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.
Minister of the State Development Planning Commission, Zeng Peiyan, says the Chinese government is to grant more preferential policies and provide more loans to the rejuvenation of old industrial bases in northeast China.
He said this while visiting Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, three former industrial powerhouses. He hailed the great contributions the three provinces made in the past.
The minister noted the renovation of these old industrial bases is a comprehensive and systematic project, requiring innovative ideas and measures. There are problems to conquer like a high unemployment rate and insufficient social insurance.
Zeng Peiyan urged the promotion of the market in resource distribution, and to bring into full play the vitality of private and non-state sectors as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in economic development.
***
Minister of the Information Industry, Wu Jichuan, says sales of electronic information products hit a total volume of 140 billion yuan or 17 billion US dollars in 2002, a substantial increase over the previous year.
The industry has become one of the driving forces of China's national economy, and its scale ranks third in the world.
The minister notes China's program-controlled switchboard and colored television output both rank first in the world. Over the past five years, the electronic and information product industry has created more than 300,000 new jobs. The industry also benefits most from foreign investment and has the highest volume of foreign trade exports.
***
Former board chairman and general manager of Yantai-based Dongfang Electronics, Sui Yuanbai, has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in issuing fraudulent reports on the company's financial situation.
Secretary of the board, Gao Feng, and director of the company's financial sector, Fang Yue, are also facing jail terms.
An investigation by the Yantai intermediate court shows that Sui Yuanbai has conspired with Gao Feng and Fang Yue to deceive the public and shareholders with forged reports of the company's profits.
The three men also conducted illicit stock deals and deceived state audit offices with fabricated business contracts and invoices.
***
China’s Beijing Shougang Group has started to relocate a significant portion of its steel-producing capacity from the capital to the neighboring Hebei province.
The People's Daily reports that the 2.8 billion yuan or 340 million US dollar relocation project will move 75 percent of its steel factory to a rural part of Qian’an city in Hebei province.
The move is one of a series of measures taken by Beijing municipality to reduce the level of industrial pollution during the period leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games.
Qian’an city is one of the country’s four largest mineral resource centers in China.
***
China's auto industry is expected to continue its rapid growth in 2003, producing more than three and a half million vehicles including over one million cars.
Officials say mergers and regrouping of major Chinese auto corporations in 2002 will substantially increase the industry's capacity.
The growth of the auto industry is likely to prompt a rise in public consumption, with more and more people tending to own cars. Private sales will account for approximately 60 percent of car sales.
But officials also urge caution over blind expansion of the industry, saying relevant laws and regulations will soon be issued to direct investment, consumption, loan management and other aspects of the industry.
***
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China or ICBC announces in 2002 its foreign exchange businesses made significant progress, posting a gross profit of nearly 650 million US dollars, and a net profit of over 420 million dollars.
A spokesman for the bank says last year the bank focused on business innovation and quality service in its forex business. The volume of its international clearing reached above 92 billion dollars, up 19 percent on the previous year.
The spokesman attributes the bank's increase in forex business to China's strong economic growth, rapidly growing foreign trade and a sharp increase in foreign direct investment.
He says so far the bank has set up 37 branches in the world's major financial centers. Its total overseas assets come to nearly 16 billion dollars.
***
The China Construction Bank says its net income from intermediate businesses in 2002 reached more than four billion yuan, or over 500 million US dollars.
Bank officials say according to international accounting standards, the bank's non-interest income accounts for 12 percent of its total income, showing the bank's income structure is gradually shifting away from heavy dependence on interest profits.
The bank's intermediate businesses include its insurance agent business, loans on commission, advisory services, banking cards, fund trusts and clearing.
***
US stock markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and will reopen Tuesday.
European stocks finished lower as the absence of any lead from Wall Street left investors worrying about the weakness in the global economy and the chances of war in Iraq.
London's FTSE-100 index shed over one percent to end at 3,778. Paris's CAC 40 index fell over one percent to settle at 3,020 while Frankfurt's DAX ended down less than one percent at 2,893.
Private doctors who become general health consultants for their patients, are beginning to appear in Shanghai.
The employment section in a Shanghai newspaper said that full-time private doctors are now required in the city. Applicants must be former GPs or physicians aged between 35 and 65.
These doctors treat mainly healthy people, and must build up a comprehensive knowledge base of their patients’ medical history. They actually become their clients’ health manager. Each private doctor can usually have between 50 and 100 patients.
*****
An official with China's Ministry of Communication says that the number of long-distance bus users for the Spring Festival is slightly increasing compared with the same period of the previous year.
The official said that in spite of a huge fog in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, delays have been minimized by emergency plans prepared by local traffic departments.
Administrative departments at all levels have earmarked highway communication for improvement this year.
*****
The Minister of the Information Industry says sales of electronic information products hit a total volume of 140 billion yuan in 2002, a substantial increase over the previous year.
The industry has become one of the driving forces of China's national economy, and its scale ranks third in the world.
*****
Beijing Municipal Planning Committee, or BMPC, says a new tram line is to be opened in the city, and will run for 3 km tram line.
Experts say advanced technology will be applied to the line, allowing road vehicles to pass as well as minimizing the noise of the tram.
Trams were a popular means of public transport in the 19th century.
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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