China News Blog @newzblogz.com

WASHINGTON ? The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and raised the possibility they could be cut in the months ahead, igniting a rally on Wall Street where investors are thirsting for a reduction. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues left an important interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent, the sixth straight meeting without budging the rate. The decision was unanimous.

On Wall Street, stocks rose sharply. The Dow Jones industrials closed up 159.42 points at 12,447.52 in the index's biggest one-day gain since July 24.

The Fed's decision means that commercial banks' prime interest rate ? for certain credit cards, home equity lines of credit and other loans? stays at 8.25 percent. The Fed has left rates alone since August, giving borrowers time to catch their breath after two years of steadily rising rates.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Al Gore made an emotional return to Congress Wednesday to plead with lawmakers to fight global warming with moral courage while revealing nothing about whether he'll join the 2008 presidential race. The former vice president is a Democratic favorite for the presidential nomination even though he says he's not running. Fresh off a triumphant Hollywood appearance in which his climate-change documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," won two Oscars, Gore drew overflow crowds as he...

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's top leader warned Wednesday his country will pursue "illegal actions" if the U.N. Security Council insists it halt uranium enrichment, an apparent reference to nuclear activities outside international regulations. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned the United States that Iran would fight back with "all its capacities" if attacked. "Until today, what we have done has been in accordance with international regulations," Khamenei said. "But if they take illegal action...

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Imagine a lamp that's not a light bulb but a sheet as thin as a hair. It glows when it's exposed to electricity. You may be holding it in your hand, because this sheet is what lights up the keypad on many slim cellphones.

The sheet, called an electroluminescent or EL, is a product made in Chandler by Rogers Corporation's Durel Division, one of two divisions marking 40 years in Arizona with a celebration for employees Saturday.

"One of the reasons why the RAZR phone is so thin is because the light behind the keypad is this thin, flexible lamp we make," said Mike Bessette, vice president of the division.

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CORRECTED: Vintners uncork push for wine origin protection

2007-03-21

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LAKE JACKSON After Brandy Pate bought the old Computron USA building in front of Target, she brainstormed about what she could bring to Lake Jackson that would be unlike anything else.

Her thoughts led to building a Fuddruckers franchise, a place that gives people a plethora of food options in a family atmosphere, said Pate, a Lake Jackson resident.

Im hoping this will be a place to bring the whole family and where everyone can have fun, she said.

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Something about a particular piece of quarried granite attracts him, inspires him.

Rock speaks.

Artist answers.

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The Darfur region of western Sudan, in east Africa, is located half a world away from Wisconsin.

But on Friday, concerned Milwaukeeans and their allies will rally to help save Darfur from further destruction.

An estimated 450,000 people have been killed and another 2.5 million people have been forced from their homes. Many of these people do not have adequate food or water, and large numbers of women have been raped by their enemies. The situation is so unstable that it could cause chaos in neighboring countries such as Chad. At the Friday rally, sponsored by Amnesty International USA and the local organizations Darfur Action Coalition of Wisconsin and Peace Action Wisconsin, participants will demand...

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SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea announced Thursday it will convene its rubber-stamp legislature next month - a meeting that will draw international attention as it coincides with a deadline for the shutdown of Pyongyang's main nuclear reactor.

The Supreme People's Assembly, which usually convenes once or twice a year to approve budgets or discuss policy, will meet on April 11, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a one-sentence dispatch that gave no other details.

The session is expected to be closely watched, because it will come days before the April 14 deadline for North Korea to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for energy aid under last month's landmark deal with the United States and four other nations.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Lucky and Flo, the two Labradors who helped sniff out nearly 1 million illegal discs last week within days of joining Malaysia's anti-piracy effort, have been moved to a safe house, a news report said Thursday.

The New Straits Times reported that a source had tipped off officials about a bounty offered for killing the sniffer dogs, who are on loan for a month from the Motion Picture Association of America. The amount was not disclosed.

"The dogs are a genuine threat to the pirated disc syndicates, thus the instruction to eliminate them," Firdaus Zakaria, the enforcement director of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, was quoted as saying.

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WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and raised the possibility they could be cut in the months ahead, igniting a rally on Wall Street where investors are thirsting for a reduction. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues left an important interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent, the sixth straight meeting without budging the rate. The decision was unanimous.On Wall Street, stocks rose sharply. The Dow Jones industrials closed up 159.42 point...

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Eli Lilly and Co. is pumping an additional $50 million into a partnership it created four years ago to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, a disease found mostly in poor or developing countries. Lilly started the partnership in 2003 and has donated two antibiotics that are used in a four-drug cocktail to treat patients. The drug maker also gave the technology, formula and trademark for the antibiotics - Capastat and Seromycin - to generic drug makers in countries ha...

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TOKYO - Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. said Thursday it will close a factory in Mexico and shed about 4,400 jobs as part of a global overhaul of its slumping hard disk drive business.

The plant in Guadalajara will be shuttered by the middle of next year and its production of HDD components shifted to an existing plant in Laguna, Philippines, the company said in a news release.

Hard disk drives are used in mobile phones, laptops and other consumer electronics.

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ATLANTA -- Hooters -- the restaurant chain known for its scantily clad servers and its spicy chicken wings -- is headed to Israel.

Atlanta-based Hooters of America said in a statement Tuesday that it has reached a franchise deal with Ilana and Ofer Ahiraz to open the first Hooters Restaurant this year in Israel, with more locations to follow.

There are more than 430 Hooters Restaurants in the United States and 23 other countries, including China, Australia, Switzerland and Brazil.

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BEIJING - A gas explosion trapped 21 miners in a coal mine in northern China, state media reported Wednesday.

The explosion happened in a mine in the suburbs of Jincheng City on Sunday in Shanxi province, but the coal mine owner did not immediately report it to the government, Xinhua News Agency said.

It said no other details were available.

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ROUND ROCK, Texas Dell debuts today a new desktop P-C targeting first-time and novice computer users in China.Dell said the E-C-280 system was developed by engineers at the company's design center in Shanghai and will be available in two configurations.Prices will range from about 223 to 515 dollars.Dell spokeswoman Jacqui Zhou says the system will only be available in China.Faced with slackening sales and stiff competition from rivals in the United States, Dell has been aggressively pursuing fo...

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CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island (AP) -- Canadian officials said Tuesday they were uncertain if the controversial annual seal hunt can take place this year in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, citing higher-than-normal mortality rates of seal pups and poor ice conditions. "It's unusual and it's giving us concern," Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins said. Normally, the federal Fisheries Department has set catch limits by this time of the year. The hunt traditionally gets under wa...

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Chinese imports help push transactions to $58.3 billion in 5 years

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, March 21, 2007

kyung@dallasnews.com

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of vintners from some of the world's most famous wine-growing areas want U.S. officials to help stop rivals from diluting their brand.

Representatives from 13 wine-growing regions in the United States, Europe, and Australia will meet with lawmakers and trade officials this week in a campaign to heighten consumers and lawmakers' sensitivity to the places where the wines they quaff were actually grown and bottled.

"Unfortunately, there are indeed producers who are trading on other producers' place names. It's our hope that someday, and someday soon, that comes to an end," said Linda Reiff, executive director of Napa Valley Vintners of California.

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said on Tuesday the United States should reform its immigration laws and give more flexibility to higher-skilled foreign workers.

Speaking at a conference in Mexico, the birthplace of millions of immigrants to the United States, Gates said reforms "would be helpful so we are predictable, so we are clear."

"I'm a big believer that as much as possible, and there's obviously political limitations, freedom of migration is a good thing," Gates told reporters.

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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are expected to strike a reassuring tone about the country's economic health Wednesday despite persistent worries that problems with risky mortgages could spread.

Fed policymakers opened a two-day meeting Tuesday amid mounting concern on Wall Street, Capitol Hill and elsewhere about troubles in the "subprime" mortgage market.

These lenders, who make home loans to people with blemished credit histories or low incomes, have been battered. Weak home prices and rising interest rates have made it increasingly difficult for borrowers to keep up with their payments. Delinquencies and foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market are soaring.

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BEIJING — A rights group appealed Wednesday for the release of a Chinese activist sentenced to six years in prison after he was accused of posting subversive articles on the Internet.

State media reported on Monday that Zhang Jianhong, the former editor in chief of a Chinese Web site called "Aiqinhai," or "Aegean Sea," had written articles that defamed the Chinese government and amounted to agitation aimed at toppling the government.

"It is outrageous that China continues to sentence its own citizens for their critical reporting and commentary, even as it gears up to host the Olympic Games in 2008," Committee to Protect Journalists director Joel Simon said in a statement.

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It was heartening to read your editorial on Tuesday about the Naples St. Patrick?s Day parade.

Although I was not able to attend this event, I?m certain your description was accurate. I?m referring to the comment about the participation of local and out-of-town school marching bands.

Now, I certainly do not dislike the Irish (some of my best friends are Irish and I?ve been known to sample green beer on St. Patrick?s Day), but where does this event rank in relation to the Fourth of July?

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It is considered among life's most stressful events.

But by now, Restaurant Mexico owners Carolina and Gilbert Chavarria have moving down to a science.

Since they first opened in September 1977, the Chavarrias have moved their restaurant three times. All four locations, including the newest on Mill Avenue near Fifth Street, which will open for business later this month, have been within a square mile or two.

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VIENNA, Austria - Russia is bringing home its technicians and engineers from Iran's unfinished nuclear reactor site at a time of growing international pressure on Tehran to curb its atomic ambitions, U.S. and European representatives said Tuesday.

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USD$500 Million Investment Will Focus on Retail and Soft Lines

BEIJING and NEW YORK, March 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. ("Bear Stearns"), a leading financial services firm, and Eagle Investment Group ("Eagle"), a Chinese investment firm, today announced the formation of a strategic investment alliance focusing on opportunities in the retail sector in China in conjunction with Bear Stearns' private equity arm, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking ("BSMB"). BSMB is widely known for its experience in investing in successful retail ...

To view the Multimedia News Release, go to:

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UNITED NATIONS - Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa have proposed amendments to a new U.N. resolution drafted by six world powers that would impose new sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

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Stocks spiked higher Monday as Wall Street joined overseas markets in riding a wave of merger news to bounce back from a losing week. The Dow Jones industrials rose 115 points.

The buyout news, particularly the possibility of an enormous deal that would unite Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV with British bank Barclays PLC, propelled stocks higher as investors theorized that companies remain upbeat about the economy if they're willing to cut new deals.

The advance kicked off an important week for economic data; the first reading, a report from the Chicago Federal Reserve, said regional manufacturing slowed in January. The market was also waiting for Tuesday's start of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on interest rates. While few expect the Fed will adjust short-term interest rates, investors will be looking for any change in the central bank's posture that could hint at where rates are headed in the coming months.

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Pamplin Media Group, Mar 13, 2007 (4 Reader comments)

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For much of the country, the end of February and the beginning of March brought plenty of wind, rain, sleet and snow. But the stormy weather wasn't confined to the atmosphere - there was also plenty of turbulence in the financial world. As an investor, how should you respond?

Before we answer that question, let's review the recent stock market numbers. In the week of Feb. 26 through March 2, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 4.2 percent - the worst weekly percentage drop for the Dow since March 2003.

What caused the correction? Two key factors jump out. First, investors may have reacted to the possibility that Chinese authorities are reining in market speculation. In a market as big - and as fast growing - as China, such a move can easily have large ramifications. Another possible cause of the market decline is the news that the U.S. economy is slowing to a more moderate pace of growth.

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Communist China affects capitalist stock markets?Dear editor:There's an old saying, "Now I've seen everything." Like all old sayings, it is an exaggeration. However, a recent event comes close: A Communist Chinese stock market decline put the U.S. and European capitalist stock markets into panic.

Add that to conservatives acting like liberals and liberals acting like conservatives and we come close to seeing everything in the "never-never land" political world.Art Rohsner

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Victims of human trafficking will have a safe place to stay in Southwest Florida.

Anna Rodriguez, founder and CEO of The Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, said the group received a commitment last week from an anonymous donor for more than $1 million.

The money will be used to build four shelters across the state to house victims of trafficking. The first shelter will be built in Southwest Florida. The coalition is based in Bonita Springs. Five to 10 acres east of Interstate 75 with an existing building that can be remodeled are being considered.

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The defect in the pump, manufactured by Japan's Mitsuba Corp. , could cause the engine to stop and fail to restart, said a spokesman at Honda, Japan's second-biggest automaker.

No accidents have been reported stemming from the defect.

The same defect affected about 30,000 of the 528,400 vehicles Honda said it would recall in China last week, the spokesman said. A recall filing for vehicles using the same component will also shortly be made in Japan, he said.

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Partners: Jobs: CareerBuilder.com | Cars: Cars.com | Apartments: Apartments.com | Shopping: ShopLocal.com

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WASHINGTON — Due partly to a shortage of federal agents and poor record-keeping, aliens under court order to be removed from the country often face unconstitutionally long detentions, an inspector general has found.

A report to be released Tuesday by the Homeland Security Department inspector general found that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service is hobbled by outdated databases and inadequate staffing in trying to deal with alien removals.

"Cases are not prioritized to ensure that aliens who are dangerous or whose departure is in the national interest are removed," Inspector General Richard Skinner wrote in the report, "or that their release within the United States is adequately supervised."

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BEIJING A fresh round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program is under way in Beijing.As negotiations begin, North Korea is questioning Japan's qualifications to take part in the talks. Japan's chief envoy says that question isn't worth a comment.The talks come as North Korea and the U-S settled a dispute over frozen North Korean funds. U-S officials say the money will be moved into a North Korean account at the Bank of China to be used for education and humanitarian purposes.Officia...

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MEXICO CITY - The $205.6 million seized from a luxury Mexico City house was the largest drug cash seizure "the world has ever seen" and resulted from U.S.-Mexico cooperation, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Monday.

DEA chief Karen Tandy said in statement that U.S anti-drug agents working with Mexican police in an "historic partnership" against methamphetamine producers led to Thursday's seizure.

The money found hidden inside walls, suitcases and closets in one of Mexico City's wealthiest neighborhoods came from the profits of methamphetamines sold in the United States, she said.

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GENEVA The World Wide Fund for Nature is painting a bleak future for some of the world's greatest rivers.The group warns that pollution, global warming and out-of-control development could destroy a number of these iconic waterways, wipe out thousands of fish species and create widespread water shortages.The W-W-F says only 21 of Earth's 177 longest rivers run freely to the sea. The rest are impeded by dams and other construction, which are destroying habitats for migratory fish and other specie...

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CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) -- In his first trip to this violence-wracked country, Bill Gates said Microsoft Corp. was helping set up computer learning centers in areas where demobilized paramilitary fighters are in dire need of job training. Given the low Internet penetration in Latin America, he said, the software company's focus for getting people online in the region is to promote computer centers in libraries. The company said it was donating $1 million over three years to set up nine trai...

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NEW YORK - Stocks spiked higher Monday as Wall Street joined overseas markets in riding a wave of merger news to bounce back from a losing week. The Dow Jones industrials rose 115 points.The buyout news, particularly the possibility of an enormous deal that would unite Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV with British bank Barclays PLC, propelled stocks higher as investors theorized that companies remain upbeat about the economy if they're willing to cut new deals.The advance kicked off an important w...

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GENEVA (AP) - The Yangtze River gets more than half of China's industrial waste and sewage. Europe's Danube has lost most of its surrounding wetlands. And the Rio Grande has become so shallow that salt water is seeping in, bringing ocean fish that threaten freshwater species.

Pollution, global warming and rampant development could destroy some of the world's most iconic rivers in the coming decades, threatening to wipe out thousands of fish species and cause severe water shortages, the World Wide Fund for Nature said in a report Tuesday.

Only 21 of the planet's 177 longest rivers run freely from source to sea, with dams and other construction destroying the habitats for migratory fish and other species by altering the water's natural ebb and flow, the WWF said.

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AOMORI, Japan - The United States defeated the Czech Republic on Monday, while defending champion Sweden was upset on the third day of the women's world curling championship.

Debbie McCormick's rink, which lost to Canada and Sweden on Monday, took a 6-4 lead into the 10th end where the Czech Republic had a chance to win with the last-rock advantage.

Czech skip Hana Synackova could have scored three points with a double takeout, but left a U.S. stone in the house, allowing the Americans to steal another point for a 7-4 win.

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BEIJING -- A top U.S. official in Beijing said the United States and North Korea have resolved a dispute over $25 million in frozen North Korean funds in a Macau bank.

The dispute has threatened to hamper progress on nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser said the funds will be transferred to a Bank of China account in Beijing. The money is to be used for education and humanitarian purposes in North Korea.

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SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - Hale Irwin shot a 1-under 71 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Champions Tour's AT&T Champions Classic.

The 61-year-old Irwin, the 1998 and 2002 tournament champion who won the season-opening MasterCard Championship for his tour-record 45th victory, had a 9-under 135 total on the Valencia Country Club course. He shot a 64 in the first round Friday.

"I played well on the front nine, but I didn't make a birdie on 9 and lost a lot of momentum," said Irwin, who parred the par-5 ninth a day after making an eagle on the hole. "It seemed after that I had a lot of 3-4-5 footers to save par."

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MELBOURNE, Australia - China led qualifying for the men's 3-meter synchronized springboard and women's 10-meter synchronized platform finals Monday in the world championships, giving the country an early jump on winning its first diving gold medals.

Wang Feng, who won the world title in 2005 with former partner He Chong, and Qin Kai led with 453.96 points after six rounds of preliminary dives.

Their countrywomen, Jia Tong and Chen Ruolin, were the top qualifiers in the synchro platform with 329.94 points. Jia won the event two years ago with Yuan Peilin.

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Their countrywomen, Jia Tong and Chen Ruolin, were the top qualifiers in the synchro platform with 329.94 points. Jia won the event two years ago with Yuan Peilin.

In the men's competition, Andreas Wels and Tobias Schellenberg of Germany, the defending silver medalists, were second with 414.72. The Russian duo of Gleb Galperin and Aleksandr Dobroskok were third with 411.96. They received two perfect marks of 10.0 in the prelims.

American teammates Troy Dumais, a bronze medalist with brother Justin in 2005, and Mitchell Richeson were fourth with 403.17.

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sedentarismo y la mala alimentaci?n causan impotencia sexual a 200

millones de chinos, concluyeron hoy los expertos en un congreso

m?dico el que el eminente doctor espa?ol, Mariano Rossell?, ofreci?

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WASHINGTON - Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledged.

More troubling, they said, is that it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover from what some officials privately call a "death spiral," in which the rapid pace of war-zone rotations has consumed 40 percent of their gear, wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies at hand.

The risk to the nation is serious and deepening, senior officers warn, because the U.S. military lacks a large strategic reserve of ground troops ready to respond quickly and decisively to potential foreign crises, whether the internal collapse of Pakistan, a conflict with Iran or outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula.

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- The United States generates more malicious computer activity than any other country, and sophisticated hackers worldwide are banding together in highly efficient crime rings, according to a new report. Researchers at Cupertino-based Symantec Corp. also found that fierce competition in the criminal underworld is driving down prices for stolen financial information. Criminals may purchase verified credit card numbers for as little as $1, and they can buy a complete ide...

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BERLIN (AP) The United States objected to key parts of a discussion on climate change at a meeting between G-8 environmental officials and representatives from five influential developing nations, Germany's environment minister said.

The conference ended with consensus on several points, including a general acceptance of the scientific explanation for the causes of global warming and that industrialized nations need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions more than mandated by current agreements, said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who hosted the meeting Saturday.

Officials also agreed that industrialized countries have been responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions in the past and for the need to help developing countries control their emissions today, Gabriel said.

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BEIJING - The United States and North Korea have resolved a dispute over $25 million in frozen North Korean funds, clearing the way for progress in dismantling the North's nuclear programs, U.S. officials said Monday.

The U.S. nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, said six-party talks - which resumed Monday - could now "move on to the next problem, of which there are many."

U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser said the funds would be transferred into a North Korean account at the Bank of China in Beijing to be used for education and humanitarian purposes. Glaser said Pyongyang had proposed the arrangement.

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BEIJING A top U-S official in Beijing says the United States and North Korea have resolved a dispute over 25 (m) million dollars in frozen North Korean funds in a Macau bank.The dispute has threatened to hamper progress on nuclear disarmament negotiations.Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser says the funds will be transferred to a Bank of China account in Beijing. The money is to be used for education and humanitarian purposes in North Korea.The North Korean deposits have been froze...

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BEIJING - Two cargo ships collided in the East China Sea, killing at least eight people, state media reported Monday.

Twelve sailors were rescued while another nine were still missing from the weekend collision, which sank one of the ships, Xinhua News Agency said. Eight bodies were recovered.

The collision occurred off Zhejiang province between a cargo ship from China and a Hong Kong-registered vessel. The Hong Kong ship, with 29 crew aboard, sank immediately.

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PARMA, Idaho - If Esmaeil Fallahi has his way, the home of the world-famous Russet potato may soon also welcome persimmons, pistachios, pawpaws, quinces and mulberries.

Fallahi, a University of Idaho professor, has been the state's fruit guru for almost 20 years, working on everything from improving apple irrigation to finding the best way to thin a plum tree.

Now, Fallahi wants to give the agriculture industry a little more flash in a state best known for its pedestrian potatoes, onions and sugar beets.

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