No ping pong crisis

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom played a friendly game of ping-pong with Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing, following an official meeting. Zhaoxing won 11-to-8. Shalom said he was glad to have lost, and said a "diplomatic crisis has been avoided." In other sports news, the Israeli foreign ministry team beat China, 4-to-1. (Diana Bahur-Nir)