China will not follow the U.S. energy consumption model because energy resources are limited, said Xu Dingming, vice director of the Office of the National Energy Leading Group.

Xu made the remark at an MIT Energy Forum in Shanghai on Tuesday. He said if Chinese people consumed energy like their U.S. counterparts, China would need 4.5 billion tons of oil per year. However, the annual global oil supply is just four billion tons with only 1.6 billion tons in commercial circulation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese citizens owned nearly 30 million private cars at the end of last year.

With annual oil consumption of two tons per vehicle and a 20 percent growth in car numbers per year, the transportation sector could become a large energy consumer in the future, warned the official.

Xu pointed out that westerners account for only 15 percent of the world's population but used the lion's share of the world's energy to power their industrial processes.

Reproducible energies are strongly recommended by experts and conservationists. China plans to raise the proportion of reproducible energies in its total energy consumption to 16 percent by 2020.

DaimlerChrysler acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday it is talking with prospective buyers of its loss-making Chrysler unit, but it did not commit itself to a sale of the US business.

"I can confirm that we are talking with some of the potential partners who have shown a clear interest," Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche told the annual meeting of the world's fifth-biggest carmaker.

"But it is also true that we need to keep all options open, and that I cannot disclose any details, because we need to have the maximum scope for manoeuvre," he said.

"So far I am satisfied with the process. Everything is going according to plan." But critical shareholders wanted action.

"If Chrysler is finally led before the divorce court judge, we would be very grateful. But what happens if you don't find a new bridegroom or if he demands an inappropriately high dowry," asked Henning Gebhardt, head of German equities for Deutsche Bank fund managment arm DWS.

Deutsche Bank has a voting stake of around 4.4 percent in DaimlerChrysler.

Hans-Richard Schmitz, representing shareholder activist group DSW, told Zetsche a Chrysler sale was pressing to ensure DaimlerChrysler did not itself become a takeover target.

"You can do the job yourself or a financial investor will come along and do the job for you," he said.

DaimlerChrysler stock eased 0.3 percent to 61.84 euros while the DJ Stoxx European car sector index was up 0.3 percent.

Prospects of a deal that would reduce the group's exposure to Chrysler's volatile earnings have helped the stock outperform the index by 10 percent so far this year.

Selling Chrysler would unwind the spectacular 1998 merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler that never lived up to its billing by former Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp as a marriage made in car heaven.

Despite the recent surge, the stock trades around 14 percent below the level where it made its market debut in November 1998.

The company did not reveal who had expressed interest in Chrysler since DaimlerChrysler first said in mid-February it was examining all options for the US business.

Waiting in the wings: Sources close to the situation have told Reuters that private equity groups Cerberus Capital Management and The Blackstone Group plus Canadian car parts group Magna International Inc are front runners to buy Chrysler.

The Detroit News paper said Cerberus, Blackstone and Magna had submitted formal offers and that DaimlerChrysler was expected to choose one bidder for exclusive negotiations by the end of April, hoping to get around $8 billion for Chrysler.

DaimlerChrysler reiterated its forecast for a significant increase in group profitability through 2009.

Chrysler will absorb restructuring charges of up to 1 billion euros ($1.33 billion) in 2007, but its loss from operating activities is expected to be less than in 2006, when it lost 1.12 billion euros, the company has said in the past.

Its restructuring plan will cut 13,000 jobs and close a plant as it tries to return to profit by 2008.

Consumers' shift to fuel-thrifty cars amid high pump prices hit Chrysler, the most reliant of the Detroit carmakers on light trucks and sport utility vehicles for profits.

Its US sales fell 8 percent in March when adjusted for selling days, and first-quarter sales were off 6.9 percent.

South Korea's benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose by 19.66 points to a record high of 1,483.41 on Wednesday.

The volume of the KOSPI was moderate at 347.3 million shares worth 4.49 trillion won (4.79 billion U.S. dollars).

The rises are mainly driven by foreign investors' buying of tech and financial shares on overnight rallies in U.S. markets, analysts said.

On Wednesday, tech shares led the market's advance. Industry leader Samsung Electronics increased by 3.66 percent to 595,000 won on reports that its business will likely improve thanks to a rebound in computer memory chips. The Hynix Semiconductor also rose 2.11 percent to 33,800 won.

The local currency closed at 936.3 won to one U.S. dollar, up 0.4 won from Tuesday's close.

Sinclair, and refinery managers Kapura and Connell, previously admitted to knowingly manipulating the refinery processes, wastewater flows, and wastewater discharges to result in unrepresentative wastewater samplings during mandatory testing required under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. The manipulated samplings were intended to influence analytical testing results reported to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"Companies and their employees have a legal obligation to abide by the laws that protect our rivers and waterways from the harmful effects of pollution," said Matthew J. McKeown, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Justice Department will continue to prosecute companies who fail to comply with the laws that protect our environment from illegal pollution."

"Accurate information is essential for EPA to assure compliance with environmental regulations," said Granta Nakayama, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "By falsifying wastewater sampling results, Sinclair undermined our efforts to protect the public and the environment."

"The investigation and prosecution of Sinclair Tulsa Refining Company should make it clear that corporations and their employees must play by the rules," Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said. "Today's sentences protect Oklahoma from future pollution, and it provides money for the Tulsa River Parks Authority. My hope is that the money will be used so we can enjoy this precious natural resource for generations to come."

According to the criminal information and plea agreement filed on December 13, 2006, between January 2000 and March 2004, the Sinclair refinery discharged an average of 1.1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into the Arkansas River. Under the CWA, Sinclair was permitted to discharge treated wastewater into the Arkansas River, pursuant to certain limitations and conditions, which include scheduled monitoring and required sampling during weekdays. According to the information, on numerous occasions in 2002 and 2003, Sinclair directed employees to limit wastewater discharges in order to manipulate the result of required bio-testing. During monitoring periods, Sinclair, by way of its employees, reduced flow rates of wastewater discharges to the river, and diverted more heavily contaminated wastewater to holding impoundments, among other means of ensuring that they had passed the tests.

Sinclair Oil Corporation is a privately owned oil refinery located in Tulsa, Okla. Although the refinery is headquartered in Salt Lake City, it is incorporated in the state of Wyoming. Sinclair has owned and operated the Tulsa refinery since 1983.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the Oklahoma Attorney General's Environmental Protection Unit. The case was prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resources Division and the Northern District of Oklahoma United States Attorney's Office.

The UK hacker behind unprecedented cyberattacks on US military and NASA computer systems in late 2001 and early 2002 lost an appeal Tuesday in the UK High Court to avoid extradition to the US. Last May, a UK judge recommended extradition for Gary McKinnon to face criminal charges in a US court as a cyber-terrorist, allegedly causing $700,000 in damages. UK Home Secretary John Reid quickly approved the extradition recommendation.

McKinnon will apply to have his case heard before the UK House of Lords as one last chance to avoid extradition. If extradited and convicted in US courts, McKinnon may face serving his entire sentence in US prisons because of the cyber-terrorist charges. McKinnon admits that he hacked into US computer systems seeking evidence that the US concealed evidence of UFOs and other "hidden technology," but claims the level of damages asserted by the US is "ridiculous."

The state of North Carolina is violating international freedom of association labor standards by prohibiting governmental entities from bargaining with unions, according to a decision released Tuesday by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the labor standards branch of the United Nations. North Carolina General Statute section 95-98 states:

Any agreement, or contract, between the governing authority of any city, town, county, or other municipality, or between any agency, unit, or instrumentality thereof, or between any agency, instrumentality, or institution of the State of North Carolina, and any labor union, trade union, or labor organization, as bargaining agent for any public employees of such city, town, county or other municipality, or agency or instrumentality of government, is hereby declared to be against the public policy of the State, illegal, unlawful, void and of no effect. (1959, c. 742.)
The ILO decision, which is not technically binding on North Carolina, requested that North Carolina repeal the statute.

The Public Service Workers Union and its parent union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), brought the complaint in 2005.

The law firm of Phillips Lytle LLP, a full service law firm with statewide coverage has named Karen A. DiNardo as partner effective immediately.

Ms. DiNardo focuses in the areas of real estate transactions and financing including acquisitions, dispositions, development, secured lending and leasing for commercial, industrial, residential, mobile home and retail projects. She attended Albany Law School of Union University and received her B.S., magna cum laude, from Niagara University. Ms. DiNardo is a member of the American and Monroe County Bar Associations and serves as membership committee co-chair of the Real Property Section of the New York State Bar Association. A resident of Webster, she is also a member of the Women's Council of Realtors.

Phillips Lytle is a full-service law firm with seven offices across New York State in Rochester, Albany, Buffalo, Chautauqua, Garden City and New York City. With the farthest geographic reach of any law firm in the state of New York, they are well equipped to meet the needs of their clients.