World News

Washington-- The Bush administration is crying foul over a recent Chinese directive which seems to favor Chinese industries over foreign competitors, a report says. A case in point concerns medical devices such as X-rays and pacemakers, an industry in which Americans have been having a lot of success with China sales, the New York Times said.

The June directive called for burdensome new safety inspections for foreign-made medical devices, but excluded China from the new restrictions.

Moreover, it seemed part of a recent pattern in which Chinese officials issue new rules aimed at favoring Chinese industries, the Times said.

Myron Brilliant, vice president for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, called the apparent movement "not only a threat to foreign investors but it also undermines China's transition to a market-based economy."

The American concerns are shared in Europe, also upset about the trade deficit with China.

Islamabad, Pakistan -- Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto, prevented from leading a march, called for President Pervez Musharraf's resignation, Sky News reported Tuesday.

In her first such call for the general's resignation, Bhutto told Sky News, "It is a dictatorship in Pakistan and that's why we say President Musharraf must leave."

Bhutto, confined to her residence in Lahore from where she was to lead a 170-mile long march to Islamabad to protest Musharraf's Nov. 3 emergency decree, said, "The situation in the country can only be aggravated if he stays. It's a nuclear-armed country and the military is over-extended."

Bhutto, who heads the Pakistan People's Party, also claimed more than 7,000 of her supporters had been arrested overnight. In prior statements, Bhutto had urged Musharraf only to give up his title as military chief, end the emergency decree and release political detainees.