while true

The World Trade Organization agreed Saturday that it would eventually eliminate billions of dollars of farm subsidies for rich nations in a new framework for revising global trade rules aimed at helping the world's poorest people.

The framework agreement approved Saturday night amounts to the halfway point in this round of talks. Officials hope for a successful conclusion in 2006, about the time that Congress will be renewing the farm program, which will have to include the changes finally agreed to by the global trade body.