house of representatives have agreed to renew the generalized system of preferences program,... or gsp,... which provides duty-free access for more than 100 developing countries. this is seen as part of a republican effort to put pressure on president barack obama... to submit the three stalled free trade agreements with korea, colombia, and panama. at a press conference wednesday, eight republicans, including the top republican on the senate finance committee, orrin hatch,... called on obama to quickly send the bills to congress, as these deals would result in tens of billions of dollars in exports... and 250-thousand new jobs. however, senate majority leader and democrat harry reid told reporters the same day... that the senate would only take up the trade bills once the house passes the trade adjustment assistance,... or taa program. the program is designed to provide re -training and health care benefits for american workers... who lose their jobs due to import competition. according to the path forward plan that senate members agreed to last month to ratify the pending free trade

the gsp grants duty- free access to some products from developing countries and an extension of the bill is being viewed as the first step toward passing the fta with korea, along with the ones with colombia and panama. meanwhile, us republican senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has blasted what he called "political posturing" by president barack obama on the free trade deals. in an article in the washington post tuesday, mcconnell wrote that, for nearly three years, republicans and a number of democrats have been calling on the president to approve the deals to create a level playing field with america's competitors overseas, expand the market for us goods, strengthen ties with three important allies and create jobs for americans. mcconnell also stressed that congress is prepared to allow a worker training program to be part of the deals as a sign of good faith and to move the ratification process forward. prosecutors have asked for an arrest warrant for seoul's embattled education superintendent kwak no-hyun. kwak is still denying charges that he paid a rival candidate to withdraw

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

later today, the senate will complete action on the gsp and t.a.a. bill. there will be up to five roll call votes on this bill. i'll work with the republican leader to set a time that's convenient to do that. i think more importantly, mr. president, now that we've arrived at an agreement on how to move the trade adjustment assistance out of here, is what's going to happen -- excuse me. in the house. last week something all too rare these days happened here in this chamber. we had some bipartisanship. ten republicans joined democrats in voting to give the fema, the federal emergency management agency, the money they need to fund their important operations for the foreseeable future. their bill would have jeopardized the agency's ability to help americans affected by tragedy to put their lives back together. that is what the house did. the house, what they did last night was so wrong. mr. president, we passed a bill a few months ago that would take care of funding for the rest of this year. from october 1 to october 1. rather than doing what we had agreed up