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China Hits Back at US Duties, Says It's Been Made A Scapegoat Published: Thursday, 31 Dec 2009 | 1:06 AM ET Text Size By: Reuters China on Thursday decried a U.S. decision to impose duties of 10 to 16 percent on Chinese-made steel pipe, the biggest U.S. trade case to date against China, and said it had been made a scapegoat of protectionist interests. The Ministry of Commerce said it was "strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposed" to the vote of the U.S. International Trade Commission for countervailing duties, which Washington said were needed to balance out unfair state subsidies...

The State Department in 2009 sought the Chinese government's help in blocking a sale to Iran of 25 tons of specialty steel for Tehran's defense industry to be used in building nuclear-related centrifuges, according to a classified department cable. "Post is instructed to inform appropriate-level Chinese officials of this transaction, and request that they investigate the entity and individuals involved," according to the cable, which is labeled "secret." It noted that the Chinese were to be told that the company faces sanctions for the proposed sale under U.S. law. (Snip) An earlier State Department cable revealed that China helped North

Coalition forces in Afghanistan say around 60 Taliban militiamen drowned while attempting to cross the Helmand river, one of the country's biggest. They were fleeing military forces in the Kajaki district and had constructed a makeshift raft of tyre tubes and wooden planks.

VAIL, Colo., March 10, 2007 – After two days of skiing and snowboarding, last night was all about fun for the 25 injured veterans participating in the Vail Veterans Program here and their guests. Army Sgt. J.R. Salzman (from left), adaptive snowboard instructor Eric Norton, Wendy Owen, and Josie Salzman, fly down a tubing trail at Vail Mountain’s Adventure Ridge on March 9 in Vail, Colo. The outing, which included ski biking and dinner, was a time for the 25 injured veterans and their guests to come together as a group after two days of private and group lessons....

DULUTH, MN (AP) -- It's been a month since Travis Kladivo last rode a kite tube. And doctors say the 20-year-old's body has almost healed. On June 25, Kladivo, whose family owns a resort on Lake Vermilion, joined a growing number of thrill-seekers seriously injured while riding a kite tube, a huge, inflatable toy designed to float in the air with a rider aboard. The day after Kladivo's accident, a 42-year-old man was killed in a kite tube accident on Little St. Germain Lake in Wisconsin. Since then, the bestselling version of the device, the Sportsstuff Inc.-brand Wego kite tube,...

TULSA, Okla. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Tulsa today announced a restriction on kite tubing on all Corps lakes in the Tulsa District. Col. Miroslav Kurka, commander of the Tulsa District, imposed the ban because of the potential for serious injuries caused by uncontrolled flight of these devices. Kite tubes are a relatively new derivative of large inner tubes towed behind speedboats that become airborne. One person died as the result of a kite tube accident this past week in Texas. Many kite tubing injuries are the direct result of the tubes reaching heights of 20...

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HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - A former North Korean diplomat is accused of ordering material from a German firm that could be used in the production of nuclear weapons, Germany's Der Spiegel reported in its Monday edition. The news magazine said a German businessman would go on trial in Stuttgart, southwest Germany, next month in connection with the case. The diplomat was named by Spiegel as Yun Ho Jin. It said he used to work as a Pyongyang representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. According to Der Spiegel, Yun Ho Jin ordered special aluminium tubes from...