UN Security Council Approves International Force for Afghanistan
Breck Ardery
United Nations
20 Dec 2001 21:25 UTC
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution authorizing an international security force for Afghanistan.
The resolution authorizes the force for a six-month period to assist the interim Afghan government in providing security in and around the Afghan capital of Kabul. The resolution calls on all Afghans to cooperate with the security force and notes that all Afghan parties have agreed to withdraw their military units from Kabul.
Jeremy Greenstock
Britain will be leading the force and British ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told reporters the first group of troops will arrive in Kabul in time for the official start of the interim government on Saturday. "The United Kingdom is ready to go," he said. "We will have a small number of troops on the ground on the day, Saturday, in Kabul. The full British contingent will be in place a certain number of days thereafter."
Mr. Greenstock said if the interim government decides it wants the security force to deploy outside of the Kabul area, it would require a additional Security Council resolution.
AP
John Negroponte
United States ambassador John Negroponte said U.S. military forces will continue to operate in Afghanistan but not as part of the security force. "Our forces are there with a particular set of responsibilities, which is to root out the al-Qaida and fight against the remnant elements of the Taleban. In other words a war-fighting mission," he said.
Mr. Negroponte indicated that there should be no conflict between the mission of U.S. forces and the international security troops in Afghanistan.
DEVELOPMENT REPORT: Tuberculosis Control Program in India
By Jill Moss
Broadcast: December 9, 2002
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
There are more people with tuberculosis in India than in any other country in the world. Each year, tuberculosis infects about two-million people in India and kills nearly five-hundred-thousand people. However, this is starting to change. Researchers
recently studied a tuberculosis control program in India. The study says the program has saved about two-hundred-thousand lives and more than four-hundred-million dollars.
The New England Journal of Medicine published a study about the tuberculosis control program in October. The Indian government started the program in nineteen-ninety-three. Since that time, about three-and-one-half million patients have been examined for tuberculosis. Almost eight-hundred-thousand patients have received medical treatment.
Also, more than forty percent of India's population can now get tuberculosis services. And more than two-hundred-thousand health workers have been trained to examine and treat people with the disease. This makes India's tuberculosis control program one of the world's largest public health programs.
Thomas Frieden of the United States was one of the people who wrote the study. He says that India's tuberculosis control program has strengthened the country's general health care system. For example, he says the quality of work done in laboratories has improved.
However, Doctor Frieden says the program includes only half of India. He says the goal is to continue the program while extending it to the rest of the country. Doctor Frieden believes this will be difficult because of health threats from the virus that causes AIDS and because some forms of tuberculosis are resistant to drugs.
Currently, the World Health Organization estimates that about one-third of the world's population are infected with the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Tuberculosis becomes active in only about ten percent of all cases. However, it can remain in a victim's lungs for years or even a lifetime.
Infected people spread tuberculosis by releasing particles from their mouths when they cough, sneeze, spit or talk. Signs of the disease include high body temperature and coughing.
A person with active T-B must take medicine each day for six to nine months to halt progression of the disease.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.
China’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security has announced that the country will continue to impose stringent penalties on activities which deliberately delay or reduce migrant workers’ wages.
The Ministry wants to put a stop to these payment problems, which are most common for workers who have come from rural areas to find a job in China’s big cities.
In recent years, China has seen a surge in lawsuits from these workers, who seek normal payment conditions.
***
China is to continue its crackdown on illegal advertising for medical products.
Unlicensed ad campaigns have been banned, while other ads have been suspended.
Ads for fake drugs and illegal medical treatments disrupt the health market as well as infringing on the patient’s rights.
***
China will tighten regulations on the construction of vehicle manufacturing projects amid concerns about overproduction.
Zhu Hongren, an official with the State Economic and Trade Commission, warns of a price war as domestic car production is expanded and new vehicle models are launched.
He says some local governments are currently very keen on building automobile parks and factories, which may have a negative impact on the industry.
***
Bank of China has been named the country’s Best Commercial Bank of 2002, for the third time in a row by a foreign financial magazine.
Assesors from the magazine concluded that Bank of China stands out from all its competitors in terms of its development of banking services in 2002, after a thorough examination.
The bank also beat its domestic rivals in solving loan problems as well as with its successful banking reforms, which have set a role model for domestic banks.
***
The People’s Bank of China says banks in Shanghai approved mortgages worth a combined 13 billion US dollars last year, up 70.8 percent from 2001.
Meanwhile, the central bank says the outstanding value of auto loans issued by the city's banks almost doubled last year to about 500 million US dollars.
Nearly 20 thousand individuals applied for mortgages last year in Shanghai, while sales of private cars in the city reached 60 thousand units
Although 6.8 percent of local banks' total loans are non-performing, less than half a percent of the banks’ mortgages have turned bad.
***
China's sixth largest commercial bank Everbright has opened an examination and approval center in Shanghai for granting credit to its branches in east China.
Covering the bank's five branches in Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo, the regional center should be the same size as the head office in Beijing.
The regional center is the first of its kind for a Chinese mainland bank.
Sources with the state-run bank say the move will help the bank to carry out its favorable credit policy in the booming Yangtze Delta area.
***
China’s largest oil producer Sinopec is targeting production of 270 and a half million barrels of oil and 187 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2003.
Sinopec says its 2002 production was 270 million barrels of crude oil and 179 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
For chemical products, the company is estimated to have produced 2.7 million tons of ethylene in 2002. The production is forecast to increase to 3 million tons this year.
And the company is planning to produce four and a half million tons of synthetic resins in 2003, up from 4 million tons last year.
***
Beijing-based property developer SOHO China has decided against becoming the first Chinese private enterprise to list in New York, in part due to complications posed by new stock-exchange regulations in the US.
The firm now plans to list only in Hong Kong, likely before the end of the first quarter, but dropped any plans to join the New York market.
SOHO China says the initial public offer, originally expected to raise 200 million US dollars, is now expected to raise between 100 million and 200 million dollars.
New exchange regulations in the US, put in place in response to recent corporate scandals, were part of the reason behind the decision.
***
China United Telecommunications, parent company of China Unicom, has signed a framework agreement with SK Telecom to form a wireless internet service joint venture in China.
Under the agreement, China United will take a 51 percent stake in the joint venture, while SK Telecom will hold the remaining part.
Further details of the joint venture, including investment amounts, will be finalized by the end of the month.
Officials from the General Administration of Press and Publishing say China will fulfill its WTO promise to allow overseas companies to invest in book and newspaper retail outlets in certain cities this year.
China has already taken steps to open up its publishing, audio-video, and electronic publications markets since the country entered the World Trade Organization.
*****
The National Bureau of Statistics in China has released a report saying the private economy is now the third component in backing the country's national economy, after the state-owned and collectively-owned enterprises.
The report says there were over 1.3 million private enterprises in China by the end of 2001, accounting for 40 percent of all enterprises in China. The number of people employed in the private sector quadrupled between 1996 and 2001 with the creation of 30 million new jobs.
*****
The world's leading air con manufacturer, the Carrier Company of the United States, has vowed to expand its business in China.
At an international symposium on the development and application of air conditioning technologies in Shanghai, Carriers global Vice-President John Mandyck says he will introduce a variety of the company's products to China in February and March of this year.
*****
China's sixth largest commercial bank Everbright has opened an examination and approval center in Shanghai for granting credit to its branches in east China.
Covering the bank's five branches in Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo, the regional center should be the same size as the Head Office in Beijing.
The regional center is the first of its kind for a Chinese mainland bank. Sources with the state-run bank say the move will help the bank to carry out its favorable credit policy in the booming Yangtze Delta area.
1--Do you want black or white coffee?
2--White, please.
1--Look! There's a folk concert tomorrow evening.
Do you want to go?
2--I don't like folk music very much.
1--What kind of music do you like?
2--I like classical music. Do you?
1--Not very much. Classical music sends me to sleep.
2--I don't believe you.
1--It's true.
2--You are funny!
1--So are you! How about another coffee?
===================================
注解：
1）black or white coffee：加糖或加牛奶的称作white
coffee.什么也不加的称作black coffee.
2）folk concert：民间音乐会。folk作“民间的”、
“具有民族传说的”解。如folk dance，folk music,
folk songs, folk tale等。
3）classical：经典的。如classical music, classical
literature等。
4）How about...?（你以为）...怎么样？征询对方的意见时
常用的句型。如，征询关于时间安排的意见时，可以说How
about tomorrow？征询活动内容时可以说How about playing
tennis now?征询人选意见可以说How about Jane?等
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