The drumbeat is getting louder as Chinese President Hu Jintao heads to Washington this week, with agreement widespread among Bush administration officials and lawmakers of both parties, together with many business groups and economists. China, they say, must let its currency rise in value to reduce the unfair advantage its exporters enjoy against U.S. manufacturers. China must further crack down on the piracy of American films, music and other products. And China must open its market wider to help shrink the U.S.-China trade imbalance, which soared to $202 billion last year accounting for more than one-quarter of the U.S. trade deficit. But for all the consensus on the ultimate objectives, it is far from clear how the United States can make China take the steps necessary to help balance the Sino-American trade relationship. ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com
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Editor - 11:11:00 04-18-06
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 Flu health workers may stay home |
Four in 10 US health professionals will stay away from work in the event of a flu pandemic, a study says. Researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the US and Israel's Ben-Gurion University quizzed over 300 US health staff. They said if so many stayed away it would undermine the emergency response, BMC Public Health journal reported. But experts said UK health workers were fully prepared to work through a flu pandemic. Scientists have warned the world is overdue for a flu pandemic with the most likely cause being if bird flu mutates with a human form of the virus. Health workers are expected play a key role in most countries in such an event. In the UK, GPs have been sent information packs about what they need to do in response to an outbreak. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4907496.stm
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Editor - 10:18:00 04-18-06
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| Bush: 'I'm the decider' on Rumsfeld |
President Bush on Tuesday emphasized once again his support for his defense secretary, saying Donald Rumsfeld "is doing a fine job."At a Rose Garden ceremony announcing his nominees for budget director and trade representative, Bush referred to the controversy in which six retired generals recently have called for Rumsfeld's resignation."I hear the voices, and I read the front page and I know the speculation," the president said. "But I'm the decider, and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense." Also Tuesday, Rumsfeld planned to meet with a group of retired generals who regularly appear as analysts on television and in newspapers....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/18/rumsfeld/index.html?section=cnn_us
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Editor - 10:15:00 04-18-06
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| Cafe blast kills six in Baghdad |
At least six Iraqis have been killed in a bomb explosion near a cafe in the capital, Baghdad, police say. Officials said the target of the attack was a passing police patrol. Two of those killed were policemen. More than 20 people were injured in the blast. On Monday, Iraqi and US troops clashed for seven hours with insurgents in Baghdad's Adhamiya district. US troops were also involved in intense fighting in the city of Ramadi after an attack on a government building. The violence comes as talks are stalled on a new national unity government. Sunni, Kurdish and secular parties say they will not be partners in an administration headed by the current Shia-nominated Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4918752.stm
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Editor - 10:12:00 04-18-06
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| Anti-gay church hounds military funerals |
New laws have been passed in the United States to counter the activities of a bizarre church that has been disrupting military funerals with anti-gay protests on the grounds that the soldiers died fighting for a land that tolerates homosexuality.Since last year, the Westboro Baptist church, based in Topeka, Kansas, has been picketing funerals of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, waving signs saying, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", "Thank God for IEDs [improvised explosive devices roadside bombs]", and "God Hates Cripple Soldiers", while yelling that dead US troops will rot in hell. The church which consists almost exclusively of Fred Phelps, a 76-year-old preacher, and 75 members of his extended family is definitely not a peace movement. Rather, it celebrates the violent deaths of soldiers and marines who died, it says, defending a licentious nation. Today, it is planning to picket the funeral of an army sergeant, Daniel Sesker, from Ogden, Iowa, ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1755712,00.html
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Editor - 10:09:00 04-18-06
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| Bush won't rule out nuclear strike on Iran |
Bush refused on Tuesday to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions. Iran, which says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, told world powers it would pursue atomic technology, whatever they decide at a meeting in Moscow later in the day.Bush said in Washington he would discuss Iran's nuclear activities with China's President Hu Jintao this week and avoided ruling out nuclear retaliation if diplomatic efforts fail.Asked if options included planning for a nuclear strike, Bush replied: "All options are on the table. We want to solve this issue diplomatically and we're working hard to do so."...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060418/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_dc
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Editor - 10:02:00 04-18-06
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