Free Republic

US trade officials are close to filing a case against China at the World Trade Organisation challenging export restrictions on raw materials used in steel-making and other industries. The US has been working on the case intensely for the past few months, and could move ahead with a request for consultations – the first step in the WTO dispute settlement process – within weeks, according to people close to the discussions. The European Union has already opened three investigations into allegations of dumping by Chinese steel producers. A WTO fight over China’s treatment of raw materials would shake up the...

Russia decided Monday to break off some trade agreements reached during negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation, as relations between Moscow and the West grew increasingly tense. The move to withdraw from some of the accords reached over years of arduous talks came at a meeting of an inner circle of cabinet ministers chaired by powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. It confirmed Russia's disillusionment with the complex negotiations needed to enter the 153-nation trade body. "Russia intends to inform various WTO partners of its withdrawal from accords that contradict its interests," First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told Putin...

The Not-So-Omnipotent China by: Daniel Smith, August 07, 2008 As the world’s attention and conspiracy theorists turn to Beijing this August, Western nations should not forget China’s role in “The Collapse of the [World Trade Organization (WTO)] Doha Round Trade Talks” in Geneva on July 29. The facts of the failed negotiations reveal a more impotent China than Americans would expect. Frank Vargo, chief spokesman on trade issues for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), viewed the collapse of the seven-year Doha Rounds as a “watershed.” He was one of several distinguished panelists who addressed a crowd at the American...

The Doha round of world trade talks has collapsed in what one former trade chief called the biggest blow to globalisation since the end of the Cold War. An emergency World Trade Organisation summit aimed at resuscitating the seven-year long talks broke down in acrimony last night. Negotiators warned that there was now little or no chance of salvaging the talks, which promised to bring down trade tariffs, pull millions out of poverty and keep food and goods prices under control. It is the first time a major set of world trade talks has collapsed entirely, and insiders warned that...

The Doha Round of multilateral trade talks has already died a thousand deaths. But, apart from the bureaucracies in Geneva, Brussels and Washington, few are grieving.That's because the world economy is moving forward without a World Trade Organization treaty. While Doha negotiations have sputtered on for seven years, annual global trade flows have increased 70 percent to US$14 trillion, real annual foreign direct investment is up 25 percent to US$1.5 trillion and the global economy has expanded by 30 percent to US$54.4 trillion, my research into official figures reveals. This compares with estimated benefits from full Doha Round success of...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States, responding to a key demand of developing countries, said on Saturday it would discuss giving more temporary access to foreign professionals, injecting renewed optimism into world trade talks. The U.S. offer -- its second this week in make-or-break talks to secure a breakthrough in long-running trade negotiations -- had ministers and businessmen talking optimistically about improved prospects for a deal. "When it comes to temporary entry of business professionals we signaled that we are ready to have that conversation in the context of the Doha round," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters....

GENEVA (AFP) - Crucial WTO talks hung in the balance Thursday, with top negotiators stressing that progress was needed in the next 24 hours to avert another ignominious collapse. < > The WTO has convened a meeting here of 35 leading trade negotiators with the aim of mapping out a deal to conclude the long-delayed Doha Round of global trade talks. The Doha Round began seven years ago with the aim of helping poor countries enjoy the fruits of freer global trade, but the process has been delayed by disputes between the rich developed world and poorer developing nations. <...

In a potentially stunning move that reflects the growing challenge Europe’s basketball leagues pose to the NBA, Atlanta Hawks free-agent forward Josh Childress is strongly considering a three-year, $20 million offer from Greek powerhouse Olympiakos, several league sources said Sunday night. ...Childress, 25, is so flustered with the Hawks’ refusal to make a sign-and-trade deal to another team, one source familiar with his thinking believes there’s “better than a 50-50 chance” he’ll sign with Olympiakos. The team also will cover the Greek taxes for Childress, making it even more lucrative. ... Childress is a restricted free agent, but the Hawks...

GENEVA (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's pointed criticism of the Doha free trade round were contradictory and did poor-country farmers a disservice, trade experts said on Monday. Sarkozy, a staunch defender of European Union farm subsidies that would be cut under a new World Trade Organisation (WTO) accord, called the deal being negotiated in Geneva "really counterproductive" in light of the world's food security crisis. "One child dies every 30 seconds because they are hungry, and we should go and negotiate within the WTO framework a 20 percent cut in European agricultural production?," he asked in remarks directed at...

It is rare when a government official actually blames himself for his mistakes. That straight talk occurred in the June 4 issue of Foreign Policy in Focus when Robert Cassidy, President Clinton's Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and China, took himself to task for the trade agreement he negotiated with China. He began: "As the principal negotiator for the landmark market access agreement that led to China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), I have reflected on whether the agreements we negotiated really lived up to our expectations. A sober reflection has led me to conclude that those...

Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday slammed Democrats in Congress and running for president for opposing free trade agreements and leading the country down a "very destructive path" to protectionism. In a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Cheney said Democratic lawmakers, by refusing to bring the Colombian free trade agreement to a vote, were dealing a "tremendous setback" to a close US ally and causing "severe damage to our nation's credibility in the region." Led by Democrats, the House of Representatives in April delayed a vote on the trade pact in a snub to the White...

Another... MAJOR FOREIGN POLICY GAFFE By Obama Campaign Wolf Howling passed this on this morning... Barack Obama Is Going to Open New Channels Of Diplomacy With IranBarack Obama believes that: "We have not exhausted our non-military options in confronting the Iranian threat; in many ways, we have yet to try them. Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions. Now is the time to pressure Iran directly to change their troubling behavior. Obama would offer the Iranian regime a choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we will...

THE YEAR 2008 may enter history as the time when the Democratic Party lost its way on trade. Already, the party's presidential candidates have engaged in an unseemly contest to adopt the most protectionist posture, suggesting that, if elected, they might pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared her intention to change the procedural rules governing the proposed trade promotion agreement with Colombia. President Bush submitted the pact to Congress on Tuesday for a vote within the next 90 legislative days, as required by the "fast-track" authority under which the U.S. negotiated...

Russian steelmaker to buy Sparrows Point OAO Severstal says it has agreed to purchase Balto. Co. mill for $810 million Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal said early this morning that it has reached an agreement to purchase the Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County for $810 million. It will be the plant's fourth owner in four years. The 119-year old steel mill employs 2,450 hourly and salaried workers and has the capacity to produce 3.6 million tons of steel a year. The sale, which faces several regulatory approvals, is expected to close during the second quarter of the year. Related...

BRUSSELS-- The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has won the right to waive U.S. copyrights in films, television and music under an unusual ruling by the World Trade Organization. The landmark decision by the Geneva-based trade watchdog means that the tiny islands are able to violate intellectual property protection worth up to $21 million as part of a dispute between the countries over online gambling. The ruling ends a legal battle lasting nearly five years, which ended in the WTO finding that Washington had wrongly blocked online gambling operators on the island from the American market at the same...

Critics have long believed environmentalists were planning global domination. The problem with making a credible case against such an ambitious plan was simple: no environmental leader had published one. Yet conflicts over global warming, world trade, multinational corporations, population control, sustainable futures, and transnational government left little doubt that environmentalists in fact shared the unspoken aim of wielding supreme power over a green future. But there was no proof. For years, critics, lacking hard evidence, were reduced to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle of suspicious environmentalist actions - funding from huge charitable trusts, ties to the broader "progressive" community, and...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate gave a boost to President Bush's trade agenda, albeit a small one, approving a free trade agreement with Peru, following passage by the House last month. The Senate voted 77 to 18 to ratify the pact, which will immediately eliminate tariffs on 80% of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial goods to Peru. Farm tariffs would be phased out over 15 years. Almost all of Peru's exports to the U.S. now enter the country duty-free under a program that offers economic alternatives to drug production in Andean countries.

BRUSSELS -- Americans are becoming less likely than Europeans to favor free trade, foreign investment or immigration, according to a survey of opinion on both sides of the Atlantic, a break with stereotype that reflects growing unease and isolationism in the U.S. as the economy falters. The survey, commissioned by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., a think tank, and released today found that a growing number of people in the U.S. -- 57%, up from 51% in 2005 -- believe free trade costs more jobs than it creates. Europeans, meanwhile, have become less suspicious of trade's effects. Forty-six...

   WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab today announced that China has agreed to terminate subsidies that the United States alleged were illegal under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. "I am very pleased that today we have ben able to sign an agreement with China that should lead to full elimination of these prohibited subsidies.  This outcome represents a victory for U.S. manufacturers and their workers. The agreement also demonstrates that two great trading nations can work together to settle disputes to their mutual benefit,� said Ambassador Schwab. “Earlier this year, when China had not removed these...

GENEVA -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) appointed four appeal judges on Tuesday, including one Chinese, after Taiwan dropped its objections, easing tension between the two rivals and defusing a looming crisis. Taiwan's surprise objection last week blocked the work of the WTO's dispute settlement body, which handles disputes worth billions of dollars. After WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy and senior diplomats reassured Taiwan that the rights of all members were safeguarded by WTO rules, Taiwan lifted its objection. "I think that assurance may have been important in getting this thing resolved," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told a briefing. A meeting...

Daniel Griswold directs the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies and authored the new study, "Trading Up: How Expanding Trade Has Delivered Better Jobs and Higher Living Standards for American Workers," available at freetrade.org. President Bush urged Congress yesterday to pass four pending trade agreements, telling a White House audience that open markets boost economic growth, raise standards of living by creating higher-paying jobs and deliver more choice and better prices for consumers. Despite claims to the contrary by populist opponents of trade expansion, the president has the facts and decades of experience on his side. Critics of trade...

"EVERYONE does it, so let's be gentlemen and settle our dispute out of court." That's the gist of the arguments Airbus makes regarding the European Union-U.S. dispute over aerospace subsidies. Trouble is, everyone does not do it, if by "it" we mean the use of government "launch aid" to subsidize a private company in a manner that's inconsistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization. [snip]

(GENEVA) -- The United States, the European Union and Japan on Monday demanded answers from China on what they said were its failures to open up its markets to greater foreign competition. Representatives of the world's three biggest economic powers were disappointed by China's refusal to provide serious explanations of how it was living up to the promises it made when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, according to trade officials present at the review meeting at WTO headquarters. Washington accused China of manipulating prices on the raw materials used to produce steel, chemicals, airplanes and automobiles, giving...

Government Grants Steel Makers' Request to Extend Tariffs to China, India, Four Other Nations WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a victory for U.S. steel makers, the federal government agreed Wednesday to continue tariffs on imports of certain steel products from China, India and four other nations. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. Chrysler and other steel consumers had opposed the tariff extension. But ending the tariffs would have increased steel imports, harming U.S. steel makers, said Alan Price, a lawyer for Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp. "China has a staggering amount of excess (steel production) capacity," he said. The U.S. International Trade...

A Brussels think-tank has accused the US government of reneging on commitments made to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over internet gaming. Panellists at a trade forum levelled harsh criticism at the US, focusing on a burgeoning trade clash between the US and Europe over internet gaming. The forum believes that the US could be liable for up to US$100 billion in trade concessions to European industries after placing illegal discriminatory trade restrictions on European gaming operators. The disputed concessions arise from Antigua's victory earlier this year when the WTO ruled that the US violated its treaty obligations by excluding...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Ricans prepared on Monday to join a controversial free trade agreement with Central American neighbors, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. after a thin majority apparently backed the pact in a national referendum. But even Sunday's vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement did not end a yearlong battle over the agreement. Opponents said they will wait for a mandatory recount, set to begin Tuesday, before recognizing the referendum's results. The ballot-by-ballot recount is required by Costa Rican law, and can last no longer than two weeks. With 97 percent of precincts...

SAN JOSE: Costa Rica's president Oscar Arias declared victory Sunday in his drive to join a free trade deal with the United States, announcing on television that voters had backed it in a referendum. "The people of Costa Rica have said yes to the free trade agreement, and that for me is a sacred wish," Arias said in a televised address to the nation after Costa Ricans voted in their tens of thousands on the measure. Earlier partial results showed that with 73 per cent of votes counted, just over 50 per cent of voters said yes to the agreement...

In response to Mary Anastasia O'Grady's Oct. 1 Americas column "Democrats vs. Central America":While I strongly disagree with The Wall Street Journal editorial page's right-wing ideology, I'll give you points for persistence. Year after year, despite all of the evidence, you continue to be a cheerleader for the unfettered free-trade policies that, while benefiting multinational corporations, have caused so much economic pain for working families here in the U.S. and our trading partners abroad.Ms. O'Grady is telling the people of Costa Rica how wonderful passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement will be for them. The Journal said the...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons and holding banners, protested on Sunday against a U.S. trade pact they say will flood the country with cheap farm goods and cause big job losses. Chanting "No to the free-trade pact!" and "Costa Rica is not for sale!" protesters ranging from farmers to housewives filled one of San Jose's main boulevards to demonstrate against the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Costa Rica is the only country that has not ratified CAFTA -- which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua...

The European Union (EU) has claimed that US subsidies for American aircraft maker Boeing have cost Europe's Airbus $27bn (£13.4bn) in losses. EU officials put forward that figure at the start of a World Trade Organization (WTO) hearing into Brussels' complaint that the US aid broke free trade rules.

Complaint by U.S. Cites Lax Enforcement Of Antipiracy Efforts GENEVA -- The World Trade Organization opened a formal investigation into allegations China is providing a haven for product piracy and counterfeiting, the most far-reaching of four trade disputes between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. complaint over China's enforcement of intellectual-property rights is the culmination of years of agitation in Washington and elsewhere over one of the world's biggest sources of illegally copied goods, ranging from DVDs, CDs and designer clothes to sporting goods and medications. [] The WTO panel's scope will be limited to whether Beijing has taken sufficient action...

Bush wins fast-track authority by a single vote By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON - United States President George W Bush won "fast-track" trade negotiating authority on Thursday in an extremely close, mainly partisan vote in the House of Representatives. If the Senate also grants Bush what officially is termed "trade promotion authority", then the president will be able to negotiate far-reaching new trade pacts with other countries without fear of congressional amendment. The 215-214 vote, combined with last month's World Trade Organization (WTO) accord to launch a new round of global trade talks, is likely to re-energize the process of global ...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is hoping that a renewed focus on making America more competitive will help get its stalled trade agenda moving forward in Congress. The administration was holding a daylong conference on Tuesday featuring some of the country's top business executives including executives from Wal-Mart, FedEx and General Motors, and leading academic experts to examine such issues as regulation, education and ways to bolster innovation. Commerce Secretary Carlos Guiterrez, one of three Bush Cabinet members participating in the conference, said Monday that he hoped the event would help spotlight the need to keep pushing for lower trade...

It's now leaking out that there was more going on than met the eye at the Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit in Montebello, Canada, in August. The three amigos - President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon - finalized and released the "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza." The "Plan" - that's what they call it, with a capital P - is to use the excuse of a major flu epidemic to shift powers from U.S. legislatures to unelected, unaccountable "North American" bureaucrats. This idea was launched on Sept. 14, 2005,...

Wow! All of a sudden, it looks like the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress will approve pending free-trade agreements with Peru, Panama and - who knows - perhaps even Colombia.     If you ask me, Venezuela's narcissist-Leninist leader Hugo Chavez deserves the biggest credit for the congressional U-turn.     Judging from what I heard in a telephone interview with powerful House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and an e-mail from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday evening, growing numbers of Democrats who opposed these treaties are now ready to vote for the ones with Peru and Panama.     Democrats...

But then there is nothing run-of-the-mill about the case that Mr. Mendel, a Texan who was born and raised in Southern California, has been waging against his own government before the World Trade Organization, the body in Geneva that sets the ground rules for global trade. The dispute stretches back to 2003, when Mr. Mendel first persuaded officials in Antigua and Barbuda, a tiny nation in the Caribbean with a population of around 70,000, to instigate a trade complaint against the United States, claiming its ban against Americans gambling over the Internet violated Antigua and Barbuda’s rights as a member...

The New York Times has details of this interesting story. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled the US violated Antigua's rights by prohibiting Americans from gambling over Internet sites based in Antigua. Now the lawyer for Antigua is asking the WTO to compensate the island nation by allowing it to set aside US intellectual property laws and to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products, among others with impunity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ '...For the W.T.O. itself, the decision is equally fraught with peril. It cannot back down because that would undermine its credibility with the rest of the world. But...

The last time the top U.S. trade representative visited Seattle, in 1999, the city was erupting with anti-globalization protests in the streets. This time, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab found a calm Seattle, but across the country attitudes toward free trade are even more pessimistic than before. "Trade is becoming a hard sell in the other Washington," Schwab said Friday, addressing the Washington Council on International Trade. With four free-trade agreements signed by the president and awaiting passage by Congress, Schwab's challenge is to persuade legislators and the U.S. public that the agreements are in their best interest. The bilateral...

When the AFL-CIO organized a presidential debate at Chicago's Soldier Field, leaders of the labor federation quietly went out of their way to make sure that Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich would be on the stage. While some debate organizers have talked about excluding so-called "lesser" candidates -- those like Kucinich with low poll numbers and small bank accounts -- from the debates, the AFL-CIO wanted progressive populist from Cleveland front and center Tuesday night. Why? Because leaders of the labor organization recognize the importance of candidates who stand on principle rather than merely engage in political calculations.They also recognize that...

North American Union to Get Firmed Up in Secrecy at Meeting in Canada "Information is the currency of democracy." Thomas Jefferson American citizens have learned of some secretive groups in the country which are given great autonomy. Some are authorized by our government, but have little oversight, and some have not been authorized by our government, but seize authority just because they can. One example of this is the secretive CFIUS, Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States. When the plans to turn over operation of six ports to Dubai Ports World became public, (with no thanks to the...

Last week, Panama's legislature ratified the free trade agreement with the United States which had been signed by the two governments late in June. The Panamanian congress voted 58 to 3 in favour of the agreement. The United States and Panama launched negotiations on a free trade agreement in April 2004, and the final agreement incorporated amendments derived from a negotiation between the Bush Administration and Congressional leadership. Nonetheless, US Congressional approval is not a done deal. Governmental signing of the agreement took place two days before the expiration of President Bush's authority for "fast track" trade promotion at the...

Ignoring pleas from outraged South American governments, Democratic House leaders were adamant this week about Congress going into its August recess without taking promised action on free-trade agreements with Peru and Panama. Instead, two senior House Democrats appear determined to visit those two rare Latin American friends of the United States to hector them into passing domestic legislation as a prerequisite for congressional approval of already-negotiated trade pacts. Why did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi renege on her previous commitment? She dances to the tune of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who preaches protectionism. Hostility toward not only the Peru and Panama...

Congress rejects a deal with Colombia The US Congress has postponed discussion of free-trade agreements (FTAs) signed with Peru and Panama for several months, while indicating that it will not consider the accord with Colombia at all at this time. This represents a huge setback for the Colombian government of President Alvaro Uribe, who has invested much political capital in his strong alliance with Washington and in promoting a bilateral trade agreement. The deal is now unlikely to be revived until 2008 at the earliest, and could even be put off indefinitely. In the meantime, Canada is stepping into the...

Presidential hopeful Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) says current U.S. tax policy puts American manufacturers at an unfair disadvantage by making it cheaper for foreign products to be sold in the U.S. and costlier for U.S. exporters to ship goods abroad. Hunter is not alone. An increasing number of lawmakers worried about the expanding trade deficit and what they describe as a disappearing U.S. manufacturing sector believe U.S. tax policies are a part of the problem. According to Hunter and a number of groups representing textile producers and small manufacturers, the problem is that almost every country in the world has...

USA : Post-NAFTA job loss in textiles & apparel exceeds 1mn June 2, 2007 With the loss of another 4,700 jobs in May 2007, the U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing sector now has lost 1,001,100 jobs – a 65 percent loss of employment in the industry – since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in January 1994. Despite these losses, the sector continues to employ 547,800 according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Breaking down the numbers, the U.S. textile industry lost 360,600 jobs (52 percent employment loss) and the U.S. apparel industry...

Poland says could block Russia WTO entry (Reuters) 27 May 2007 ZURICH - The European Union might block Russia’s entry to the World Trade Organisation if Russia does not compromise in a row over Polish meat imports, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynksi was quoted as saying in a Swiss paper. ‘If Russia remains as uncompromising as it has been so far, I don’t rule that out,’ Kaczynski told Swiss Sunday newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung am Sonntag. ‘But again: We are not looking for a confrontation with Russia. That’s a myth.’ Russia imposed a ban on imports of Polish meat and other...

BEIJING (AP) — China appeared to go on the defensive Friday in response to rising concern about the safety of its food and drug exports, asking the United States to clarify its regulations on the use of antibiotics that turned up in Chinese catfish in Alabama and two other southern states. ......In its statement, the quality inspection administration asked Washington to "deal with the problem in an objective, scientific and equitable way." It also warned that the U.S. should not violate World Trade Organization's rules, which give countries the right to ensure food safety for consumers but not to manipulate...

It looks like the House Democratic leadership simply did not get the message in the last election. Working Americans want no part of more falsely named “free trade” deals. This is absolutely not an issue where grassroots Democrats want our elected representatives compromising with the Republicans. We want an immediate change in direction concerning trade policy.Democratic members of Congress will face primary challengers if they go along with the rape of the American economy by Corporate forces. Our nation has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs since Bush seized control of the White House. Republicans seem to think that...

Did you know the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows foreign countries to come into United States and buy our utility companies? Under these agreements, foreign companies now have rights and privileges to come into other countries and buy private utilities such as electric companies, water districts and other commodities that are necessary to a community. Under these new trade agreements we now can have global commercial negotiations and foreign companies can get United States Small Business Administration loans with which to make the purchases. American Water Works Company (AWW -- now German...

Tainted Chinese products flood U.S. market May 20, 2007, 06:58 PM Other news, World WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) — Tainted apples and toxic mushrooms were among 107 Chinese food imports detained at U.S. ports last month, it was reported Sunday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration detained the imports, along with more than 1,000 Chinese shipments of tainted dietary supplements, toxic cosmetics and counterfeit medicines, the Washington Post reported. The FDA found dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical, frozen catfish with banned antibiotics, scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria and mushrooms covered with illegal pesticides, the Post reported....