VIRULENCE: The World Health Organization suggested that the rarely seen bacterium may have mutated if it was indeed responsible for the death toll in China, now up to 31
A mysterious pig-borne disease has spread to six more towns in southwest China and the number of people killed has risen to 31, the Chinese government said yesterday as it scrambled to reassure the public.

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By Shih Hsiu-chuan
Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said that there had been some progress on the issue of opening up Taiwan to Chinese tourists, while the Chinese government agreed to talk with a local agency commissioned by Taipei.

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The US House of Representatives narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement early yesterday, which allows President George W. Bush to put his signature to the nation's biggest reduction of trade barriers in more than 10 years.

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Taiwan announced measures yesterday to guard against the pig-borne disease that has killed 31 people in China from entering the country.

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CLEANER TECHNOLOGY: The US and Australia have joined major Asian powers in a new agreement that has attracted criticism from pro-environment groups
The world's top two air polluters -- the US and China -- joined Australia, India, Japan and South Korea yesterday to unveil a new Asia-Pacific partnership to develop cleaner energy technologies in the hope of curtailing climate-changing pollution.

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