Alex Je Bailey

GENEVA (AFP) –
The World Trade Organization decided on Friday to rule on China's complaint over the US handling of Chinese poultry exports, after Beijing accused Washington of "naked discriminative protectionism."The WTO's members automatically set up a panel to examine the complaint at a meeting of its Disputes Settlement Body here, a trade source said, 11 days after China first requested its global trade watchdog to intervene.

"The panel was established," the source said.

Beijing says Washington is breaching international trade rules through several measures including an appropriations bill which it says result in a complete ban on imports of Chinese poultry.

"These unilateral measures fundamentally violate relevant WTO rules, significantly impede the ordinary Sino-US trade in poultry products, and substantially impair the rights and benefits that Chinese enterprises deserve to enjoy," China said in a statement released by its mission to the WTO.

"These measures are naked discriminative protectionism measures, which are strongly opposed by the Chinese government and enterprises," it added.

China and the United States halted imports of each other's poultry in 2004 over fears about the spread of bird flu.

Imports of some US poultry products to China have since been resumed but Chinese officials have complained that the United States continues to hold up reciprocal imports of Chinese poultry.

The United States has rejected China's complaint, arguing that its position was based on "an objective, science-based consideration" of evidence permitted under WTO rules.

The decision by the WTO's member states came after both sides failed to resolve their dispute in talks.

A panel of experts is set up automatically on the plantiff's second request, in this instance after the United States vetoed China's first request for a WTO ruling on July 20.

BOSTON – A federal judge has ruled that a Boston University student violated copyright laws when he swapped music online, paving the way for a jury to begin considering damages Friday.
Joel Tenenbaum, 25, of Providence, R.I., admitted on the witness stand Thursday that he downloaded and shared hundreds of songs by Nirvana, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins and other artists.
"Tenenbaum's statement plainly admits liability on both downloading and distributing, does so in the very language of the statute ... and does so with respect to each and every sound recording at issue here," U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston wrote in her ruling late Thursday.
Gertner said the only issue for the jury now is whether his infringement was willful, and how much in damage to award four recording labels that sued him over the illegal file-sharing.
The recording industry focused on only 30 songs in the case, the nation's second music-downloading lawsuit against an individual to go to trial.
Under federal law, the recording companies are entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement but the law allows the jury to raise that to as much as $150,000 per track if it finds the infringements were willful. That means a maximum penalty of $4.5 million.
Last month, a federal jury in Minneapolis ruled a Minnesota woman must pay $1.92 million, or $80,000 on each of 24 songs, after concluding Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, willfully violated the copyrights on those tunes.
The music industry has typically offered to settle such cases for about $5,000, though it has said that it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead working with Internet service providers to fight the worst offenders. Cases already filed, however, are proceeding to trial.
If the jury awards the minimum of $750 per infringement, damages would come to $22,500, or more than four times the typical settlement.
Tenenbaum admitted on the witness stand Thursday that he had downloaded more than 800 songs from 1999 to 2007. He testified that he had lied in pretrial depositions when he said his two sisters, friends and others may have been responsible for downloading the songs to his computer.
Under questioning from his own lawyer, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, Tenenbaum said he now takes responsibility for the illegal swapping.
"I used the computer. I uploaded, I downloaded music ... I did it," Tenenbaum said.
His testimony contrasted with the tactic used by Thomas-Rasset. Even after the jury's verdict, she declared, "There's no way they're ever going to get that."
In opening arguments Tuesday, Nesson said Tenenbaum "was a kid who did what kids do" and should not be harshly penalized for technological advances that he said recording companies have been slow to embrace.
But Tim Reynolds, one of the lawyers representing the recording industry, said then that song-swappers like Tenenbaum take a significant toll on the recording industry's revenues and on backup singers, sound engineers and other people who make a living in music.
The four recording labels involved in the Tenenbaum case are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony Corp.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday "deplored" the alleged abuse of political prisoners in Iran following the election and urged their immediate release.

"We believe that it is imperative for (Iran) ... to release political prisoners and treat them appropriately and humanely," said Clinton, adding that the continued detention and alleged abuse of prisoners suggested the political situation inside of Iran had not been resolved.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Mealworms are typically used as a food source for reptile and avian pets. They are also provided to wild birds in bird feeders, particularly during the nesting season when birds are raising their young and appreciate a ready food supply. Mealworms are high in protein, which makes them especially useful as a food source. They are also commonly used for fishing bait.

Mealworm beetles (darkling beetles) are prolific breeders. Mating is a three step process: 1) The male gives chase until the female relents. 2) The male then mounts the female and curls his genitals (aedagus) underneath himself and inserts it into her genital tract. 3) The male then injects a packet of semen into the female. Dependent on incubation temperature, just days after mating the female will burrow into soft ground and lays about 500 eggs.

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