The Beijing Catholic diocese ordained young and energetic Joseph Li Shan as its new bishop on September 21.

At a grand consecration ceremony held at the 400-year-old Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Beijing, Li took a traditional oath of service to the church before more than 1,000 attendees. He also pledged that he would lead the faithful of this most prominent Catholic diocese on the Chinese mainland in maintaining "national unity and social stability."

Li, 42, was elected bishop by priests and nuns of the Beijing diocese and representatives of Church followers on July 16, after his predecessor Michael Fu Tieshan died in April. He won 74 out of the 93 votes to overwhelm three other candidates in the election conducted in line with procedures devised by the China Catholic Bishops College.

Liu Bainian, Vice President of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association that is vested with the power to approve the appointment of bishops in China, has described Li as a "compassionate and loving" person who is a good choice for the Beijing bishopric.

Born and nurtured in a religious family, Li graduated from the Chinese Catholic Academy of Theology and Philosophy and was ordained by Bishop Fu as a priest in 1989. He is incumbent vice chairman of the Beijing Church Affairs Committee, and also a deputy to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the local parliament.

More than 170 bishops have been independently selected and ordained by the Chinese Catholics since 1958 when they cut economic and political relations with the Vatican. China insists that a precondition to an improvement of Sino-Vatican relations is the Holy See's termination of its so-called diplomatic links with Taiwan and refraining from interfering in China's internal affairs, including any intervention under the pretext of religious affairs.

China now has 5 million Catholic followers under 97 dioceses, with 50,000 in the Beijing diocese.

"Chinese Catholics want to select those with good religious knowledge and love toward the country and the people."

Liu Bainian, Vice President ofthe Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, revealing the criterion for the Chinese Catholic society in selecting candidates for bishopric

"I'm sure he (Bishop Joseph Li Shan) will do a great job in uniting and leading us."

Sun Xiang'en, a Beijing priest who helped train Li as a seminarian, saying on the sidelines of the new bishop's consecration ceremony

"Mattel takes fullresponsibility for these recalls and apologizes

personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys."

Thomas Debrowski, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations for toymaker Mattel Inc, apologizing on September 21 in a meeting with Minister Li Changjiang of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The U.S.company's recalls of about 21 million Chinese-made toys over five weeks have stoked complaints that lax Chinese quality controls threatened foreign consumers

"Credit conditions may not normalize soon, and some of the practices that have developed in the structured credit markets will haveto change."

Global Financial Stability Report released by the International Monetary Fund on September 24, warning that global economic instability stemming from credit-market turmoil in the United States is "likely to be protracted"

"France has not been well managed for a long time."

European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet, a former French central banker, warning in a September 23 interview on Europe 1 Radio that France's public finances were in "very great difficulty" with the worst public spending to output ratio in the European Union

"I am always surprised when people get depressed rather than energized to do something. It's not too late to stabilize climate."

James Hansen, climate scientist with U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, who forecasts some of the bleakest outlooks on global warming, saying in a recent e-mail. The UN Climate Change Conference scheduled in Indonesia's Bali in December is poised to jump-start talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to curb climate-warming emissions

"Well, here I am…nobody knows when they will die."

Cuban President Fidel Castro, mocking rumors of his death in a TV interview on September 21, after a lengthy absence from public view of nearly four months