China Daily
Top leaders of China, DPRK hold talks in Beijing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 20:44
Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese President, held talks in Beijing with Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513432.htm
China announces new human case of bird flu
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 21:03
China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced another human case of bird flu, in which the victim had died.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513434.htm
$10m earmarked to fight against bird flu
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 12:22
The Chinese government will donate 10 million U.S. dollars to support the global fight against avian influenza, said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao here Wednesday.
"The Chinese government will continue to provide assistance within our capacity to the neighbouring countries and those needed," Wen said at the Ministerial Session of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza.
The spread of avian influenza already threatens regional and global security and stability and the effective containment of the disease has become a common task for the international community, Wen said.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513384.htm
lling stampede shuts down Tokyo stock
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-18 17:29
A stampede of sell orders forced the shut-down of the world's second-biggest stock exchange on Wednesday as investors fled the Tokyo market, spooked by fall-out from an investigation into Internet company Livedoor.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513424.htm
Beijing urges talks on Iran nuclear issue
Qin Jize
2006-01-18 06:16
Beijing yesterday reiterated the need for diplomacy to solve Iran's nuclear issue while urging all parties to remain restrained and return to negotiations.
Talks between Iran and the three European countries called the EU3 Britain, France and Germany are the most feasible approach and are "in the interest of everyone," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular news briefing.
He hoped that all parties are patient and try their best to restart negotiations.
"We hope the Iranian side can co-operate with the efforts by the international community to restart diplomatic negotiations, and resolve the nuclear issue," said Kong.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513096.htm
"gap between haves and have-nots...is growing"
Closing gap between haves and have-nots
....by Fu Jing...page 1...
Closing gap between haves and have-nots
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-17 07:12
A new report is urging the Chinese Government to focus on giving migrant workers and farmers a fair chance since the gap between the haves and have-nots has already become a threat toward the country's social harmony.
A set of policy suggestions to close the gap between them and other social groups in China was found in the China National Human Development Report 2005 released on Friday, which was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The government should take actions to ensure the punctual payment of salaries, provision of shelter, access to education for children, social security entitlements and union membership, the report said.
"Achieving development with greater equity and ensuring that all people, including the disadvantaged groups, have equal opportunities and a decent life free from poverty should be the future focus of China's future development plans," said Khalid Malik, UN Resident Co-ordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China, in an interview with China Daily.
http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=499035&extra=page%3D1
Welcome home - return of a Shanghai Jew
By Adam Minter (LA Times)
Updated: 2006-01-17 10:43
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-shanghai3jan15,0,1838881.story?page=1&coll=la-home-magazine
After decades of trying to forget the miseries of his refugee childhood during World War II, a Southern Californian circles back to China to embrace the people who saved his life.
At the market, Gaoyang Road widens and hooks toward a set of encroaching Shanghai high-rises. Below, in their shadows, is a gray, run-down, two-story building that holds a tobacco shop, a beauty parlor and a noodle restaurant on its first floor. The top level is residential, and it juts over the first, creating a covered lane hung with laundry. Just south of the building, Jerry Moses, a retired Southern California businessman, squints and looks up, hands clasped behind his back. "I don't know, I don't know," he says with long vowels stretched by his German accent. "This isn't right." He takes a deep breath and walks slowly toward the lane, brow furrowed. "All this is new. I can't recognize it."
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/17/content_513005.htm
China has 111 million Internet users
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 08:53
Chinese netizens had paid 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) for the Internet services last year, said China Internet Information Center in Beijing Tuesday.
According to a report released by the center, China has 111 million netizens. Both the numbers of the Internet users and broadband users in China are ranking the second in the world.
The report said the actual Internet expense of each Chinese netizen amounted to 103.6 yuan (12.9 U.S. dollars) per month on the average, excluding the charges of various kinds of services like the e-commerce provided many websites.
Currently the Internet popularization ratio in China is 8.5 percent, much higher than the world's average of 1.52 percent.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513289.htm
Jackson wants to consult for entertainment
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-18 09:20
Michael Jackson seems to be settling in to the Persian Gulf. The pop star has shopped for real estate here, been spotted in glitzy malls — and now appears to be interviewing for a job.
Michael Jackson, shown in this April 12, 2005 file photo. Jackson, who was acquitted on child molestation charges in California last year, is negotiating a position as a consultant with a Bahrain-based company that plans to set up theme parks and music academies in the Middle East, according to a press release. [AP]
Jackson, who was acquitted on child molestation charges in California last year, is negotiating a position as a consultant with a Bahrain-based company that plans to set up theme parks and music academies in the Middle East, according to a press release.
AAJ Holdings Ltd., owned by Ahmed Abu Bakr Janahi, said it wants to hire 47-year-old Jackson to give advice on setting up entertainment businesses.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513320.htm
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Mt. Baker Ski Area closed
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The Mt. Baker Ski Area is expected to remain closed until Wednesday because of unusual weather, according to its Web site. The ski area has received a record amount of snow recently, much of it in warmer weather, but a cooling trend is expected to stabilize the snowpack. Mt. Baker plans to reopen at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The ski area's snow report can be accessed at www.mtbaker.us/snowreport or by calling 360-671-0211.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255859_tl117.html
Snow Report
New Snowfall:
2 in
5 cm
24 hour Snowfall:
5 in
13 cm
Temperature:
27°F
-3°C
Weather:
Partly Cloudy
Slope Conditions:
Powder/Packed Powder
Base at Heather Meadows:
135 in
343 cm
Base at Pan Dome:
150 in
381 cm
Operation Info:
Normal midweek operation out of White Salmon Lodge.
Hours:
9:00 am - 3:30 pm
Other Info
Please take a minute to review the "tree well and deep snow safety" section here on our webstite. You can link to it from the home page at www.mtbaker.us
Snow Phone: 360-671-0211
http://www.mtbaker.us/snowreport/
Virtual Editorial Board
Biofuels, Boycott and Eco-terror
Editorials planned for Thursday's P-I.
BIOFUELS -- The Legislature is moving forward with a bill to mandate ethanol and biofuels in Washington. It's a boost to farmers -- and a way to get more fuel without relying on imports. Is it good for Washington state?
ECOTERROR -- Burning houses down is not a political statement. It's a crime -- an act by people who think nothing about imposing there values on the rest of society.
BOYCOTT -- Boycott, schmoycott
What is really immoral?
The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a conservative Eastside preacher, has called his flock and others to a boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies with enlightened human resources policies for gay employees.
It makes one wonder if Hutcherson could envision a segregationist group in the late 1960s calling on white Americans to boycott corporations that had integrated their work force or, heaven forbid, actually encouraged blacks and other minorities to come to work for them.
Yes, we know, the Rev refuses to see a connection between the denial of one group of humans having been denied civil liberties and equal treatment in employment, housing and lending and another group facing the same denial today.
Hutcherson talks of morality, "We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," Hutcherson said Monday. So what of the morality of how a corporation deals with its employees? The cover of this week's New York Times Magazine asks the question: "Is how much you pay a worker a moral issue?"
So, has the Rev called for boycotts of corporations that pay lousy wages, that deny their workers health care and family leave or risk their workers' lives in unsafe working conditions, that welsh on employee pensions?
There seem to be some true moral questions about corporate behavior that the pastor could demand. There seem to be some areas of morality in which Rev. Hutcherson could lead his followers in acts of liberation, not discrimination.
Comment on these subjects now. (To post for consideration as an instant letter to the editor, include your name and city where you live.)
Posted by P-I Editorial Board at January 18, 2006 10:03 a.m.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/veb/archives/101133.asp
Thousands in dark after Northeast storm
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- High winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in the Northeast on Wednesday and wreaked havoc for commuters, blowing trees across railroad tracks, overturning tractor-trailers, and making for wild ferry rides.
More than 285,000 homes and businesses across the region lost power, and several airports reported delays of two hours or more.
The wind was blamed for at least one death, a 52-year-old man killed just north of New York City when a tree fell on his car, according to a Sound Shore Hospital spokesman in New Rochelle.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Windy_Weather.html
AFL-CIO head blasts corporate policies
By WILL LESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Corporate policies are driving millions of workers out of good-paying jobs, stripping them of health care and killing pension plans in a strategy that is "just suicidal" for the economy, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said Wednesday.
Sweeney outlined a state-by-state effort that he said was aimed at allowing organized labor "to break free from the gridlock of Washington" and fight for worker benefits such as stronger health care plans and a higher minimum wage.
"Wounded workers aren't the only casualties of the corporate job-killing strategy," Sweeney said. "It is also a self-destructive strategy because it leaves businesses with consumers who don't have enough money to spend or save. It leaves government with more demand for public services and subsidies - and fewer taxpayers to pay for them."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Labor_Sweeney.html
Abducted reporter's family makes appeal
BOSTON -- The family of an American reporter abducted in Baghdad appealed for mercy after her captors threatened to kill her if U.S. authorities don't release all Iraqi women in military custody by Friday.
Jill Carroll, 28, a freelancer for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped Jan. 7. On Tuesday, she was seen for the first time since her abduction on a silent, 20-second video clip released to Al-Jazeera television. Station officials said the video also included the threat to kill her if the Iraqi women weren't freed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Iraq_Kidnapped_Journalist.html
Church is a curious choice for IRS inquiry
By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
Of the multiple efforts to intimidate free speech in America, none is more ominous than the Internal Revenue Service's demand that a Pasadena, Calif., church do penance over a 2004 election-eve sermon by its former pastor.
All Saints Episcopal Church declined to turn the other cheek and admit to "culpability." It is confronting the IRS' threat to revoke its tax-exempt status over a homily by its retired pastor titled: "If Jesus Debated Sen. Kerry and President Bush."
"It does look as though they wanted to go after a progressive church raising serious questions about the (Iraq) war in light of the teachings of Jesus," said the Rev. George Regas, who built All Saints into one of Southern California's largest congregations.
Why? "To send a chill through the world of progressive people of faith," Regas said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Regas will speak Thursday at 7 p.m. in St. Mark's Cathedral, as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by the Church Council of Greater Seattle.
He is a churchman who believes in keeping Peter from becoming the servant of Caesar.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/256107_joel18.html
Lawmakers hear friends, foes of gay-rights bill
Measure not new to Legislature
By RACHEL LA CORTE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA -- Dozens of people made emotional arguments during a public hearing Tuesday on a gay civil rights bill, with some insisting the measure was a long-overdue change to the state's anti-discrimination laws, and others contending it only creates special status for one group of people.
Some opponents argued that the measure would put an undue burden on business; others said it would create confusion for the state's children. One woman simply read from the Bible until the committee chairwoman cut her off.
Supporters told the House State Government Operations & Accountability Committee hearing that all people deserve protection from discrimination in housing and jobs.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256076_fill18.html
U.S.-Canadian border closes after suspicious car is stopped
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The U.S.-Canadian border passing at Blaine was closed Tuesday night after a “suspicious” car heading northbound on Interstate-5 was stopped by Canadian officials after it passed through the border, said Mike Milne, spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
The incident occurred at about 9 p.m., said Milne. As of 10:30, traffic going both directions was being diverted to Route 99.
The car and its driver are still being investigated, he said, and it is unclear if anything illegal or dangerous is inside the vehicle.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256119_border17ww.html
A dose of exercise to thwart dementia
Study adds to belief that lifestyle may delay disease
By JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Three or more days of exercise a week could stave off dementia in older people, according to a new study led by Seattle researchers.
The study, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, followed 1,740 people age 65 and older for an average of six years. None showed signs of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia when the study began.
Those who reported exercising three or more days a week were 30 percent less likely to develop dementia than others who exercised less or not at all.
In addition, three days of exercise appeared to be most helpful for the least fit of the study participants.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255929_exercise17.html
High water probably won't mean lower bills
By GORDY HOLT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Yes, it's still raining, and still snowing in the hills. The reservoirs are full and the snowpack is deepening, and that could foretell a fine summer of sprinkler play and green, green parks.
But don't expect your water bill to drop any time soon, if ever, water managers say.
Andy Ryan, a spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities, said long periods of heavy rain such as the one we're enduring come with costs.
"You'd think it would be a matter of supply and demand, but it doesn't work like that," he said Friday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255927_waterbill17.html
Controversial Boston sculpture removed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- A sculpture hailed by some as a moving tribute to freedom fighters but deplored by others as depressing is headed back to its owner after 23 years on the Boston Common.
The "Partisans" sculpture by Polish immigrant Andrew Pitynski depicts five weary, emaciated horsemen. It was inspired by Poles who fought the Nazis, then the communists, and was meant as a tribute to freedom fighters around the world.
The foundation that owns the 8,000-pound sculpture loaned it to Boston for six months in 1983 but never reclaimed it.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Sculpture_Removed.html
Dissatisfied Jews, Christians share ideas
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Every time Rabbi Dov Gartenberg led the Sabbath service at Congregation Beth Shalom, he would see bored faces among the worshippers and wonder how long he could hold their interest.
"I could say, 'That person's going to leave in 30 minutes and that person's going to leave in 45 minutes.' And I was right," he said. "I was powerless to stop it. I felt like I was in chains."
Frustrated, Gartenberg quit his congregation two years ago and opened a nonprofit for Jews who feel most synagogues have forsaken them.
This week, Gartenberg took another unusual step: He and 15 other Jewish leaders met with evangelical Christians who set out on a similar path a decade ago and sparked a mini-revolution in the process.
Over two days, representatives from nearly 30 emergent Jewish and Christian worship groups talked about abandoning traditional worship in search of a more personal connection with God that they said they can't find in temple or church. They also shared their vision with more traditional Jewish leaders who hope this new "emergent Judaism" might help bring young Jews back at least to some style of worship.
"We've got to learn from what our Christian colleagues are doing," said Shawn Landres, a rabbi with Synagogue 3000, a progressive Jewish think tank that set up the meeting at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute about 45 miles north of Los Angeles.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Emergent_Church_Judaism.html
Estrada plays down info passed by American
By JIM GOMEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Sept. 12, 2005 file artist rendering of Michael Ray Aquino of New York, left, and Leandro Aragoncillo of Woodbury, N.J., foreground right, during their arraignment before Judge Patty Schwartz at U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J. By the time the FBI was convinced one of its own intelligence analysts was a spy, investigators found evidence the accused employee had spent months rummaging through the bureau's computers to read and print secret reports unrelated to his office work. The FBI analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, is negotiating to plead guilty to charges he revealed secrets to officials in the Philippines. Prosecutors said he sometimes used the FBI's own computers to e-mail secret reports there. (AP Photo/Andrea Shepard, Files)
MANILA, Philippines -- A deposed president Wednesday played down the value of classified U.S. information that he and other leaders allegedly received from a Philippine-born FBI intelligence analyst.
Former President Joseph Estrada, who admitted receiving information from Leandro Aragoncillo, said most of the material amounted to little more than news summaries and assessments about politicians already heard.
"I don't believe the guy sent those materials in bad faith," Estrada told The Associated Press by telephone. "What's spying there when there was nothing new in the downloaded materials? Everybody knew the contents. ... I read them in newspapers."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Philippines_US_Missed_Spying.html
Roadside bomb kills two Americans in Iraq
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
British troops secure the scene of a roadside attack on a private security convoy, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006, outside of the southern city of Basra, Iraq. A roadside bomb blast struck a private security team convoy northwest of Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killing at least two people whose nationalities were unknown. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurjani)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying a U.S. security team near the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, killing two American civilians and seriously wounding a third, the U.S. Embassy said.
Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, held out hope that kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll would be released, and the sister of Iraq's interior minister was freed by her abductors about two weeks after being seized in Baghdad, an official said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Vatican paper hits 'intelligent design'
By NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006. The Pontiff announced that his first encyclical on the different aspects of God's love will be published Jan. 25, saying it was "providential" that it would be released at the end of a week of prayer for unifying all Christians. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying "intelligent design" is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion.
The article in Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of interventions by Vatican officials - including the pope - on the issue that has dominated headlines in the United States.
The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for Darwin's theory of evolution, saying that in the scientific world, biological evolution "represents the interpretative key of the history of life on Earth."
He lamented that certain American "creationists" had brought the debate back to the "dogmatic" 1800s, and said their arguments weren't science but ideology.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Vatican_Evolution.html
Colombian troops try to rid park of coca
By DAN MOLINSKI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Colombia's Police Chief Gen. Hector Castro speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Jan.17, 2006. More than 700 police officers were deployed to the Macarena's National Park to detroy coca fields. (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez)
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Some 3,000 armed troops were deployed to one of Colombia's most pristine national parks Wednesday as part of a bold operation to clear the rebel-controlled region of cocaine laboratories and the plants used to make the drug.
It is the largest coca eradication drive in Colombia's history and could lead to battles with the country's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which makes money by cocaine trafficking, warned Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Colombia_Coca_Parks.html
More than 3,200 still missing from Katrina
BATON ROUGE, La. -- More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana.
As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located, the agency said.
Some of those still listed as missing likely have already been found by their relatives but the center hasn't been notified of their status, it said.
More than 1,300 Katrina-related deaths have been reported across five states, with 1,101 of those from Louisiana.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Katrina_Missing.html?source=mypi
Hindustan Times
King cuts off Kathmandu from rest of world
Nepal's King Gyanendra on Thursday once again cut off Kathmandu valley from the rest of the world, snapping all telephone links, in a chilling repetition of last year when he staged a coup and unleashed a series of draconian curbs.
People of the valley, already reeling under an extended period of curfew clamped from 9 pm to 4 am by the home ministry from Wednesday for an indefinite period, woke up to find telephones and mobile phones out of order.
Though landlines were restored after 8 am, mobile phones still remained disconnected.
It revived the memory of the nightmare last year when all phone lines were cut immediately after the king's announcement on the state-run Nepal Television channel February 1 that he was dismissing the government.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1602370,000500020003.htm
RIA NOVOSTI
Monument to homeless dog
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Anatoly Korolyov.) The Moscow Metro will soon have a monument to a dog. The finished sculpture was recently displayed in the art shop of Alexander Tsigal. Right now the dog is made of clay, but by the New Year it will be cast in bronze and put up in the hall of the Mendeleyevskaya Station.
This story took place two years ago. A stray dog called Malchik (Boy) lived underground inside the Mendeleyevskaya Station for about three years. He was of good character, and the Metro employees used to feed him. There are many stray dogs roaming the city streets now, abandoned by their owners because of economic hardships. (The Moscow budget for 2006 has set aside 74 million rubles ($2.58 million) to "regulate the upkeep of animals," or simply, to neuter them.) Today, it is almost a luxury to keep a dog.
To continue the story, Malchik had a stroke of bad luck. One day, a fashion model, Yuliana R., was out with her Staffordshire terrier of impeccable breed. She noticed Malchik and started setting her dog against him. In effect, it was a parody of social conflict.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051219/42550927.html
Russia freezes as temperatures plummet
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - Extremely low temperatures hit the Russian capital and most of the country's regions Wednesday, leaving authorities to scramble to keep the population warm amidst a bone-chilling frost that could prove to be a record.
Moscow international airports Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo have been operating according to schedule, though the temperature in Moscow nearly broke the minus 32°C (-25.6°F) record.
"All regular flights departed and arrived without delays or restrictions," a spokesman for Moscow's air-traffic control center said.
Authorities in Russia's regions have taken emergency measures to avoid fatalities and health problems with the onset of the chill, including recessing schools. To the chagrin of locals in the Khanty-Manisiisk Autonomous Region, authorities called off Epiphany bathing, a centuries-old religious ceremony in which the faithful dip into the river on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43057258.html
Power supply situation difficult but under control - ministers
MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - Government ministers said conditions on Russia's power and heat networks were "complicated" but "under control" Thursday, as the country's infrastructure and fuel supplies struggled to cope with soaring demand amid a deepening cold spell.
Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a government session Thursday that heat supplies were being restored to the village of Tomilino in the Moscow region after a loss of supplies, but added that 21 residential buildings in the Chita Region of East Siberia were still suffering heat cuts.
Shoigu said it was crucial to prevent power cuts in Moscow itself. "A serious power failure in Moscow may cause a chain reaction," he said, adding that the situation in the city was currently under control.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060119/43077734.html
Russian foreign minister praises relations with France
MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - Relations between Russia and France are steadily improving, Russia's foreign minister said Thursday at the opening of talks with his French counterpart.
"We have particularly noticed that Russian-French relations are improving," Sergei Lavrov told Philippe Douste-Blazy, who is on a visit to Moscow to discuss Iran's nuclear program and other global issues.
After arriving in the Russian capital Wednesday evening, Philippe Douste-Blazy clearly stated his position on Iran's decision to resume research into uranium enrichment.
"No civilian program can justify these activities," he said.
The minister had urged the international community earlier to unite efforts to resolve the issue and said he hoped that Russia would support the position of a trio of nations representing the European Union at an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog.
Thanking Sergei Lavrov for his hospitality, the French foreign minister said that despite the cold weather in Moscow, "we feel warm in our hearts."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060119/43076819.html
President Putin: no branches of foreign banks in Russia
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova.) Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the banking community's desire to restrict the activities of foreign bank branches in the country at a meeting with Russian bankers in Novosibirsk yesterday.
"I want to confirm that the Russian government agrees with our banking community that activities of foreign bank branches in Russia should today be restricted or, in fact, prohibited," Putin said. Thus, he publicly endorsed the stance adopted by many bankers and experts who had repeatedly spoken against admitting them into the country.
The problem of admitting foreigners to Russian financial markets appeared as the country began integrating in the global economy. It remains one of the main obstacles in Russia's WTO accession talks. Foreign partners demand that Russia allow branches to work in the country, but the position of Russian negotiators is firm. The country cannot afford it, because such changes may cause severe problems for its underdeveloped banking system.
At present, Russian legislation prohibits
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051216/42524682.html
Countries can still prevent bird flu pandemic - chief vet
BEIJING, January 18 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Yefimov) - The international community still has a chance to avoid a bird flu pandemic, Russia's most senior veterinary official said Wednesday.
Yevgeny Nepoklonov, the head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight, is currently attending an international conference in Beijing on financing measures to control the spread of avian flu.
"We still have a chance to fully employ veterinary resources in fighting the virus, and preventing its development in to a pandemic, and its spread to humans," he said.
In the countries where the work of veterinary services is well organized and diagnostic research is being broadly carried out, the risk of the virus spreading is minimal, Nepoklonov said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43065129.html
Possible bird flu pandemic may infect over 27 million Russians
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian ministry issued a dire warning Wednesday that between 18% and 20% of the population could be infected with bird flu if a pandemic were to hit the country.
An analytical center working for the Emergency Situations Ministry forecasted that 27 million out of the country's population of 148 million could fall ill if the pandemic type of avian influenza emerged. Analysts were particularly concerned about potential threats emerging at airports receiving flights from China in such densely populated cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg in European Russia, and Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Far East.
Experts added that a pandemic of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu might become a national security threat in 2006 since the virus could mutate and become more contagious.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43062127.html
North Korea secures China's support on nuclear issue
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il secured Chinese support in resolving the international standoff over his regime's nuclear ambitions as he met with President Hu Jintao at the end of an unofficial eight-day visit to China Wednesday.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Hu pledged help in fostering the resumption of the stalled six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, which, along with the two Koreas and China, also involve the United States, Japan and Russia. He described the six-party talks as "the correct choice" for settling the nuclear dispute.
Kim reportedly said he remained committed to peacefully resolving the conflict surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear program. KCNA quoted him as saying "there is no change in [North Korea's] basic stand of maintaining the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, implementing the joint statement issued at the fourth round of the six-party talks and pursuing a negotiated peaceful settlement."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060118/43063587.html
It will take us long to cure xenophobia
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Marianna Belenkaya.) "I'm certain that if society doesn't come to its senses right now, criminals armed with knives will break into every house," said chief rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar in response to an attack on a synagogue in central Moscow.
But can society "come to its senses" at all? And what should this process look like?
Many Russian experts - political analysts, scientists, journalists and public figures - have been reporting an escalation of national extremism and xenophobia in Russia, with nationalist movements on the rise. Ever since Vladimir Putin became president, the authorities have been speaking about the danger and inadmissibility of xenophobia. "We will boost the activities of law enforcement agencies and do our best to remove skinheads and fascist elements from the political map of this country," said the president in a TV conference. On December 20, Putin demanded that the Federal Security Service step up its fight against nationalism and xenophobia and expose instigators of interethnic discord. But will police and legislative actions be enough to settle the problem?
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060118/43064676.html
Large arms-cache discovered in Moscow
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Moscow have discovered a large arms-cache in the west of the city, a source in the law enforcement bodies said Tuesday.
The source said the cache contained three Kalashnikov assault rifles, a Makarov pistol, two Taurus pistols, a small-bore rifle, a "shooting pen", 15 grenades, 14 detonators, 948 cartridges of various caliber and silencers.
According to the source, the police also discovered equipment for conducting covert surveillance, wiretaps, three portable radio stations, three sets flashing lights for official cars and nine police uniforms.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43054162.html
continued …
