CHINA WARNS CONGRESS OVER DENIAL OF TRADE RIGHTS.(MAIN)

Byline: -- Associated Press

BEIJING -- Congress' denial of permanent low-tariff trading rights wouldn't deter China's resolve to join the World Trade Organization and could cause the United States to gamble away business opportunities for a generation, China's foreign trade minister said Monday.

If Congress rejects normal trade relations, Beijing could invoke a WTO rule allowing it to deny U.S. companies access to the Chinese market, causing the United States ``regret for 20 years, for a generation,'' Shi Guangsheng suggested.

Shi's comments were the clearest indication so far that China intends to seek …

Rise of the machines; Lower costs and better software enable robots to play a larger manufacturing role.(Insight)

Byline: Dale Jewett

General Motors' Grand River assembly plant in Lansing, Mich., is the birthplace of the Cadillac CTS and STS sedans and the SRX sport wagon.

The robotic fixtures in the plant's body shop that hold the steel panels in place for welding are smart enough to construct a CTS in one cycle and follow it with an SRX in the next - without a long and expensive changeover.

The body building system, which GM calls C-Flex, can build up to 24 variations, a level of flexibility that the plant's T-shaped general assembly line can't handle, acknowledges Ken Knight, the plant's manager.

But the savings from C-Flex are so great - body shops can be up to 150,000 square feet smaller and the cost of introducing a product to the line can drop as much as $100 million - that GM has installed the system in six U.S. assembly plants in the past three years.

Plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Orion, Mich., will begin using C-Flex this fall with the start of production of the Chevrolet Co-balt and Pontiac G6, respectively.

Flexibility is at the heart of automakers' and suppliers' manufacturing strategies. A combination of falling hardware prices and more capable software is enabling robots and automated systems to play a larger role in manufacturing.

With the addition of vision and force-sensing technologies, …

Djokovic thrashes Chardy to open Wimbledon bid

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Novak Djokovic joined the rest of the big four of men's tennis in the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday by comfortably beating Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

Second-seeded Djokovic didn't play any grass-court warm-up tournaments but showed no sign of rust against the No. …

ICO GROUP MEETS ON NEW AGREEMENT

The Group, established under the provisions of Resolution number 355 of the International Coffee Organization, met …

Recovery likely to fuel ad growth.(Business)

Byline: SETH SUTEL Associated Press

NEW YORK - Advertising spending seems set to grow at a robust pace next year as the economic recovery continues, even without the windfall from the Summer Olympics and the presidential election that triggered a surge in spending this year, a leading ad forecaster said Monday.

Bob Coen, a senior vice president at Universal McCann, pre dicted that U.S. advertising would rise 6.4 percent next year to $280.6 billion as national advertisers loosen their purse strings following several years of restraint. Local advertising, however, will be weaker as major local advertisers such as retailers remain cautious. The 2005 growth …

Thermoforming toolmaker takes on machine distribution.(Thermoforming)

PATTERN Forme of Taunton, which makes tooling for thermoformed packaging, has become British, Irish, French and Spanish agent for a range of Polish-built thermoforming machines.

Initially only one model from the TES range built by Tepro is available, the servomotor-driven, PLC-controlled TES 805. However it is anticipated the 605 and 405 machines will be available in the same format later this year.

Features of the TES series include a …

Want a singer who shares your views? Grab a mike

'Our goal is to change the direction of the government and changethe current administration come November." -- Bruce Springsteen,writing a guest editorial in Rolling Stone magazine.

Attention, all Bush-loving conservatives!

We need to talk about your taste in music. Do you have anything byany of the following artists: Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, theDixie Chicks, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Usher, Pearl Jam, R.E.M.,Five for Fighting, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Ben Harper and theInnocent Criminals, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt,Jurassic 5, Keb' Mo' and/or Death Cab for Cutie.

If so, I regret to inform you that you cannot listen to them …