[originaltext] Some 2,500 mourners chanted anti-Syrian slogans yesterday at

Some 2,500 mourners chanted anti-Syrian slogans yesterday at the funeral of a Lebanese legislator killed in a car bomb attack that increased tension with Damascus and deepened Lebanon’s political crisis.
    Walid Eido was the seventh anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated since February 2005 when former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed in a suicide truck bombing.
    There was no Syrian comment but a UN envoy visiting Damascus said after talks with officials that Syria condemned Wednesday’s bombing near a Beirut beach club in which Eido, his eldest son, two bodyguards and six passers-by were killed.
    California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that a comprehensive immigration reform should carefully consider California’s need for foreign talents in innovation-based industries.
    In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Schwarzenegger urged them to "carefully consider the critical issues that affect the burgeoning innovation economy in California while developing comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens our borders and develops a practical way to deal with the undocumented residents who are already here".
    "My greatest concern, though, is with the proposal for a new points-based ’green card’ system designed to encourage the immigration of workers with training and skills in the key areas," he said.
    Several heads of state and governments from West Africa will Friday take part in the 32nd summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria, according to the Togolese government website Republicoftogo. com.
    "The heads of state and government will examine the new ECOWAS’ strategic vision, which constitutes the framework for fostering integration within the West African region," according to a statement published by the 15-member community.
    In 2002, the ECOWAS set the goal for establishing a free trade area by 2004 and a fully-fledged customs union by 2007. Currently, member countries seem to have difficulties in implementing these ambitious goals. For example, a national from one country cannot stay for more than 90 days in another member country without a visa. The free movement of goods and services is almost non-existent and each country has its own unique custom regulations.
    The European Union (EU) has suspended its humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and urged all Palestinian parties to end violence, the European Commission (EC) announced on Thursday.
    On Thursday, EU Commissioner for Development Louis Michel announced that the EU’s ceased all 16 of its relief projects in the territory funded by the EC’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) due to the lack of security, for the first time ever. Last year, the commission provided 84 million euros (112 million US dollars) for humanitarian operations in the Palestinian Territories and 60 million euros has been earmarked for this year so far.
    Michel also condemned the death of two UN Relief and Works Agency employees caught in the crossfire.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a joint Russia-US anti-missile radar site in Azerbaijan is not an alternative to the US plan to deploy missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe, said NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday.
    "I don’t think that the offer by President Putin—the proposal he made in Heiligendamm on the Azeri radar site—is going to replace, or be an alternative to the bilateral negotiations going on between the US and Poland, and the US and the Czech Republic," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.
    US Defense Secretary Bill Gates told the meeting that Putin’s proposal should be discussed first by American and Russian technical experts, said de Hoop Scheffer.
6. How many anti-Syrian figures have been assassinated since February 2005?
7. What is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s greatest concern on the immigration reform?
8. Which one of the following statements is true about the difficulties ECOWAS member countries seem to have currently?
9. Why has the European Union (EU) suspended its humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip?
10. Where did Russian President Vladimir Putin make his proposal for a joint Russia-US anti-missile radar site?