www.thestar.com
America: It’s different now
今年感恩节美国难过

A sombre(阴沉的) America celebrates Thanksgiving (Nov. 22), older, sadder and changed in ways that only pain and grief can bring to a people.

It’s not just the National Guard troops patrolling Capitol Hill, or the sense of loneliness at a locked-down White House that has cancelled the holiday tours that always surged after the Thanksgiving Day parades and the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the south lawn.

This is a different country than the Rockwellian land moving briskly into another autumn season a lifetime ago, a little nervous about the economy and beset(困扰) by individual heartache, but essentially with that blithe assurance that this nation was untouched by the troubles of the rest of the world.

Even in the first hours–days perhaps–after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the crash of the fourth hijacked plane in a field in Pennsylvania, there was a feeling of disbelief. (Linda Diebel)

www.cnn.com
Taliban spokesman defiant
塔立班发言人目中无人

Northern Alliance officials tell CNN that there will be a meeting Wednesday between the two Taliban commanders in Konduz and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, one of the top Alliance commanders.
Meanwhile, the Taliban intend to fight on and will not concede the four or five provinces in Afghanistan they now control, senior Taliban spokesman Syed Tayyad Agha told a news conference on Wednesday.

Any report that they would surrender the stronghold of Kandahar was “just propaganda,” he said.

The meeting between commanders is expected to take place in Mazar-e Sharif, according to a source within the Northern Alliance. Dostum will try to persuade the Taliban leaders to surrender, possibly offering amnesty to them and the Afghan Taliban fighters.
The source says that there will be no negotiation or surrender deal for the foreign troops aligned with the Taliban — the Uzbeks, Chechens, Arabs and Pakistanis, believed to be the hard-core fighters still in Konduz.

english.peopledaily.com.cn
China to Buy More Euro
中国看好欧元

China has been snapping up euros to put in its foreign exchange reserves ahead of the single currency’s debut in January next year. Central bankers said the prospective strength of the euro made sizable reserves vital and China will increase its holdings next year.

China is not worried by fluctuations and slides in the currency’s value, Guo Shuqing, vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, since the exchange rate is “inherently stable”. He also believed that in the medium and long term, the euro, backed by the European Union’s (EU) economic strength, will be a fairly stable currency.

Stocks of the euro have been growing in China’s foreign reserves, Guo, also director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), told a luncheon sponsored by the EU Chamber of Commerce Tuesday.

Underpinning China’s support of the euro was the currency’s role in the international currency system, the width and depth of the European capital market and the inherent stability of the exchange rate of the single currency.

The latest report showed that China’s foreign reserves stood at 203 billion U.S. dollars at the end of October.

News Briefing
简讯

●ca.news.yahoo.com
加消费者物价上月涨1.9%
Canadian consumer prices rose just 1.9 percent on the year in October, down from 2.6 percent in September, a drop which left analysts convinced the central bank would have to cut interest rates again next week to try to stimulate demand.

●www.cnn.com
美国康州94岁老妇感染炭疽
A 94-year-old woman who lives alone in a small Connecticut town is in critical condition with inhalation anthrax, officials say. The woman had limited activity, didn’t travel much and had no apparent connection with U.S. Postal Service or government facilities, which are tied to most of the previous anthrax cases.

●www.cnn.com
打垮塔利班尚待时日
Gen. Tommy Franks – the commander of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan – said Wednesday he was not surprised by the speed of the Taliban’s collapse but added that there is still “a great deal of work ahead.”