and with the korea-us fta ratification delayed in washington,... korean lawmakers have postponed the process as well. laah hyun-kyung reports. the ruling and opposition party members of the national assembly's trade committee have agreed to postpone the korea-us free trade agreement ratification agenda. this comes a day after both sides spent much time debating whether to introduce the bill to the committee for official discussions,... before sending it to the assembly's plenary session for a vote. the trade committee's chairman nam kyung- pil told reporters thursday that... the committee members have agreed to take washington's fta ratification agenda into account... and to process the bill at a similar pace. nam said that the final date will be determined based on many criteria. american politicians must agree on their own congressional timeline, and once they do, the obama administration must decide when it intends to submit the bill. finally, the bill must actually be submitted to congress. he added that the decision about the final timing will

korea's chief negotiator says the us congress is likely to approve the korea-us fta sometime this month... before korea does. latest polls show it expert ahn cheol- soo in the lead for next year's presidential election, ahead of long -time front-runner park geun-hye. libyan rebels say they have surrounded fugitive leader moammar gadhafi... and will either capture the government and the ruling grand national party have agreed to halt additional tax cuts... for high-income groups and large businesses. tax cuts have been a major part of president lee myung- bak's business-friendly policies,... but the decision is aimed at garnering support from korean citizens ahead of next year's general elections. oh jee-hyun starts us off. the government has decided to suspend additional tax cuts in income... and corporate taxes. at a meeting on wednesday,... officials agreed to keep the tax rate at 35 percent for people whose annual income amounts to 88 million korean won or more, which is around 82- thousand us dollars. it also agreed not to lower the 22 percent corporate tax rate... for companies mak

the chinese officials responded by saying that their country is ready to begin official fta talks. >>> a temporary fish market built in preparation for the autumn fishing season saw its first tuna auction on monday morning near tokyo. the original facility was damaged in the march 11th disaster. auctions were held in a building located about 200 meters away from the original market which sustained heavy damage in march. the local fishing property has held auctions at two other markets since the disaster. they decided to build their own structure before the start of the autumn fishing season which is associated with large catches. >> translator: we're glad to have a new place for auctions. we want to sell as many fish as possible. >>> in the u.s. president barack obama has visited a city in the state of new jersey that was hard hit by hurricane irene late last month. the massive storm devastated the areas along the u.s. east coast as it traveled north. at least 20 people were kill and some areas are still without power. on sunday, obama traveled to the city of pair ison where about 3,5

there has been discussion in the media we have -- that others, including the fta administrator has been able to demonstrate that many years of planning and a high threshold of analysis and fiscal sustainability, this project has successfully cleared at the federal level. the project is moving forward and everything at this point is within budget, which also has a healthy contingent seat and the schedule is one we're meeting at this time and i would be happy to answer any questions and entertain thoughts on the frequency would like updates on the project. >> we were in washington in the spring and we were meeting with the administrator. i did not see the article but he was talking about several issues he had. but he has been satisfied we responded to those. is that correct? >> he submitted a letter to the editor of the wall street journal. >> i would like to see that. >> one of the issues was the safety thing. that has been addressed already. thank you. anybody else? >> is there a member of the public who wishes to speak on this matter? >> sorry to risk losing my credit before this board

to korea this week, santos expressed hope that the two countries could conclude negotiations on an fta by year's end. since the two countries began talks in 2009, they have made progress, but differences remain over certain issues, including how much to open their markets agricultural and electronics products. two-way trade between korea and colombia nearly doubled in 2010 from 2009 to more than 1-point-8 billion us dollars while korean exports to the latin american country hit close to 1-point-4- billion that year. mr. santos arrives in seoul on wednesday for a three-day visit, which will include summit talks with korean president lee myung-bak. us software giant microsoft is currently reviewing plans to build a cutting-edge data center in korea. the ceo of microsoft korea, kim james woo, revealed the plans on thursday to the chairman of the korea communications commission, choi see -joong,... during choi's visit to microsoft research silicon valley division. kim said korea rose as one of the most likely candidates for the data center after japan was hit by a massive earthquake in mar

keep in mind the fta has even gone in on it this and they are saying " no ".e and tests for several years. and they did even more testing after doctorfish oz and-after doctor- and still found safe levels. >>pam: thank you. >> new levels with crime statistics in oakland. it is up 26%, shootings of almost 30 percent. haazig madyun shows what oakland police departm is the means spike in crime. >> off what has us concerned is that there seems to be a large number of guns to youth in oakland. >> illegal guns like you see here are responsible for a dramatic surge in violent crimes in oakland according to the oakland police guarded. holly. >> it is a priority for us to get these guns off the street and to figure out how they're getting into the city. >> reporter: 25 officers rehired oakland police to park and ha poll of some special task forc. >> which they have 25 with a specialized unit for a 90 day of violence prevention plan. there will not be answering radio calls for service. that gives them the capacity to go pafter the top 12 percent. they tend to probation c

expressed confidence, however,... that congress has a bipartisan strategy in place... to pass the pending ftas with korea, colombia and panama... calling all three "good agreements". but geithner did not specify when the obama administration will send the related bills to capitol hill. a recent survey shows... that a growing number of americans believe that asian countries are more important to the us... than the country's traditional allies in europe. oh jee-hyun reports. a new poll has found that more than 50 percent of americans think asia is more important than europe to their country's national interest. the transatlantic trends 2011 released on thursday,... which is an annual survey of american and european public opinion,... shows that 51 percent of americans feel that asian countries,... such as korea, china and japan... are more important to them than countries in the european union. the poll results also show that a generational difference of opinion has emerged,... with young americans viewing china more positively than older americans. this year's results are in contrast to results

analysts say the passage of the gsp bill will likely smooth the passage of the three pending ftas. lee ji-yoon, arirang news. the european central bank has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1- and-a-half percent.. after a meeting thursday in frankfurt, ecb president jean- claude trichet said the risk of slower growth in europe had intensified... amid a climate of enormous economic uncertainty. he also signaled that the bank was unlikely to raise rates soon. the ecb raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points in april and july. the oecd has warned that another global recession could be on the way... but it says any downturn is unlikely to be as bad as the one in 2008. the paris-based organization slashed its forecast for growth in the us and the eurozone this year due to government austerity packages and falling consumer and business confidence. in its twice-yearly economic outlook report thursday, the oecd forecast that the us economy will grow at an annualized rate of just four-tenths of a percent in the fourth quarter while the three largest economies in t

once obama sends the fta bills for an up-or-down vote at the house, it will hold a vote on the trade deals and on the bill combining the gsp and taa separately. if both are passed,... the gsp and taa combined bill would be ready to be signed into law,... while the trade pacts would be sent to the senate for approval. laah hyun-kyung, arirang news. one of britain's leading dailies, the guardian,... has reported on korea's efforts to lead the smart grid industry. specifically,... it highlighted a large- scale smart grid project that is underway on jeju island. hwang ji-hye has more. the guardian newspaper has reported on korea's efforts to take the lead in the smart grid industry as the country looks to boost its energy independence. although korea has undergone a remarkable economic transformation over the past 40 years,... the country has been prone to high energy prices due to a lack of natural resources. the paper highlighted a project named the 'smart grid roadmap' on korea's southernmost island of jeju,... where the government and some of the nation's largest conglomerates, like

. >> reporter: that is andre howard speaking to the lead fta agent in the fast and furious case.mcales sister after becoming convinced the attf lied to him that they were stopping the guns he sold before help got to the cartels. >> he was acting under the direct supervision of the department of justice and atf. he thought he was making a difference and the people were being arrested and there were going to be indictments and prosecutions. >> reporter: larry gatos is howard's lawyer. he sold more than a thousand weapons to straw buyers, including those used to kill border patrol agent terry. >> terry's death brought a tremendous amount of i guess regret, sorrow, disappointment, discuss. >> reporter: larry alt speaking out for the first time after mcallister disparaged his family in one of the recordings. he says he found three guns at the murder scene not two. >> there were three weapons. two of them came from the store. >> reporter: lawyer gatos said howard was set up by the fall guy by the atf chief. >> he thought i was helping the good nice and he had no way of knowing that tho