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News Research

Liu claimed the first indoor athletics gold medal for China

Newly-elected CPPCC member Liu Xiang is absent at the current annual session of the top political advisory body – but made his presence strongly felt.

Members hailed the victory of the ace hurdler at the 12^th World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, early yesterday Beijing time.

Liu claimed the first indoor athletics gold medal for China by winning the men's 60m hurdles, making a perfect start to his Olympic season.

It is the first indoor world championship for Liu, which makes him a new grand slam winner with the Olympic gold and the world championships, both outdoor and indoor.

Liu's performance also eliminated his strongest rival Dayron Robles from Cuba in the heats. While Liu made a perfect start in the heats with a reaction speed of 0.105 seconds, just 0.005 seconds within the permissible limit, Robles stayed in his blocks and stood up at the start as the gun went, expecting a false start to be called.

The Shanghai native emerged as a national hero after claiming the gold medal in the men's 110m hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and has not stopped enthralling the nation since then with his victories.

"It's only natural to think about defending my Olympic champion status for the Beijing Games," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "I'm fully confident."

International News

US President George W. Bush sang an early goodbye to Washington

Bush surprised cabinet secretaries, diplomatic officials and journalists at the annual Gridiron dinner by taking the stage and giving the first public singing performance of his eight-year presidency, which ends in January 2009.

To the tune of country song Green Grass of Home(Listen), Bush sang of longing for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and his dog Barney.

"And there to meet me is my mama and my papa, down the lane I look and here comes Barney, heart of gold and breath like honey;it's good to touch the brown grass of home."

.Bush, singing only slightly off key, then turned to some of the long-term members of his team including Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"For there's Condi and Dick, my old compadre, talking to me about some oil-rich Saudi, but soon I'll touch the brown grass of home."

Bush told the audience, which erupted in applause and gave him a standing ovation, that they had witnessed "the first and final performance of George Bush".

On the Republican side, with 38 percent of the precincts reporting, Romney won 53 percent of votes, followed by John McCain and Ron Paul, who tied in a second place with 13 percent of votes each.

The Gridiron Club holds an annual dinner at which journalists put on songs and skits lampooning Democrats and Republicans alike.

Industry News

Good times of Americans have really ended

If history is a reliable guide, the recession of 2008 is now unavoidable.

The dismal jobs report released Friday showed overall employment to be lower than it was three months ago. Every time such a slump has occurred since the early 1970s, a recession has followed — or already been under way.

And if the good times have really ended, they were never that good to begin with. Most American households are still not earning as much annually as they did in 1999, once inflation is taken into account. Since the Census Bureau began keeping records in the 1960s, a prolonged expansion has never ended without household income having set a new record.

For months, policy makers and Wall Street economists have been predicting, and hoping, that the aggressive series of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve would keep the economy growing, despite the housing bust. But the possibility seemed to diminish almost by the hour on Friday.

Shortly after 8 a.m., the Fed announced yet another measure meant to unlock the struggling credit markets. At 8:30, the Labor Department released the unexpectedly poor jobs report. Almost immediately, the economists at JPMorgan Chase — who only last week had told clients they thought the economy was still growing — reversed course and said a recession appeared to have started earlier this year.

Stocks fell when the markets opened at 9:30, recovered and then fell again, with the Standard & Poor 500-stock index closing down 0.8 percent. Traders became even more confident, based on the price of futures contracts, that the Fed would cut its benchmark interest rate three-quarters of a point, to 2.25 percent, when policy makers meet on March 18.

Even the one apparent piece of good news in the employment report was a mirage. The unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, from 4.9 percent in January, but only because more people stopped looking for work and thus were not counted as unemployed by the government.

I Over the last year, the number of officially unemployed has risen by 500,000, while the number of people outside the labor force — neither working nor looking for a job — has risen by 1.3 million.

The median household earned $48,201 in 2006, down from $49,244 in 1999, according to the Census Bureau. It now looks as if a full decade may pass before most Americans receive a raise.

Domestic News

China clinched the men's world team table tennis championship

Members of China's men's table tennis team (from L) Chen Qi, Ma Long, Wang Liqin, coach Liu Guoliang, Wang Hao and Ma Lin pose with their trophy on the podium after beating South Korea in the men's final of the World Team Table Tennis Championships in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou March 2, 2008.

China clinched the men's world team table tennis championship yesterday, proving too powerful for archrival South Korea and sending a strong signal ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

China steamrolled over South Korea, a repeat of the final at the last Worlds, winning 3-0 for their fourth straight team title.

The victory comes hot on the heels of success for China's equally formidable women, who lifted their team crown on Saturday after downing Singapore 3-1.

China, which was viewing these championships as the perfect warm-up for Beijing, looks set to dominate the tables at the Olympics on home turf.

China head coach Liu Guoliang said his charges were now on course for the Olympics but paid tribute to the South Koreans, saying they were also heading for a good showing in Beijing.

South Korea's Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min said he was disappointed with his performance after being attacked by nerves before the clash.

But its hopes were dashed when China's Ma Lin trampled over Ryu, who managed to take just one set off the world No 2 in the opening tie.

"I missed a few good shots but I felt confident of winning because the crowd was behind me," Ma said.

Undeterred, South Korea's Lee Jung Woo, ranked just 39 in the world, was determined to take down Wang Hao, and came close, winning the opening game before Wang steadied to take the next two.