RTHK ON INTERNET
Online News 2008-11-21
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1) Ships to be re-routed away from pirates (01:35) 
One of the world's biggestshipping lines, Denmark's A.P.Moeller-Maersk, has announcedit's re-routing some of itsfleet away from the Horn ofAfrica because of the growingthreat from piracy. Theannouncement comes after theseizure of a Saudi Arabiansupertanker by Somali pirateslast Saturday. Arab states inthe region have been holdingemergency talks in Cairo todiscuss the crisis. 

2) More care urged after breast blunder (00:49) 
An investigative panel lookinginto a medical blunder thatresulted in a healthy womanlosing her left breast, hascalled on public hospitals totighten their biopsyprocedures to prevent arecurrence. The probeconcluded that the victim'sbiopsy sample was 'mostprobably' contaminated withcancerous tissue from anotherpatient. 

3) Minimum wage law won't be derailed (00:48) 
The government says theintroduction of a minimum wagelaw will NOT be derailed bythe worsening economy. But theLabour Secretary MatthewCheung told legislators thewage level could be affectedby economic conditions. Hesaid the government wouldtable the minimum wage billbefore July next year, andhoped to set the minimum wagein the middle of 2010.

4) Oil prices drop below 50 dollars (00:48) 
The price of oil has plungedbelow 50 US dollars a barrel,as battered financial marketsreflected ever lowerconfidence in the worldeconomy and evidence mountedof falling fuel demand. UScrude fell $3.71, to $49.91 abarrel, the weakest levelsince January 2007. LondonBrent crude shed $3.10 to$48.62 a barrel. Oil has lostabout two-thirds of its valuesince July's record above$147, in part because a globalcredit crunch has madeinvestors pull their money outof riskier assets.

5) ICC urges Darfur rebels to surrender (00:48) 
The chief prosecutor of theInternational Criminal Court,Luis Moreno Ocampo, has askedjudges at the Hague to issuearrest warrants for a group ofrebel commanders in Darfur inconnection with allegedatrocities. Mr Moreno Ocamposays he can prove the rebelswere responsible for thekillings last year of 12African Union peacekeepers. Hesaid it was in the rebelcommanders' best interests tohand themselves in.

6) European opens online digital library (00:48) 
The European Union haslaunched a digital library,giving online access to twomillion items of Europeanculture. The new website,called Europeana, includespaintings, photos, films,books, maps and manuscriptsfrom a thousand museums,national libraries andarchives. 

7) Cricket: India beat England in Kanpur (00:48) 
Cricket: India have beatenEngland in the third one-dayinternational in Kanpur. Thehosts scored 198 for five in40 overs. England were earlierbowled out for 240. India wonon the Duckworth-Lewis method- after fading light forcedthe umpires to call off thematch. India lead theseven-game series three-nil.

8) China arrests 30 over riots in northwest (00:48) 
Mainland police have arrested30 people for involvment in atwo-day violent protest in thenorthwest that had to bebroken up with tear gas after74 people were injured. Ascalm returned to Longnan inGansu province, authoritiessaid they had questioned 110people over the riots duringwhich people threw stones,bricks and bottles to attackpolice. Protesters burned andsmashed local governmentbuildings and destroyedvehicles.

9) Effects of crisis now felt worldwide (00:48) 
The effects of the crisis arebeing felt right around theworld. The Russian primeminister, Vladimir Putin haspromised tax breaks to boostthe economy. Indonesia,South-East Asia's largesteconomy, has also been takingmeasures to protect itscurrency. On the industrialfront, Rolls Royce, and theFrench carmaker PSA PeugeotCitroen, are the latest majorfirms to announce thousands ofjob cuts.

10) End to Obscene Articles Tribunal urged (00:48) 
A number of legislators andnon-governmental organisationshave called for the ObsceneArticles Tribunal to bescrapped. They made their callat a Legco meeting to discussthe government consultation onthe Control of Obscene andIndecent Articles Ordinance.

11) China to take measures to curb unrest (00:48) 
As further evidence emerges ofthe toll the global economiccrisis is having on leadingeconomies, China says it'staking measures to curbgrowing unemployment and civilunrest. The social securityminister, Yin Weimin, said thesituation was critical, andthat street protests by thejobless were the ministry'smain concern. 

12) HK's Chiu ousted by David in squash (00:48) 
Hong Kong's lastrepresentative in the HongOpen Squash has fallen in thesecond round. The 13th-seedRebecca Chiu went down in foursets to the world number oneNicol David. The score 11-8,11-5, 8-11, 11-2. Top-seedDavid is on track for ahat-trick of titles in HongKong.

13) Liang Wenchong shares lead at HK Open (00:48) 
Golf: China's Liang Wenchongand South African RichardSterne hit six-under par 64sto upstage some of the greatsof European golf in the firstround of the UBS Hong KongOpen. Liang and Sterne shared15 birdies at the Fanlingcourse to lead the US$2.5million tournament by a shotfrom Frankie Minoza of thePhilippines and Taiwan's LinWen-tang. John Daly was thebest among six Major winnersin Hong Kong as he shook offserious injury and personalproblems for a two-under 68,level with eight-time Europeanmerit champion Colin Montgomerie.

14) Inflation drops further (00:48) 
Inflation dropped further in Hong Kong last month. The consumer price index rose 5.9% in October - down from 6.1% in September. The fall was due to easing food and energy prices. Headline inflation, however, was running at just 1.8% -which isdown significantly on thefigure of 3% forSeptember. The headline figurewas distorted by one-offgovernment relief measures,including the subsidy onelectricity charges, thegovernment rates concessionand a three-month waiver onpublic housing rents. Thegovernment said external inflationary pressure wasreceding following recentfalls in commodity prices andthe strengthening of the USdollar. It said inflationshould continue to ease.

15) Billups giving the Nuggets the edge (00:48) 
Basketball: Chauncey Billupsscored a game-high 22 pointsto lead the Denver Nuggets toa 91-81 win over the SanAntonio Spurs. The Nuggetshave won seven out of eightgames since acquiring Billupsin a trade with the DetroitPistons two weeks ago. Inother games, there were winsfor Atlanta, Detroit, Toronto,Dallas, Minnesota, Sacramentoand the LA Clippers.

16) Overhaul of China dairy industry (00:48) 
Beijing says the mainland'sdairy industry will beoverhauled to improve everystep from cow breeding to milksales. Xinhua news agency saysthe major shake-up will becarried out within a year. Itquotes a senior food safetyofficial as saying the crisisof dairy products tainted withmelamine had placed the dairyindustry in peril and exposedmajor problems of qualitycontrol and supervision.

17) China speeds up reform of fuel pricing (00:48) 
China's top economic planningagency says it's speeding upstudies to reform thecountry's fuel-pricing system.The National Development andReform Commission said theCentral Government had metwith officials from variousministries and provinces todiscuss the proposal. Fallinginternational crude priceshave sparked speculation thatthe government will cut fuelprices, which have been risingfor the past two years.Analysts say the average pumpprice on the mainland is 50percent higher than in the US.

18) China-Peru free trade agreements signed (00:48) 
President Hu Jintao, who's inPeru for the APEC summit, hassigned a number of free tradeagreements with the PeruvianPresident, Alan Garcia. Theycover trade, customs,quality-control and measuresto tackle poverty. An aviationdeal has also been signed,allowing Chinese airlines toestablish direct flights toPeru. President Hu saidBeijing was forming astrategic co-operativepartnership with Peru, whichis the second Latin Americancountry to sign such anagreement with Beijing. Chilealso has a free trade accord with China.

19) Govt urged to force screen doors on MTRC (00:48) 
The government has been urgedto amend the law requiring theMTRC to build platform screendoors at all of its stationsby 2012. Democratic Partylawmaker, Andrew Cheng, sayshe plans to put forwardlegislation to amend the MassTransit Railway Ordinance toforce the corporation to buildthe facilities. Mr Cheng saidthat in the past ten years, 45people had committed suicideby jumping off platforms. He said he was worried there could be many more such suicides because of thefinancial crisis.


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