(12-18) 02:55 PST WASHINGTON (AP) —

The farm bill approved by the Senate last week moved Congress a step closer to reopening a landmark discrimination case against the Agriculture Department.

Like its companion bill in the House, the Senate measure would give thousands of black farmers another chance at seeking compensation over claims that they were denied loans or other crop subsidies because of their race.

Critics have charged that farmers had plenty of time to win claims under the original settlement that USDA agreed to in 1999. Reopening the matter now could cost several billion dollars and reward questionable claimants who may not have suffered losses, they argue.

But advocates for black farmers say the settlement was flawed and that many farmers living in rural areas did not know of the deadline for filing claims.

So far, the provision Д tucked inside the nearly $300 billion farm bill Д has not run into significant opposition on Capitol Hill. Aides said it appears likely to survive in the final version of the bill that Congress sends to President Bush.

“For far too long, this country’s hardworking black farmers were discriminated against by our own government, and this legislation offers a chance for us to continue righting those wrongs,” Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat running for president, said in a statement.

The federal government in April 1999 settled a class action lawsuit from black farmers who claimed they were systematically denied loans and other government aid from local USDA offices. Using a review process that required a lower standard of proof than a civil suit, the department agreed to pay $50,000 plus tax benefits to farmers who could show they faced discrimination. They also set up a more stringent process for larger claims.

About two-thirds of the nearly 22,500 farmers who filed claims were awarded damages, and the government has paid almost $1 billion in compensation.

But about 74,000 additional claims were never heard because farmers missed an October 1999 deadline for filing. The pending legislation would allow those claimants to file entirely new lawsuits or to seek expedited payments of $50,000 under similar conditions as in the original settlement.

To hold down cost estimates, the legislation calls for a budget of $100 million. But that would cover just a fraction of the real cost. If most of the 74,000 late filers sought expedited claims, for example, it would take fewer than 2,000 successful claims to reach $100 million.

John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association who has pushed for the measure, said the lack of funding makes its passage “bittersweet.” But he said it “gets the cases out of nowhere land.”

“We’re looking at far more than $100 million, absolutely,” he said. “But half a loaf is better than none.”

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Д North Carolina’s crop economy will lose more than half a billion dollars in 2007 because of a drought labeled the worst in the state’s recorded history, according to a state report.

The preliminary estimates prepared for the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services found that soybean farmers suffered the biggest loss with about $130 million in damages. A total of $382 million in losses will directly hit farms while the remainder will cut into the state’s related economic activity.

The numbers did not count losses for the livestock, poultry and dairy industries that have also struggled through the drought. “These are very, very significant losses,” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said Monday.

North Carolina crops added about $3 billion to the value of the state economy in 2006, according to state statistics.

Troxler said the severe losses this year set up the industry for even more trouble next year, and the report said most of the drought’s impact will be felt in the future through poor yields and quality.

Farmers in 85 of North Carolina’s 100 counties already are eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

(12-18) 02:48 PST BEIJING, China (AP) —

Drivers waited in lines up to a half-mile long to buy gasoline in China’s mountainous southwest Tuesday amid rationing aimed at easing a fuel crunch in key export regions elsewhere.

Supplies began to run out Sunday in Yunnan province, triggering rationing, filling station employees and news reports said.

The crunch follows a diesel shortage in China’s export-driven southeast in October and November that disrupted trucking and prompted the government to order suppliers to take emergency measures.

Fuel ran short in Yunnan after a pipeline used to deliver gasoline was switched to carrying diesel in response to the shortage, the state Xinhua News Agency said. The pipeline is owned by China’s biggest refiner, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec.

The shortages have highlighted China’s soaring fuel consumption amid economic growth that is expected to top 11 percent this year and growing automobile ownership.

“Now we do not have enough fuel to sell to customers,” said an employee contacted by phone at a Sinopec filling station in Kunming, the Yunnan provincial capital.

The station limited customers to buying $40 worth of fuel, said the employee, who refused to give his name. At another Sinopec station in Kunming, an employee said the line of waiting cars stretched for a half-mile.

Trucks and buses were unaffected because Yunnan had adequate supplies of diesel, the employees said.

Supplies were expected to be restored in two to three days, Xinhua said, citing Xi Limei, an official in charge of commodities distribution for Kunming, the Yunnan provincial capital.

Phone calls to the Kunming offices of Sinopec and CNPC were not answered.

There were no reports of similar shortages in other regions and no indication of an immediate economic impact.

Yunnan, which borders Vietnam and Myanmar, is a popular tourist destination but has little industry.

Chinese oil producers have blamed the shortages on government controls that prevent them from passing on record-high global crude prices to consumers. Many processors have responded by cutting production in order to avoid losses.

Sinopec and China’s biggest oil company, China National Petroleum Corp., have imported several hundred thousand barrels of diesel to ease the shortage in the southeast. They also have promised to reconfigure refineries to produce more diesel.

Regulators raised gasoline and diesel prices by nearly 10 percent in November to curb demand but economists expect Beijing to keep controls in place in order to shield China’s poor majority from high oil prices.

The diesel shortages in Guangdong province in the southeast eased at the end of November, said filling station employees.

“We have no lines and area offering unlimited supplies to customers. There are enough supplies of both gasoline and diesel,” said an employee of the Liwang Gas Station in Guangzhou, the country’s southern business capital. He would give only his surname, Wang.

Sinopec and CNPC have asked for government approval to increase gasoline supplies to Yunnan next month to meet rising demand, the local Communist Party newspaper Kunming Daily reported.

The possibility of a full-blown takeover bid for Arsenal has moved a step closer after Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov increased his stake in the club to 21%. Having added significantly to the 14.58% holding he acquired last month from David Dein for 75m, Usmanov is now the club’s second-highest shareholder behind Danny Fiszman, on 24%.

Usmanov’s latest move, which was announced to the Stock Exchange this morning and comes hard on the heels of a 2.6m investment in Arsenal shares yesterday, raises the prospect of a fascinating struggle for boardroom control developing at the Emirates Stadium. The Russian’s joint-owned investment vehicle, Red & White Holdings, is headed by Dein, the former Arsenal vice-chairman who left the club in April following “irreconcilable differences” with fellow board members over long-term investment strategy.

Dein subsequently sold his 14.65% holding to Usmanov and the Russian’s fellow investor, Farhad Moshiri, but looks set to remain a key figure in the Arsenal equation as Usmanov makes good on his initial promise to accumulate further shares in the club.

Usmanov’s ambitions are at odds with the intentions of the Arsenal board, who signed a one-year lockdown agreement in the aftermath of Dein’s departure with a view to rebuffing the attentions of American tycoon Stan Kroenke, who owns 12.19% of the club through his company, Kroenke Sports Enterprises. Doubts persist, however, as to whether the arrangement is legally enforcable.

Usmanov’s investment underlines the potentially decisive role of Fiszman, Arsenal’s largest shareholder, in any future takeover bid. Fiszman, though, a lifelong Gunners fan, has repeatedly insisted that he remains committed to the club for the long haul.

Arsenal are set to release their best-ever financial results on Monday, with the additional revenue generated by the move to the Emirates Stadium expected to add weight to the contention of Keith Edelman, the club’s managing director, that the club does not require additional investment.