(BEIJING) —Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Chinese have been told to line up, use proper English and stop spitting. Now police are being told that slack behavīor such as shooting the breeze or smoking could get them in trouble.

"We will spare no effort to do a great job for the Games and beyond," Beijing traffic officer Zeng Qinghui was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper.

Members of the public are being encouraged to report officers they see smoking, eating, or chatting on duty — all of which are regarded as "harmful to the image of the police," the newspaper said.

Patrolmen will also be monitored on how they respond to requests for help from the public, along with the proper wearing of uniforms and badges, it said. The campaign will be focussed on patrolmen in the six cities, including Beijing, that will host Olympic events.

Authorities have targeted a wide range of perceived unflattering behavīor ahead of the Games, including obscene chants by sports fans, jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving.

Beijing is adding thousands of surveillance cameras in and around Games venues, and city cab drivers are under pressure to learn some English, stop sleeping in their taxis and brush away the garlic — a key ingredient in Chinese cooking. English signs on billboards, menus and storefronts are also being revised to eliminate nonstandard language.

Even with the cleanup, the Games are an enormous challenge to Beijing, which struggles daily with choking pollution and snarled traffic.

The city will ban at least one-third of its 3.3 million vehicles during the 17-day Olympics and close dust-spewing building sites and sooty factories. Billions of dollars have already been spent moving heavily polluting industries out of town.

(AP / Geneva) — North Korea has agreed to declare and disable all its nuclear facilities by the end of the year, the chief U.S. negotiator said Sunday.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill two days of talks between the United States and North Korea in Geneva had been "very good and very substantive" and would help improve chances of a successful meeting later this month when both sides meet with Japan, Russia, South Korea and China in six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program and improving relations between North Korea and other countries.

"One thing that we agreed on is that the DPRK will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007," Hill told reporters, using the initials for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

(WASHINGTON) — The economy grew at its strongest pace in more than a year during the spring as solid improvements in international trade and business investment helped offset weakness in housing.

But the growth spurt could be short-lived. There are concerns that the recent turmoil in financial markets, a result of a spreading credit crisis, could seriously dampen economic activity in the second half of this year.

GDP growth may have slowed to just above 2 percent in the current quarter and many analysts believe growth will slow even further in the final three months of this year as the full impact of the recent market turmoil is felt.

The worry is that the roller coaster ride in stocks and spreading credit problems will shake consumer and business confidence and cause cutbacks in spending and hiring plans.

However, analysts believe the Federal Reserve will act to avert a full-blown recession. If financial turmoil persists, they think the Fed will wield its major policy tool, cutting its target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other. That rate has been at 5.25 percent for more than a year, but investors are starting to hope that the Fed will begin reducing it in quarter-point moves starting at their next meeting on Sept. 18.

The Fed on Aug. 17 cut a less economically significant rate, its discount rate, and has injected billions of dollars into the banking system in an effort to keep credit markets operating in the face of the turmoil. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may offer hints about the Fed"s next policy moves when he delivers remarks at a Fed conference on Friday.

In other economic news, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits rose to 334,000 last week, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week. That gain caught analysts by surprise. They had been expecting a decline of around 2,000.

The Fed is seen as having the leeway to cut interest rates because inflation is easing. A key GDP inflation gauge that excludes food and energy rose by just 2 percent in the second quarter, compared to a year ago. That was better than a year-over-year gain of 2.4 percent in the first quarter.

The 4 percent GDP growth rate for the second quarter marked a sharp jump from the anemic 0.6 percent pace turned in during the first three months of the year. It was the fastest GDP increase since a 4.8 percent growth rate in the first three months of 2006.

Since that time, the economy had slowed sharply, reflecting a major drag from housing, which is in its worst slump in 16 years.

The revision from the initial estimate of 3.4 percent second quarter growth reflected an improving trade deficit, with stronger export sales and fewer imports.

Business investment, in the form of rebuilding of inventories, and construction of shopping centers, office buildings and other non-residential projects was also stronger than previously believed.

Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of total economic activity, did show a marked slowdown in the second quarter, growing at an annual rate of 1.4 percent, less than half the first quarter increase.

Housing construction, which had been a standout performer during five boom years, suffered another drop, falling at an annual rate of 11.6 percent, the sixth straight decline in this industry.

The 4 percent GDP revision was slightly below economists" expectations for a 4.1 percent GDP gain in the second quarter.

All of the changes left GDP, after adjusting for inflation, growing at an annual rate of $11.5 trillion in the second quarter.

Last Friday, the lights went out in Gaza because the electric bill wasn't being paid. The European Union which, for humanitarian reasons, is financing the Palestinian enclave's power supply, suddenly refused to continue the subsidy because of allegations that Gaza's government — run by the Islamist party Hamas — was about to tax electricity to bolster its armed militants. Ever since those same militants ousted the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last June — thereby creating two Palestinian territories, in Gaza and in the West Bank — Western governments have refused to send aid that would in any way assist Hamas's armed ambitions. And with the electricity thus tainted, the E.U. cut off payments. The Israeli power company supplying half of Gaza's fuel just as promptly shut off supplies.

Sources in Ramallah, one close to the Palestinian President and another from within the Fatah movement's ruling council, have told TIME that Abbas's advisers provoked the power cut by falsely warning the Europeans that Hamas was pocketing the electricity bill payments. Abbas's office has publicly denied trying to influence the Europeans; and the E.U. has declined to reveal the source of its initial allegation that Hamas was pocketing the electricity bill payments.

If the charge is true, it would not be the first attempt by Abbas to use collective punishment as a means of turning Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians against Hamas. Abbas has revoked all passports issued in Gaza, effectively stripping Gazans of any chance to travel abroad for studies, business or medical care. He told Gaza cops that he would keep them on the payroll, but only if they didn't show up for work. And, he is using the same tactic with Gaza's garbage collectors; the city stinks with piles of trash rotting in the Mediterranean sun. So far, Abbas has failed to ask Cairo to open the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border with Gaza, stranding thousands of Palestinians trying to enter or leave the coastal strip.

Although Abbas's tough tactics with Hamas have the backing of the Israelis and the Bush Administration, who see him as a moderate alternative to Hamas, his crackdown on Gaza is unpopular within Abbas's own Fatah movement. A powerful faction within Fatah is urging Abbas to patch up with Hamas, which was freely elected as the Palestinian government in January 2006. "He is becoming deaf and blind," says one senior Fatah official. "He's cutting himself off from the Palestinians to get closer to the Israelis and the Americans."

Meanwhile, many Gazans swelter in the dark, fuming with anger at Abbas. Whatever the theory behind the siege of Gaza, so far it has only gained Abbas more enemies — and strengthened support for Hamas.

"We've already made exchanges with the United States, demanded an investigation into the cause, and asked that effective measures be taken to improve the situation to avoid similar incidents from happening again," the Chinese watchdog agency said. One batch of beans in February was found to contain red beans and pesticides that constituted a "great potential hazard to the food safety of Chinese consumers," it said.

Soybeans, which are mainly crushed for oil and used as animal feed, are the biggest single U.S. farm export to China, according to the American Soybean Association. China has bought billions of dollars worth since the current market year began in September. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The accusations against the U.S. come as a growing number of countries are rejecting or recalling Chinese exports. In the latest development, a distributor announced a recall in Australia and New Zealand of Chinese-made blankets found to contain high levels of formaldehyde, a potentially cancer-causing chemical preservative that gives a permanent press effect to clothes.

Earlier this month, El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel recalled 19 million Chinese-made items including dolls, cars and action figures. Some were contaminated with lead paint. Others had small magnets that children might swallow. Two weeks before that announcement, 967,000 Chinese-made plastic preschool toys from Mattel's Fisher-Price unit were recalled because of possible lead-paint hazards.

In an interview published Wednesday, Li Zhuoming, executive vice chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Toy Industry Association, said both Chinese manufacturers and American toy giant Mattel are both responsible for the recalls. Blame "cannot be pushed to either side," said Li, whose government-backed association is in the southern province of Guangdong, the center of China's vast toy export manufacturing industry.

The region's exporters stand to lose billions of dollars from canceled orders if consumer confidence continues to decline. Sesame Street, Barbie and Polly Pocket products made in the province were among those recalled. "The producers are responsible because they do not have tight controls over purchasing and production," Li was quoted as saying in the state-run Guangzhou Daily newspaper. "But the buyer Mattel cannot evade responsibility."

Mattel said Wednesday it was trying to improve its product safeguards. "Safety of children is of the utmost importance to Mattel. We have been working around the clock to improve our system and have already instituted changes in our required procedures," the company said in a statement. "This includes the launch of an improved three point check system, part of which is testing of every production run of finished toys to ensure compliance."

But Li said Mattel neglected to "do its job well in quality inspections." He did not give any details or say how the producers did not follow standards.

Li said profit margins in China's toy industry are low and "it's hard to make money" because of the cost of labor and materials. He warned foreign companies run the risk of getting shoddy products if they demand too low a price from Chinese manufacturers. "If you give a high price for purchasing, the factories will use high quality raw materials to produce. But if the price is low, they can only use inferior raw materials," said Li.

U.S. safety officials have said no injuries had been reported from any of the products and the broad scope of the recalls was intended to prevent potential problems.

 

Roy McMahon / Corbis

Midas might have been an unhappy guy, but that's probably because he didn't know any other kings who could also turn things into gold. Money as an absolute may not make you a happier person but making more money than others in your age group does, according to a sociological study done in 2005 by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. But keeping up with the Joneses isn't the only way that money brings happiness. Saving it for retirement or a rainy day brings together a variety of positive emotions that can lead to happiness, such as anticipation and expectation, a sense of delayed gratification and reward.

 

Image Source / Corbis

Hold a door open for someone at the bank, give someone directions if they look lost or make a point to compliment three people on your way to work. Small or big, directed at friends or strangers, random acts of kindness make the person performing the kind act happier when they're grouped together, according to Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist at UC Riverside. Doing a considerate thing for another person five times in one day made the doer happier than if they had spread out those five acts over one week. Lyubomirsky explains that because we all perform acts of kindness naturally, it seems to please us more when we're more conscious of it. There are social rewards, too, when people respond positively.