浙江中西医能治好白癜风吗广东在哪里可以看好白癜风,北京白癜风十佳医院有哪些,广东白癜风医院能治好吗,河北白癜风免费检查,内蒙古白癜风专科医院咨询,河北治白癜风最好的医生,广东白癜风哪种治疗方法好

WASHINGTON: A team of researchers found there is not much difference between the sexes when it comes to talking, when you actually count the words. The researchers placed microphones on 396 college students in the United States and Mexico for periods ranging from two to 10 days, sampled their conversations and calculated how many words they used in the course of a day. The score: Women, 16,215; Men, 15,669. The difference: 546 words: "Not statistically significant," say the researchers in Friday's edition of the journal Science. "What's a 500-word difference, compared with the 45,000-word difference between the most and the least talkative persons" in the study, Matthias R. Mehl, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Arizona, who led the research, said. He said the least talkative person in the study - a male - used just over 500 words a day, while another male topped that by more than 45,000. Co-author James W. Pennebaker, chairman of the psychology department at the University of Texas, said the researchers collected the recordings as part of a larger project to understand how people are affected when they talk about emotional experiences. They were surprised when a magazine article asserted that women use an average of 20,000 words per day compared with 7,000 for men. If there had been that big a difference, he thought, they should have noticed it. "Although many people believe the stereotypes of females as talkative and males as reticent, there is no large-scale study that systematically has recorded the natural conversations of large groups of people for extended periods of time," Pennebaker said. Indeed, Mehl said, one study they found, done in workplaces, showed men talking more. Still, the idea that women use nearly three times as many words a day as men has taken on the status of an "urban legend", he said. Agencies

 BEIJING -- China's economy in 2008 will maintain a robust and stable momentum despite uncertainties ahead, according to signs revealed during the country's top legislative and political advisory sessions. Liu Shucheng, a political adviser and director of the Economic Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), believes it is almost out of question for China to score 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year."China's economy has maintained a long period of continued and stable growth, which is unprecedented since the founding of New China (in 1949)," he said.Justin Yifu Lin, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) and the World Bank's chief economist, holds a similar view, saying China's economy would be affected little by the U.S. subprime crisis."The demand by the United States, China's second largest trade partner, would not decrease by a large margin as most of Chinese exports to it were low- and middle-end," Lin said.Despite the sound economic expansion on the whole, Zhang Quan, an NPC deputy and head of Shanghai environmental protection administration, held that China should be fully prepared for the uncertainties ahead."Risk prevention capability should be further strengthened. Just as an old Chinese saying goes: be prepared for danger in times of safety," he said.In his government work report at the NPC session, Premier Wen Jiabao said, "There are quite a few uncertainties in the current economic situation home and abroad, so we need to keep close track of new developments and problems, properly size up situations and take prompt and flexible measures to respond to them while keeping our feet firmly rooted in reality."China's GDP in 2007 reached 24.66 trillion yuan, an increase of 65.5 percent over 2002 and average annual increase of 10.6 percent. However, the consumer price index (CPI) in 2007 rose 4.8 percent year-on-year, the highest since 1997 and well above the 3 percent target, mainly due to rises in food and housing costs. In January this year, monthly CPI rose 7.1 percent, the highest monthly surge in the past 11 years.Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rate six times in seven months. The European Central Bank (ECB) held key interest rate steady for fears of further inflation in the eurozone as inflation remained a record high of 3.2 percent since the beginning of the year.In general, the impact from U.S. subprime crisis on global economy is not clear. And there is no consensus on how international oil price and price hikes would impact on inflation.Under such circumstances, Premier Wen called for the appropriate pace, focus and intensity of macroeconomic regulation to sustain steady and fast economic development and avoid drastic economic fluctuations.The premier said China would strive to keep this year's CPI increase at around 4.8 percent while following a prudent fiscal policy and a tight monetary policy.As the U.S. newspaper International Herald Tribune observed from the premier's report, the price hike has become the top concern of Chinese government. The main task is to rein in growing inflation and prevent the economy from being overheated.China's top economic planner, central bank governor and financial minister gathered at a press conference on Thursday to explain government measures to regulate macro-economic growth and contain rising inflation.To prevent fast economic growth from becoming overheated growth and keep structural price increases from turning into significant inflation, the People's Bank of China raised the reserve requirement ratio by half of a percentage point to 15 percent on January 25, the highest since 1984. In 2007, the central bank had raised the ratio ten times and benchmark interest rate six times.Economists believe the measures is to ensure sound economic growth and stabilize market anticipation of inflation. The central government has regarded curbing price hikes as the "rigid lever" for this year's macroeconomic regulation while saving room for economic structure adjustment.For low-income earners, who are affected most by growing inflation, a protective umbrella will be provided by the government that advocates "putting people first"."I believe the government will make greater efforts to solve social issues and improve people's livelihood through increasing fiscal revenue and making use of other resources," said Jia Kang, a political advisor and director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science under the Ministry of Finance.Indeed, Premier Wen's report showed unusual concern on the issue of prices, and came up with nine measures, short- and long-time, to increase effective supply and curb unreasonable demand.These measures include expanding production, especially the production of the basic necessities of life such as grain, vegetable oil and meat as well as other commodities in short supply, speeding up improvement of the reserve system, promptly improving and implementing measures to aid the low-income sector of the population and to make sure that the prices of the means of production, particularly agricultural supplies, do not rise rapidly.

Four-yuan Scheme What can a part-time Chinese employee of McDonald's afford by his hourly pay? Only two small ice creams, which are valued at four yuan (US50cents). A McDonald's outlet. [File]American fast-food giants McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) are being bombarded for their work contracts which offer their part-time Chinese employees just four yuan per hour, well under the state requirement, state media reported. An employee is entitled to no less than 4.3 yuan per work hour, said a rule released by the Guangzhou city government last November. The hourly pay averages 7.5 yuan in the city. An unnamed source in Guangzhou told the New Express newspaper that the contract violated the legal rights of employees. "Once administrative departments discover acts of violations, officials will order these enterprises to revamp and compensate the employers for their losses," the source told the Guangzhou-based paper. "If the problem is so grave that a punishment will be handed out," the source said without giving details. The source also cast doubts on the probation system implemented by the fast-food giants. "Part-time employees don't need to undergo a one-month probation period." McDonald's and KFC have nearly 3,000 outlets all over China and a work force of nearly 200,000, according to a state media report. Zhu Yongping, a Guangzhou lawyer, has begun to move for the rights of employees. He told the paper that the work contracts have 'seriously violated' the legal rights of employees. A Lin, a McDonald's employee in Guangzhou, regarded McDonald's as a respectable foreign-funded enterprise before starting to work there. But the working experience has changed her mind. "I don't have enough rest. It seems that I was overly exploited." Cui Minghuan, Manager of KFC'S Guangdong market, refuted the claims of rights violations, saying the current rule of the minimum hourly rates of pay for the non-full-time employees implemented in the province is not applicable to the part-time employees working for KFC. "KFC does not breach relevant laws in China." Cui said these part-time employees are neither full-time workers nor non-full-time workers. "Their hourly rates of pay cannot be measured by the rule. An unnamed offical with the Provincial Department of Labor and Social Security said Cui's words are ridiculous. "So what kinds of workers they are on earth? " The official said the rule is applied to these part-time employees. Mcdonald said in a written statement that "it is always committed to relevant laws and regulations in China." Central Government Actions The report came just days after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in his work report to the congress in early March, called for more efforts to implement the minimum hourly wage system in a bid to protect the workers' rights. The minimum wage system aims to protect the rights of Chinese employees. For example, Bejing has set a minimum wage about 550 yuan per month, while the economic hub Shanghai has a minimum wage about 650 yuan. The central government has beefed up efforts to protect the rights of its huge crowd of employees to quell any likelihood of unrest and maintain social stability. China is planning to adopt an unemployment law that aims to build an unemployment benefit system. The draft law is aiming at promoting employment around the country. The law states that the government will implement new policies, such as boosting professional training and increasing financial investment in employment promotion. As discrimination turns rife in China, the draft law contains a clause on anti-discrimination in an effort to provide employment equality in the country. The clause states that discrimination against job seekers with respect to their background, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, age, or physical disability, will be prohibited. The government is also taking actions to set up trade unions in foreign-funded enterprises in China. Up to date, about 26 percent of China's 150,000 overseas-funded enterprises have established trade unions, with a total membership of 4.29 million, previous media report said. However, McDonald's and KFC have not set up unions so far.

CHENGDU: Thick fog continued to blanket parts of western and central China Sunday, causing traffic accidents, flight delays and highway closures.Plunging visibility from the bad weather delayed more than 150 flights and left 12,000 passengers stranded Sunday in the Shuangliu International Airport in this capital of Sichuan Province, airport officials said.The airport was closed for nearly nine hours Sunday morning before a flight to Tibet took place at 11:10 am."Full operations did not return to normal until more than an hour later when the first flight from Shenzhen in Guangdong Province landed here," airport publicity department official Liu Gang told China Daily."It was the second day visibility in the airport had been at about 10m."On Saturday morning, a heavy fog fell on Chengdu, shrouding its downtown areas and six suburban counties with a visibility of under 50m.The airport itself was closed for eight hours that day, with 121 flights delayed and 11,000 passengers stranded.Sichuan weather bureau deputy chief Zhong Xiaoping said environmental pollution was a major cause of the fog.Zhong advised citizens to take buses more often, save energy, cut car exhaust, and play a part in the recycling of waste materials.More than 10,000 vehicles were stranded from the fog on highways Sunday, about 4,000 more than the day before, the Chengdu Transportation Bureau said. It advised residents to take trains in the next few days.He Ping, a 49-year-old company employee, drove from Deyang in northern Sichuan to Chengdu through the Chengdu-Mianyang Expressway Sunday afternoon."I've driven for nearly 20 years and have never seen such heavy fog before. I could not even see the line separating the fast lane from the slow one," He told China Daily.Meanwhile, heavy fog also persisted in Hebei, Henan and Shaanxi provinces for consecutive days. The poor visibility forced highways to close and delayed flights Sunday.The Xi'an-Baoji Expressway in Shaanxi Province was closed on Saturday as visibility in some sections was less than 2m.Meteorologists also attributed the fog to a combination of high humidity, lower temperatures and low wind speeds in the affected regions.Xinhua contributed to the story

Thirty-five years ago when Henry Kissinger was the US secretary of state, the rationale behind the detente between Beijing and Washington seemed simple: to overcome ideological barriers and parry common threat.The world has undergone a lot of changes since then. The Cold War is now part of history and the leaderships on both sides belong to another generation. But the 85-year-old US diplomatic policy expert believes cooperation between China and the US remains the key to solving many international issues.The two countries should work together on vital issues such as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, nuclear non-proliferation, climate change and energy, Kissinger told China Daily on Sunday."Progress in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) depends on close cooperation between China and the US because we have learned (it) affects the security and the well-being of our country," Kissinger said.He supports the visit of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to Pyongyang, which he compares to the Philadelphia Orchestra's tour to China in 1973."I also think we have to continue the Six-Party Talks in order to come up with a solution to the nuclear problem," he said.But will Beijing and Washington keep working together closely, given the uncertainties of the US presidential campaigns? Kissinger shrugs off the worries. "In a political campaign, many things are said but they don't last."We have had seven American presidents since the normalization (of ties between China and the US), and no matter what was said in the campaigns, they all have come back to the theme of the beginning of the relations."Beijing-Washington ties will keep moving forward - not always smoothly but positively - somehow like a long-term stock market curve "but without those big fluctuations", Kissinger said.He is certain that the two sides will keep cooperating on China's core concern, the Taiwan issue, to ensure that there is no showdown in the Taiwan Straits."I think Beijing and Washington will cooperate and really pressure Taipei that if they do not pull back it could look extremely unfavorable," he said. "I believe that we will avoid a crisis in the Taiwan Straits."Kissinger has met with every generation of the leadership since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and hence is familiar with them. And he believes the present leadership can tackle complicated issues."Each generation has its own characteristics. Deng Xiaoping is an enormous figure for his vision and courage in guiding China on the road to market reforms. But every generation of leaders has made some significant contributions," he said."This generation is educated in universities and has more technical knowledge than the first generation. It has handled very complicated situations with considerable wisdom and skill."Kissinger visited China last week at the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. He has visited the country more than 50 times, and is impressed by the tremendous progress it has made, enabling it to navigate the changes in the world."I see tremendous vitality in the Chinese people and the people I talked with are also ambitious to study and to do something. I identify China with tremendous capacity to grow, and great opportunities with these people."His last visit to China was in a totally different scenario compared to his first few trips when there was no diplomatic or trade link between Beijing and Washington. More than three decades after his ice-breaking visit, Kissinger remains proud of what he did to "open" China."I consider that the single most important thing I did in government and the one that had the best permanent effect."Rice on vital visitUS Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive in Beijing today amid the heated presidential campaign in her country and some disturbing developments in the Taiwan Straits.Rice has a very busy schedule in Beijing, holding talks with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi today. She flies to Japan tomorrow morning on the final stop of her Asia tour.This could be Rice's last visit to Beijing, and offers a chance for high-level policymakers on both sides to address issues of mutual concern, ranging from Taiwan to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and from Kosovo declaring independence to Sudan."The annual National People's Congress session will begin soon, while US politics is getting more and more focused on the presidential election. So this could be an important chance for high-level talks," said Yuan Peng, a senior American studies researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.Yuan said the Taiwan question is likely to be a key topic during Rice's talks with Chinese leaders because neither side wants to see a conflict across the Straits. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is another issue important to the two sides.