The longer validity of visas means these frequent travelers will not have to renew their visas so frequently, saving time and money and making travel more convenient. American would enjoy the same privileges on visits to China.

Father Lawrence Lee, chancellor of the HK Catholic Diocese, said local clergy would not initiate contacts between the Vatican and Beijing, but that if the two sides were willing to talk they would play a liaison role.

China’s population exploded after the late Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong exhorted the people to multiply in the 1950s to make the country strong. But China put the brakes on growth with tough one child rule and is now worried about finding jobs for the masses and caring for the elderly.

New studies said eating vegetables like broccoli and spinach may help older women retain some memory abilities later on, while avoiding obesity in middle age lowers the risk of later
Alzheimer’s disease in both sex.

Zhao Ziyang, the former Communist Party leader who helped launch China’s economics boom but was ousted after sympathizing with the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protesters, died in a Beijing hospital, Jan.17,2004, he was 85.

According to statistics, the number of Taiwan people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has surpassed 6,000 over the past two decades. The tally has been increasing around 15 % each year, and is expected to more than double to reach the 15,000 mark by 2011.

Pope John Paul II said recently that faith can be helpful during catastrophes like the Indian Ocean tsunamis by reminding sufferers of God’s continued presence.

According to a survey, 38 percent of women polled in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines said they were currently using skin-whitening products, up from 34 percent in February 2002.

China, which introduced a one-child policy in the 1970s, restated
lately its hard line on trafficking in children and its ban on
selective sex abortion.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton’s autobiography went on sale recently and was set to become an instant hit with his account to of how he confessed to his affair with Monica Lewinsky.