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G-22 meet for common strategy against farm subsidies
The Group of 22 (G-22) began a meeting
in Buenas Aires, Brazil, on Friday to come up with a common strategy against agricultural subsidies in rich nations for the negotiations of theWorld Trade Organization (WTO).
The G-22, an economic bloc formed by developing countries during the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, aims to press for an end to agricultural subsidies in rich countries.
It is the group's first meeting after the failure at the meeting in Cancun.
Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa said the meeting was important for pooling different ideas.
Participants will evaluate the outcome of the Cancun meeting and examine the perspectives of agricultural business before the WTO meeting in December in Geneva.
The G-22 believes that the subsidies to producers in rich nations will erode the competitiveness of agricultural products from developing nations.
The G-22 is made up of 20-odd developing countries including Argentina, Brazil, China, India and Mexico. On Thursday, Costa Rica, reportedly under pressure from the United States, joined Colombia, Peru and El Salvador in announcing they withdrawal from the group.
Pacific Rim Exposition in Peru attracts 300
At least 300 participants from 14 countries signed up to participate in the 25th International Pacific Rim Exposition which will be held on Nov. 17-22 in Lima, Peru, executives of the exposition center announced on Friday.
China will send a delegation of 90 members and Russia 50 members to the exposition.
The participants will also include companies from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, South Korea and the United States, with their respective industrial and technological offerings.
US to tighten travel restrictions to Cuba: Bush
US President George W. Bush announced Friday that the United States will tighten its travel restrictions on US citizens' travel to Cuba.
"Clearly, the Castro regime will not change by its own choice, but Cuba must change," Bush said at a White House Rose Garden gathering.
US cable network to shoot movie on Schwarzenegger's campaign for governor
A US TV network has decided to shoot a two-hour biographic movie based on the successful campaign by Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the just-concluded California gubernatorial race, the Hollywood Repoter reported Friday.
The A&E Network said the movie, entitled "See Arnold Run," should be ready in late summer 2004.
To be produced by Cypress Point Prods, the move will blend drama and humor to trace Schwarzenegger's life from his early days as a bodybuilder to his recent political triumph being elected governor of California.
"He is the personification of the American dream," said Abbe Raven, executive vice president and general manager of A&E. "This is one of those stranger-than-fiction stories that you just couldn't make up."
The Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, who rose to fame as a bodybuilder and star of "Conan the Barbarian" and the "Terminator" movies, was elected Governor of California Tuesday after voters recalled the unpopular Democrat governor Gray Davis.
The movie's casting decisions by A&E would not be made until a script is completed, but it has a wish list of actors, including Dennis Quaid, Viggo Mortensen, Willem Dafoe and Billy Campbell. Courteney Cox tops a similar list of actresses who could play Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria
Shriver.
On the print front, Simon & Schuster said it will publish a book by humorist Andy Borowitz entitled "Governor Arnold: A Photodiary of Schwarzenegger's First 100 Days in Office."
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