A Ford spokesman said: "That is speculation. And we don't comment on speculation."

Earlier in August, Ford said it hired mergers and acquisitions expert Kenneth Leet as an adviser to Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. to explore strategic alternatives for the automaker. The Ford family owns about 5 percent of Ford's shares and controls about 40 percent of the voting power through a separate class of stock.

"I think that speculation exists because it's possible," Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan said of the article. "And with where the market is right now, private equity could come in and snap Ford up pretty quickly. But would it do Ford any good? I don't think so."

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company, which has not gained U.S. market share since 1995, is under pressure to speed up cost-cutting efforts after a $254 million loss in the second quarter and worse-than-expected July U.S. sales.

Ford's U.S. vehicle sales have fallen almost 10 percent through July, a month in which Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. outsold Ford for the first time.

Battling shrinking U.S. market share and rising costs, Ford has said it will accelerate its turnaround plan, dubbed the "Way Forward," to respond to weakening U.S. demand for fuel-hungry trucks and SUVs amid high gasoline prices.

The automaker also last week said it would cut fourth-quarter production to its lowest level in 25 years.

Shares of Ford were up 13 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $7.89 in Thursday afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

NO BENEFITS IN GOING PRIVATE?

"It looks as if financially it would be something they could do," Margaret Patel, senior vice president at Pioneer Investments said of the USA Today article. "What they would accomplish by becoming a private company as it relates to cars I'm not really sure. Except for being out of the public eye, I don't know that there would be material benefits," Patel said.

Peter Morici, a professor of business studies at the University of Maryland, said going private would not solve Ford's fundamental problems.

"The labor cost and stale product issues would remain. Going private could actually hasten the demise of Ford if it removed market pressures to deal with these issues," he said.

Separately, some newspapers reported on Thursday that Bill Ford had called Carlos Ghosn, who heads both Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., to discuss a possible alliance.

The reports said Ford had recently called Ghosn to say that if ongoing alliance talks among Nissan, Renault and General Motors Corp. faltered, Ghosn should consider talking to Ford instead of GM.

Limited teams of GM, Renault and Nissan executives are currently studying the possible benefits of an alliance and are expected to report back to Ghosn and GM CEO Rick Wagoner by mid-October.

"Whether they go private, or change management, it won't do anything," Tynan said. "Ghosn could turn around Nissan because he could just go in and start throwing stuff to the curb. But here, you have to deal with the United Auto Workers union. You cannot just slash jobs and close plants."

Ford has acknowledged courting Ghosn for a senior post at the automaker, an offer that Ghosn declined.

One obstacle to a Nissan-Renault alliance with Ford could be the controlling stake that the Ford family has in Ford Motor, analysts said.

Ghosn has said that he would want to take a substantial stake in GM under a potential alliance. A similar deal with Ford would require the support of the founding family, which controls the board through ownership of a separate class of stock.

U.S. crude for October delivery was up 55 cents at $72.91 a barrel by 0237 GMT, after gaining 60 cents on Thursday. London Brent crude for October rose 32 cents to $73 a barrel.

A spinning band of squalls in the southeastern Caribbean was on the verge of becoming Tropical Storm Ernesto by Friday, expected to head northwest toward the Gulf of Mexico by the middle of next week, forecasters said.

"Traders have turned their focus from comfortable inventory levels in the U.S. to storm activity out in the Atlantic," said Tobin Gorey of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Forecasters expected Tropical Storm Debby to strengthen and possibly become the season's first hurricane, but saw its path heading away from the U.S. Gulf Coast, where production was battered by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

U.S. oil output fell 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Wednesday when BP cut its Prudhoe Bay production to 110,000 bpd after a technical fault that would last several days. The Alaskan field had previously been running at about half its normal capacity after pipeline corrosion. The reduced output helped push down U.S. crude oil stocks last week, though the drop was smaller-than-expected.

The two-day price rally shrugged off a near 2 percent slide mid-week after U.S. gasoline inventories unexpectedly rose 400,000 barrels to ease worries about stocks being run down by northern summer demand.

IRAN WORRY

Germany added European weight to U.S. displeasure with Iran's reply to proposals by world powers aimed at ending a nuclear standoff, saying on Thursday Tehran's insistence on enriching uranium hindered a negotiated solution.

Germany's stance was significant as it is seen as the Western power least keen to resort to sanctions. The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran halt its nuclear work by a deadline of August 31 or it could face sanctions, which traders fear could lead Iran to disrupt oil supplies.

U.S. crude prices have risen 19 percent this year on fears over Iran's supplies and reduced Nigerian output, though prices have fallen back from a record-high of $78.40 in July after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

At least 508,000 bpd or about a sixth of Nigeria's output capacity has been shut in due to militant attacks and pipeline leaks this year. Gunmen kidnapped an Italian oil worker in Nigeria on Thursday, the latest in a string of abductions.

"Events over the past few days in Nigeria suggest that the risk of further production losses is growing again," said Barclays Capital.

The head of one of the country's oil workers unions said this week that the unions may pull their members from the oil-producing Niger Delta on safety fears.

Steve Graham, iSoft's commercial director, was suspended today after an initial review pending the outcome of a more formal investigation, amid the company's growing accounting problems.

The company yesterday confirmed a Guardian newspaper report that it was under investigation by the Financial Services Authority for possible breaches of accounting standards.

John Weston, the chairman and acting chief executive, said: "The second half of the financial year ended 30 April 2006 was a turbulent period for iSOFT and long-term shareholders will be feeling deeply disappointed by the events of recent months."

The Manchester firm has been bedevilled by problems in its ambitious £6.2bn project to upgrade computer systems for the NHS, one of the world's biggest projects of its kind.

Installation dates for an early wave of patient-administration computer systems at 21 acute hospital trusts - almost half using iSoft - software have already been subject to widespread delays, only a month after deadlines were published.

The NHS had initially planned to have more than 100 acute hospitals operating patient-administration systems and clinical systems by April this year.

iSoft announced its £343.8m before-tax loss in the year to April 30 after writing down the value of a major acquisition in 2004. A change in accounting policies also meant £174m of revenues booked since 2003 will now be put off for future years.

"As a result of work carried out by our auditors to review the adjustment to past revenues, possible accounting irregularities have come to light which have been the subject of an investigation by Deloitte & Touche LLP and Eversheds LLP," iSoft said.

The company was able to publish the results today - the deadline for their release - after banks extended current lending facilities into next year.

iSoft said: "The new arrangements with our banks will now provide us with the short-term platform from which to address the long-term future of the company."

The company's recent problems dated back to January, when it issued a statement warning of a sharp reduction in revenues and profits for the year ending in April because of delays to the NHS computer upgrade.

"The sheer scale of the project and its pioneering aspects have resulted in delays to the delivery schedule for a wide variety of reasons, some of which are beyond iSoft's control," the company said.

The growing obesity crisis is expected to cause thousands more people to suffer related diseases like cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Media regulator Ofcom is consulting on possibly restricting junk food adverts, including during programmes broadcast before 9pm and aimed at children.

However, the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, indicated today that the government would not be pushing strongly for curbs on advertising. She argued about the importance of personal responsibility in the battle against obesity.

Ms Hewitt said lifestyle was important and spoke about the importance of exercise. Fast food firms such as McDonald's who oppose curbs on advertising have long made similar arguments.

Ms Hewitt said Ofcom and the government would have to assess how far advertising actually influenced the choices children made.

"We need to look certainly at the impact on broadcasting and whether that would actually damage children's television programming which, in itself, is extremely important. We need to balance those different things and then we'll make a decision," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

However, several health charities and campaigners called for tougher action by the government on advertising. Richard Watts, from the campaign for a children's food bill, which is backed by 286 MPs and about 170 organisations including charities, attacked the government's line on advertising.

He said: "Progress on these fronts is so slow because the government seems determined not to upset the powerful food industry. The time has come to stop pussy-footing about and take the urgent action we need."

Maura Gillespie, head of policy and public affairs at the British Heart Foundation, also repeated their call for tighter restrictions on food advertising.

"We are demanding the government place restrictions on advertising junk food to children before the 9pm watershed - a policy that can only have a positive impact on young people's attitudes to foods high in fat, sugar and salt."

Today's figures show a total of 22% of girls and 19% of boys aged between two and 15 will be regarded as obese by 2010. A third of all men will be obese - rising from 4 million to 7 million in the next four years.

The report says around a third of adults and a fifth of all children will be obese, citing statistics from the health survey for England. In the past, major health problems such as cholera, typhoid and polio had to be tackled by government, Ms Hewitt said.

However, she added: "These days, our health depends at least as much on what each of us do for ourselves and our children as it does what the government and NHS does for us."

Asked why the government had taken a hard line on banning smoking but seemed reluctant to intervene on the same scale to tackle obesity, Ms Hewitt said there was a "critical difference".

"Having some crisps occasionally, having some chocolate because you enjoy it occasionally, is not going to do you any great health harm, whereas smoking a little bit is always going to do you health harm.

"There is also quite an important debate and a lot of mixed evidence about how far advertising of food actually does affect the choices children and their parents make."

The Government has announced it will sell $8 billion worth of its shares in October and November and the rest will be transferred into the Future Fund, to sell down over time.

The Opposition's finance spokesman Lindsay Tanner says the Government's decision to proceed with the sale is bad news.

"This is a politically driven fire sale and it's characteristic that it's been announced at 5:00pm on a Friday afternoon to minimise media coverage," he said.

Confident

But the Finance Minister Nick Minchin says he is confident the Government can provide good returns for taxpayers by selling off part of its majority stakeholding in Telstra.

Senator Minchin says shifting all of the shares into the Future Fund would have had an ongoing effect on the share price.

"We are doing our best to minimise the number of shares that will go in the Future Fund," he said.

"It's one of the reasons why, instead of putting the whole 51 per cent in the Future Fund, we are offering a portion of our holding to the public."

The Prime Minister John Howard says the next sale of Telstra shares will be beneficial for shareholders and potential buyers.

Mr Howard says the Government believes it can achieve an appropriate return for taxpayers.

"If we had not gone ahead with the sale now, the effect on the share price would have been quite significant," he said.

Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie has issued a statement saying the sale is in the best interests of the company's shareholders, customers and staff.

'Second-best'

Liberal backbencher Don Randall says the Government has made the wrong decision.

"I think we've had the second-best option," he said.

"I think it should have been all or nothing - we should have either totally got rid of our exposure to Telstra or we should have put the whole lot in the Future Fund.

"Now we're sort of half pregnant - we're exposed to Telstra and it's out-of-control board."

Mr Howard says the Government's shares would have been sold earlier at a higher price if opposition parties had not blocked the legislation.

"We think, and everybody that has tasted it agrees, that 2005 is an exceptional vintage," said Paul Pontallier, general director of Chateau Margaux, one of five producers to carry the distinguished first-growth label.

The influential American wine critic Robert Parker awarded Chateau Margaux 96-100 out of a maximum of 100 after a tasting in the spring.

Vintners Berry Brothers and Rudd in London is selling cases (12 bottles) of Chateau Margaux for 5,340 pounds ($9,430). That is an increase of 540 pounds from the end of June when the wine 'en primeur' (still in casks) first went on sale at the highest release price for Chateau Margaux.

The most expensive year before 2005 was in 2000 when the release price was 2,000 pounds a case. A case of 2004 Chateau Margaux en primeur went for 1,080 pounds.

TOO EXPENSIVE?

The chateaux, which set the initial prices for the wine before selling it on to their distributors, have been criticized for being greedy.

"It's too much for me, because what happens on vintages like that is that it becomes a vintage where the French consumer can no longer buy," said Yannick Branchereau, director of Lavinia France, a vintner in Paris.

"When you have a first class vintage that goes beyond 500 euros before tax, when you don't even have a bottle of wine yet, that is very expensive."

The market for top end Bordeaux is dominated by wealthy foreigners, some buying for investment purposes.

Pontallier and other producers defend their pricing policies which they say take account of market conditions, and in 2005 a drought which led to a smaller harvest.

"We had remarkable weather. It was very dry and hot," he said. "It was an exceptional year, there was enormous demand and there was a reduced supply."

Strong economic growth in many countries helped to support demand and vineyards are attracting new interest from rich businessmen in Asia and eastern Europe.

"We have two huge markets which are just starting to skim the surface for drinking the top wines -- China and Russia," said Simon Staples, sales director at Berry Brothers in London.

"We've got people walking into our shop saying they want to buy a cellar please, and it's 2.3 million pounds and they just want the best. They don't want the 20-30 euros bottle of wine. That's not what cooks their biscuit."

Time will tell whether the Bordeaux 2005 will turn out to be a good investment. If it proves to be a classic vintage once it has been bottled, it should continue to rise in value.

A case of Chateau Latour from 1982 now costs around 10,000 pounds a case and its value should continue to rise because of its rarity. Staples said his company just sold a case of Chateau Latour from 1961 for 36,000 pounds.

One threat to the 2005 prices could come from this year's crop, which is still on the vines and also looks promising.

If 2006 turned out to be another good one, it might undermine the stratospheric prices for 2005.

"The conditions we have seen up till now, and we're still a month away from the harvest, have been less exceptional than in 2005 but still correspond to a good vintage," said Pontallier.

The ban, which could be applied nationally from January 1, 2007, would bring France into step with several other European countries that have agreed to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces.

"That's going to happen" for France, too, Bertrand was quoted as saying in the daily Le Figaro.

But some in the tobacco and bar industries speaking to AFP called for exemptions for certain types of bar and suggested compromise measures.

"The problem is no longer whether to ban or not to ban," Didier Chenet, president of the Synhorcat national hospitality sector union, told AFP.

Instead, he said, employers in the sector must avoid falling foul of a 2005 ruling obliging employers to protect their employees from second-hand smoke in their establishments.

The head of France's tobacco producers' federation René le Pape said that air-purifiers would be an "effective solution" for protecting workers in smoky bars.

The UMIH association representing the hospitality industry meanwhile said bars could install smoking rooms in which staff were not required to serve.

"It is up to the restaurant owner to decide if his establishment will be smoking or not, to advertise it and to adapt according to his customers," said UMIH head Andre Daguin.

The ban, which could be applied nationally from January 1, 2007, would bring France into step with Britain, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Sweden, which have all imposed or are preparing to impose bans on smoking in enclosed public spaces.

The newspaper said the government was planning a decree announcing the new law, but would make exceptions for bars that sell cigarettes, casinos and nightclubs.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's office stressed that "nothing is yet definitively decided," the daily reported, but said "the timetable is known", pointing to a parliamentary report on the issue due to be submitted next month.

News of the possible ban came after a study published Saturday by Britain's scientific review the Lancet which said that smoking triples the risk of heart attacks and all sorts of smoking - including passive smoking - was bad for the heart.

France has long shed its image of a country of smoky bars and cafes, though tobacco addiction is still a big problem despite successive government price rises that have made packets of cigarettes among the most expensive in Europe.

Smoking kills 61,000 people a year in the country and another 5,000 die of second-hand smoke, according to the health minister.

French cigarette consumption unexpectedly rose this year after four years of decline.

"I'm very satisfied with the cooperation with China in the oil and petrochemical fields," Chavez told reporters after the ceremony, vowing to increase oil exports to China to 500,000 barrels per day in the near future.

During talks with Hu, Chavez said Venezuela would make concerted efforts with China to implement their proposals and strengthen cooperation in bilateral and multi-lateral areas so as to develop the bilateral strategic partnership.

Venezuela hoped to expand cooperation in energy, railway construction, telecommunications, agriculture, tourism, culture and education, and develop the bilateral high-level mixed committee into an important platform for enhancing cooperation, Chavez said.

As this year marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Sino-Venezuelan strategic partnership, Hu also offered a four-point proposal.

The first was to strengthen high-level exchanges and expand strategic consensus.

The Chinese side would work with Venezuela to expand exchanges and cooperation between governments, legislatures and political parties and strengthen dialogue, consultation and coordination on major issues of common concern, Hu said.

The second was to deepen reciprocal cooperation and speed up common development.

The Chinese side will join Venezuela in improving the functions of the bilateral high-level mixed committee, implementing cooperative projects, and exploring cooperation in railway construction, shipbuilding, oil machinery manufacturing and high technology, Hu said.

He also pledged that China would encourages enterprises to invest in Venezuela and welcome Venezuelan businesses to China.

China would work with Venezuela to explore their potentials and expand cooperation for better economic and social benefits, Hu added.

The third point was to enhance cultural exchanges and mutual understanding with expanded cultural, education, science, technology, media, and tourism exchanges.

The fourth was to strengthen international cooperation, especially coordination in international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the Organization of American States, Hu said.

Hu said Sino-Venezuelan relations had grown comprehensively and deepened with frequent exchanges of high-level visits, increasing political trust, substantial progress in cooperation, and sound cooperation in international and regional affairs.

Hu expressed his appreciation for the Venezuelan government's adherence to the one-China policy and firm support for China on major issues such as Taiwan.

Chavez said the development of bilateral relations has entered a new stage as the two countries strengthened political mutual trust, economic and trade cooperation, cultural exchanges and people-to-people friendship.

He said the Venezuelan government would continue to abide by the one-China policy.

Chavez arrived in Beijing as Hu's guest on Tuesday night, starting a six-day state visit to China.

He will also visit the eastern province of Shandong.

Chavez previously visited China in October 1999, May 2001, and December 2004.

Editor: Yang Lei

China has already launched opium replacement planting schemes with Myanmar and Laos and other neighboring countries. Rubber, tea and other crops were grown as substitutes.

Last year, China trained 135 agricultural and medical staff for northern Myanmar and helped to increase planting areas by more than 5,000 mu (about 333 hectares) in the opium planting region.

The government also sponsored five-million-yuan (625,000 U.S. dollars) aid program for opium replacement with Myanmar in 2005.

With the help of China and the international community, Laos has realized its goal of banning opium production.

"Supporting other countries' opium replacement planting is conducive to eradicating narcotics in China and its international cooperation in drug control," said Zhang Xinfeng, Vice Minister of Public Security.

China was experiencing an increase in drug trafficking from the Golden Triangle, an area along the Mekong River delta, including Myanmar and Laos, and the Golden Crescent area in western Asia.

Almost all the heroin traded illegally in China came from the two regions, Zhang said, adding that drugs from the Golden Triangle were "pouring" in, posing a great threat to the country's drug control efforts.

The number of drug takers grew 35 percent in the five years since 2000 to 1.16 million in early 2005, according to police data. Police estimates indicate China has more than 700,000 heroin addicts, 69 percent of whom are under the age of 35.

The draft law stipulates that Chinese police should share information with other countries and international organizations and enhance collaboration in investigations.

The bill also requires Chinese authorities to share the seizures and the revenues from drug crimes with other countries and regions in operations outside its border.