The rescue headquarters said that gas outburst caused the explosion in the Xinxing Coal Mine owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group.

The company has updated the number of miners who escaped the accident to415 from the previously reported 389.

It said that 528 miners were working under the mine, when the explosion occurred at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have made instructions on the rescue work. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang is on way to the site.

The mine is located over 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin. Xinhua's reporters are on the way to the accident site.

The Hegang subsidiary of Longmei is a state-owned mining company with an annual coal output ...]]> China Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:15:26 +0800 /articles/09/1121/197966/MTk3OTY2Zz6XJ020.html The apparent suicide of an education bureau director who had been struggling to find heating fuel has highlighted the shortage of coal at schools in Yuxian county, Hebei province.

Ge Xiang, 40, is understood to have slashed his wrist at his home on Wednesday afternoon after an attempt to buy coal at a nearby coalmine failed, the Hebei Youth Daily reported on Friday.

A teacher surnamed Lian at Xiheying Middle School said the mine has not provided schools with reduced-price coal.

"Our coal will be used up next Tuesday or Wednesday and we still have to find more to keep the classrooms warm," he told China Daily on Friday.

Previously, schools in Yuxian got approval from the county government to buy low-cost coal from nearby mines. But after a blast last year at a coalmine killed 35, mines in the county have undergone an overhaul that left the county government with a deficit. Since then, schools have had to find their ...]]> China Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:15:05 +0800 /articles/09/1121/197965/MTk3OTY1xzZ81YCy.html Three sailors died and two are missing after a North Korean cargo ship, the Jisong 5 , was wrecked Tuesday due to strong winds near northeast China's Dalian port, xinhuanet.com reported.

The ship sank about 90 sea miles east of Dalian, with 20 seamen on board. The sea border force of Dalian dispatched emergency rescue helicopters to the scene and retrieved one sailor. Another 13 seamen were saved from life rafts Wednesday.

The rescued sailors were resting in a local hotel and doctors were sent to check them. Dalian's frontier inspection department has contacted the North Korean consulate in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning, to make arrangements for the sailors to return home, according to reports.

Sudden temperature drops in the city on November 17 led to a surge in power demand for heating that resulted in the failure of five power generator sets Tuesday, which reduced power-generating capacity by around 1.5 million kilowatts, the official said.

Later, SGCC's power company in Shanghai, the Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company, restricted power supplies.

Since November, China's power demand has been increasing as rain and snow affects most parts of the country.

The northeastern and northwestern regions, and some provinces in the north, usually the coldest areas in China, all reported record highs for power demand, according to Wang.

On Wednesday, the State Grid said coal stocks for power plants were ...]]> China Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:14:03 +0800 /articles/09/1121/197963/MTk3OTYzw5sCz2qQ.html Hundreds of taxi drivers have been in strike since Wednesday to protest against government plans to regulate the industry in Putian City, east China's Fujian Province.

More than 200 of the city's 622 taxis were parked near Putian New Bus Station on Friday. Few were seen in the street.

Protestors stopped taxis that were still in business and demanded the drivers join them. If refused, they would throw stones at the vehicles.

Some even sat in the doorway of the city hall for two hours to protest.

The city government has released a plan to give out 411 taxi licenses to replace the current ones that are about to expire.

It also planned to revoke the license of a taxi if the driver breaches service or traffic regulations for three times or above within a year.

Director of the municipal transport bureau Huang Hua said the moves were aimed to regulate the industry and improve taxi services.

Huang said...]]> China Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:13:17 +0800 /articles/09/1121/197962/MTk3OTYyVsCA9rLu.html Death toll of a gas outburst accident in a coal mine in Hegang City, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has risen to 23, while 90 other miners were still missing.

The rescue headquarters said that gas outburst caused the explosion in the Xinxing Coal Mine owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group.

The company has updated the number of miners who escaped the accident to415 from the previously reported 389.

It said that 528 miners were working under the mine, when the explosion occurred at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have made instructions on the rescue work. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang is on way to the site.

The mine is located over 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin. Xinhua's reporters are on the way to the accident site.

The Hegang subsidiary of Longmei is a state-owned mining company with an annual coal output ...]]> China Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:12:28 +0800 /articles/09/1121/197935/MTk3OTM14Dk0xhaQ.html Five people were killed in an explosion in an apartment building in central China's Henan Province Friday, local authorities said.

The blast happened at around 5:30 am in Hualong District, Puyang City, damaging walls of several homes and smashing dozens of window.

Firefighters recovered five bodies and saved 16 trapped in the damaged building.

Initial investigation showed the explosion was caused by natural gas leak from a gas heater.

The Shanghai Minhang district traffic administrative enforcement team made an illegal punishment by falsely accusing local resident Zhang Hui of operating an illegal taxi, confiscating his car and fining him 10,000 yuan ($1,500), officials from Shanghai Minhang district court announced yesterday afternoon.

On Sept 8, Zhang, on the way to his office, picked up a man who begged for a ride, claiming he had a bad stomach ache.

When Zhang gave the man, now known as Guan Shiquan, a ride, Guan quickly took away his car key and seven men in uniform dragged Zhang out of his car.

He was then held by his arms and neck and escorted into a van, where he was forced to sign an investigation report accusing him of operating a black taxi and fining him 10,000 yuan.

Zhang paid the...]]> China Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:07:46 +0800 /articles/09/1120/197884/MTk3ODg0euFzS0Ei.html More than 10,000 migratory birds are being illegally slaughtered every day in Guangdong province and ending up on dinner tables.

The bodies of the birds, which annually fly from northern China to spend the winter in the tiny coastal Jijiazhen township in Leizhou peninsula, are cooked at local restaurants, or made into cured meat as special local products, according to a report from China News Service Thursday.

"Many of the birds being slaughtered are under the State's strict protection," a local resident surnamed Chen from the town's Beizai village was quoted as saying.

He estimated more than one million migratory birds are killed in the town every winter.

"Because of over-hunting, fewer and fewer migratory birds are flying to the town in winter," Chen said.

Along a special food street, more than 10 restaurants offer bird dishes as their major attraction to diners.

And most of the restaurants enjoy br...]]> China Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:07:24 +0800 /articles/09/1120/197883/MTk3ODgzlQUf1k5A.html Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, has stopped the natural gas supply to all entertainment buildings in the city starting Wednesday because of a natural gas gap, zjol.com.cn reported.

The new policy advocates priority on civil use of the gas supply, limitations on the public supply and a reduction of the industrial supply. The city government building only has air conditioners operating during the 2 hour afternoon break, the report said.

The gas shutdown is the result of cold and snowy weather in north China since Nov 12, which has limited the natural gas supply to southern China. With the cold weather approaching the south, Hangzhou and some southern cities in China are facing a huge inadequacy of natural gas, according to reports.

The road was closed after the accident, which occurred at 6 a.m. on a sharp bend.

All the acid on the trailer had spilled on to the road and into woods when emergency services arrived, said a spokesman for the fire service, who declined to be named.

The driver was unharmed and no injuries were reported. The local authorities have made no order for evacuation.

Fire fighters had diluted the acid on the road with water, but the acid in the woods was yet to be handled, said the spokesman.

The city's environment protection and work safety inspection authorities had sent investigation teams to the site to assess the impact of the spill on the environment, the spokesman said.

Hydrochloric acid is a hazardous c...]]> China Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:06:43 +0800 /articles/09/1120/197881/MTk3ODgxv9WIHIFK.html A former prison warden and six other prison staff have been arrested in connection with a prison break that left one guard dead in north China last month.

Former warden Zhang Heping was arrested on charges of dereliction of duty, said a spokesman for Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's procuratorate on Friday.

Another six officials and guards had been arrested and releasedon bail in connection with the escape of four inmates on Oct. 17, said the spokesman.

The other staff were former deputy warden Deng Jianshe, former chief of the second section Wang Jun, former deputy chief of the second section Li Gang, policemen Xu Fumeng and Liu Wenzhi and gate guard Qian Guojun.

Meanwhile, Lan Jianguo, 34, has been honored posthumously as a revolutionary martyr Friday, according to a statement from the region's Department of Civil Affairs.

Lan, deputy chief of the second section of Hohhot No. 2 Prison, fought fearle...]]> China Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:06:23 +0800 /articles/09/1120/197880/MTk3ODgwSC8fWYBI.html Former US President Jimmy Carter paid a visit along with his wife Rosalynn Carter to Qionglai, an earthquake-stricken area in Sichuan, on November 19 to help build low-rate apartments to solve the housing problem in the area. The 85-year-old president and 248 volunteers from around the world have joined the project to help locals, who are given a living expense of less than 190 yuan ($30) per month, afford better housing.

"By building physical walls, we are actually breaking down the walls in our mind," said Carter, the 39th American president, as he did shelter-building volunteer work in Qionglai. Thirty years ago, President Carter witnessed and promoted the formal establishment of the Sino-US diplomatic relationship and had a dialogue with his Chinese counterpart Deng Xiaoping. Carter said he chose China's Sichuan as his charit...]]> China Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:06:01 +0800 /articles/09/1119/197790/MTk3Nzkwfk5JgFoY.html China Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:02:49 +0800 /articles/09/1119/197770/MTk3Nzcwz9ijWxub.html China's Ministry of Health said Wednesday that fruit sold in supermarkets in Beijing had been tested and found to meet national standards, in response to a Greenpeace report in July on pesticide residues on fruit sold in the national capital.

The Greenpeace report on fruit and vegetable safety, published on its website, said 17 pesticides had been detected in melons, apples, peaches, nectarines and cherries bought in four supermarket chains, including Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Lotus and Vanguard, in Beijing.

However, a notice issued Wednesday by the ministry on its official website said all the 17 pesticides found were normal and permitted and the amounts of residues were within national standards limits.

It said the tests were jointly conducted by the health and agriculture ministries, the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine, and Beijing municipal government.

No banned...]]> China Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:30:44 +0800 /articles/09/1119/197769/MTk3NzY5VSwrLUYw.html Beijing will raise non-residential water rates starting Friday to encourage water saving in the thirsty Chinese capital, local government said Wednesday.

The water resource fee for non-residential use climbs by 0.22 yuan per cubic meter and wastewater treatment fee rises by 0.18 yuan, said the municipal development and reform commission.

The price hikes were aimed at encouraging water saving and recycling in a bid to ease water shortages in Beijing, the commission said.

The water rates for industry and commerce, and hotels, restaurants and the catering industry rise to 6.21 yuan (91 US cents) per cubic meter from 5.6 yuan and 6.1 yuan, respectively.

The rate for government and public agencies is increased from 5.4 yuan to 5.8 yuan per cubic meter.

The planning agency also raised water prices for the car-washing and purified water sectors to 61.68 yuan from 41.50 yuan per cubic meter.

The water price f...]]> China Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:30:20 +0800 /articles/09/1119/197768/MTk3NzY4I1Ht3gSM.html Unusually cold weather and the resulting soaring energy consumption for heating have caused power outages and shortages of natural gas in parts of central and eastern China.

The consumption surge, which began last week, is typical of the challenges the country is facing as it struggles to meet the demand from consumers whose growing earning power enables them to enjoy a more comfortable life, experts say.

Forecasters said the snow will end before tomorrow, but the strong gales that will follow for the next three days will push the temperature down even further in the central and southern area.

The eastern economic hub of Shanghai, which is experiencing its earliest winter in nearly three decades, is facing a record potential shortage of 1.9 million kilowatts after the sudden surge in demand caused four generating sets to malfunction, the city government said in a notice on its website early yesterday.

Two generator...]]> China Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:29:57 +0800 /articles/09/1118/197669/MTk3NjY5S0yR3rrO.html Taiwan plans to recruit Chinese mainland college students to study in graduate schools by the end of next June, according Xinhua News Agency.

Universities and institutions in Taiwan will acknowledge mainland academic qualifications, but only to students from the "985 Project" colleges - referring to the 41 top universities on the Chinese mainland.

Mainland students can only apply for graduate studies at Taiwan's public universities, according to the report. Private education establishments, including vocational, undergraduate and graduate schools, also admit mainland students.

"After the opening policy, Taiwan's vocational schools and professional training colleges would be full loaded," said Wu Ching-chi, Taiwan's "Minister of Education", quoted on xinhuanet.com. Mainland students will be charged higher than Taiwanese, she said.

"The tuition differentiation system adopts from the US. Many universities in the US de...]]> China Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:14:23 +0800 /articles/09/1118/197642/MTk3NjQyDlzFCUck.html Some 42 tourists and three drivers were injured as three tourist coaches collided with one another on a narrow road in Macao, the Macao Post Daily reported on Wednesday.

The accident occurred Tuesday morning near Macao's landmark Ruins of St Paul's Church, when a coach carrying 31 tourists lost control and crashed into the rear of a coach with 26 passengers onboard, which then collided with another 38-passenger coach, the daily quoted local traffic police report as saying.

Of all the passengers and drivers, 45 got injured and they were rushed to a nearby local hospital immediately after the accident. Most of the victims sustained minor injuries such as bruising and minor whiplash, and all of them except two passengers were discharged from the hospital last evening, according to the daily.

The passengers involved in this accident were from Shanghai, Beijing and Jiangxi province on the Chinese mainland. The authorities h...]]> China Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:26:22 +0800 /articles/09/1118/197641/MTk3NjQxfjRmteaj.html Chinese maritime authorities launched a search for six seamen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday who are missing after their cargo ship sank off China's coast.

Altogether 20 DPRK crew members were aboard the vessel when it sank in strong winds about 90 nautical miles southeast of Dalian, in northeast China, at noon on Tuesday, said Zheng Jian, of the Ministry of Transport's Rescue and Salvage Bureau.

The ministry's Beihai Rescue Bureau immediately dispatched a helicopter to the area after receiving an SOS signal from the ship, and rescuers picked up one survivor two hours later, Zheng said.

The rescued seaman said 14 colleagues on two life rafts had been swept away by waves.

The Beihai Rescue Bureau also sent two rescue vessels to the area, and rescuers saved another 13 sailors from a raft late Tuesday afternoon, Zheng said.

"We are still searching for another raft and the o...]]> China Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:26:01 +0800 /articles/09/1118/197640/MTk3NjQwHc0zQZzs.html Huang Tingxin, the Chinese mainland's last veteran of the D-Day campaign to end the Nazi domination of Europe in 1944 has died. He was 91.

Huang, who died on Nov. 11, was made a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, France's highest recognition of merit in 2006.

Upon receiving the medal, Huang said, "The honor goes to all the Chinese soldiers who fought there."

A graduate of the Qingdao Naval Academy, in east China's Shandong Province, in 1942 at the age of 24, Huang and 23 other young naval officers went on to study and fight in Britain.

After training at Royal Naval College, in Greenwich, London, Huang was deployed as deputy watch officer on a U.S.-manufactured 10,000-tonne escort carrier HMS Searcher, which carried up to 25 fighter aircraft, in March 1944. His duty was to make sure the ship maintained course and remained in formation.

Huang saw active duty when the vessel took part...]]> China Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:25:39 +0800 /articles/09/1118/197639/MTk3NjM5d0Nb9zkR.html Nine people died and more than 30 were injured when a bus crashed through a guard rail and plunged down a 30-meter slope in southwest China's Guizhou Province Wednesday.

The accident took place at about 5:15 a.m. on a highway in high mountains in Dafang County, a local traffic police spokesman said.

The injured, including six people who were seriously hurt, were taken to hospital, he said. The bus driver was among the injured.

The bus was traveling from Shanghai to Bijie Prefecture, which administers Dafang County, he said.

The exact number of people aboard the vehicle was not yet known.

Police and work safety authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, he said.

Liu Hong escaped from Deshan prison in Changde on Sunday morning, said Huang Chunyang, director of the Hunan bureau of prison administration.

Liu was sentenced to 20 years in prison on January 16 this year on charges of larceny and prison escape.

Huang said the bureau will offer a reward of 20,000 yuan for information leading to the capture of the convicted criminal and 50,000 yuan to anyone who capture him.

Police have set up blockades on main roads and about 300 policemen were involved in the manhunt.

Tuesday's Xiaoxiang Morning Post cited prison police as saying that Liu allegedly broke a hole in the prison wall.

Liu allegedly stole a coat, a mobile phone and some money at a nearby farmer's home and escaped on a motorcycle, the local newspaper s...]]> China Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:12:43 +0800 /articles/09/1118/197598/MTk3NTk4My8ojdk8.html Three primary school students have died and five more injured in a road accident in south China's Yunnan Province Tuesday, local government said.

The accident occurred at about 2 pm as a local pick-up truck rammed into students on bicycles in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, the county information office said.

Two students from Man'en primary school in Mengzhe Town died at the scene and one died later in hospital.

The driver, surnamed Yan, was arrested at 3 pm after running away from the scene.

Local police are investigating the accident.

It is the second time the inmate, 38-year-old Liu Hong, has broken out of jail, and comes amid a nationwide safety check at prisons.

More than 200 security forces and armed police are searching the mountains near Lishankou village of Hunan's Changde city, where Liu escaped from its Deshan prison.

Dogs are leading the manhunt by following traces left by the prisoner, including biscuit covers, beverage bottles and cigarette butts, said Hunan's popular web portal Rednet.cn.

"He'd have to hide indoors to survive this cold," police were quoted as saying by the website. The temperature around Deshan prison is below freezing after earlier rounds of snow and rain.

Liu, originally convicted for burglary, saw his sentence extended to 20 years this January and was transferred to Changde after an uns...]]> China Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:11:09 +0800 /articles/09/1117/197530/MTk3NTMwNhcyToy6.html  

About 663,000 residents in east China's Anhui Province were affected, with direct economic losses amounting to 60.8 million yuan ($8.9 million), local authorities said.

Snowstorms also forced the relocation of 393 people and led to the collapse of 113 houses in Anhui.

Luogang Airport in Hefei, capital of Anhui, was temporarily closed on Monday morning.

Snow in Jiuhuashan in Anhui was as deep as 30 cm.

Snowstorms also affected about 533,000 residents in the central province of Hubei, causing a direct economic loss of 74.8 million yuan.

Heavy snow damaged 18,716 hectares of crops, forced the relocation of 1,799 residents and led to the collapse of 878 houses in Hubei.

Rescuers stand at the site of a landslide in Zhongyang County of Lvliang in North China's Shanxiprovince, November 16, 2009.[Xinhua]

The death toll rose to 12 as nine more bodies have been recovered after a massive landslide in North China's Shanxi province Monday, rescuers said.

Another 11 people were believed still buried under the debris after the landslide swept over five homes at about 10:40 a.m. in Zhangzishan Township, Zhongyang County of Lvliang.

Two have been pulled out alive, said Nie Chunyu, Party chief of Lvliang City, who was supervising the rescue operation.

The victims were migrant workers at a nearby coal mine and their families. All were natives of Yunnan province in southwest China, said Nie.

More than 300 rescuers are working to locate the missing people. Emergency medical teams at the scene are ready to treat any potential survivors.

Some work safety experts have been sent to ...]]> China Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:45:10 +0800 /articles/09/1117/197486/MTk3NDg2OTLi8ILN.html A desperate middle-aged miner from Southwest China's Sichuan province is prepared to undergo surgery if necessary in a bid to prove he has "black lung" disease so he can get the treatment he needs.

Two owners of the workshop are now in police custody on charges of employing child labor and producing dangerous goods without a license, local police said.

The blast occurred about 8 am last Thursday at a private fireworks workshop in Hezhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, killing an 8-year-old student at the scene.

A 9-year-old girl died later Thursday in hospital, the Hezhou Work Safety Bureau said. Thirteen more, including a 61-year-old, suffered severe burns.

Among the remaining 12 children, seven were transferred from Hezhou People's Hospital to No 181 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Guilin on Saturday.

A doctor surnamed Peng with Hezhou People's Hospital told China Daily that the seven children were seriously injured with ...]]> China Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:25:12 +0800 /articles/09/1116/197378/MTk3Mzc4nrFZKmRx.html Beijing police will intensify their presence on Yabao Road, a busy trading area in Chaoyang district, following a recent $750,000 armed robbery case.

"There will be more plainclothes police officers patrolling the area to safeguard public security," Li Baohua, the press officer in Chaoyang district police bureau, told METRO yesterday.

Yabao Road, near the Second Ring Road, is a trading center for goods with Russia and a famous location to buy fur.

On Nov 7, Beijing police took just seven hours to crack a major robbery case on Yabao Road, capturing 15 suspects and seizing $750,000.

Four masked men used 50-cm knives to attack two male victims near Yabao Road, stealing cases that held $750,000, police said. The suspects escaped in a Geely car.

Gao Yinlong, a police officer in Chaoyang district who was investigating a drug case nearby, followed the car along the Second Ring Road without sounding his alarm. His a...]]> China Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:24:51 +0800 /articles/09/1116/197377/MTk3Mzc311nyqIpb.html Two Siberian tigers shot after attacking a man in a zoo died over the weekend.

The zoo worker was cleaning snow outside the cages in a zoo in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Friday when he was attacked.

He remains in a coma but in stable condition in hospital.

The cause of the attack remains unclear and the zoo has been closed since Saturday for investigation by local security supervision department, Shenyang Evening News reported yesterday.

Around 1:15 pm on Friday, 51-year-old Yang Jingwei, who operated electric doors at the zoo, was removing snow from passageways when the two tigers pounced.

Hearing Yang's voice, other zoo workers arrived and found him lying badly hurt and bleeding, with the two tigers still nearby. The workers tried to distract the tigers by turning on car sirens and firing guns, but to no avail.

When police arrived they shot the two tigers and saved Yang.

Yang was in a dee...]]> China Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:24:31 +0800 /articles/09/1116/197376/MTk3Mzc2xsc9pjgo.html Hongkong Post Monday announced that a set of stamps based on the theme of "Hong Kong 2009 East Asian Games" would be released for sale with associated philatelic products on December 5.

The 5th East Asian Games, slated to open on December 5, 2009, will be the first major international sports Games hosted by Hong Kong.

The stamps are to commemorate this event as an exciting milestone in Hong Kong's sporting history, said Hongkong Post Monday on the local government website.

Official First Day Covers priced at 1 HK dollar each will be on sale at all post offices starting from November 21, while stamps and associated philatelic products will go on display from the same day.

The seismic station would be located at about 2,000 to 3,000 meters below sea level and 45 kilometers off the northeast coast of Taiwan, local media reported.

Construction of the station, which could be put into service as early as 2011, would cost the island around 400 million New Taiwan Dollars (12.4 million U.S. dollars).

The new seismic station would improve the monitoring capability of Taiwan's existing land-based seismic stations, and would give greater advance warning of disasters, said Kuo Kai-wen, head of Taiwan's seismology center.

The new seismic station could enable Taiwan to provide warnings for earthquakes 10 seconds earlier than at present, and 10 minutes earlier for tsunamis.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic ...]]> China Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:23:47 +0800 /articles/09/1116/197374/MTk3Mzc02aOxGa6K.html An official from south China's Guangdong Province has assured Macao of water supply until Spring next year, the Macao Daily Times reported Monday.

During the Seminar on "Conserving Water and Combating Salt Tide in Zhuhai and Macao" last Sunday, Guo Zhongqiu, Director of the Ocean and Fisheries Bureau of Zhuhai, southern Guangdong Province, said the third round of water transfer has been launched. All the standby pumping machines in Pinggang Pumping Station have been in use and a total of 1,300,000 cubic meters of water is drawn daily.

Macao Daily Times quoted him as saying that authorities are confident in securing water supply in Macao and Zhuhai according to the present situation. Since the construction of Zhuyin Reservoir is going to be completed by the end of next year, with its water capacity of 43,000,000 cubic meters, the needs of water supplied to Macao and Zhuhai can be met until 2020, provided that the economic devel...]]> China Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:23:21 +0800 /articles/09/1116/197373/MTk3MzczFZF2dFO3.html The visit by United States President Barack Obama to Shanghai has generated an unexpected business boom for some in the city.

A variety of T-shirts, bags, posters and trinkets with Obama's image are once again hot items in Shanghai.

"It's the third time an Obama T-shirt has been popular. The previous two were after he became president and when he won the Nobel Peace Prize," said Gan Shuqin, owner of an online shop on Taobao.com. Her shop features an "ObaMao" T-shirt, with Obama's face superimposed over that of Mao Zedong, with the famous inscription reading "Serve the People wholeheartedly" at the bottom of the shirt.

The "ObaMao" T-shirt and one replacing former president Abraham Lincoln's head with Obama's on the $100 bill are trendy among young people, said Gan.

Obama's stop in Shanghai, where he will be greeted with a Disneyland deal, will fuel Sino-US economic and trade exchanges, experts say.

Liu ...]]> China Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:22:58 +0800 /articles/09/1115/197276/MTk3Mjc2DiFMPsFT.html Search continued Sunday for seven sailors who were missing after two ships collided on waters off Dachen Island, Taizhou city in east China's Zhejiang province Saturday, local police said Sunday.

Nine crew members of the fishing boat Minxiayu 706 fell into water after their boat collided with another ship coded CAIM OCEAN and sunk, but only two of them were rescued, said Jia Ce, an official with the frontier defense police of Taizhou City, "The other seven were still missing as of 9 a.m.."

The city's maritime affairs authority and police dispatched rescuers to the accident site immediately and demanded ships passing or operating in nearby waters to join the rescue, Jia said.

"Strong gale and high waves brought difficulty to the rescue work. We are expanding the search coverage," said Guo Wenbiao, captain of a fishing ship.

The police is investigating the cause of the accident.

According to the forecast, Xinjiang, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shandong, Yunnan and regions along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers will see snow, rain, or a mix of snow and rain from Sunday to Tuesday.

Among these regions, parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Heilongjiang provinces will be hit by heavy snow or even blizzard. Parts of Jiangxi and Guangdong will see heavy rain, said the NMC.

The NMC also said Anhui, Hubei and parts of Hunan, Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces will see the first snowfall or a mix of rain and snow this winter.

Last week, heavy snow hit northern and central Chinese provinces, including Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Hubei and Shaanxi, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. More...]]> China Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:01:42 +0800 The snowstorms left a trail of destruction that will cost more than half a billion dollars to repair, the Civil Affairs Ministry said on Friday.

Pedestrians trudge through the snow in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, Nov. 12, 2009. Snowfall continued in most parts of north and northwest China on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wang Song)

"My house is like that, my door is like that, my kitchen is like that," said Wang Gaoqin, who burst into tears upon seeing her old home in Tianmen, Hubei province.

Sixteen years ago, the 5-year-old girl, whose nickname was Qinya at that time, lost her family in the streets of Wuhan.

She was then sent to Wuhan City Children Welfare Center. The next year, she was adopted by a foreign couple. Her foster mother is from Singapore and foster father from Italy. The couple then immigrated to Switzerland.

During the 15 years, Wang received a good education.

Wang now speaks fluent English, French and Italian, but is not well-versed in Chinese.

Though her life in Switzerland was colorful, she missed her hometown all the time, and she became mor...]]> China Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:26:05 +0800 /articles/09/1112/197011/MTk3MDExrKzJ6U5z.html Three people were killed and another one was injured after a firecrackers workshop blasted in central China's Henan Province Tuesday afternoon, local authority said Wednesday.

The accident happened at about 4 p.m. at Dafuzhuang Village, Runan County when the two-storey building used to store the firecrackers was flattened, a county government spokesman said.

The workshop belonged to a villager named Wang Changhai, who was a migrant worker in the city and just back home to produce the firecrackers. He was expected to sell the firecrackers during the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 14 next year, the most important day in China for family reunion when people often set off firecrackers for celebration.

"The glass door in my living room was smashed and the pendant lamp fell off to the floor," said a neighbor of Wang's.

The injured was receiving treatment at the Runan County People's Hospital. The cause of the a...]]> China Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:25:44 +0800 /articles/09/1112/197010/MTk3MDEwtFq7irEZ.html Three children died and 28 were injured when a primary school canteen in north China's Hebei Province collapsed in heavy snow late Wednesday, the local authority said Thursday.

The accident happened at Longfeng Private Primary School at Mingguan Town, Yongnian County, at about 6 p.m. when the pupils were dining, a county government spokesman said.

Two girls and a boy died when the building collapsed after a second day of heavy snow. Their identities are yet to be made public, he said.

The injured were receiving treatment at a local hospital. The county government had relocated all the students to other schools to continue their studies on Wednesday night.

The government also issued a notice Wednesday night, asking all the middle and primary schools in the county to suspend classes for two days to check building safety.

Snow continued to hit many parts of north China Thursday, causing highway and airport clos...]]> China Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:25:22 +0800