My synthesis

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has underscored the importance of deepening reforms in the country’s medical system and social security network so as to improve the livelihood of the general public.
During a three-day inspection tour in eastern Shandong Province ending Friday, Wen visited county-level hospitals and vocational schools, chatting with local farmers and primary school students.
Reform in the medical system should be conducive to the fair and rational distribution of medical resources and efforts should be focused on rural areas and grassroots communities, Wen said.
He called for putting people first and building a harmonious relationship between medical staff and patients.
When visiting Zhu Wencai, a villager in Beigoutou Village of Linshu County, Wen inquired about the implementation of the new rural cooperative medical care system, a government initiative aiming to make health care more affordable for rural residents.
The Premier said more financial support would be given to the development of medical care, education and old-age insurance system in rural areas due to narrow the existing development gap between rural and urban areas.
In his tour to a local school, Wen said the development of vocational education, which will serve as an important means to tackle unemployment, would help boost domestic demand and offset the impact of the global economic downturn.
Wen also encouraged young people to contribute their intelligence and knowledge to the country’s modernization drive as China still boasts a huge population of poverty-stricken people.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said Friday in Beijing that members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) should better comprehend the Scientific Outlook on Development and use it to guide their work.
Xi, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, called for intensified efforts of CPC members to study the gist of the recently concluded Fourth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee and incorporate the requirements of Scientific Outlook on Development into daily work and life.
Xi made the remarks at a meeting on further studying and implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development.
The Scientific Outlook on Development stresses people-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, which concluded on Sept. 18, decided to expand democracy within the Party and further fight corruption.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez’s gamble to play an “80 percent” fit Fernando Torres paid off when the Spaniard got the first goal in a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the Premier League Monday.
Torres was still troubled by a groin injury that needed a pain-killing injection and Benitez, seeking to silence the home fans’ boos after four consecutive defeats in all competitions, only decided to risk him a few hours before kickoff.
It proved an inspired move as the Spain striker held off Rio Ferdinand to put Liverpool ahead in the 65th minute before David N’Gog added a second in stoppage time.
The deserved victory revived Liverpool’s hopes of a title challenge, taking them to fifth place on 18 points from 10 games, four behind United and six adrift of leaders Chelsea who went top Sunday with a 5-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers.
Arsenal edged above Tottenham Hotspur ahead of next week’s north London derby into third place on goal difference although their defensive fragility returned to haunt them as they let a two-goal lead slip at West Ham United to draw 2-2.
Robin van Persie and William Gallas had put the Gunners ahead by halftime, but West Ham replied through Carlton Cole and Alessandro Diamanti’s penalty.
Manchester City’s hopes of moving into the top four were frustrated when they also surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 home draw against Fulham.
Everton lost 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers, another source of pleasure for Liverpool’s supporters whose mood would have been further enhanced by United manager Alex Ferguson’s later admission that his side had been second best.
“It was a disappointing performance in the first half. We didn’t handle the atmosphere or the decision against us,” Ferguson told the press.

The New York Yankees advanced to their 40th World Series by rallying with a three runs in the fourth to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in game six of the AL championship series Monday.
The Yankees fell behind early but battled back in the fourth then tacked on two more runs in the eighth to win the series 4-2 and reach their first World Series since 2003.
Pitcher Andy Pettitte earned his 16th playoff win as the Yankees turned to closer Mariano Rivera for the final six outs and he delivered in front of a crowd of 50,171 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees will now try to win their 27th Major League Baseball title as they begin the World Series Thursday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The defending World Series-champion Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in the other semifinal.
“It is going to be a battle. It will be a fight just like ALCS,” said Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, who will start game one of the World Series.
Yankees starting pitcher Pettitte finished with six strikeouts and just one walk while his teammates chased Angel pitcher Joe Saunders from the game in the fourth.
Pettitte allowed just one run on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The veteran left-hander became the winningest pitcher in playoff history, earning his 16th win to break a tie with John Smoltz.
Rivera converted a six-out save to preserve the win, as the Yankees added on two runs in the eighth.
Johnny Damon had two hits, including a bases-loaded, two-run single in the fourth inning.
Alex Rodriguez also had two hits, but it was his bases-loaded walk in the fourth that provided the eventual game-winning run for New York.
Friday’s game will be a matchup between former Cleveland teammates as Cliff Lee, who won the 2008 Cy Young Award, gets the start for the Phillies, while another left-hander Sabathia pitches for the Yankees. Sabathia won the Cy Young in 2007.

A symposium aimed to promote cooperation in agriculture, fishery and water resources between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan was held here Sunday morning.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources Cooperation Symposium was attended by Jia Qinglin, member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau.
James Soong, chairman of the Taiwan-based People First Party, addresses the Symposium of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources Cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on Nov. 8, 2009. (Xinhua/Wang Dingchang)
James Soong, chairman of the Taiwan-based People First Party and Yok Mu-ming, chairman of the Taiwan-based New Party, were also present at the meeting.
Jia, also chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, addressed the meeting, saying the symposium was “a very meaningful exchange activity for the two sides.”
He said the cooperation in agriculture and fishery fields play an important role for the promotion of the two sides’ economic relation development.
In the past 20 years, mainland-Taiwan coordination in these two fields had been greatly enhanced by the joint efforts of compatriots from both sides, Jia said.
The two sides also saw a broad prospect for cooperation in flood prevention and control, water resources management, water and soil conservation and environmental protection issues, he said.
As global climate change was intensified and major disasters happened frequently in recent years, it was a common issue for both sides to prevent natural disasters and achieve sustainable development, Jia said.
When disasters came, people on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits cared for and supported each other, showing a great feeling of kinship in sharing weal and woe, Jia said, referring to the earthquake that hit Sichuan Province in May last year and the typhoon-caused floods in Taiwan this summer.
“The mainland has paid great attention to the island’s reconstruction work, and is willing to continue providing any assistance,” Jia said.
He also said the cross-Straits relation had witnessed a historic turning point in May last year and entered a peaceful development track as a result of concerted efforts of compatriots on both sides.
An improved mainland-Taiwan relation was in line with the common aspiration of compatriots on both sides and accorded with the basic interest of the whole Chinese nation.
“The two sides should cherish the good momentum, continue to promote mutual development and strive for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Jia said.
James Soong said the adherence to “One China” was the precondition to set up a peaceful framework for the two sides.
“‘Taiwan independence’ will seriously jeopardize the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and Asia-Pacific region,” Soong said.
He called for the two sides to build a cooperative mechanism, in which they would not only shoulder hardships together but also share prosperity, to make a real “community”.
The symposium was co-sponsored by 10 NGOs from both the mainland and Taiwan. More than 220 officials, experts and representatives from agriculture and fishery circles joined the meeting.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday made a rare visit to Congress and met with House Democratic leaders, as his last-minute push for a health care reform that was expected to be passed later the day.

The president arrived at the Capitol Hill in late morning and held a close-door meeting with Democratic leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority leader Steny Hoyer.

He was scheduled to deliver a speech in Rose Garden at the White House in the afternoon, hours before the House of Representatives votes on the bill.

“He came here to say, ‘This is what we said we would do in the campaign. Let’s do it,’” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told a press conference after the meeting with the president.

Pelosi also expressed her confidence to reporters that the bill will be passed with a majority support by congressional Democrats.

The House’s unified version of health care reform bill, titled Affordable Health Care for America Act, is estimated to cost 894 billion U.S. dollars over next 10 years and would provide health coverage to 96 percent of Americans

As a flagship policy of the Obama administration, the passage of the health care reform bill will greatly boost his government and the Democratic Party as they are blamed for slow economic recovery and rising unemployment rate.

However, the legislation still faces hurdles in the Senate and has been delayed for several times.

Currently, Democrats hold 258 seats in the House and only need 218 votes to have the bill passed. It is still uncertain if any Republican congressman will join Democrats’ camp in supporting the bill.

“The American people need to understand this is about a government takeover of the whole health care system,” Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican, warned earlier the day.

4.
G20 agrees to maintain support for global recovery

St ANDREWS, UK, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — G20 policymakers agreed to maintain support for the recovery until it is assured in order to restore the global economy and financial system to health, according to the communique released after the two-day G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor Meeting ended here on Saturday afternoon.
Though a series of positive signs have shown that global economy is in the recovery process, the G20 policymakers said “while we will continue to provide support for the economy until the recovery is secured, we also commit to develop further our strategies for managing the withdrawal from our extraordinary macroeconomic and financial support measures” in the communique.

The G20 hoped the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop principles for exit. “The IMF and FSB will continue to assist us in reviewing strategies and implementation, identifying areas where coordination is particularly important and providing assessments of their collective impact on the global economy and the financial system”, said the communique
They emphasized the importance of putting more flesh into the Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth (the Framework), which was signed at the Pittsburg Summit held in September, and adopting a detailed timetable and initiating a new consultative mutual assessment process to evaluate whether policies would collectively deliver the agreed objectives.

TEMPLE, Texas, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — Death toll of the shooting spree at the U.S. Army base at Fort Hood may rise from the current 13 as some of the hospitalized victims have “extremely serious injuries” and several of them are still at “significant risk” of losing their lives,” a doctor said here Saturday.
W. Roy Smythe, chief of surgery for Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, a city near Fort Hood, told a news conference Saturday outside the hospital that of the 10 patients who were originally admitted into the hospital, four have gone home, one may go home Saturday.

Of the six who were in the ICU on Thursday when the shooting spree occurred, only two are left.

“The two patients who remain in the ICU are no longer on ventilators and have been quite stable,” he said. “So a lot of progress has been made.”

But Smythe admitted that some of the patients may be physically impaired for the rest of their lives, and that “there is certainly no doubt that many of them will be psychologically impaired for the rest of their lives.”

Thirty nine-year-old Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan was accused of opening fire at Fort Hood Thursday in an attack that left 13 dead and 30 others wounded. Hasan, who was shot multiple times, was in stable condition and taken into custody.

Media reports said Hasan, a U.S. citizen of Jordanian descent, was going to be dispatched to Iraq or Afghanistan and he “was disturbed” about his overseas deployment.

A British soldier killed in a blast in Afghanistan’s Helmand province has been named as Corporal James Oakland, 26, of the Royal Military Police.
The Ministry of Defence said Cpl Oakland, from New Moston, Manchester, was on foot patrol near Gereshk when an improvised explosive device detonated.
His commanding officer described him as “an inspiring character”.
Cpl Oakland’s death on Thursday takes the number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 222.
The MoD said Cpl Oakland joined the Army in 2002 and deployed to Afghanistan two months early to replace another British military casualty.
He was conducting a search for IEDs to try to clear a route for colleagues when he was fatally wounded.

The head of one of Britain’s biggest internet providers has criticised the music industry for demanding that he act against pirates.
The trade body for UK music, the BPI, asked internet service providers to disconnect people who ignore requests to stop sharing music.
But Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse, which runs the TalkTalk broadband service, is refusing.
He said it is not his job to be an internet policeman.
BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said that the music industry has been fighting a losing battle to prevent people from swapping songs for nothing on the internet.
Mr Dunstone, whose TalkTalk broadband is Britain’s third biggest internet provider, said the demands are unreasonable and unworkable.
The BPI denied it is asking ISPs to become internet police, saying the firms need to educate their customers not to steal music.
It also says that if they do not help with the fight against music piracy, then the government will bring in legislation to make them cooperate.
BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: “At the heart of this issue is ensuring that creators are fairly rewarded in the digital age, and we passionately believe that working in partnership with ISPs to develop first-class, safe, legal, digital music services is the way forward.
“But such a partnership can’t succeed if an ISP refuses to do anything to address the problem of illegal downloading on its network.”
He added: “We believe that any socially responsible ISP should, as a core part of its business, put in place steps to help their customers avoid engaging in illegal activity, and deter those who knowingly break the law.”

decision by the States of Jersey to debate the issue of civil partnerships has been welcomed by campaigners for equal rights for same-sex couples.
The Council of Ministers has agreed to take the matter to the House later this year, after three years of campaigning by the group Progress Jersey.
If approved, it would give gay couples in Jersey the same rights as conventional married couples.
The Civil Partnerships Act was passed in England and Wales four years ago.
Darren O’Toole, Chairman of Progress Jersey, said: “The hardest thing is to get it in front of the States and get them to debate about it.
“It’s small steps, and the Council of Ministers making this decision was a huge step forward.”
Mr O’Toole also said he knew of couples who had lost their legal rights and, as a result, the States could face a legal challenge.
“It is a contravention of Human Rights law, which says two persons have the rights to marry and form a family.
“The important words here are person, rather than man and woman,” he said.
No date has been given for the debate.