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A total of 2,011 green vehicles will serve the coming 26th World University Games here in August, said local officials Saturday.

Local government lunched a project to put into 2,011 green vehicles including pure electric and hybrid buses and Taxi cars, which will make up more than half of the vehicles needed during the Universiade, forming the largest amount green vehicles ever in grand world sports events.

"We hope all the athletes, officials and correspondents from all across the world will leave green memories after the Universiade," Tang Jie, deputy major of the host city, said at the launching ceremony.

Along with the green vehicles, 57 charging poles would be built in the host city.

"We are building a smart grid among these poles, which will provide \’smarter\’ charging services for green these green vehicles," Yang Min, a senior executive with Potevio, the charging poles provider.

"These charging poles and electric vehicles will become a green legacy, continueing to serve the city after the World University Games," said Yang.

Shenzhen 2011 University Games will be held from August 12 to 23. The host city has been striving to build a "green city" before the Universiade.

Source: Xinhua

Liu Jiayi, head of China\’s National Audit Office (NAO), has held talks with his U.S. counterpart, Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro, to discuss the role of auditing in state governance and ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, a statement released by the NAO said on Saturday.

Liu, currently on a three-day work visit to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), told Dodaro on Friday that the NAO, like any audit organs in other countries, plays an important role in the management of state affairs through supervising execution of power, exposing corruption and preventing crimes, according to the statement.

He said that, regardless of the difference in the model and organizational structure of audit agencies in different countries, auditing remains an important part of the state governance. It has immunizing functions that contribute to safeguarding democratic rule of law, national security, sustainable economic development and legal interests of citizens.

Dodaro briefed Liu on the new GAO strategic plan, which focuses on three main areas: paying close attention to issues related to homeland security, education and medical care; producing proposals on solving problems in certain high-risk sectors and upgrading systems that need reforms, and helping protect the healthy operation of the economy and society through oversight of the use of funds in high efficient manner.

The two agreed to increase bilateral audit cooperation between the two sides in future. Liu also gave a speech entitled The Role of Auditing in State Governance, to more than 100 GAO staff and representatives from U.S. financial and economic circles.

Beijing\’s traffic woes have been slightly eased since a series of measures were put into effect in the first half of 2011, a senior transportation official said on Wednesday.

Liu Xiaoming, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, said during a legislative session in the city that the average driving speed during rush hour reached 24 km per hour in the first half of the year, a 10 percent increase over that of the same period last year.

"It is a good sign that the comprehensive measures have taken effect. But tackling gridlock is still a strenuous and long-term task," he said while delivering the commission\’s work report at the 26th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Beijing Municipal People\’s Congress.

He said that the measures have yielded a measurable effect, even though the number of vehicles on the city\’s roads in July jumped by more than 600,000 in comparison to last July\’s number.

Beijing registered more than 4.8 million motor vehicles as of the end of last year, with 800,000 new vehicles purchased in 2010.

Growth in automobile sales has affected the city\’s efforts to improve its transportation infrastructure in recent years.

The city government introduced a regulation in January that curbed the growth of new vehicle sales by capping the total number of cars that could be registered in 2011 at 240,000. The regulation also required potential buyers to participate in a lottery in order to obtain new purchase permits.

Although the number of new vehicles keeps increasing, the city government has used comprehensive measures to encourage people to use public transportation, including hiking parking fees in downtown areas and improving public transportation facilities and services.

Liu said that Beijing\’s subway trains now arrive within two minutes, a decrease of 30 seconds from the previous average waiting time. In addition, three new subway lines are scheduled to be opened before the end of the year, according to Liu.

Beijing has also retained an "even-odd" driving regulation that it created just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The regulation requires private drivers to stay off the roads on different days of the week depending on whether their license plate number ends in an odd or even number.

Source: Xinhua

China Tibet\’s first express highway — the Lhasa-Gongga airport-exclusive expressway — will be officially open to traffic in the coming days.

The construction of the Lhasa-Gongga airport-exclusive highway was officially launched on April 2009. Investments in the highway totaled more than 1.5 billion yuan.

The highway will curtail the time spent from downtown Lhasa to the Gongga airport from one hour to half an hour. There would be no tolls on the highway.

By People\’s Daily Online

Design flaws in the railway signal equipment led to Saturday\’s fatal high-speed train collision near Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, the Shanghai Railway Bureau said on Thursday.

Having been struck by lightning, the signal system at Wenzhou South Railway Station failed to turn the green light into red, causing the rear-ending, said An Lusheng, head of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, at an investigation meeting held by the State Council in Wenzhou on Thursday.

The accident has left at least 39 people dead and 192 others injured.

Source: Xinhua

A worker lays asphalt in a street in Urumqi, capital of northwest China\’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 13, 2011. The temperature reached some 40 degrees Centigrade here on Wednesday. Local meteorologic department issued the first red alert for heatwave in Urumqi this year. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

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He Guoqiang, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), arrived in the central Iranian province of Isfahan on Thursday afternoon, kicking off an official visit to the Islamic Republic, which is designed to further strengthen the bilateral political and economic relations.

"During my visit, I\’ll meet with Iranian leaders on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern to promote mutual understanding and strengthen the traditional friendship between our two countries," said the Chinese leader in a written statement issued upon arrival.

China hopes to work together with Iran to "push the bilateral relationship further ahead," he added.

China and Iran established diplomatic relations in 1971 and bilateral relations have developed steadily in recent years.

He, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, is the second senior CPC official to visit Iran in less than a year.

Li Changchun, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, paid a visit to Iran last September.

The visits underlined the close political and economic relations between China and Iran as Tehran has been engaged in bitter diplomatic clashes with the United States and some other Western countries over its nuclear program.

The West alleged that Iran has been seeking a covert nuclear arms project and slapped harsh sanctions against the country, but Tehran repeatedly says its nuclear endeavor is solely for peaceful purpose.

China, while respecting the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council against Iran, opposes some of the more harsh punishments taken by Western countries and has maintained business and trade relations with Iran. China also calls for a peaceful solution to the Iran nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation.

He said in the statement that Iran, as a major country in the Middle East, has adopted a proactive foreign policy and played an important role in regional affairs.

"China values its relations with Iran and is willing to expand friendly cooperation in all areas through joint efforts on the principle of mutual respect, win-win and common development," said he.

He will travel to the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday afternoon, where he will meet with top Iranian leaders on Friday and Saturday, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Parliament speaker Ali Larijani.

In Tehran, the Chinese leader will attend a reception held by the Chinese Embassy to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Iran and China.

He will also witness the signing of government and business agreements that is worth over 4 billion U.S. dollars.

Iran is the last leg of He\’s five-nation overseas trip which has already taken him to France, Poland, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates. He also made a stopover in Turkey after visiting Poland. He will leave Tehran for Beijing on Saturday afternoon.

Source: Xinhua

With the Chinese government\’s efforts in human rights education and publicity, the Chinese public\’s awareness of human rights has been greatly enhanced over the past two years, says a report titled "Assessment Report on the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)" issued on Thursday.

The citizens\’ abilities to safeguard such rights have also improved, says the report issued by the Information Office of the State Council, or China\’s cabinet.

Knowledge about laws and human rights has been included in China\’s nine-year compulsory education, the report says.

Moreover, human rights education for civil servants has also been stressed, the report says.

Over the past two years, the State Council Information Office has held four training sessions about human rights for Party cadres and government employees at various levels, and judiciary personnel, it says.

Further, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee and Party schools of local CPC committees all conduct courses in human rights, the report says.

According to the report, the public security organs run core-value education among the police force, raising policemen\’s awareness of the rule of law, judicial procedures, evidence and human rights. County-level police chiefs, prison wardens and directors of justice bureau also received training on human rights during the two years.

Source: Xinhua

A two-year-eight-month-old girl rescued 21 hours after a deadly high-speed train crash in east China probably will not lose her left leg, said her doctor Tuesday.

"Currently, the hospital doesn\’t intend to perform an amputation," said Chen Xinglong, who is in charge of the girl\’s treatment at the No. 2 Hospital Attached to the Wenzhou Medical College, at a news conference on Tuesday morning.

"The girl\’s situation is improving every day," Chen said.

The doctors previously said the girl, Xiang Weiyi, possibly faced the amputation due to poor blood circulation in her left leg.

On Sunday night, Xiang underwent leg surgery aimed at improving blood flow.

"On Monday morning, the blood circulation in Xiang\’s left leg wasn\’t good and her toes looked ash-colored. But that afternoon, the situation greatly improved, and today her blood circulation has almost come back to normal," Chen said.

Yet although the surgery was successful, the function of Xiang\’s leg might be affected in the future as she suffered muscular death after being crushed in the carriage, according to Tang Jifei, deputy director of the hospital.

Xiang suffered bruises to her lung, liver and soft tissue in the accident. She also suffered insufficient blood supply in two toes of her left foot.

Before the accident that occurred late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou, Xiang and her parents were on D3115 train, which was later rear-ended by D301 train.

They were heading from Hangzhou, the capital of neighboring Zhejiang Province, to their hometown Wenzhou.

Her father Xiang Yu\’an and mother Shi Lihong were confirmed among the dead after the train collision, according to a name list of the victims provided by the Wenzhou police Tuesday.

Firefighters rescued Xiang around 5 p.m. Sunday. She was the last person rescued from the wreckage.

Chen said Xiang is still in the hospital\’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and able to identify her family and talk.

"She often says, "Mummy, hug me"," Chen said.

On Monday morning, the little girl, half sleeping, mistook a nurse who held her in her arms for her mother.

"Mummy, where are you? I thought you didn\’t want me anymore," she said to the nurse. Many medical staff in the ICU wept.

Chen said given the girl\’s physical condition they haven\’t told her about her parents\’ death.

Football star Hao Haidong has indicated a willingness to adopt Xiang.

"I\’ve talked to my wife, and she supports the idea of adopting her. We sincerely hope that we can help her," Hao said in a message posted on his account of Weibo, Chinese popular Twitter-like microblogging site.

However, the girl\’s uncle said that although Hao\’s proposal is kind, it\’s unnecessary.

During a media interview, he thanked Hao for his sentiments but said that "Yi Yi (the girl\’s nickname) doesn\’t need to be adopted and won\’t be adopted by anybody."

Source: Xinhua

Vice President Xi Jinping has called on relevant parties to maintain dialogue and contact and work to improve the the Korean Peninsula situation.

Xi made the remarks when he met with National Defense Minister Kim Kuan Jin of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday afternoon.

"Peace and stability on the Peninsula has a significant bearing on regional security," Xi said.

He expressed the hope that relevant parties would attach most importance to peace and stability, overcome difficulties, maintain dialogue and contact and address each other\’s concerns through consultation so to gradually improve the Korean Peninsula situation.

Kim Kuan Jin said the ROK side appreciated the constructive role that China had played regarding the Korean Peninsula issue. He said the ROK was ready to strengthen exchanges with China in various areas and promote common development of both countries so to safeguard regional peace and stability.

Both sides spoke highly of the development of bilateral relations since the two countries forged diplomatic relations 19 years ago.

Xi said in the new period of history, China and the ROK should work to enrich the content of their strategic and cooperative partnership and increase mutual understanding and strategic trust.

Xi said China and the ROK should focus on the basic interests of the two peoples and on regional peace and stability. He also said the two countries should deepen pragmatic cooperation and properly address sensitive issues so as to achieve healthier, steadier growth of bilateral links and to advance links between the two militaries to a new stage.

Kim Kuan Jin is in Beijing for his first visit to China after being appointed to his current position last year. He will meet Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and Chief of General Staffs Chen Bingde. Kim will also visit a number of military facilities.

Source: Xinhua