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Wall Street Journal
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Mar 11, 08 7:32 AM CDT
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A weak US dollar continued to fuel surging commodity prices today, keeping oil near $108 a barrel and moving a gallon of gas to $3.225, with analysts predicting near $4 prices by spring, the Wall Street Journal reports. Stress on the greenback is coming from not only major but minor currencies, as developing nations fight inflation by relaxing currency controls.
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CNN
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Mar 10, 08 6:16 PM CDT
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China will keep up its one-child policy over the next decade as nearly 200 million citizens reach child-bearing age, CNN reports. "Given such a large population base, there would be major fluctuations in population growth if we abandoned the one-child rule now," said the country's family planning minister, responding to reports that the country might consider change.
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Associated Press
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Mar 10, 08 1:30 PM CDT
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Director Ang Lee has blasted Chinese officials for blacklisting a young actress who appeared in his film Lust, Caution . Authorities have ordered TV stations to stop reporting on actress Tang Wei and to pull ads featuring her, even though censors signed off on her portrayal of a student activist who seduces a Chinese official to set him up for assassination, the AP reports.
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BBC
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Mar 10, 08 3:30 AM CDT
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Cheering thousands bid farewell to more than 100 Tibetan exiles as they began a trek today from India back to their homeland to protest China's rule over Tibet. "Everybody is pumped up," said one marcher. "Many people were in tears as they said goodbye." Organizers hope to capitalize on increased international scrutiny of China in advance of the Beijing Olympics in the latest push for Tibetan independence.
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Associated Press
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Mar 9, 08 1:30 PM CDT
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China has thwarted two terror attacks, a top official revealed today, including an attempted plane hijacking on Friday and a January raid that captured and killed terrorists aiming to "sabotage" the Beijing Olympics, reports CNN. Both incidents were linked to regional separatists whose “goal was very clear,” according to the AP.
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Times (UK)
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Mar 7, 08 4:45 PM CST
(Newser) -
Beijing says it will toughen restrictions on visiting artists performing in China in response to Bjork's onstage expression of support for Tibetan independence, the London Times reports. “We shall never tolerate any attempt to separate Tibet from China and will no longer welcome any artists who deliberately do this,” said a Culture Ministry statement.
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USA Today
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Mar 7, 08 12:23 PM CST
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PC makers are increasingly setting their sights on markets outside the US, which are making up an ever-larger share of the worldwide computer market, USA Today reports. PC sales are growing in the US, still the world’s largest market, but are rising much faster elsewhere. Last year, the US accounted for 26% of worldwide sales, compared to 35% 5 years ago.
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Wall Street Journal
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Mar 7, 08 8:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
Young Indians are training for this summer’s Olympics with the backing of a London-based billionaire steel magnate, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lakshmi Mittal was dismayed by India’s poor showing at Athens in 2004—where the burgeoning superpower earned only a single silver, while archrival China won 32 golds—and founded the Mittal Champions Trust to identify and support promising athletes.
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New York Times
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Mar 7, 08 8:32 AM CST
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Heparin blood thinners may have sickened as many as 100 people in Germany, health officials report. The FDA is currently investigating the drug after it was linked to 19 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions in the US, possibly due to contaminants from China. The agency is now recommending that all American heparin manufacturers test supplies for contaminants and counterfeit ingredients.
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Associated Press
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Mar 7, 08 6:07 AM CST
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Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.3% and Australia’s S&P/ASX2000 dropped 3.2% as woeful US economic news—including rising foreclosures, worsening homeowner debt and impending credit defaults—sent Asian markets reeling, the Associated Press reports. Investors also worried that a key jobs report to be released this morning would show a rise in US unemployment, which would further hurt already depressed Asian exports.
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New York Times
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Mar 5, 08 9:49 PM CST
(Newser) -
The FDA has found a contaminant in samples of heparin, a blood thinner produced mainly in China linked to 19 deaths and nearly 800 allergic reactions in the US, the New York Times reports. The contaminant may be a counterfeit form of heparin added to reduce its manufacturing cost. The FDA is fine-tuning tests to better detect it.
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BBC
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Mar 4, 08 12:00 PM CST
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The US and China are clashing over Beijing's increasing defense expenditures, its posture toward Taiwan and its threat to US space hardware, reports the BBC. Beijing officials say they plan to up defense spending by 18% to $59 billion—but a Pentagon report claims the true amount of Chinese military spending is at least twice that.
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Associated Press
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Mar 3, 08 2:25 PM CST
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After years of Maoist repression, during which sex was considered bourgeois and hand-holding was a major taboo, Beijing is alive with seedy clubs and no-tell motels catering to one-night stands. Most Chinese—60% to 70%—have indulged in premarital sex, compared with just 15% in 1989. But lingering disapproval has kept the revolution largely underground, the AP reports.
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