Diplomatic tensions are running high after Iran launched nine long and medium range missiles on Wednesday. Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards launched the missiles in the Persian Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormouz. A Navy official said the exercise, dubbed "The Great Prophet 3," demonstrates Iran’s might against its enemies. China’s foreign ministry has called for restraint, insisting on a diplomatic solution to the troubled Middle-East.
Baby snatchers in court
23 Chinese nationals accused of baby trafficking appeared in a Nanjing court on Tuesday. The group is alleged of taking 41 infants from Yunnan to Shandong province between 2005 and May 2007. The Shanghai Railway Transportation Intermediate Court is expected to sentence the gang of 23 cross-province baby traffickers next week.
The stolen babies are now under the care of orphanages in Shandong province.
All-night vigil for banknotes
Collectors queue all night for notes Eager buyers held an all night vigil hoping to score one of the six million commemorative banknotes released for the Beijing Olympics. Thousands gathered outside each of the 300 bank branches in Beijing designated to sell the notes. The commemorative banknote drew the same popularity in other parts of China, some camping out all night to get the hands on the special Olympic currency. One Beijing branch sold out less than 30mins after opening.
Drowning cause of protest death
Authorities have confirmed that the girl whose death sparked violent protests in southwest China's Guizhou province was drowned. After the final eight-day autopsy, doctors concluded on Wednesday, 17-year-old Li Shufen was still a virgin at her death, dispelling rumors she was raped. No injuries causing death were found on her body, and signs of swollen lungs suggest she died after falling into the water.
Olympic Media Hub opens
The Beijing Olympic Main Press Center officially opened on Tuesday to much fanfare. The 62,000-square-meter Center provides the biggest working space in Olympic history. It will be the work place for more than 5000 accredited news and photographic journalists during the Games, and will continue operations during the Paralympics which opens on September 6th.
News In-depth
G8 Wraps
The leaders of the world’s eight most powerful economies have wrapped this year’s summit in Toyako Japan.
During the 34th summit the G8 leaders agreed to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, offer further support to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and to tackle the violence in Mugabe-lead Zimbabwe.
In a change to previous summits, leaders from emerging economies India and China were invited to attend the meetings on climate change.
In previous summits the G8 was criticized for not making global warming a top priority.
The 50 per cent by 2050 was met with condemnation by environmental groups wanting the leaders to agree on more short-term goals
UN chief Ban Ki Moon said the summit had been a step forward, but that much more work was still to be done.
“Climate change a priority”, Hu
President Hu Jintao has pledged his government’s commitment to climate change.
The Chinese leader, speaking on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan, says developed and developing economies must take charge in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
President Hu, invited to attend the talks on climate change wants further cuts to emissions than those agreed to by the G8 leaders.
He reaffirmed China’s pledge to tackle global warming head-on.
China has set specific energy-saving targets including reduction of energy consumption by 20 per cent before 2010 and increasing forest cover in China by 20 per cent.
Taiwan tourism wave
Taiwan is the new mecca for mainland Chinese after a new regular charter flight departed for Taipei on the weekend.
More than 750 mainland tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Nanjing and Guangzhou – travelled to the island in the first regular cross-Straits service in almost six decades.
Taiwan has restricted trade and travel with the mainland since 1949, but the island's new leader, Ma Ying-jeou, wants to develop a warmer climate across the straits.
The number of Chinese mainlanders allowed to visit Taiwan has increased to 3000 daily.
It is estimated these changes will increase Taiwan’s tourism revenue by 12 percent annually. .
Mud houses make heritage list
Fujian’s community of traditional mud houses or Tulou was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list this week.
The members of the World Heritage Committee agreed to inscribe the tulou as a cultural site, at their 32nd session in Quebec, Canada.
Built between the 12th and 20th centuries, tulou are common in the mountainous areas around Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces.
The “earth houses” are designed with the principles of feng shui and able to house whole communities. In the past they also served as a defense against invasion.
With the addition of the tulou, the total number of Chinese properties on UNESCO’s list is now 36.
PICTURE
Chinese girls grab pompoms
Hundreds of Chinese women are flocking to gyms in Beijing to learn how to jump, flip and cheer! Cheerleading, a quintessentially American tradition, is gaining great popularity in China in the lead-up to the Olympic Games. Organizers are hoping the lala dui, as they are known in Chinese, will enchant spectators with their signature style, mixing elements of traditional Peking opera with US hip-hop routines.
A girl from a boy!
Thomas Beatie, the famous man who was once a woman has given birth. Beatie, who retained his female reproductive organs after a sex change, gave birth to a girl in his US home of Oregon The baby was conceived through artificial insemination using donor sperm and Beatie's own eggs.
Running with the bulls
Daredevils tested their courage on Tuesday in Spain’s annual ‘run with the bulls’. The half-mile, or 850-metre, run through the cobblestone streets of Pamplona attracts people from all over the world This year’s sprint of death lasted just over two minutes, a relatively clean and fast run by San Fermin standards, with only one Spaniard being gored in the thigh by a runaway bull. Bull fighting in Spain
（英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing current affairs shows and documentaries.
" style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 153px" title=""> Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. In December he left for Singapore where he is currently based to work on an online TV science series for kids and some work with MediaCorp Studios, the national broadcaster. Marc returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.
" style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 80px" title="">
" style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 153px" title=""> Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. In December he left for Singapore where he is currently based to work on an online TV science series for kids and some work with MediaCorp Studios, the national broadcaster. Marc returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.