Economic,Trade Forum between Mainland, Taiwan to Be Held

The Communist Party of China and the Chinese Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Party will hold a forum on economic and trade affairs between the mainland and Taiwan on April 14 and 15 in Beijing.

The forum, at the joint sponsorship of a research center of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and a research fund of the KMT, will focus on cross-Strait economic and trade exchanges and opening direct transport links. 

Microsoft, Founder Technology Sign Licensing Pact

Microsoft Corp. said it has signed a three-year, $250 million licensing agreement with China's Founder Technology Group Corp., part of an effort to strengthen the country's intellectual property rights.

The agreement follows announcements between Microsoft and Chinese PC makers TCL Group and Tsinghua Tongfang Co. They allow the computer makers to sell PCs with pre-installed, licensed Microsoft Windows software. 

Prodi Prepares to Form Cabinet

Italian opposition leader Romano Prodi says he will forge ahead with plans to form a cabinet despite Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's refusal to concede defeat.

But Prodi says the government would not be appointed until May because it would probably have to wait for a mandate from Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's successor. 

New Fossil Links Up Human Evolution

Fossils have long provided snapshots of the human family tree, but a new find in Africa gives scientists a kind of mini home movie showing man's primal development.

Because the 4.2-million-year-old fossil is from the same human ancestral hot spot in Ethiopia as remains from seven other human-like species, scientists can now fill in the gaps for the most complete evolutionary chain so far.