The Bush administration said Thursday that it is filing a trade case against China before the World Trade Organization in a dispute involving U.S. auto parts. The 25-nation European Union joined in the complaint, which alleges that China is imposing high taxes on auto parts imported from the U.S. and other countries in violation of pledges it made when China joined the WTO in late 2001. "As a mature trading partner, China should be held accountable for its actions and be required to live up to its responsibilities," U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said. Filing a complaint with the WTO triggers a 90-day consultation period, during which both sides try to work out their differences. If negotiations do not succeed, the United States and the EU will have the right to pursue a trade case that could result in penalty tariffs levied against Chinese products. ...
http://www.usatoday.com
censor News |
Editor - 08:16:00 03-30-06
|
 France braced for job law ruling |
France is awaiting a ruling by its top constitutional body on the legality of a highly controversial youth employment law which has sparked weeks of protest. Students and trade unions have called for another one-day strike next Tuesday in a drive to get the law scrapped. If the Constitutional Council rules the law valid, it could be put into effect at once by President Jacques Chirac. The president is expected to address the nation soon - possibly as early as Thursday evening, correspondents say. Universities across the country have been disrupted for weeks by protests over the First Employment Contract (CPE), which would make it easier for employers to fire workers aged under 26. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4860632.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:13:00 03-30-06
|
| US journalist is set free in Iraq |
A US reporter held hostage in Iraq for more than two months has been freed. Jill Carroll, who works for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, was abducted by unknown gunmen in west Baghdad on 7 January. She told Iraqi television she had been treated well and was looking forward to being reunited with her family. The US ambassador to Iraq said no ransom was paid by the US embassy. Ms Carroll's release came a week after three other Westerners were freed. "I'm just happy to be free. I just want to be with my family," Ms Carroll said in a brief interview in English shown on Baghdad television. "I don't know why I was kidnapped," said the 28-year-old journalist, who was wearing a headscarf. Ms Carroll said she had been only allowed to move between her room and the bathroom....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4860824.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:10:00 03-30-06
|
| Massachusetts High Court Rules That Gays From Out of State Cannot Come There to Marry |
The state's highest court ruled Thursday that same-sex couples from other states cannot legally marry in Massachusetts. The Supreme Judicial Court, which three years ago made Massachusetts the first state to legalize gay marriage, ruled in a challenge to a 1913 state law that forbids non-residents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be recognized in their home state. "The laws of this commonwealth have not endowed non-residents with an unfettered right to marry," the court wrote in its 38-page opinion. "Only non-resident couples who come to Massachusetts to marry and intend to reside in this commonwealth thereafter can be issued a marriage license without consideration of any impediments to marriage that existed in their former home states." ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1786128
full News |
Editor - 08:07:00 03-30-06
|
| US 'open' to Israel borders plan |
The US secretary of state has said Washington may be open to backing Israel's Kadima party in drawing the country's borders unilaterally. Condoleezza Rice said a negotiated deal with the Palestinians was preferable, but seemed unlikely since the militant group Hamas won Palestinian elections. But she added that there had been no chance to discuss the Israeli proposal. It is the first time the US appears to have dropped its insistence that the conflict must be solved bilaterally. Ms Rice was speaking to reporters travelling with her to Berlin for talks about Iran's nuclear programme. Ms Rice pointedly did not rule out supporting Kadima's plan for withdrawing from parts of the occupied West Bank by 2010 but consolidating other Jewish settlements there. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4860340.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:01:00 03-30-06
|
| First Brazilian goes into space |
Lt Col Marcos Pontes has become the first Brazilian to go into space after a successful launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur. He will spend nine days on the International Space Station while a Russian and a US colleague accompanying him will stay for six months. Col Pontes took with him a Brazilian flag and a football shirt - to help, he said, his team in the World Cup. His father, 84, was at the launch with other relatives and friends. They applauded and cheered afterwards, watching video from an onboard camera at the ex-Soviet base Russia leases in Kazakhstan. "I am very emotional," said his wife Fatima, with tears in her eyes. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4859622.stm
full News |
Editor - 07:59:00 03-30-06
|
|
| post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|
|
