to serve China's poor majority.Beijing is rapidly expanding China's 56,000-mile rail
network, which is overloaded with passengers and cargo. But it has scaled
back plans amid concern about whether the railway ministry can repay its
mounting debts.On Friday, the current railways minister, Sheng Guangzu, announced railway construction
spending next year will be cut to about $65 billion, down from
this year's projected $75 billion.A failure to expand rail capacity could choke
economic growth because exporters away from China's coast rely on rail to
get goods to ports.The rail ministry's reported debt is $300 billion. Analysts
say its revenues are insufficient to repay that. That has prompted concern
the ministry might need to be bailed out by Chinese taxpayers.
re courts.Rights groups have said some officers have explained the tests as
a way to clear their names of possible charges of abuse by
the protesters. Women protesters said they were threatened with prostitution charges before
they were subjected to the tests.Hossam Bahgat, a human rights activist who
was involved in the case, said the court ruling restores some justice
to the abused women and is a first step toward holding military
officials accountable."It is also very symbolically important because it is a crack
in the wall of impunity the (military rulers) have built around their
personnel and their conduct" against protesters and women in particular, he said.He
said the lawyers will try to upgrade the charges against the army
doctor to sexual assault instead of the current indecent act.Ibrahim, who covers
her hair in the style of conservative Muslims, told a private TV
station Monday that she filed the suits because she wanted to spare
others what she wen
aused by disclosure of the settlement. The judge noted that the Prince
family had not registered an objection to releasing the details.Edward Ryan, lawyer
for the town, did not immediately return an after-hours call Tuesday seeking
comment.Ryan had argued in court that the settlement was not a public
document and that all parties involved had agreed to keep it confidential.
TEHRAN, Iran Iran's navy chief warned Wednesday that his country can
easily close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the
Persian Gulf, the passageway through which a sixth of the world's oil
flows.It was the second such warning in two days. On Tuesday, Vice
President Mohamed Reza Rahimi threatened to close the strait, cutting off oil
exports, if the West imposes sanctions on Iran's oil shipments.With concern growing
over a possible drop-off in Iranian oil supplies, a senior Saudi oil
official said Gulf Arab nations are ready to offset any loss of
Iranian crude.That reassurance led to a drop in world oil prices. In
New York, benchmark crude fell 77 cents to $100.57 a barrel in
morning trading. Brent crude fell 82 cents to $108.45 a barrel in
London."Closing the Strait of Hormuz is very easy for Iranian naval forces,"
Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told state-run Press TV. "Iran has comprehensive control over
the strategic waterway," the navy chief said.Th
Friends of Alexis Marron, 18, have created a "Red in Remembrance" Facebook
page in his honor.Relatives and friends of a suburban Chicago teenager who
officials say was killed over the holiday weekend in Mexico held a
memorial in his honor on Tuesday.Prosecutors in Mexico's Michoacan state said Tuesday
that a burned car holding the remains of three young men was
found on a roadside on Christmas Eve. An employee of the prosecutors'
office who wasn't authorized to be quoted by name says one teen
has been identified as 18-year-old Alexis Marron.The 18-year-old's body was found in
the trunk of a burned out car in a small town about
80 miles southeast of Guadalajara on Christmas Eve. Mexican authorities said Marron
and two friends were burned alive in an area that's plagued by
a gang turf war."It was really sad. Everybody is depressed. We just
can't get over it -- a terrible, terrible death," said friend Juan
Mestizo.Marron had worked all summer to afford the trip t
APNovember 3, 2009: Sen. Ben. Nelson talks to reporters about health care
on Capitol Hill. WASHINGTON Democrats lamented U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson's decision
to retire rather than seek a third term in Nebraska, fearing the
move sets up Republicans for an easy and crucial victory in their
effort to reclaim control of the chamber next year.Nelson, the lone Democrat
in Nebraska's five-member congressional delegation, faced a tough re-election campaign against a
large group of Republican challengers who have spent the past several months
attacking his support for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and federal
stimulus legislation.Republicans must net four seats to take back the Senate in
2012, and Nebraska now looks to be an easy pickup. There are
no Democrats in line to take Nelson's place in the increasingly conservative
state. He joins several other Democrats to retire from the Senate, including
Virginia's Jim Webb and North Dakota's Kent Conrad.After mont
