| China auto production, sales hit record 8.8 mln units in 2007
BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Auto production and sales in China both surged more than 20 percent to a record 8.8 million units in 2007, despite slackening sales in global markets, an industry group said Sunday. China's automakers rolled out 8.88 million motor vehicles last year, up 22.02 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Total vehicle sales jumped 21.84 percent year-on-year to 8.79 million units in the world's second largest car market after the United States, twice the figure in 2003. Both the output and sales beat the prediction of 8.5 million made at the beginning of last year. Production of passenger vehicles - including sedans, sport utility vehicles and minivans - went up 21.94 percent to 6.38 million, while sales rose 21.68 percent to 6.3 million.
Strings Across the Sky inspires
She doesn't give private lessons, and she doesn't enjoy one-on-one teaching. Her specialty is taking a roomful of children and teaching them the basics in a few days.“Within two hours, I can get a beginner playing a tune," she said.People are always skeptical at first, but after just a few days, Hansen can have a whole class playing a handful of tunes reasonably well.One of the keys to her technique, ironically, is that Hansen doesn't give her students a violin right away. They learn the motions on a wooden spoon, while humming the tune. It is very important that the children enjoy learning, and starting on a violin is not always fun.“The first sound is godawful, and it discourages the student, so we do away with that," said Hansen.The technique comes from Hansen's own childhood. When she was three years old, her older sister received violin lessons.
Md. senator tirelessly fought for civil rights
Md. senator tirelessly fought for civil rights A lifelong activist, she 'spoke soft but carried a big stick' Prince George's County senator and civil rights activist Gwendolyn T. Britt died early Saturday, shortly after being taken to Doctor's Community Hospital in Lanham, according to a spokeswoman for Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. She was 66. (Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron) .
Port Authority faces $13M fee on WTC
The Port Authority is on the hook for $13.5 million in penalties for missing a deadline to turn part of Ground Zero over to developer Larry Silverstein. The estimated 45-day delay will cost the bistate agency the equivalent of 2.25 million George Washington Bridge tolls or 9 million PATH fares. Port Authority contractors missed a Dec. 31 deadline to finish excavating a 3-acre section of the East Bathtub where Towers 3 and 4 will rise, triggering $300,000-a-day fines. Officials said Friday they had wrapped up the excavation of one parcel, the 1.4-acre Tower 4 site at Liberty and Church Sts., where a 977-foot skyscraper is supposed to open by 2011. But the second parcel, the 1.6-acre Tower 3 site, has been excavated only 68 feet below street level and won't be construction-ready until it hits 80 feet.
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