Since Mao's death in 1976, China has changed enormously, racing to catch up with the rest of Asia.

Mobile phones and cameras have become must-haves - everywhere you go, people are talking, texting, and surfing. An explosion of capitalism has given cities like Shanghai and Beijing futuristic skylines. Big business and consumer technology alike have found a new home here.

The country is already the world's largest producer of mobile phones, PCs and cameras, which it can churn out in their millions - and all because of China's biggest resource: people.

It is worth taking a minute to look at the statistics, because they are truly amazing. China is the world's most populous country, with 1.3 billion people.

On size alone, it is fast becoming a technology superpower and it almost has no choice in the matter. For example, even though only 8% of its people have access to the internet, this equates to 100 million people online, second only to the US.

The Chinese Government is very keen to make sure its internet infrastructure is up to the job. It is quite literally bringing its people up to speed.

Dorothy Yang, research director at IDC Analysts, told Click: "About 70 to 80% of internet users use broadband. One reason is that broadband access is quite cheap in China - it only costs about $10-15 a month for unlimited internet access."

No longer just a tech producer, China is becoming a gargantuan tech consumer.

China is dotted with rabbit warrens of small electronics boutiques, selling everything from known brands to home-made kit, multi-coloured CDs to 2GB memory cards. No-one can accuse the Chinese of being behind the times.

It will come as little surprise that China is now the world's largest cell phone market, with more than 380 million mobiles. And, just like internet penetration, the number is rising at an impressive rate. Just like the rest of the world, they are in love with their phones.

But perhaps here, more than in most countries, phones have an added value. In a place where public displays of affection and freedom to say what you want are still not to be taken for granted, mobile phones offer new privacy for conversation and romance.

Walk into a mobile phone store and you are offered only two choices of network, but a multitude of home-made brands of handset, some designed to satisfy even the most demanding user: I found one box that was a MP3 player, an MPEG4 video player, a PDA, a two megapixel camera with flash and a video camera.

Nonetheless, despite all the bells and whistles, the home-made jobs often lack the style and glamour of the established brands, which most Chinese still opt for.

China's reputation as a source of cheap labour and cheap goods is being challenged - there is also innovation here. In 2000, Click spoke to Jack Ma, a budding Chinese entrepreneur who had dreams of setting up a web service aimed at connecting traders across China, to help them find the best price for goods and services.

Five years on, he is one of the richest men in the country. He runs a range of online marketplaces, under the brand name Alibaba, including TaoBao, a rival to eBay, and an online payment system. In China, business is a very personal thing, but Jack seems to have persuaded people that they can do business on the web. He says: "The internet is a community; don't think it's just computers. Only if you build your website like a community can your company grow fast." As to whether China can become a technology superpower, Jack believes this will take time and luck.

"Today I don't think people should have expectations of that. It is true that China is growing very fast on the internet, but the other challenge is encouraging innovation and creativity, which takes a very long time. People are surprised by China because it's been like a sleeping lion for years. Now it's starting to jump and people say: 'oh my God, it's growing so fast' but it's not that scary."

Jack also relishes challenging the dominance of the US in the technology world. "Otherwise I would not compete with eBay or Google", he says. "They could be very successful in the US, in the West, but in China? No, because we're more entrepreneurial than them, in China today. They were very entrepreneurial 25 years ago, but today they're not entrepreneurial at all. They're very corporate."

China is so ready to compete with US technology that, in one particular case, it bought the company. In December 2004, Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo did the unthinkable - it bought part of IBM. The part, that is, that makes PCs. Lenovo was already China's largest PC maker but, after the IBM deal, it has shot up from 9th largest to 3rd largest PC manufacturer in the world. Lenovo's Alice Li told Click: "It's a very important transaction for us. For Lenovo that acquisition makes us a truly international company. We've accumulated an international management team and reputable international brands - for example, Thinkpad - and all the patented technology related to that brand. And we also now have an immediate worldwide distribution network."

Lenovo seems determined to continue pushing the country's technology scene by thinking big and aiming high. It could very well become China's first truly international company. China has the size, and it is showing signs of determination to spread its influence beyond its borders.

At the dawn of a new century, there is a new kid on the block.

In case the US or Israel use conventional bombs against Iran's nuclear facilities, the Iranians are expected to retaliate with missiles against the occupying forces in Iraq and against Israel, as well as the occupation military bases in southern Iraq, that the 150,000 US troops in Iraq would not be able to withstand, the article further suggests, adding that the Iranian missiles could potentially contain chemical warheads, and it certainly would be impossible to rule out such possibility.

The US's use of low-yield nuclear bombs with better bunker-busting ability than conventional bombs targeting Iran's nuclear, chemical and missile installations, which would be consistent with the new US nuclear weapons doctrine, will be then justified using the claims of needing to protect the lives of 150,000 US soldiers in Iraq and of Israeli citizens.

New US policies that involve the use of nuclear weapons were formulated in the administration document "Nuclear Posture Review" of 2001 and became more defined in a Pentagon draft document "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," Jorge Hirsch, a professor of physics at the University of California San Diego, wrote in an article published on a San Diego Union-Tribune website.

These policies, the drafters of which occupy the upper echelons of the Bush administration, allow the use of nuclear weapons against adversary underground installations, against adversaries using or intending to use weapons of mass destruction against US forces and for rapid and favourable war termination on US terms.

Hirsch suggests that those policies could be implemented in the near future against the Persian Gulf.

Americans are quite well advanced in their planning for the use of those weapons, which raises the fears that other countries will, out of fear, try to build their own. A new concept of warfare is being developed.

GAS CUT IMPACT:

Ukraine - loses 100% of Russian imports.

Hungary - Russian imports down 40%.

Poland - supply down 14% on Sunday. Seeking to increase supplies from alternative pipe.

Austria, Slovakia, Romania - supplies down by a third.

Germany - no problems yet, but later cuts to big firms "not ruled out".

France - heavy user of Russian gas, but no problems likely yet.

Countries as far west as France say supplies from a pipeline running via Ukraine have fallen by up to 40%.

Ukraine denied taking the gas, but said it would siphon off a share if temperatures fell much below freezing.

The row erupted after Russia raised the price of 1,000 cubic metres of gas from $50 to $230 and Ukraine refused to pay.

Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom is still charging the lower price to some former Soviet countries, though the average price in the EU is $240 (140 pounds).

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said his country had also been cut off, after refusing to pay $160 per 1,000 cubic metres, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.

Kiev says it is being punished for its attempts to become more independent from Moscow and develop stronger ties with the West.

In a statement on Sunday night, it accused Russia of resorting to "blackmail" in order to undermine the country's economy.

At the early stages of Bush's second term, Vice President Dick Cheney dropped a bombshell, hinting that Iran was "right at the top of the list" of the rogue enemies of the United States, and that Israel would, so to speak, "be doing the bombing for us", without US military having to ask them "to do it".

"One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked. Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards" (quoted from an MSNBC Interview Jan 2005).

Amid numerous media reports' predictions that the United States, backed by Israel, will launch a military strike, targeting Iran's nuclear sites in 2006, Germany's Der Spiegel suggests that speculation about a US attack against the Islamic republic is particularly rife in NATO-member Turkey.

The threats followed a steep rise in the price of petrol earlier this month, ordered by the government. The oil ministry said the shutdown at Baiji was costing $20 million (12 million pounds) a day. The ministry said it hoped the refinery, which has been out of action since the weekend, would be back up and running within days.

"Efforts are being made to convince the drivers to return to work," a spokesman said. The Baiji refinery normally produces 8.5 million litres (2.2 million gallons) of petrol per day, along with 7.5 million litres of diesel.

Oil distribution has been further disrupted by storms that have prevented exports being shipped from the Basra terminal in the south, Reuters said. Although billions of dollars have been spent on infrastructure since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, fuel and electricity production have not reached the levels maintained before the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The major injury was inflicted by the "No" votes in France and the Netherlands, sapping morale and purpose from the EU's leaders. But this was preceded by the European Parliament flexing its muscles. All they did was reject a commissioner because of his Roman Catholic views on homosexuality, but some think this unsteadied the Commission and robbed it of courage.

And in June, when UK Prime Minister Tony Blair vetoed a budget and declared war on the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU was stunned. I mean, almost literally. Not surprised, but temporarily deprived of the ability to think or move by the force of these blows. The agonies that the EU suffered this year were growing pains.

According to your political taste, you can argue that they were the normal twinges and emotional problems of healthy adolescence or a Frankenstein monster rejecting bits unnaturally bolted on to a grotesque body. But growing pains, nonetheless.

Discerning the reasons behind the "No" votes on the constitution has been a bit of a political parlour game. Perhaps it was not a very good document. It certainly was not a very inspiring one. There were doubtless French men, as hostile to the EU as British Conservative Bill Cash - who voted "No" to reject the whole project.

There were probably Dutch women who voted "No" because they were disappointed at the lack of fast political integration. And some who were doing the political equivalent of kicking the cat. But surely overall it was a rejection of the implications of enlargement, the growth of the EU to 25 states, and a feeling the EU was too distant and didn't do anything useful?

Tony Blair picked up the last point and used his presidency as a bully pulpit for a more economically relevant Union. That argument will continue in fits and starts, fought over the services directive and other pieces of legislation.

But while there have been wrinkled noses at the idea of Turkey joining there has been no grown-up debate about enlargement.

In 2006 that will happen. The Austrians, who are next in the hot seat, want the EU to look towards the Balkans. There will be questions over whether Romania and Bulgaria are ready to join, and how much it will cost. And then the bigger question - is that it?

Ukraine, perhaps. Switzerland and Norway, if they ever wanted to join. But after that? There surely has to be a debate on whether the EU is a geographical entity or a state of mind. And in 2006 European leaders will get over their trauma and discover their tongues over the constitution. The Austrians and Germans clearly want to bring bits of it back, which will cause fury in some quarters.

French President Jacques Chirac says he has a cunning plan for greater democracy. The old idea of an "inner core" of nations ready for greater political union will be back. This is fraught. On the one hand, it is easy to see that a 25-strong EU cannot manage very well with the current rules. On the other, it is clearly - although not clear to some - awkward to ignore the democratic will of millions of people.

Some people worry that politics no longer deals in the big questions. The European Union does. In 2006, like a tortured teenager, it will continue to ask "Why are we here?"

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, raised the upper limit for rates on one-year US dollar deposits to 3 per cent from 2.5 per cent. The ceiling on one-year Hong Kong dollar deposits was increase by 25 basis points to 2.625 per cent. The adjustments become effective Wednesday.

This is the fifth time the Chinese central bank has raised interest rates on key foreign currency deposits this year, following a similar but smoother upward curve of rates in the United States. The dollar rate ceiling was a much lower 0.875 per cent at the beginning of the year.

"Looking at the whole year, the policy intention is quite clear," said Zhang Xuechun, a Beijing-based economist with the Asian Development Bank.

Although China's monetary authorities do not give details about every policy move, Zhang said yesterday's hike was an effort to keep pace with the rate-hiking wave by the Federal Reserve in the United States. It would keep interest differentials from widening too much.

The Federal Reserve raised its target for its federal funds rate by 25 basis points earlier this month to 4.25 per cent, the 13th rate hike since June last year.

Zhang said another reason for the Chinese move was to encourage local residents to deposit more in foreign currencies instead of in the Chinese currency, the renminbi, to help reduce the upward pressure on the local currency.

"After the exchange rate reform, interest rate policy must be more responsive to smoothen exchange rate fluctuations," Zhang said.

China announced a long-awaited exchange rate reform in July 21, allowing the renminbi to appreciate by 2 per cent and linking the currency to a basket of foreign currencies instead of the US dollar alone.

Expectations for further renminbi appreciation remain strong, as major trading partners keep pressing China for a stronger renminbi, which they believe is undervalued.

The renminbi has been on an upward trend against the dollar since the reform, although movements in both directions are frequently recorded.

Scientists have been unable to link the spread of the virus to migratory patterns, suggesting that the thousands of wild birds that have died, primarily waterfowl and shore birds, are not primary transmitters of bird flu. If that holds true, it would suggest that shipments of domestic chickens, ducks and other poultry represent a far greater threat than does the movement of wild birds on the wing.

It also would underscore the need to pursue the virus in poultry farms and markets rather than in wild populations of birds if a possible pandemic is to be checked, US and European experts said.

The H5N1 strain has infected millions of poultry throughout Asia and parts of Europe since 2003. The virus also has killed at least 71 people, many of whom had close contact with poultry. To date, the virus hasn't been shown to spread from person to person, but many fear that it could mutate into a strain that could, potentially killing millions in a global pandemic.

While the prospect that migrating birds could carry the virus worldwide still worries health authorities, that sort of scenario doesn't appear to be playing out.

There is more and more evidence building up that wild migratory birds do play some role in spreading the virus, but personally I believe - and others agree - that it's not a major role, said Ward Hagemeijer, a wild bird ecologist with Wetlands International, a conservation group in Wageningen, Netherlands. If we would assume based on this evidence that wild birds would be a major carrier of the disease we would expect a more dramatic outbreak of the disease all over the world.

Reports this summer and fall of the spread of the H5N1 strain strongly suggested wild birds were carrying the disease outward from Asia as they followed migration patterns that crisscross the Earth. The timing and location of outbreaks in western China, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Croatia seemed to point to wild birds en route to winter grounds.

That put places like Alaska, where birds from the Old and New Worlds gather each summer to create what some call an international viral transfer center, on alert that the virus could arrive this coming spring. And from there, species like the buff-breasted sandpiper and others that split their time between North and South America could in theory transport the virus farther afield.

Since the early fall, however, there have been only scattered reports of more outbreaks. The disease has been glaringly absent, for example, from western Europe and the Nile delta, where many presumed it would crop up as migrating birds returned to winter roosts.

That suggests the strain has evolved to specifically exploit domestic poultry, whose short lives spent in tight flocks mean a virus has to skip quickly from bird to bird if it is to survive, said Hon Ip, a virologist with the US Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

That also means that while the virus can pass from domestic to wild birds, the latter may not be suited as transmitters of the strain - at least so far. By the timing of the spread and the pattern of outbreaks within a country and between countries, it does not make sense relative to a role for migratory birds as a means of spreading the virus.

For example, the virus killed thousands of bar-headed geese in May and June at Lake Qinghai in western China. The deaths raised immediate fears that the virus was on the move, jumping among hosts in the wild. In the August 19 issue of the journal Science, scientists wrote that the virus has the potential to be a global threat.

But Ip and others suggest the lake is not as remote and pristine as initially portrayed, and that poultry raised in the area could have been the source of the flu strain that killed the geese.

It is still patchy - the pattern of outbreaks - to really make a very definitive link between migratory birds and the disease, said Marco Barbieri, the scientific and technical officer for the United Nations Environmental Program's convention on migratory species in Bonn, Germany.

Experts caution that wild birds cannot be ruled out as future transmitters of the H5N1 strain, which has yet to be detected in North America. Migratory birds, for example, have been clearly implicated in the spread of West Nile virus, which has killed at least 762 people in the US since 2002.

The H5N1 flu strain already is known to be lethal to nearly 60 species of birds; further mutations of the strain could allow it to infect many more. One of the latest victims is the Asian tree sparrow, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Virology.

The dogma right now is it is the waterfowl - ducks, sandpipers, gulls, plovers - essentially any bird that is water-associated, said A Townsend Peterson, a University of Kansas professor and curator of the school's Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center. I will predict that that dogma will eventually fall by the wayside. I will guess that what we will eventually see is that avian influenza is much more widely distributed among birds and that land birds also play a significant role in the picture.

That has made increasing the understanding of the migratory routes followed by birds more important than ever. It also draws attention to how little is still known about the routes.

The conventional maps that show flyways as fat arrows that can span continents and oceans lack the nuance and detail of how birds really move, including when and in what numbers, experts said. The maps also can gloss over how migratory patterns can vary among subspecies.

Traditional methods like bird watching and banding are helping flesh out the maps. And now tracking by satellite or radio, as well as genetic and isotopic sampling, are playing an increased role in sussing out the finer details of where birds travel and when.

In places like Alaska, where millions of individual birds representing more than 200 species arrive each spring, scientists readily confess the situation isn't all clear.

Fuzzy would be an operative word. We are in the process of defining the Alaskan migration system, and it is remarkably complex, said Kevin Winker, curator of birds and an associate professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

In the United States, the US Geological Survey, Fish and Wildlife Service and the Agriculture Department plan next year to step up their surveillance of wild flocks of birds.

In the past several weeks, scientists have winnowed down their list of birds they want to keep tabs on, said Dirk Derksen, a biologist with the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. All spend at least part of the year in Asia.

Early detection would buy time in forestalling the further spread of the virus - a situation no one wants.

Initially, wild birds are primarily victims. Someday they may become vectors. We don't know how that will play out, Ip said. What I would like to see is the virus stopped before it gets to America so we don't see the last reel of this film played out in North America.

According to figures gathered by security firm Symantec, there were 33 serious outbreaks in 2004. These are incidents measured by the number of people a virus infects or the severity of the damage they inflict. In 2005, there were only six such incidents.

"We're talking about a substantial decrease in worldwide pandemics," said Kevin Hogan, senior manager in Symantec's security response team. This decline is taking place because virus makers have largely stopped spreading their malicious wares with mass-mailers that try to infect as many people as possible via their inbox.

Instead, virus creators are cranking out more versions of malicious programs than ever before. Year-end statistics from Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure show that there were 50% fewer virus outbreaks in 2005 but the number of malicious programs has grown by, on average, 40% for the last two years. Similarly Sophos reported that it found 1,940 new malicious programs in November 2005, the largest increase since records began.

Evidence for this rash of variants can be found in the list of the top 20 viruses for 2005 compiled by Kaspersky labs in which the MyTob virus fills nine places. Security experts say this explosion in variants is partly driven by a desire to overwhelm anti-virus firms. With defences spread thinly, hackers believe they will have more time for their particular creation to infect machines.

The malicious hackers are also keen to replenish the ranks of the viruses circulating online as fixes are found for previous versions.

It also marks a tactical change toward more customised attacks. Instead of trying to infect everyone, many virus creators are creating variants that attack small groups of users.

Sometimes these are customers of particular companies, often banks, and occasionally they are the workers in a single organisation. Smaller groups are being targeted because many of the groups sending out viruses are criminals keen to profit from the machines they compromise.

Mr Hogan from Symantec said there was only circumstantial evidence in 2004 that criminals were getting involved in viruses, spam and phishing. But in terms of this year, he said: "With customers and others we have seen clear evidence that this is being done for money."

Virus writers can make money by renting out control of the machines they have compromised as spam relays, pop-up ad networks, for mounting net attacks or as hosts for illegal material. It is not just virus writers that are customising their attacks. This year has also seen phishing gangs refine their methods to try to improve their success.

For instance, in August 2005, customers of Swedish bank Nordea received an e-mail in their local language that tried to make them visit spoof websites and type in security codes. Notified about the attack, Nordea shut down its online arm while it made sure no money had been illicitly transferred. Other custom attacks have been launched against players of online games, such as Lineage, in an attempt to steal player accounts.

Not all malicious hackers make money by stealing it. 2005 saw large numbers of tech savvy criminals generating significant incomes by compromising computers so people are bombarded with pop-up ads or have their web browser hijacked so it takes them to sites they would not otherwise visit.

Behind these pop-up bombardments and browser hijackings are so-called adware and spyware programs. These can be contracted by visiting the wrong website which forces the installation of adware; by downloading applications such as file-sharing programs in which the adware lurks or by following a link in an e-mail.

Online security firm ScanSafe, which cleans up web traffic for customers, said the amount of spyware it had blocked was doubling every month since it started its monitoring program earlier in 2005.

It also said that the number of web-based attacks that try to install spyware and adware had grown by 165% in the last 12 months. Spyware makers were working hard to stop their creations being found said Eldar Turvey, chief executive of ScanSafe.

"Spyware is becoming more stealthy," said Mr Turvey. Many viruses are designed to be disposable but spyware makers want their creations to persist. Many spyware makers were disguising the data their programs send back by making it look like ordinary web browser traffic that easily slips through firewalls.

One final worrying trend seen in 2005 was the emergence of attacks aimed at security software. Many makes of anti-virus, firewall and PC protection programs are seen as a weak link by hacker groups. Many are trying to subvert the programs that are supposed to protect users and exploit weaknesses to give them access to users' machines.

PC SAFETY TIPS:

Install anti-virus software. Update it daily

Regularly scan your PC to ensure it is clean of viruses

Install a firewall. Keep it updated

Use one or more spyware scanners. Keep them updated and scan your PC regularly.

Do not respond to unsolicited e-mails bearing attachments.

Keep Internet Explorer updated or use another web browser

Be careful to check what also comes with anything you download from the web

Keep Windows updated and apply patches for security loopholes

Be careful where you visit online. Some sites may harbour spyware.

The 600kg spacecraft was lofted into orbit on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, at 11:19 (05:19GMT).

Giove-A will demonstrate key technologies needed for Galileo, the 3.4 billion euros (2.3 billion pounds; $4 billion) satellite-navigation system Europe hopes to deploy by 2010.

The new network will give EU states guaranteed access to a space-borne precise timing and location service independent of the United States.

The perfect launch was a moment of celebration for the small British company, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), which had been given the prestigious task of building the demonstrator.

SSTL staff had gathered at their Guildford base to watch the lift-off on a TV link from Baikonur. The company put the spacecraft together in less than three years, a remarkably short timeframe for what is essentially an experimental platform. "Three years ago I did a sketch of what I thought we could do. To go from that sketch to what we have now is amazing," recalled John Paffett, projects director with SSTL. "It's not over yet - there's a lot of hard work to go ahead - but it's definitely a monumental occasion," he told the BBC News website.

Professor Martin Sweeting, the CEO of SSTL, added: "This is going to be Europe's largest space project. As a relatively small company - we're an SME of 200 people, specialising in small and rapid-response spacecraft - to take the vanguard of such a large programme is quite an experience."

Giove-A will check out the in-orbit performance of two atomic clocks - critical to any sat-nav system - and a number of other components that will be incorporated into the 30 satellites of the fully fledged Galileo constellation.

These spacecraft - four of which have already been ordered - are expected all to be in orbit by the end of 2010. Giove-A also has the important job of securing the radio frequencies allocated to Galileo within the International Telecommunications Union.

To do this, a sat-nav signal of the correct structure must be received on Earth by June 2006. The SSTL team believes it can complete this task within the first couple of weeks of flight. Galileo is a joint venture between the European Union and the European Space Agency.

Once fully deployed, the new system should revolutionise the way we use precise timing and location signals delivered from space. "We are aiming to provide one-metre, worldwide accuracy through Galileo's 'open' service - this is not possible today without regional or local augmentation," said Esa's Galileo project manager, Javier Benedicto.

"With the use of three signals, we will have access to centimetre accuracies, and with these you will see many more services than you have today; and European industry is working to develop those applications."

In few years' time, a small Galileo chip will be integrated in mobile phones, giving users the ability to pinpoint restaurants, hotels, movie theatres, hospitals or car parks. Galileo will deliver the tools national governments need to introduce wide-scale road charging. The network will also underpin Europe's new air-traffic control system. The single European sky initiative will overhaul current technologies used to keep planes at safe separations, and allow pilots to fly their own routes and altitudes. SSTL hopes a successful mission for Giove-A will bring more orders for sat-nav and other spacecraft.

"This is very good for our development," explained Max Meerman, a principal engineer with the company. "It's the biggest satellite we've done so far, it's got big deployable tracking-arrays that we haven't done before, and it cost 28 million euros (19 million pounds; $33 million)."

The estimated population of the United States is 298,094,171, so each citizen's share of this debt is $27,453.15.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $2.83 billion per day since September 30, 2005!

It's official: as of October 18th, the National Debt has risen to over eight trillion dollars. Incidentally, it was back in December 2003, less than two years ago, that the Debt surpassed a "mere" seven trillion dollars.

A persistent drought has blanketed Texas since early summer, causing the worst fire threat in five years, Perry's office said in a written statement. The fires in the Lone Star State were mostly in the central, north-central and northeast regions.

One of the worst outbreaks was reported in Cross Plains, where a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety told CNN affiliate KTXS-TV that about two dozen homes or structures had been burned. Cross Plains is a town of about 1,000, located about 43 miles southeast of Abilene.

In Kennedale, a town of about 6,000 near Fort Worth, flames devoured outbuildings and a few homes and left heavy smoke hanging over neighborhoods. Kennedale Mayor Jim Norwood said Tuesday night that about 300 acres in the town had burned.

"Most of the people in the community here pulled together and kept it from getting into our neighborhoods," he said. "It has quieted down quite a bit." Some residents used garden hoses to help keep flames at bay and shovels to douse hot spots.

Perry's disaster declaration allowed him to activate the state emergency management plan, placing the Division of Emergency Management in charge. He said four helicopters from the National Guard - plus two single-engine air tankers and two helicopters from the US Forest Service - were being deployed in the firefighting effort.

Fires began in Texas on Sunday but spread rapidly Tuesday afternoon when winds picked up, said Traci Weaver of the Texas Forestry Service. "We have fires all over Texas," she told CNN Tuesday afternoon.

In Oklahoma, gusty winds prevented helicopters from flying and dropping water on the flames, said Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Ooten said Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters capable of pouring hundreds of gallons of water in one sweep would join firefighting efforts Wednesday if winds decrease.

Authorities said numerous structures had been destroyed. Major Brian Stanaland of the Oklahoma City Fire Department said at least three people were injured, including a child with burns on his hands. John Hargreave, mayor of the town of Wewoka, said a firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation.

Hargreave said the region has endured a 70-day drought, and winds up to 40 mph whipped the grassland wildfires out of control Tuesday. Stanaland said dry conditions have fueled sporadic fires for two months.

"It's a recipe for disaster," he said.

Hargreave estimated that 30 houses had burned on the outskirts of Wewoka, a town of 3,500 people about 70 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. "We have numerous fires virtually surrounding our town," he said. "We've had reports of numerous rural structures being burned. We've had one structure within the city limits burn."

Hargreave said "thousands and thousands" of acres of grassland around his town had burned, and residents had been prepared to evacuate before a change in the wind appeared to spare Wewoka Tuesday evening. "We've had to go 40 to 45 miles out to call for assistance, because fire departments in surrounding communities have their own fires," he said.

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry said Tuesday evening he had activated the state's emergency operations center in Oklahoma City. Henry said his administration was trying to find out whether federal assistance was available.

In Mustang, a city of about 15,000 residents just west of Oklahoma City, flames tore through homes and cars, and many residents were seen fleeing.

The Polish government's decision to reduce its force reverses a previous plan to withdraw all Polish troops in early 2006. Poland, a staunch ally of the United States, has about 1,500 soldiers stationed in south-central Iraq. More than 17 have been killed in the war-torn country since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Recent opinion polls show the military presence in Iraq is unpopular at home, with a majority of Poles wanting the soldiers to return. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Bulgaria, who have their troops serving in Iraq under Polish command, announced that they completed the withdrawal of their soldiers.

The last Ukrainian troops left Iraq on Tuesday, the defense ministry said, according to BBC. Their pullout coincided with that of the remaining 130 Bulgarian soldiers. Ukraine initially opposed the invasion but later sent 1,650 soldiers to Iraq, becoming one of the largest non-NATO participants. About eighteen Ukrainian troops have been killed since the war began.

Bulgaria started withdrawing its forces shortly after Iraq's parliamentary elections, transferring its military responsibilities to Iraqi soldiers.

Correspondents say the withdrawals would deal a major blow to the US President George W Bush, who is facing mounting pressure at home and abroad over his handling of the war. Last week, the Pentagon announced that it will cut the current level of 160,000 troops in Iraq by two army brigades, which amounts to about 7,000 soldiers.

More than 2,100 American soldiers died in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.

The 88-seat body was proposed by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa as part of a package of reforms to make the 60-year-old institution stronger and more effective. In his speech, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak described the inaugural session as a historical occasion which opens new horizons for joint Arab action.

The parliament has four representatives from each of the 22 Arab League member states, but has no legislative powers and has provoked widespread criticism. Some Arab countries have sent deputies from un-elected bodies while others have excluded any opposition participation.

Palestinian parliament speaker Rawhi Fattouh said the parliament would only be valuable if it kept an eye on the actions of Arab governments. "It must be a monitor of Arab executive institutions, but if it is just a union of parliaments then it's not going to be important," he said at the meeting.

The Arab League hopes the current interim parliament will gain more powers and be replaced by a permanent elected assembly, to be based in Damascus, possibly through direct elections similar to those held for the European parliament. In the two-day meeting in Cairo, members are due to elect a speaker and other officers.

We have several regional parliaments - the European Parliament and the African Parliament. The Arab parliament will be looking at them and their experiences and what they can learn from them," Arab League spokesman Alaa Rushdi was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Speaking to KUNA at the end of the meetings, Al-Taweel said that the ministers taking part in the gatherings "underlined the importance of coordination among member states in order to remove any obstacle before the smooth transfer of goods and services across borders and physical barriers." He said that participants in the meeting discussed the bilateral relations between the GCC on the one hand and other regional and international economic blocs on the other. Participants also called for improving relations with other economic blocs.

Al-Taweel praised the efforts made by GCC members in streamlining their commercial and economic activities and recalled that GCC members were determined to achieve a GCC common market by 2007 and also to achieve unity of currency.

Turning to the other meeting of the Measurements Committee, Al-Taweel said that participants in that meeting discussed the latest developments regarding quality and measurement control.

Participants also agreed on streamlining GCC quality standards and called for matching world standards in product quality and quantity.