The Third Network of East Asian Think-Tank (NEAT) Financial Cooperation Conference, held in Shanghai on April 7, brought the issue of "establishing a unified currency in East Asia" to the table.

Also discussed at the meeting were topics including the "post Chiang Mai system" and the "Asian bond market."

It is possible, in the foreseeable future, that East Asian countries form a unified currency system, said Wu Jianmin, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Foreign Affairs University, in an interview with the First Financial Daily.

Currently currency swap transactions under the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) have reached a total volume of US$79 billion, according to Wu. It is expected to reach US$100 billion in 2008.

CMI is an agreement signed by 13 finance ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, or ASEAN + 3 countries, on the Second ASEAN + 3 Finance Ministers Meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand in November 1999. CMI aims to create a network of bilateral swap agreements among ASEAN + 3 countries, to address short-term liquidity difficulties in the East Asia region and to supplement the existing international financial agreements.

The CMI system needs to enlarge its scale, extend its functions from the current "rescuing" and assistance to combat financial crisis to others like monitoring hot money and macro-policy adjustment, said Wu. In addition, he suggested to establish some form of "East Asian cooperative reserve fund" by around 2015.

However, Wu pointed out, cooperation among the East Asian countries is still focused in the trade area. Within the ASEAN + 3 region, international trade in the area accounts for 55 percent of the total international trades by the countries.

The figure for EU is 65 percent but that for the North American Free Trade Area is 45 percent. The financial cooperation between ASEAN + 3 countries is comparatively underdeveloped.

Outbound capital flow from these countries are largely long-term investment, while inbound flows are often short-term speculative hot money, which results in high risks for financial crisis, said Bank of China vice president Zhu Min.

The US$79 billion swap transactions under CMI have effectively reduced the chances for another financial crisis and contributed to regional financial stability, but still the CMI system needs to enlarge its scale and extend influences further, Wu stressed.

As for the proposed unified East Asian currency unit or currency index that stirs heated debate among the countries, Wu said it is understandable that so much discrepancy emerged. He believed that there is a concrete demand by the countries to establish a unified currency similar to the euro.

By rough estimation, the cost from currency exchange in international trades accounts for 20 percent of the total. A unified currency may reduce trading cost significantly.

However, it is very hard to persuade a country to give up its constitutional right of issuing own currency. off To develop a proper solution to the problem likely to be accepted by the countries needs great efforts in conducting systematic study, discussion, negotiation and cooperation, which is likely to be a painful and lengthy process.

The first and most urgent step, said Wu, is to set up a cooperative research mechanism to make thorough exploration into the issue finding out the critical points of the problem, maximizing common interestsin the new currency system.

On this purpose, Wu suggested to officially start up a systematic study of the "East Asian unified currency" or "East Asian currency index" issues.

On March 16, Menu Foods issued a nationwide recall of 60 million containers of wet pet food products after receiving reports of animals suffering from kidney failure throughout the United States and Canada

Samples analyzed by the Food and Drug Administration uncovered traces of melamine – a chemical used in making plastics, laminates, and fertilizer.

Menu Foods has established hotlines that pet owners can call to receive updated information on the recall. According to their own hotline, Menu foods also delayed announcement of the recall until it could be confirmed that their product was responsible for the slew of animal deaths.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has lost its bid with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to not submit a shareholder proposal at this year’s annual shareholders meeting.

The National Legal and Policy Center said Tuesday it had been notified by the SEC that Wal-Mart will be required to submit an NLPC-sponsored proposal asking the company to disclose its charitable giving.

Wal-Mart had appealed to the SEC to exclude the resolution but was denied.

The National Legal and Policy Center said it is critical of Wal-Mart in four areas: health care, racial preferences, environmental alarmism and culture wars.

Wal-Mart Vice President and corporate general counsel Jeffrey Gearhart reportedly phoned the Policy Center on April 4 to “apologize” in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article that reported that some shareholder groups were possible targets of Wal-Mart’s security unit.

Wal-Mart’s shareholders meeting will take place June 1 in Fayetteville.

"iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that," Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement.

Apple's iTunes online music store has sold more than 2.5 billion songs, 50 million television shows and more than 1.3 million movies.

However, the must-have portable device will face another rival on the market with flash memory maker SanDisk announcing on Monday the launch of the Wi-Fi-enabled Sansa Connect, which offers computer-free connection to Yahoo music and download services.

Users of the Sansa Connect device will be able to use a Wi-Fi wireless connection to listen to LAUNCHcast Internet radio, browse Flickr photos and see what Yahoo Messenger friends and other Sansa Connect owners nearby are listening to. LAUNCHcast and Flickr are both part of the Yahoo network.

But analysts doubt the new gadget will be able to steal much share from the dominant iPod. Numerous companies, including giants like Sony and Microsoft, have tried but so far failed to challenge the device.

"While we have little regard for A.B.'s use of vulgar epithets, we conclude that her overall message constitutes political speech," Judge Patricia Riley wrote in the 10-page opinion.

In February 2006, Greencastle Middle School Principal Shawn Gobert discovered a Web page on MySpace purportedly created by him. A.B., who did not create the page, made derogatory postings on it concerning the school's policy on body piercings.

The state filed a delinquency petition in March alleging that A.B.'s acts would have been harassment, identity deception and identity theft if committed by an adult. The juvenile court dropped most of the charges but in June found A.B. to be a delinquent child and placed her on nine months of probation. The judge ruled the comments were obscene.

A.B. appealed, arguing that her comments were protected political speech under both the state and federal constitutions because they dealt with school policy.

The Court of Appeals found that the comments were protected and that the juvenile court had unconstitutionally restricted her right of free expression.

There was no number for Shawn Gobert in publishing phone listings. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Monday at Greencastle Middle School.

Rios also is accused of killing his 28-year-old wife, Ana Casas, and the couple's three daughters on Dec. 13, 2005, after he and Casas argued over his household duties. His trial is scheduled for October, and prosecutors in that case are seeking the death penalty.

She and her husband, Gerald Sullivan, who pleaded guilty last week, admitted in their plea agreements that they conned more than 10,000 buyers through their "Fine Art Treasures Gallery" show, which aired Friday and Saturday nights on DirecTV and The Dish Network.

Despite the claims on the show, the supposed fine art prints were either bought by the couple or forged at a print shop, according to the government.

Eubanks and Sullivan, 51, fabricated certificates of authenticity and appraisals, and the works bore fake signatures, according to the government.

In pleading guilty, the couple also admitted running up the prices of the fake works by creating fake bids for live auctions.

Eubanks entered her guilty plea to tax evasion and one count of conspiracy. Sullivan pleaded guilty to conspiracy and failing to file tax returns, and faces up to six years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Sullivan, whose sentencing is also set for Sept. 24, is free on bond. His wife, who was on probation when arrested in the art case, remains in custody.

Eubanks' attorney, Donald Randolph said outside court that his client "acknowledged her guilt in these actions today."

Randolph said he will attempt to convince U.S. District Judge Florence- Marie Cooper to "take other factors" from his client's life into consideration at sentencing, but he declined to elaborate.

In addition to the possible prison time, the couple has agreed to forfeit nearly $4 million and various pieces of art seized during the investigation.