input: A relevant department of the State Planning Commission presented that, in order to expand channels of utilizing foreign capital, China will actively experiment with and gradually develop a variety of ways such as BOT, project financing and issuing stocks overseas, etc.

the State Planning Commission

China


Input: It will expand co-operation with developed countries and the widely developing countries, expand fields for opening up to the outside world, and continue experiments utilizing foreign investment in the insurance industry and retail commerce industry.


Input: In industries such as mining resources development and retail, etc. new policies for utilizing foreign investment will be promoted.


Input: Data provided by the State Taxation Administration show that, starting next year, foreign business investment BOT projects will continue to enjoy preferential taxation, and the scope of their preferential policies will include investment enterprises and individual investors engaged in BOT projects.

the State Taxation Administration

next year


Input: A relevant State Council Special Zone Office director expressed that, in order to encourage foreign businessmen to carry out investment in the mid and western areas, foreign businessmen will be allowed, in the mid and western areas, to initiate projects in which China's industrial policy restricts foreign business investment but which can make use of manpower resources.

State Council Special Zone Office

China


Input: Moreover, China will encourage Sino - foreign joint investments to construct and operate public docks and berths, and will allow foreign businessmen investing exclusively to construct cargo owners' wharves and their specialized waterways.

China

Sino - foreign


Input: With approval, foreign companies can establish Sino - foreign joint venture shipping companies in China, and foreign shipping companies investing exclusively can establish shipping service companies by following shipping agreements between the two governments.

Sino - foreign

China

two


Input: According to statistics, up to now, China has totally approved over 300,000 foreign - invested enterprises, and has actually utilized foreign investment of about 200 billion US dollars.

China

over 300,000

about 200 billion US dollars


Input: The utilized foreign investment has accounted for over 20% of the fixed assets investment of the whole society.

over 20%


Input: According to analysis, due to promotion of enterprise reforms, China's demand for foreign investment will grow accordingly, and industries invested in by foreign businessmen will also expand daily.

China


Input: New policies being successively issued show that China will actively lead the direction of foreign investment to reach the goal of reasonably utilizing foreign investment.

China


Input: For a future period of time, China will encourage foreign businessmen to invest in new agricultural technology, comprehensive development of land resources, and such basic industries and pillar industries as water conservation, energy, transportation, important raw materials, machinery and electronics, mining, etc. and will encourage foreign businessmen to employ new high level technology to participate in the technical transformation of China's enterprises

China

China


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Lanzhou, February 15, by wire -LRB- reporter Zhi Qu -RRB-

Xinhua News Agency

Lanzhou

February 15

Zhi Qu


Input: Currently, foreign funded enterprises in Gansu Province no longer worry about investment risk.

Gansu Province


Input: To ensure that the opening up to the outside world can be implemented smoothly, during the " eighth five - year plan " period -LRB- 1991 to 1995 -RRB-, Gansu Province's foreign affairs insurance industry developed rapidly, and it has already provided an accumulated sum of 61.1 billion yuan in terms of risk safeguard.

eighth

five - year

1991 to 1995

Gansu Province's

61.1 billion yuan


Input: Insurance coverages include the four large categories of property, liability, credit and life, with more than sixty primary and secondary risk types.

four

sixty


Input: According to presentations from concerned departments in Gansu Province, since the " eighth five - year plan ", Gansu Province has used foreign investments to vigorously develop.

Gansu Province

Gansu Province

eighth

five - year


Input: On the basis of meeting the needs of economic development and overseas investors, the Gansu provincial branch of the People's Insurance Company of China Group caters to foreign businessmen's requirements, providing whole - process insurance which extends from the import of equipment to its transportation, and from installation to the formation of fixed assets, thus helping foreign businessmen to set their minds at ease.

Gansu

the People's Insurance Company of China Group


Input: Conventional insurance lines such as transportation insurance, property insurance, automobile insurance, etc. are specially offered to foreign funded enterprises such as the Zhengda Company and the Huaxing Aluminum Firm, etc. and new types of insurance such as employer liability insurance, investment insurance, and profit - loss insurance, etc. are also offered at the appropriate time, satisfying the investment needs of foreign businessmen, bringing the insurance rate of the foreign business invested enterprises to more than 90 percent.

the Zhengda Company

the Huaxing Aluminum Firm

more than 90 percent


Input: According to statistics, during the " eighth five - year plan " period, the amount of risk People's Insurance Co. took up for the import and export trade of Gansu Province reached 771 million yuan, and paid out 13.855 million yuan as indemnity, effectively promoting the development of Gansu Province's import and export trade.

eighth

five - year

People's Insurance Co.

Gansu Province

Gansu Province's

771 million yuan

13.855 million yuan


Input: The " redirection of the Da river to Shaanxi " project mortgaged by the World Bank is the longest gravity - irrigation water conservancy project in the whole country.

the Da river

Shaanxi

the World Bank


Input: People's Insurance Co. in Gansu Province provided all kinds of risk insurance to thirteen of the joint venture contractors and had indemnity reaching 693 million yuan.

People's Insurance Co.

Gansu Province

693 million yuan


Input: They also provided 190 million US dollars of installation insurance for a national key project: the Lanhua Chemical Fertilizer Plant reform and expansion project.

190 million US dollars

Lanhua Chemical Fertilizer Plant


Input: Aiming at the development requirements of the Gansu tourism industry, People's Insurance Co. actively promotes travel insurance for overseas tourists, and took the lead at home in providing insurance for individual overseas tourists, which made sure that all those who came sightseeing in Gansu Province during the " eighth five - year plan " period had insurance.

Gansu

Gansu Province

People's Insurance Co.

eighth

five - year


Input: Gansu Province also actively explored high risk business.

Gansu Province


Input: During the " eighth five - year plan " period, it participated in the co-insurance of satellite launching, with a shared risk amount reaching 10 million yuan, and, paying 5 million yuan in indemnity, became the northwest's first company to participate in the aerospace industry.

eighth

first

five - year

10 million yuan

5 million yuan


Input: At the same time, it actively expanded its insurance business in the overseas market, providing nearly 30 million US dollars in comprehensive insurance for construction engineering to the Zimbabwe Highway project that was bid on by an international company in the province; providing liability insurance of 13 million US dollars for the overseas department of the Lanzhou Petrochemical Machinery Factory and the Singapore Oil Drilling Platform; providing related forms of insurance for Gansu Province's Overseas Economic and Trade Negotiation Association and for laborers exported overseas; and also providing complementary insurance services for the overseas business of the Gansu Province Thermoelectric Company.

nearly 30 million US dollars

13 million US dollars

Zimbabwe Highway

the Lanzhou Petrochemical Machinery Factory

the Singapore Oil Drilling Platform

Overseas Economic and Trade Negotiation Association

the Gansu Province Thermoelectric Company

Gansu Province's


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Xi'an, December 30th, by reporter Lianye Zhang

Xinhua News Agency

Xi'an

December 30th

Lianye Zhang


Input: At next Spring's "'98 negotiation conference on cooperation between east and west China and investment and trade ", Shaanxi Province will promote public auctioning of a number of small state - owned enterprises to domestic and overseas traveling merchants.

next Spring's

negotiation conference on cooperation between east and west China and investment and trade

Shaanxi Province


Input: This province has currently drafted preferential policies to encourage state - owned enterprises, collective enterprises, privately - operated enterprises, individually - owned science and technology enterprises, foreign funded enterprises and average people from inside and outside the province using various methods to participate in Shaanxi's small state - owned enterprise reforms.

Shaanxi


Input: It encourages small State - owned enterprises to cross industries, to cross regions and to cross ownership systems to look for co-operation partners and to proactively " become related by marriage " with dominant enterprises and to mutually merge.


Input: Small state - owned enterprises of Shaanxi account for over ninety percent of the total number of state - owned enterprises, with fixed assets accounting for more than thirty percent, and the number of employees accounting for over fifty percent of the total number.

Shaanxi

over ninety percent

more than thirty percent

fifty percent


Input: Shaanxi Province states that next year it will basically give more freedom to provincial small state - owned enterprises to do business.

Shaanxi Province

next year


Input: Recently issued preferential policies include: appropriate preferences should be granted to enterprises with net assets and relatively good operations, where enterprise assets are sold to lawyers and average people; for those implementing auctions, related taxes can be reduced or eliminated; for those implementing shares cooperation system reforms, the state - owned net assets should be first sold to employees of these enterprises.

first


Input: Income from transferring enterprise property rights should not only be used for settling employees, but also should be collected for re-investment.


Input: Through evaluation, enterprises whose assets and debt are quite balanced will implement a " zero assets " sale and debt will go with the assets.

zero


Input: If sold to employees, the form of these enterprise's ownership system and employee status will be changed at the same time.


Input: If sold to a legal person or an ordinary person who accepts settling employees, the cost of buying seniority of state - owned employees, can be resolved by adopting the method of reducing or eliminating local taxes.


Input: If not settling employees, the cost of buying seniority will be paid from the sale income of the state - owned net assets according to the financial affiliation relationship.


Input: For enterprises whose assets do not offset debt and that are on the verge of bankruptcy, measures can be adopted for reorganization such as reorganizing enterprise management levels, changing methods of enterprise assets operation, and guiding the enterprise organization of structural adjustment, etc.


Input: For enterprises with no hope of revival, bankruptcy must resolutely be implemented according to law.


Input: At bankruptcy, income from liquidating assets should be used first to settle employees and insufficiencies should be made up for from the sale of real estate.


Input: Stock cooperatives are an important form of opening up small state - owned enterprises.


Input: Enterprises whose system is changed in this form can enjoy preferential policies, such as income taxes being returned when they exceed the base, temporarily not levying business tax on fixed assets, etc.


Input: For those implementing mergers, the merging party can enjoy policy - type loss subsidies of the merged enterprise, or the enterprise accumulation fund can also be used to compensate for loss, and insufficiencies can be listed as pre-tax expenditures.


Input: Non-bank debt of reformed enterprises can be transferred from creditor rights to stock ownership; those having difficulty paying taxes, can implement " temporarily postponing old debt but not owing on new taxes, and suspending taxes and waiving fines, and paying off year by year ".


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Ningbo, February 7th, by reporters Hongwei Hu and Jicheng Chai

Xinhua News Agency

Ningbo

February 7th

Hongwei Hu

Jicheng Chai


Input: The Ningbo Bonded Area, which occupies a total area of 2.3 square kilometers, has made substantial achievements after 3 years of construction.

The Ningbo Bonded Area

2.3 square kilometers

3 years


Input: The Ningbo Bonded Area is one of the 13 bonded areas in China and was established after approval by the State Council in 1992.

The Ningbo Bonded Area

China

the State Council


Input: At present, the various functions of the bonded area have fundamentally taken shaped, and its development level is high among all the bonded areas in China.

China


Input: According to statistics, by the end of last year, import and export trade of the Ningbo Bonded Area added up to 812 million US dollars.

the end of last year

the Ningbo Bonded Area

812 million US dollars


Input: In the last year alone, import and export trade amounts going through customs of the bonded area reached 365 million US dollars.

the last year alone

365 million US dollars


Input: At present, there are 10 bonded warehouses in the area, the storage area of which is more than 80,000 square meters.

more than 80,000 square meters


Input: In the last year alone, the value of goods stored in the area reached 2.627 billion yuan RMB.

the last year alone

2.627 billion yuan RMB


Input: With the adjustment of related special policies outside the bonded areas in China starting in April of this year, the advantage of the bonded area's stability in certificate - free, duty - free and bonded policies is becoming more obvious.

China

April of this year


Input: A great number of industrial processing projects come to the area successively from inside and outside the country.


Input: By the end of last December, the total number of enterprises in the bonded area was 1,614, of which 260 were foreign - invested enterprises and the total investment reached 1.2 billion US dollars, with an actual utilized foreign investment of 113 million US dollars.

the end of last December

1.2 billion US dollars

113 million US dollars


Input: Additionally, a large number of domestic enterprises coupled themselves with the international market through the bonded area.


Input: To complement the bonded area with operations, the Ningbo Bonded Area has taken the lead in China in implementing trial one - stop management and one - time handling of direct, legal enterprise registration.

the Ningbo Bonded Area

China


Input: At the same time, the bonded zone is taking a firm hold in the construction of a network system for the information highway in the area so as to create favorable complementary conditions for the realization of modernized management.


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Tianjin, January 10, by wire -LRB- reporter Xuejie Man and correspondent Hong Zhang -RRB-

Xinhua News Agency

Tianjin

January 10

Xuejie Man

Hong Zhang


Input: This reporter learned from the Tianjin Port Bonded Area that in 1997 the bonded area comprehensively surpassed quotas on various economic indicators with an average growth rate reaching more than 70%, ranking the first among China's bonded areas.

the Tianjin Port Bonded Area

China

more than 70%

first


Input: According to statistics, last year, the Tianjin Port Bonded Area completed a total amount of 850 million US dollars in investment agreements, increasing by 72% over the same period of the previous year, with total foreign investment agreements of 700 million US dollars, increasing by 75% over the same period of the previous year.

last year

the same period of the previous year

the same period of the previous year

the Tianjin Port Bonded Area

850 million US dollars

700 million US dollars


Input: It achieved a total volume of 4 billion US dollars of goods going into and out of the area, increasing by 83% over the same period of the previous year, with a total amount of 1 billion US dollars from imports and exports.

4 billion US dollars

1 billion US dollars

the same period of the previous year


Input: All these were the highest levels in history.


Input: Since being put into operation five years ago, the Tianjin Port Bonded Area has completed the construction of China's first goods distribution center, functions like a customs port, opened up the special use the railway line from the Tianjin Port Bonded Area passing Xi'an and Lanzhou to arrive at Xinjiang's Allah Mountain pass customs port, established a number of large - scale materials circulation distribution and supply centers integrating storage, transportation and sales, opened multiple railway and international container joint - operations with a monthly loading and unloading capacity reaching 6,000 standard containers.

five years ago

the Tianjin Port Bonded Area

China

the Tianjin Port Bonded Area

Xi'an

Lanzhou

Xinjiang

first

Allah Mountain


Input: It has built up an installation capacity of 7,000 sets of program - controlled telephones, had a power supply capacity of 25,000 kilovolts, and a daily water supply capacity of 10,000 tons.

25,000 kilovolts

10,000 tons


Input: Moreover, the bonded area has implemented a series of preferential policies towards enterprises entering the area: it has established a system of " no custom accounting " and established manuals and management; for enterprises engaged in international trade and storage processing in the area, the equipment and materials needed are duty free, and domestic trade continuing to sell out of the bonded area is regarded as export, for which customs provides tax refunds, etc.


Input: With the daily improvement of the Tianjin Port Bonded Area's investment environment, foreign businessmen coming to invest are increasing daily.

the Tianjin Port Bonded Area's


Input: Last year, there were thirteen large projects of over 20 million yuan alone.

Last year

thirteen

20 million yuan


Input: CALTEX and Caterpillar from the US, Japan's Itochu, South Korea's Daewoo and the New World Consortium from Hong Kong had been successively entering the zone to invest and open business.

CALTEX

Caterpillar

Itochu

Daewoo

the New World Consortium

US

Japan

South Korea's

Hong Kong


Input: While foreign investments were flocking in large numbers, twenty large and medium - sized state - owned enterprises also entered and settled themselves in the zone last year, investing a total of nearly 200 million US dollars.

twenty

last year

200 million US dollars


Input: According to statistics, in the past five years, Tianjin Bonded Area has attracted a total of over 3000 enterprises from 73 countries and regions all over the world and 25 domestic provinces, cities and municipalities to invest, reaching a total agreed investment value of more than 3 billion US dollars and a total agreed foreign investment reaching more than 2 billion US dollars.

the past five years

Tianjin Bonded Area

more than 3 billion US dollars

more than 2 billion US dollars


Input: Xinhua News Agency, Shenyang, March 19, by wire

Xinhua News Agency

Shenyang

March 19


Input: Liaoning, a large industrial province of China, in the beginning of this year, comprehensively increased import and export trade.

Liaoning

China

the beginning of this year


Input: In the first two months of this year, the total value of import and export trade reached 1.24 billion US dollars, increasing 6% over the same period last year.

the first two months of this year

the same period last year

1.24 billion US dollars


Input: According to statistics, from January to February of this year, the total export volume of Liaoning achieved 1 billion US dollars, increasing by 4.7 percent over the same period last year, including 780 million US dollars of local product export which was mainly finished products.

January to February of this year

the same period last year

Liaoning

1 billion US dollars

780 million US dollars

4.7 percent


Input: The foreign trade export proportion of Liaoning's three - capital enterprises has started to increase.

Liaoning

three


Input: In January and February, the export volume of three - capital enterprises for the whole province reached 260 million US dollars, which was twice as much as that of the same period last year, and 12 percent higher than the total export volume of the whole province in the same period last year.

January and February

the same period last year

the same period last year

three

260 million US dollars

12 percent


Input: At present, Liaoning Province possesses more than 100 import and export companies varying in business and administration at the province, city, and county level.

Liaoning Province

more than 100


Input: There are more than 200 large and medium - sized manufacturing enterprises with import and export authorization and more than 1500 foreign - invested enterprises doing import and export business.

more than 200

more than 1500


Input: Last year, the total achieved import and export volume was 10.99 billion US dollars.

Last year

10.99 billion US dollars


Input: -LRB- End -RRB-


Input: Former U.S. representative Sidney Yates has died.

U.S.

Sidney Yates


Input: When he retired last year, he was the oldest and longest serving member of the house.

last year


Input: NPR's Sheryl Corley reports from Chicago.

NPR

Sheryl Corley

Chicago


Input: Sidney Yates was first elected to the U.S. house in 1948, when Harry Truman was President and for more than 4 decades he trounced every challenger to face him in congressional election.

Sidney Yates

Harry Truman

U.S.

more than 4 decades


Input: He sat out 1 term after losing a U.S Senate race in the 1960s, but for 24 terms, Yates represented Chicago's northern lake front and northern suburbs.

U.S Senate

the 1960s

Yates

Chicago


Input: The congressman was known as a fervent liberal and supporter of the arts and he was noted for his success in getting congress to finance for national endowment for the art.


Input: In 1993, Yates was awarded a Presidential Citizen's Medal for his efforts.

Yates

a Presidential Citizen's Medal


Input: Yates was born in Chicago and he was one of the few politicians who successfully walked the tight rope between the Chicago machine and its independent critics.

Yates

Chicago

Chicago


Input: He died yesterday of renal failure and complications from pneumonia.

yesterday


Input: Sheryl Corley, NPR news, Chicago.

Sheryl Corley

NPR news

Chicago


Input: China released a government policy paper today about population and development.

China

today


Input: The paper said Beijing hopes to cap its population at 1.6 billion by the year 2050.

Beijing

1.6 billion

the year 2050


Input: NPR's Rob Gifford reports from the Chinese capital.

NPR

Rob Gifford

Chinese


Input: The Chinese government today credited the one child policy with dramatically improving the quality of life for citizens of the world's most populous nation.

Chinese

today

one


Input: China's population currently stands at 1.26 billion, still the largest in the world, but the paper says that if it weren't for the one child policy that figure would be 300 million higher.

China

1.26 billion

one

300 million


Input: The white paper says the economy still faces a daunting challenge coping with the net annual increase of 10 million people over the next decade.

10 million


Input: At the same time, it says, China will grapple with problems associated with a rapidly aging population and lack of an extensive social security system.

China


Input: Rob Gifford, NPR News, Beijing.

Rob Gifford

NPR News

Beijing


Input: In what may have been a ripple effect of the Middle East crisis, an explosion today killed at least four sailors on a US Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden.

Middle East

today

at least four

US Navy

Yemeni

Aden


Input: American investigators are going to the scene but in Washington at the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department, US officials are already expressing suspicions that today's explosion was an act of terrorism.

American

Washington

US

the White House

Pentagon

the State Department

today


Input: The World's Clark Boyd reports.

World

Clark Boyd


Input: The blast, which occurred just after noon local time in Yemen, ripped a 20 x 40 foot gash in the USS Cole, a state - of - the - art destroyer that had stopped in Aden to refuel before joining the carrier George Washington in the Persian Gulf.

just after noon

Yemen

Aden

40 foot

the USS Cole

George Washington

the Persian Gulf


Input: Speaking at the Cole's home base in Norfolk, Virginia, Admiral John Foley said that the Navy is investigating the incident.

Cole

Norfolk

Virginia

John Foley

Navy


Input: I don't know whether it was terrorism or not.


Input: It was an act of certainly a severe belligerence but we don't know the source, nor can I comment any further on that.


Input: But in Washington, Pentagon officials went further saying that they had every reason to suspect that the blast was caused by terrorists.

Washington

Pentagon


Input: The officials said that reports from the scene, including one from an Army officer working in Aden Harbor, suggested that a small rubber craft that was helping the Cole dock came alongside the destroyer and caused the blast.

one

Army

Aden Harbor

Cole


Input: Many, including retired Admiral Eugene Carroll, are suspicious that the small boat may have been loaded with high - power explosives and that the attack was planned.

Eugene Carroll


Input: That craft that approached the Cole is a rubber boat, not a big craft, but they would have had to pack it fully with explosives to do the amount of damage that they did to the Cole and that certainly would have taken time to get that put together.

Cole

Cole


Input: While both the Pentagon and the Justice Department today dispatched teams of experts to Yemen to investigate the explosion, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged caution saying it was too early to jump to any conclusions.

Pentagon

the Justice Department

today

Yemen


Input: Still, she promised that the United States would take appropriate action if terrorists were found to be behind the blast, a sentiment echoed later in the day by President Clinton.

the United States

later in the day

Clinton


Input: If, as it now appears, this was an act of terrorism, it was a despicable and cowardly act.


Input: We will find out who is responsible and hold them accountable.


Input: If their intention was to deter us from our mission of promoting peace and security in the Middle East, they will fail utterly.

the Middle East


Input: For some terrorism experts today's attack, which occurred against the backdrop of intense clashes between Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East, has an eerily familiar ring to it.

today

Palestinians

Israelis

the Middle East


Input: Bruce Hoffman is the director of the Rand Corporation's Washington office.

Bruce Hoffman

the Rand Corporation's

Washington


Input: We have seen often in the past how violence and conflict and tensions in the Middle East often embroil the United States.

the Middle East

the United States


Input: One only has to recall the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, also a month before presidential election, also at a time when Israel was involving suitable ferment at that point in Lebanon now with the Palestinians, where the United States was also attempting actively to provide some stabilizing influence and unfortunately and tragically got caught up in the maelstrom and that seems to be the salient fact of this attack.

US Marine

Palestinians

Lebanon

Israel

Lebanon

the United States

a month


Input: And if this attack turns out to be the work of terrorists, Hoffman says it would signal a dangerous new trend.

Hoffman


Input: Maritime or marine - borne terrorist attacks are actually quite rare.


Input: That being said it could well be the beginning of a new pattern.


Input: We have made it far more difficult, appropriately so, for terrorists to attack our ground forces in the Arabian Peninsula.

the Arabian Peninsula


Input: So, I think terrorists prevented from attacking their targets using their more conventional means ` truck bombs' have merely adjusted their tactics slightly and obviously they have been successful with it today.

today


Input: On Yemeni TV today the country's President expressed his heart - felt condolences to those who were killed and injured, but denied that the explosion on board the cole was caused by terrorists, although, admits Mohammed Al - Qadhi, editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in the capital Sana, anti-American sentiment has been running high in Yemen because of events in the Middle East.

Yemeni

anti-American

today

cole

Mohammed Al - Qadhi

Yemen Observer

Sana

Yemen

the Middle East


Input: The people now in the streets are gathering because they feel that not just as Arabs, as human beings, that what is happening in Palestine is not humanitarian.

Arabs

Palestine


Input: Regarding the United States' attitude in this regard, we find that the United States until now are supporting Israel.

the United States'

the United States

Israel


Input: The people here feel that United States should do something.

United States


Input: With tensions running high throughout the Middle East, today's incident off the coast of Yemen serves as a warning.

the Middle East

today

Yemen


Input: US armed forces and diplomatic personnel might be on high alert for sometime to come.

US


Input: For The World this is Clark Boyd.

The World

Clark Boyd


Input: President Clinton has pardoned a former leading member of the House of Representatives convicted of corruption charges in 1996.

Clinton

the House of Representatives


Input: Former Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Dan Rostenkowski was among 59 convicted criminals pardoned by the President.

the House Ways and Means Committee

Dan Rostenkowski


Input: He was sentenced to 17 months in prison and fined 100,000 dollars after pleading guilty to mail fraud.

17 months

100,000 dollars


Input: Clinton is also considering clemency for several other convicted criminals.

Clinton


Input: BBC News for The World.

BBC News

The World


Input: In London, I am James Cowling.

London

James Cowling


Input: In the other major story out of the Middle East, Arab Foreign Ministers met today in Cairo in advance of Saturday's Arab's summit.

the Middle East

Arab

Arab

today

Saturday

Cairo


Input: Egypt called the emergency summit to declare support for the Palestinians in the wake of three weeks of violence that has left at least 106 people dead, almost all of them Palestinian.

Egypt

Palestinians

Palestinian

three weeks

at least 106


Input: Violence has abated somewhat since the deal was struck at Sharm el - Sheikh two days ago, but Arab governments are under pressure from their own citizens to take a tough stance against Israel.

Sharm el - Sheikh

Israel

two days ago

Arab


Input: James Drummond, covering the Arab summit in Cairo for the Financial Times.

James Drummond

Arab

Cairo

the Financial Times


Input: James, there's a reason why the Arabs wanted this pre-summit meeting.

James

Arabs


Input: What is the pressure on them prior to the summit?


Input: Well, I think they want to try and iron out any potential difficulties before the heads of state come into town on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday

Sunday


Input: So this is a preparatory exercise to reach some sort of agreement beforehand.


Input: Of course, the problem is that not all Arab states are speaking again with one voice.

Arab

one


Input: What do they hope to achieve? and what can you claim from the statements made today?

today


Input: It is difficult to say, Arab's summit have traditionally been exercises in division.

Arab


Input: We have already seen problems from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday who appeared on Al - Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, and, rubbish, what he said was a draft statement for the end of the summit on Sunday.

Libyan

pan-Arab

Muammar Gaddafi

Tuesday

Sunday

Al - Jazeera


Input: And he was very categorical that it was too weak and did not harm Israeli interests sufficiently.

Israeli


Input: So we have Gadafi on the one hand.

Gadafi

one


Input: On the other hand we have Egypt which was the first Arab country to make peace with the Jewish state, which is of course also a top recipient of US aid.

Egypt

US

first

Arab

Jewish


Input: The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is more of a voice of moderation against the other side.

Egyptian

Hosni Mubarak


Input: Tell us about what he has been saying.


Input: Well, Mr. Mubarak has been, as you say, a voice of moderation.

Mubarak


Input: He has invested an awful amount in the peace with Israel, and really he can not afford to let it fail.

Israel


Input: We have seen some more power techniques perhaps from his Foreign Minister Amre Moussa over the last few weeks, but Amre Moussa today at the Foreign Minister's meeting was calling simply for the return of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians, in stark contrast to Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al - Shara who was pulling for a complete cut in diplomatic relations between Israel and the two Arab states that happen.

Amre Moussa

Amre Moussa

Faruq al - Shara

the last few weeks

today

East Jerusalem

Israel

Palestinians

Syrian

Arab

two


Input: So Egypt is playing a calming role.

Egypt


Input: It will not want to see anything too strong coming out of this summit due to end on Sunday.

Sunday


Input: What seemed to be the prevailing voices at this point?


Input: There are certainly calls for war against Israel.

Israel


Input: Is there much support for that?


Input: Well, actually President Mubarak was very categorical today in condemning calls for war, which he said were very serious and people should understand the implications of just what it meant.

Mubarak

today


Input: Egypt and Jordan do not want to see any sort of conventional war against Israel.

Egypt

Jordan

Israel


Input: They have both invested enormous amounts in it, and both regimes would be more vulnerable if the peace process were to fail, because detractors and opponents within each country would have ammunition by which to fire at them.


Input: How much is the United States entering into the conversation and how much pressure seems to be coming from the United States?

the United States

the United States


Input: Well today not too much.


Input: I mean Madeleine Albright was in Saudi Arabia yesterday where she met with crown prince Abdullah and the new Syrian President Bashar Al - Assad.

Madeleine Albright

Abdullah

Bashar Al - Assad

Saudi Arabia

yesterday

Syrian


Input: Interestingly enough she is quoted as telling General Sanholi back to the US that she did not really get too much of a reception from Bashar Al - Assad in terms of lightening the traditionally antagonistic Syrian align towards Israel.

Sanholi

Bashar Al - Assad

US

Israel

Syrian


Input: Nonetheless, the fact that she did meet with Bashar Al - Assad and it wasn't Saudi Arabia which is traditionally being more dovish and has supported US policy, it is significant.

Bashar Al - Assad

Saudi Arabia

US


Input: So, as of today, I would say certainly on the surface there has been little US action.

today

US


Input: Well, thank you very much for the update.


Input: James Drummond, correspondent for the Financial Times of London speaking to us from Cairo.

James Drummond

the Financial Times of London

Cairo


Input: Thank you James.

James


Input: Thanks.


Input: With this month's ouster of strongman Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavia is rapidly joining the international community.

month

Slobodan Milosevic

Yugoslavia


Input: Today, the country was admitted into an international Balkan development program.

Today

Balkan


Input: Belgrade now hopes to join the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Belgrade

the United Nations

the International Monetary Fund

the World Bank


Input: At home, President Vojislav Kostunica says that he intends to promote democracy and free speech, but Kostunica just might have second thoughts, once a theater group that roasted his predecessor over the coals starts turning him on a spit.

Vojislav Kostunica

Kostunica

second


Input: The World's Nened Chebeck reports from the Yugoslav capital.

World

Nened Chebeck

Yugoslav


Input: These days at almost every street corner in central Belgrade, there is a stall selling compact discs with protest songs against the former regime, and the most popular tune blaring out of the speakers goes like this, `` attention, attention, last train for Serbia via day stop Kosovo and The Hague is departing with a ten hour delay.

These days

day

Belgrade

Serbia

Kosovo

The Hague

ten hour


Input: It's the latest hit by the satirical theater called `` Index''.

Index


Input: They started off 20 years ago in a local radio station and became an enormous success on stage and not just here in Serbia.

20 years ago

Serbia


Input: They toured the world and performed wherever there is an emigrant community from the former Yugoslavia scattered by the wars here, from Australia to New York where Index will be returning in late November.

Yugoslavia

Australia

New York

Index

late November


Input: This song is from their latest play, The Last Train for Serbia, which was recorded on the day protestors stormed the federal parliament in Belgrade and the main television stations.

The Last Train for Serbia

the day

Belgrade


Input: The song speaks of panic in the household of Slobodan Milosevic.

Slobodan Milosevic


Input: Even before the former President conceded defeat, the Index Theater performed live on an improvised stage outside the parliament, in front of a crowd of some 300,000 people.

the Index Theater


Input: Actor Drugewbo Unitich tells how the show began.

Drugewbo Unitich


Input: The first thing that I told them was please let us close our eyes and just listen.

first


Input: When they did that and I saw them and I told them in a voice of Milosevic, `` Ladies and gentleman, I am definitely finished.''

Milosevic


Input: Only 3 or 4 hours after that he appeared on television and said something very similar to that.

4 hours


Input: Yubitrich is one of Belgrade's most popular actors and he owes it to his skilful portrayal of Slobodan Milosevic.

Yubitrich

Slobodan Milosevic

one

Belgrade


Input: Getting into Milosevic's shoes even on stage, was quite a temptation says Yubitrich.

Milosevic

Yubitrich


Input: I always felt when I enter his person, Okay, that I can do whatever I want and I always molested our fellow players you know.


Input: So being Milosevic is something which I can compare to taking a dangerous drug.

Milosevic


Input: But with Milosevic out of the way, what next for Serbia's most popular satirical group?

Milosevic

Serbia


Input: Writer Vojislav Jonetic says he is confident the new Yugoslav government will provide plenty of fresh material.

Vojislav Jonetic

Yugoslav


Input: We will have plenty of politicians, which we can play.


Input: We will have plenty of idiotic situations in Serbian politics.

Serbian


Input: Political satirical theater is something which you can apply best to the societies, which are in some kind of crisis.


Input: We are still in crisis and we will be I think for a while, but the current crisis Jonetic hopes will at least be one where government critics will not be branded as traitors and be banned from public performances.

Jonetic

one


Input: Index Theater is planning a huge comeback now with a series of shows in Belgrade, but even though Milosevic is under de facto house arrest in Belgrade, he is very much present on the repertoire of political humors, says his impersonator, Dragewbo Yubitrich.

Index Theater

Belgrade

Belgrade

Milosevic

Dragewbo Yubitrich


Input: I would like to share one joke with the listeners of The World.

one

The World


Input: It's the year of 2004.

the year of 2004


Input: In Serbia it is 57th round of elections from September 2000 and Slobodan Milosevic appears on national tv and says, `` I want to greet you as your new President, my name is Vojislav Kostunica''.

Serbia

September 2000

Slobodan Milosevic

Vojislav Kostunica


Input: Yubitrich says, he has already set his sights on the new Yugoslav President, Kostunica and will most likely be impersonating him in the future.

Yubitrich

Kostunica

Yugoslav


Input: He is not as easy to make fun of yet Yubitritch says, unlike Milosevic, but that doesn't mean he will escape the scrutiny and sharp wits of Index Theater.

Yubitritch

Milosevic

Index Theater


Input: For The World, this is Nenad Chebeck in Belgrade.

The World

Nenad Chebeck

Belgrade


Input: This is The World, I am Lisa Mullins.

The World

Lisa Mullins


Input: Up next a global hip - hop beat laid down in New York and danced to in the West African nation of Senegal.

New York

Senegal

West African


Input: The World's Marco Warman has today's musical finale.

World

Marco Warman

today


Input: Imagine trying to translate the lyrics of the Sugar Hill Gang's notorious rap classic, Rapper's Delight.

the Sugar Hill Gang's

Rapper's Delight


Input: Fortunately for rap fans in the Senegalese capital, Dakar translating these tunes isn't necessary.

Senegalese

Dakar


Input: The city has its own homegrown hip - hop scene.


Input: It is a hip - hop but African hip - hop with African instruments, you know, African chant, traditional sounds.

African

African

African


Input: That is Amidu Barry, one half of the duo Positive Black Soul or PBS.

Amidu Barry

one half

Positive Black Soul

PBS


Input: They are the doyens of Dakar's hip - hop scene, the Sugar Hill Gang of Senegal if you will.

Dakar

Senegal

the Sugar Hill Gang


Input: Positive Black Soul sings in Senegal's main language Wolof but if the music sounds like it comes straight out of the Bronx, well, you are not far off.

Positive Black Soul

Senegal

Bronx

Wolof


Input: PBS produce their albums in New York.

PBS

New York


Input: Lead singer Amidu Berry says New York producers make hip - hop in any language come out sounding right.

Amidu Berry

New York


Input: They know how to make a hip - hop record sound good.


Input: They know the sound of hip - hop, you know, and they have got the equipment and the engineers and they know how to handle it.


Input: But Positive Black Soul's music is first and foremost Senegalese music.

Positive Black Soul's

first

Senegalese


Input: When American saxophonist David Murray recorded his acclaimed afrocentric jazz album, Fo Juke Review in Dakar, he recruited Amidu Berry and DJ Awadi from PBS to show what an edge West African music can really have.

American

West African

David Murray

Amidu Berry

DJ Awadi

Fo Juke Review

Dakar

PBS


Input: When Awadi and Barry performed, they managed simultaneously to bathe in the group of American hip - hop and they keep a clear sense that they are from Senegal.

Awadi

Barry

American

Senegal


Input: This connection to national and musical identities results partly from the fact that many Senegalese artists want to stay in Senegal to live and work says PBS singer Tidia Awadi.

Senegalese

Senegal

PBS

Tidia Awadi


Input: It is because they know they have the inspiration in their country.


Input: I think everybody want to stay in his country, want to die in his country.


Input: If you can stay and make it happen, the place where you was born, where you grew up then try to make it there.


Input: It's possible.


Input: Senegalese rappers are also identified by what they say in their tracks.

Senegalese


Input: Western hip - hop lyrics often revolve around the accumulation of material wealth and throwing parties.

Western


Input: PBS and other Senegalese rap groups have different concerns.

PBS

Senegalese


Input: In the grim lyrics to Leboho Inwa, the executioner is black.

Leboho Inwa


Input: PBS raps that Africans are their worst enemies.

PBS

Africans


Input: Front man Amidu Barry may look like he got his moves on the streets of Brooklyn but his critique of post-colonial finger pointing in Africa tells a different story.

Amidu Barry

Brooklyn

Africa


Input: You know, in Africa every time you know something bad happens, everybody like you know is because of the white man, you know the colonization, the slavery.

Africa


Input: They don't realize that you know the real execution is really black's black like them.


Input: So before they say it is a white man tangle you know it's because of a white man that this happens and they got to, you know, check around and they say who is the real guilty.


Input: We got to accept it and try to, you know, change the things, make the things better.


Input: Positive Black Soul are now the oldsters of Dakar's hip - hop scene and they have established the template of social consciousness that many Senegalese hip - hop groups follow like Bootin Bye, which recently scored this hit about AIDS prevention.

Positive Black Soul

Bootin Bye

Dakar

Senegalese


Input: Again Amidu Barry from Postive Black Soul.

Amidu Barry

Postive Black Soul


Input: When we started there were maybe two or three hip - hop groups in Dakar and now today we got more than 2000 groups only in Dakar, let's say in Senegal.

two

three

more than 2000

Dakar

Dakar

Senegal

today


Input: Two thousand hip - hop bands?

Two thousand


Input: Hip - hop bands only in Dakar, not the whole Senegal.

Dakar

Senegal


Input: So you know it is amazing.


Input: It's fantastic, extraordinary.


Input: Just how extraordinary can be heard on a recent French recording.

French


Input: The Hop is a compilation featuring Dakar's biggest rap stars from Bidu Bubes to the current kings of Senegalese hip - hop Daura G.

The Hop

Dakar

Bidu Bubes

Daura G

Senegalese


Input: That kind of success needs no translation.


Input: For The World, I am Mark Warmen.

The World

Mark Warmen


Input: Clashes continued today in the West Bank and Gaza.

today

the West Bank

Gaza


Input: Palestinian gunmen fired on an Israeli car killing the driver.

Palestinian

Israeli


Input: Earlier today Israeli soldiers guarding a Jewish settlement shot and killed a Palestinian man who was later identified as an intelligence officer.

Earlier today

Israeli

Jewish

Palestinian


Input: The Israeli Army said the man had been approaching the guard post in a suspicious manner.

The Israeli Army


Input: In Haiti, Jean - Bertrand Aristide has been declared the winner in last Sunday's controversial presidential election.

Haiti

Jean - Bertrand Aristide

last Sunday's


Input: NPR's Jerry Hadden reports.

NPR

Jerry Hadden


Input: Former President Aristide won with 92 percent of the vote according to Haitian election officials.

Aristide

92 percent

Haitian


Input: The sweeping victory was expected since Aristide ran virtually unopposed.

Aristide


Input: Opposition candidates boycotted the vote citing tainted legislative elections last May.

last May


Input: Aristide was elected President for the first time ten years ago and served just months before a military coup sent him into exile in the United States.

Aristide

first

ten years ago

just months

the United States


Input: He now faces huge obstacles as Haiti's leader.

Haiti


Input: His country is the poorest in the hemisphere and much of the world community has shunned him.


Input: On Wednesday UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on his organization to close its mission in Haiti citing the unstable political climate.

Wednesday

UN

Kofi Annan

Haiti


Input: Though a spate of pre-election violence kept some Haitians away from the polls on Sunday, the voting itself went relatively smoothly.

Haitians

Sunday


Input: Jerry Hadden, NPR News.

Jerry Hadden

NPR News


Input: This is The World.

The World


Input: I am Tony Kahn.

Tony Kahn


Input: Gao Xingjian arrived in Stockholm this week and when he leaves the Chinese born writer will have something extra in his suitcase, the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Gao Xingjian

Stockholm

this week

Chinese

the Nobel Prize for Literature


Input: Today Gao, who now lives in France, gave the traditional Nobel lecture as part of the festivities leading up to Sunday's ceremony, and on the same day he collects the prize.

Gao

France

Nobel

Sunday


Input: Gao's 1989 novel ` Soul Mountain' will be published for the first time in America.

Gao

` Soul Mountain'

America


Input: If you want to know what Gao Xingjian is all about, as a thinker and as an artist, our international book critic Christopher Meryl says Gao's masterpiece is an ideal starting point.

Gao Xingjian

Christopher Meryl

Gao


Input: His politics are embedded in his writing and his writing is first and foremost a celebration of freedom.

first


Input: This novel ` soul mountain', which is just being released in the United States this week is in every possible way a celebration of what freedom means.

` soul mountain'

the United States

this week


Input: It's a large novel, full of all kinds of ideas and incidents and stories and tales and a polyphony of voices.


Input: It is, if you like, the whole world wrapped up in 500 pages.


Input: It is the world at its most carnival - like, and yet it is virtually impossible, isn't it, for a Chinese artist to do something or to make a statement without its having some kind of either political effect or be political in origin.

Chinese


Input: I mean this man took the trip on which the novel was based for political reasons, did he not?


Input: Certainly.


Input: He is born in 1940.


Input: He is a product of the Cultural Revolution.

the Cultural Revolution


Input: In fact he had to burn up an entire suitcase full of hundreds of poems and plays and stories at the start of the Cultural Revolution in fear of going to prison, and then in 1983 after being diagnosed with lung cancer, which had killed his father three years earlier and being convinced that he himself was going to die, he gets a kind of reprieve.

hundreds

the Cultural Revolution

three years earlier


Input: He gets a second chest X-ray, discovers that he doesn't have lung cancer, recognizes that by virtue of the kinds of things that he is writing, his openness to Western literary ideas, that he is in political trouble again, and so he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey of some 15,000 kilometers, mostly on foot, which he takes through southwestern China.

second

Western

some 15,000 kilometers

China


Input: He had survived, if you will, a death sentence, and now in that new freedom of the life in front of him, he takes to the road in the tradition of old Chinese poets and records what he sees, what he hears, the stories that he is told.

Chinese


Input: The book is filled with marvelous descriptions of the gorges through which he walks, the mountains that he climbs, indeed the book is called Soul Mountain, the mountain on which he hopes in some way or another to get in touch with his soul, his individual soul, as opposed to that mass kind of soul being enforced upon him by the Communist Chinese authorities, the social realism that the cadres would have him write in.

Soul Mountain

Communist

Chinese


Input: Not only can this fellow write, he can paint too, can't he?


Input: He is best known among his neighbors in Paris as a painter.

Paris


Input: He has had more than 30 one - man shows and his paintings are quite delicately done and there he is also very well known as a playwright.

one


Input: I think he has published about 18 plays now and he writes his plays in French.

about 18

French


Input: Just one last thing quoting him and I wonder if you could respond to this, Christopher, he said at the very beginning of his wonderful speech to the Nobel Prize Committee, he said, `` I do not wish to waste this talk on literature by saying too much about politics and history, What I want to do is to use this opportunity to speak as one writer in the voice of an individual.''

one

Christopher

the Nobel Prize Committee


Input: Is that true basically not only for him that day, today, but of all of his work?

that day, today


Input: Well, the work that we have so far in English translation suggests that, and indeed this novel, which is a celebration as well of the self of the individual, goes so far as to even divide up to the self.

English


Input: Characters proliferate out of the imagination of the narrator so that at a certain point, you have a new he, you have a new she, you have a you, and each one of these characters tells stories, each story of which is designed to give you a deeper sense of the richness and the complexity of life in China.

China


Input: Christopher Meryl is Director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and our international book citric.

Christopher Meryl

the International Writing Program

the University of Iowa


Input: Thanks, Christopher.

Christopher


Input: Thank you.


Input: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has given a defiant speech to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gulf War.

Iraqi

Saddam Hussein

tenth

the Gulf War


Input: He says Iraq has triumphed over the evil of the West.

Iraq

West


Input: Barbara Plett reports from Baghdad.

Barbara Plett

Baghdad


Input: Saddam Hussein addressed the nation in a speech filled with rhetoric and a declaration of victory.

Saddam Hussein


Input: `` Iraq has triumphed over its enemies,'' he said, `` and it will triumph in the remaining rounds of the battle.''

Iraq


Input: The Iraqi leader said the Gulf War was a confrontation between good and evil that continues to this day.

Iraqi

the Gulf War


Input: He was referring to his struggle against the US, which strongly supports the economic embargo meant to force him to disarm.

US


Input: After the speech demonstrators gathered in a public show of support for their President.


Input: A sense of nationalism has grown stronger here as many people rally against what they say is a siege on their country.


Input: Barbara Plett, BBC News, Baghdad.

Barbara Plett

BBC News

Baghdad


Input: Armed conflict in the Balkans puts an international spotlight on a Serb leader.

Balkans

Serb


Input: Bob Glascoff looks at Slobodan Milosevic's rise to power, and his recent political setback, in today's edition of `` Headliners.''

Bob Glascoff

Slobodan Milosevic's

today

Headliners


Input: In December of 1990, Slobodan Milosevic is elected President in Serbia's first free elections in 50 years.

December of 1990

50 years

Slobodan Milosevic

Serbia

first


Input: Milosevic headed Yugoslavia's state - run gas company and was President of a major Belgrade bank climbing the political ladder as a Communist technocrat.

Milosevic

Yugoslavia

Belgrade

Communist


Input: He used his rising popularity amongst the Serb people to oust former mentor Ivan Stambolic and take over as President of the Serbian republic.

Serb

Serbian

Ivan Stambolic


Input: His brutal efforts to create a Serb - dominated Yugoslavia earned him the nickname `` Butcher of the Balkans.''

Serb

Yugoslavia


Input: Many speculated that Milosevic, whose parents and uncle committed suicide, might be mentally unbalanced himself.

Milosevic


Input: Constitutionally barred from serving a third term as Serbian President, he clung to power by having the federal parliament elect him President of Yugoslavia.

third

Serbian

Yugoslavia


Input: Milosevic was defeated by opposition leader Vojislave Kostunica in presidential elections this year, but refused to accept the results.

Milosevic

Vojislave Kostunica

this year


Input: Faced with massive demonstrations and Russia's backing of Kostunica, he agreed to step down in October.

Russia

Kostunica

October


Input: With `` Headliners,'' I'm Bob Glascoff.

Headliners

Bob Glascoff


Input: The damaged `` USS Cole'' comes home today.

USS Cole

today


Input: It's due to arrive in Pascagoula, Mississippi, this morning.

Pascagoula

Mississippi


Input: The destroyer was christened there five years ago.

five years ago


Input: Repairs are expected to cost about $240 million.

about $240 million


Input: Yemeni and U.S. authorities are still investigating the October bombing.

Yemeni

U.S.

October


Input: 17 sailors were killed.


Input: Yemen's Prime Minister says at least three Yemenis will go on trial next month in connection with the attack.

Yemen

at least three

Yemenis

next month


Input: They're suspected of belonging to an international terrorist network.


Input: Al Gore won't be the next U.S. President, but he has a slim chance of becoming the next President at Harvard.

Al Gore

U.S.

Harvard


Input: Gore holds a degree from the university, and is one of about 500 people nominated for the job.

Gore

about 500


Input: A school official talked about the Vice President's chances during an interview with `` the Boston Globe.''

`` the Boston Globe


Input: He says it's unlikely Gore will be selected, because he doesn't have enough experience in the academic world.

Gore


Input: Checking the top stories -- this is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

one

travel weekends

the year


Input: AAA estimates 61 million Americans will be heading somewhere between this weekend and New Year's.

AAA

61 million

Americans

this weekend

New Year's


Input: That's two million more than last year.

two million

last year


Input: Holiday shoppers across the U.S. are flocking to malls this weekend to complete their lists and find last - minute items.

U.S.

this weekend

last - minute


Input: In spite of warnings that consumers are spending less this season, officials from the National Retail Federation say most merchants will turn in a respectable holiday showing.

this season

the National Retail Federation


Input: And President Clinton met with Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators today to decide his next move in pushing for a Mideast peace agreement.

Clinton

Israeli

Palestinian

today

Mideast


Input: The trial of two Libyans accused of bombing Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, is entering its final stage.

two

Libyans

Pam Am

Lockerbie

Scotland


Input: The trial resumed in the Netherlands today after a month - long delay.

Netherlands

month


Input: Testimony abruptly came to a close when one of the defendants scrapped plans to take the witness stand.

one


Input: Closing arguments are scheduled for tomorrow.

tomorrow


Input: The two men are charged with murder and conspiracy in connection with the 1988 bombing that killed 270 people.

two


Input: President Clinton is going prime time tonight to bid farewell to Americans in a televised address.

Clinton

tonight

Americans


Input: The speech is being billed as a thank - you to the people who twice voted him into the White House and supported him even at his lowest moments.

the White House


Input: Yesterday, Mr. Clinton spoke to supporters in his home state of Arkansas.

Yesterday

Clinton

Arkansas


Input: It was the last of several speeches he has made in recent weeks to his backers across the country.

recent weeks


Input: The two main suspects in the bombing of the `` USS Cole'' could be charged as soon as Tuesday, according to Associated Press.

two

the `` USS Cole''

as soon as Tuesday

Associated Press


Input: The news agency is quoting a Yemeni source who says the investigators have wrapped up their questioning and will hand the case over to prosecutors.

Yemeni


Input: The suspects could be executed if they are convicted of the attack.


Input: The explosion in Aden Harbor killed 17 U.S. sailors and injured another 39 last month.

Aden Harbor

another 39

U.S.

last month


Input: U.S. investigators suspect the terrorist bombing is the result of an international conspiracy.

U.S.


Input: The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor has arrived in Yugoslavia to demand the extradition of former President Slobodan Milosevic.

U.N.

Yugoslavia

Slobodan Milosevic


Input: Carla Ponte is expected to meet today with Milosevic's successor, Vojislav Kostunica, a critic of the War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.

Carla Ponte

Milosevic

Vojislav Kostunica

today

the War Crimes Tribunal

The Hague


Input: He's suggested Milosevic and others stand trial in a Yugoslav court.

Milosevic

Yugoslav


Input: Kostunica said Milosevic and others should be tried in a Yugoslav court.

Kostunica

Milosevic

Yugoslav


Input: Nickelodeon's latest cartoon series is about a boy with a disability.

Nickelodeon


Input: Gloria Hillard takes a look at what the show `` Pelswick'' means to some children.

Gloria Hillard

Pelswick


Input: Imagine being able to visit Nickelodeon to see how they make cartoons.

Nickelodeon


Input: Here's the Beavers and all his friends.

Beavers


Input: Cool.


Input: That's awesome.


Input: 15 - year - old Nicky Barischoff and 12 - year - old Allison Gray are best friends.

15 - year - old

12 - year - old

Nicky Barischoff

Allison Gray


Input: They're also each other's biggest fans.


Input: She's the singer.


Input: Like, I can't sing.


Input: I'm not going to even try.


Input: She's the writer.


Input: I am the writer.


Input: Nicky and Allison also have cerebral palsy, and their visit to Nickelodeon coincides with the network's debut of `` Pelswick,'' an animated series about a 13 - year - old boy in a wheelchair.

Nicky

Allison

Nickelodeon

Pelswick

13 - year - old


Input: As much as I'd love to spend every day after school sucking up to teachers instead of hanging with my friends, I don't want this job.


Input: The series is created by nationally syndicated cartoonist and author John Callahan, who is a quadriplegic.

John Callahan


Input: We just felt he understands how to reach people and how to reach kids.


Input: I think kids lead the way.


Input: Kids lead the way in diversity, because they're very accepting of other kids in terms of who they are, and who they really are as people.


Input: We're normal people, and that's what Pelswick was, he was just a normal kid.

Pelswick


Input: Fox TV's `` Malcolm in the Middle'' also features a young boy who uses a wheelchair.

Fox TV's

`` Malcolm in the Middle''


Input: These are good cookies.


Input: Yeah.


Input: They're good.


Input: Allison says she hopes there will be other shows that feature kids like her.

Allison


Input: That way --


Input: I'll just be another kid in a classroom.


Input: The two best friends met in acting school.

two


Input: Now they've got a chance to see what it's like to be a voice actor for cartoons.


Input: Like anyone hearing their own voice for the first time, well, they giggled a lot.

first


Input: This is so weird.


Input: And when they heard their cartoon voices --


Input: How are your voices sounding in there?


Input: I'm so working here.


Input: My dream is to become a playwright, an actress.


Input: I would love to be a diva.


Input: And those dreams were a little closer to coming true this day, and with shows like `` Pelswick,'' they say -- well, when they get a little older, maybe people won't even look down first.

this day

Pelswick

first


Input: I'm not down here.


Input: I'm up here.


Input: Gloria Hillard, `` CNN Entertainment News,'' Los Angeles.

Gloria Hillard

CNN Entertainment News

Los Angeles


Input: Lawyers in Texas are trying to keep their client from becoming the 300th person executed in the state since 1982, when Texas resumed capital punishment.

Texas

Texas


Input: They're asking the Supreme Court to block tonight's scheduled execution of Delma Banks.

the Supreme Court

tonight

Delma Banks


Input: Banks was convicted of shooting and killing a 16 - year - old at a park in 1980.

Banks

16 - year - old


Input: His lawyers say his trial attorney did a bad job and the prosecutors improperly kept African - Americans off his jury.

African - Americans


Input: He'd be the 11th killer put to death in Texas this year.

Texas

this year


Input: `` Vanity Fair's'' columnist Daniel Fair is here.

`` Vanity Fair's''

Daniel Fair


Input: Quiting in the June edition, he describes the journey.

June


Input: He said he found evidence that Hussein's day of reckoning well overdue.

Hussein


Input: Christopher Hitchens joins us from California.

Christopher Hitchens

California


Input: Good to have you with us.


Input: Thanks for having me.


Input: Your journey, particularly to southern Iraq, what is evoked there a sense of both that you evoke is a sense of history of this regime.

Iraq


Input: Give us your insights as to what you think the future holds.


Input: Do you mean if I start with the Past?


Input: Not at you will.


Input: Not at all.


Input: Not much of a trip.


Input: I wasn't up the sharp end.


Input: I wasn't taking risks.


Input: I wasn't in a position that my dear friend was in when he was killed outside Bagdad airport but I had long thought and I was in Iraq in the previous war that really all the talk that had been about the rush to war, the push for war, the drive for war, all that propaganda, was essentially nonsensical because in 1990, Saddam Hussein made the only self criticism.

Bagdad

Iraq

Saddam Hussein


Input: He said, I could either invade Kuwait or finish developing the nuclear weapon.

Kuwait


Input: Maybe before the weapon and then later he said, Oh, I should have got the nuclear weapon before I invaded.


Input: He was right about that, but that means that he inaugurated at that point like a dozen - years war where the United States could be criticized for doing too little and acting too slowly but all we're arguing about lately is to do with those that should have been finished in `91 when it could have been finished.

dozen - years

the United States


Input: Should have taken the side of the rebels then, taken the risk of supporting a Shiite insurrection at that point, helping the Kurds, removing the regime.

Shiite

Kurds


Input: Absolutely.


Input: We'd be 11 years into nation building by now if we'd done that.

11 years


Input: That seems to be the core of the argument.


Input: As you point out, of course, for the fact of the matter is, the mistakes of Saddam Hussein made possible his removal from power ultimately.

Saddam Hussein


Input: The mistakes of the United States, again, as you point out, Norman Schwarzkopf making a peace, permitting helicopters to fly.

the United States

Norman Schwarzkopf


Input: Still hurts me to read this.


Input: The little town I was in this southern Iraq, as far as I got, I can't boast of further, is where the talks took place.

Iraq


Input: We have the transcript of the meeting.


Input: They say, Okay, we have lost this round, Do you mind if we keep your helicopters in the air just to be able to transport things? and he says, Yeah, that's all right.


Input: They ask again, Are you sure they mean that?


Input: They can't believe the luck.


Input: They use the gunships to kill, we think, not less than 50,000 inhabitants of southern Iraq and trying to do that to the Kurds, as well, so it was a knife edge.

not less than 50,000

Iraq

Kurds


Input: And it's not just being wise after the event, I believe, to say that there was an argument in realtime between the Bush administration members.

Bush


Input: Mr. Cheney's the only one I know that changed his mind.

Cheney


Input: Most of those that took the view at that time, think until recently they were correct in saving Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein


Input: Of course, Mr. Cheney was in the chain of command with Swartzkopf and --

Cheney

Swartzkopf


Input: Many others.


Input: When they made the decision not to move toward Bagdad with bad information, namely, the Republican Guard absolutely devastated.

Bagdad

the Republican Guard


Input: Yes.


Input: And, well, we know now the harvest of all that.


Input: It hurts to think of how many wonderful people in Iraq at the academic community, lawyers, human rights activists, civilians, intellectuals, people -- would now be alive, who have been horribly murdered and tortured and reduced to misery since by a half application of violence through sanctions and overflights.

Iraq


Input: Mistakes made then, mistakes part of human experience, but now we have an opportunity not to make mistakes.


Input: Is it your sense that the United States is on the right track? that there is a commitment here on the part of the United States to --

the United States

the United States


Input: Well, joining us now, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson.

the Securities and Exchange Commission

William Donaldson


Input: MR. chairman, it's good to have you here.


Input: Nice to be here, Lou.

Lou


Input: Let's start with that surprise, the malfeasance that is crossing your desk.


Input: Are you suggesting corporate America has not learned its lesson yet?

America


Input: Well, no.


Input: I think that quote is a little out of context there.


Input: there are 15,000 companies in the United States, and I think the great bulk of them are very honestly managed and so forth.

the United States


Input: a number of people have had egregious fraud and so forth.


Input: There's been a general loosening of morals across the board.


Input: What I was referring to in that quote you had was the number of cases we see day in and day out at the lowest levels, scams and so forth, where considerable amounts of money are being made and lost by relatively small investors.


Input: Is the investor today in your judgment secure?

today


Input: Well, I think that the marketplace is becoming increasingly secure.


Input: I think a number of the reforms that have come via the Sarbanes - Oxley Act and a number of things that we have done at the SEC are basically making everybody take a new look at how they're performing their duty as a director, how they're performing their duties on audit committees and compensation committees and in Wall Street.

the Sarbanes - Oxley Act

SEC

Wall Street


Input: I think the reforms that came as a part of the large settlement are going to change the way research and investment banking are done to the betterment of the individual investor.


Input: And some people are surprised and I might even add pleased in this city that your SEC has been quick to react when Phil Purcell of Morgan Stanley made a statement that your SEC didn't think and that you didn't think expressed appropriate contrition when Bear Stearns stepped out of line in the view of the SEC.

SEC

Morgan Stanley

SEC

Bear Stearns

SEC

Phil Purcell


Input: It wasn't a polite phone call quietly made, either from your enforcement division or from your office, it was rather public.


Input: Is that the way you're going to operate?


Input: Well, Lou, we're deadly serious about bringing reform into the marketplace.

Lou


Input: We're deadly serious about some of the actions we've taken, and when we see people who don't appear to be taking it too seriously, we're going to get to them right away.


Input: And I think perhaps no one more surprised than some of the people running those firms on Wall Street.

Wall Street


Input: You have also expressed concern about excessive executive compensation, particularly CEO compensation.


Input: Is there really anything that can be done about this problem?


Input: I think so, Lou.

Lou


Input: I think the real next step here is for compensation committees to spend a little more time than they do on what they're really compensating for.


Input: I think there's been too much emphasis on performance defined strictly by stock performance and earnings per share.


Input: I think there are a number of other measures that indicate how well somebody's doing running a company, and I think corporation boards need to spend more time on that dimension.


Input: And with you as Chairman of the SEC exercising your bully pulpit, one assumes that --

SEC


Input: As we said, earlier this week, Christine Todd Whitman stepped down and now a whole lot of analysis is taking place as to why she stepped down, the job she's done when she was in office and the job that has yet to be complete.

earlier this week

Christine Todd Whitman


Input: From our New York bureau as I was introducing a moment ago, Dan Fagen, the environment writer for News Day.

New York

Dan Fagen

News Day


Input: and Dan, Whitman did consider herself sort of the Republican environmentalist, but now there's been an awful lot of Monday night quarterback quarterbacking taking place now that she's stepped down.

Dan

Whitman

Republican

Monday night


Input: What do you suppose took place here?


Input: I think many people have watched this administration in action and watched Christy Whitman in action.

Christy Whitman


Input: The mystery is that she took the job in the first place or didn't leave earlier.

first


Input: She was quite a misfit for this administration, and she showed that over and over.


Input: She was not good at all at communicating the administration's message to the public and certainly to the environmental groups and she was even worse at bringing the EPA bureaucracy, the EPA environmental policy makers' message to this administration because she saw herself undercut over and over.

EPA

EPA


Input: That's interesting because leading into it, while she was New Jersey governor, she sued the EPA and she was very much considering herself to be an environmentalist, and then only to end up becoming the head of the EPA and then of course, there was a lot of criticism over relaxed regulations.

New Jersey

EPA

EPA


Input: Let's hear what she had to say last Wednesday here on CNN just after announcing her resignation.

last Wednesday


Input: I'm not leaving because of clashes with the administration, in fact, I haven't had any.


Input: I report to the President, and he has always asked me to give him my best unadulterated advice.


Input: We have have been on the same page.


Input: I was never supportive of protocol because it didn't do what everyone needs to get done as far as climate change is concerned.


Input: I'm leaving now because it's the appropriate time to do it.


Input: Dan, do you agree with that?


Input: She says the appropriate time.


Input: Do you suppose for personal reasons or perhaps she was out of step with the administration?


Input: I'm sure that it was difficult for her personally, but I think the commuter marriage perhaps would have been less stressful if everyday she didn't see herself being undermined and overruled.


Input: I mean if Christy Whitman and the White House were on the same page, I don't think I've seen a book large enough to contain a page that big.

Christy Whitman

the White House


Input: Over and over there were many, many instances over the last --


Input: Moving ahead now to a developing story, the hunt for so - called smoking gun, meant to prove that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq


Input: Here's national security correspondent David Ensor.

David Ensor


Input: Reporter:


Input: While U.S. forces still haven't found any weapons of mass destruction, the new CIA Pentagon report says officials are now confident the mysterious trucks filled with high - tech equipment found in Iraq are indeed mobile biological weapons production facilities, just as Secretary of State Powell predicted and presented the United Nations before the war.

U.S.

Iraq

CIA

Pentagon

State

the United Nations

Powell


Input: It's very important to recognize that programs that we had said existed do exist.


Input: Reporter:


Input: Though no trace of biological toxin was found in the trucks, U.S. intelligence officials say they have largely eliminated any other possible use for the fermenters and other equipment.

U.S.


Input: Not everyone is convinced.


Input: They could very well be biological weapons production facilities, but I don't think the intelligence community has made an open and shut case.


Input: Reporter:


Input: The CIA - Pentagon reports admits the trucks were not an efficient way to produce biological weapons, but officials argue the point for the Iraqis was to produce some and not to be caught doing it.

CIA

Pentagon

Iraqis


Input: This was clearly a very inefficient way to produce anthrax, and the question is why did they invest such resources in a mobile --


Input: Moving on to the Laci Peterson case Bill, an unusual request from Scott Peterson's attorney.

Laci Peterson

Bill

Scott Peterson's


Input: A pair of Laci Peterson's missing shoes could be very important evidence in Scott's murder trial.

Laci Peterson's

Scott


Input: She is asking anyone who finds the pair to give them back.


Input: No sign of Geragos or Peterson in court yesterday when a judge was considering whether to unseal warrants obtained before Scott Peterson's arrest.

Geragos

Peterson

Scott Peterson's

yesterday


Input: Peterson awaiting trial in the murder of his wife Laci and their unborn son.

Peterson

Laci


Input: Joining us, Beth Caras.

Beth Caras


Input: Good morning once again.

morning


Input: Thanks for being with us.


Input: Some U.S. troops have not had a chance to call home since they were deployed for duty in `` Operation Iraqi Freedom.''

U.S.

Operation Iraqi Freedom


Input: For some wives, the kindness of strangers has eased their worries.


Input: Beth Basin explains.

Beth Basin


Input: Reporter:


Input: Jamie's husband Jack was deployed a couple of weeks ago.

Jamie

Jack

a couple of weeks ago


Input: She and her daughter Jordan often shuffle through these pictures of him taken before he left.

Jordan


Input: She has no idea where her husband is now, but thanks to a little help from a Delta flight attendant, she knew he got where he was going.

Delta


Input: She had taken a picture of him and everything.


Input: Reporter:


Input: Along with the picture, the flight attendant wrote a letter saying she was praying for Jack's safe return.

Jack


Input: The trip to Georgia was just the first leg.

Georgia


Input: He got on a flight to an undisclosed location, when Jamie got a second phone call from a flight attendant.

Jamie

second


Input: He asked us to call you to let you know he's okay.


Input: And she told us that he whipped out pictures of our kids and everything and showed all the family pictures and stuff.


Input: Reporter:


Input: Jamie is not the only military wife who received a photo and letter.

Jamie


Input: Her friend Anna also got one.

Anna


Input: Turns out Anna's husband flew out on the same flight as Jack.

Anna

Jack


Input: Although a small gesture, Anna says it's meant a great deal.

Anna


Input: It made me realize that someone out there does care about my husband and the rest of the military, and it's not all anti-war.


Input: Reporter:


Input: Even though neither of the women have ever met the flight attendants, they say they'll never forget their act of kindness.


Input: We get thousands of e-mail from our viewers every day.

thousands

every day


Input: Here's what some of you are saying as far as our coverage of the top stories is concerned.


Input: William writes this --

William


Input: Please continue to write to us.


Input: We love hearing from you.


Input: Just go to our Website, cnn.com/wolf.


Input: We read all of your e-mail.


Input: Much more coverage of the new Iraq and --

Iraq


Input: Now back to `` people in the news.''

people in the news


Input: Good to be -LRB- bleep -RRB- King.


Input: Reporter:


Input: With the success of a new television show and last year's Oz-fest tour ready to kick off, things were looking great for Ozzy Osbourne.

last year's

Oz-fest

Ozzy Osbourne


Input: He was sober, he was rich and surrounded by a family who loved him but once again, Ozzy's high would hit a low.

Ozzy


Input: That July, Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy's long - time manager, wife and best friend, announced to the world that she'd been diagnosed with colon cancer.

That July

Sharon Osbourne

Ozzy


Input: Every fiber of Ozzy was shaken.

Ozzy


Input: He had to be sedated for a while.


Input: Reporter:


Input: Sharon would have to undergo rounds of chemotherapy all summer.

Sharon

all summer


Input: Ozzy took time off from Oz-fest to tend to his wife.

Ozzy

Oz-fest


Input: Ever the rock, Sharon faced cancer head on.

Sharon


Input: When you go in there and people so much worse than me, and it's like, How lucky am I to have a great support system.


Input: Reporter:


Input: Even with Sharon trying to make things as easy as possible on her husband, he was still a mess.

Sharon


Input: His struggle with sobriety would be tested again.


Input: Ozzy's not doing too good right now.

Ozzy


Input: Drinking?


Input: Drinking and he's very delicate.


Input: He's, like, dealing with it the best he can.


Input: Reporter: