3_6_5_PQ365

A Pakistani official called for closer cooperation between China and Pakistan in the energy industry on Tuesday.

Syed Naveed Qamar, Pakistan\’s Federal Minister for Water and Power, made the remarks at a press conference held at the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing.

Noting Pakistan\’s current lack of power, Qamar said the two countries should have more cooperation in areas such as hydroelectric power, nuclear energy, oil and gas.

Qamar was in Beijing to chair the first Pakistan-China Joint Energy Working Group (JEWG) meetings, which took place on Aug. 1 and 2.

He spoke highly of the meetings, saying the trip was "successful."

He said the two sides not only discussed policies, but also touched on specific projects that Chinese companies are working on in Pakistan and how both of the two countries can make efforts to facilitate them.

The two countries agreed to promote a long-term meeting mechanism for bilateral energy cooperation, he said, adding that Pakistan is eyeing more investment from Chinese companies.

The JEWG meetings were announced in a joint statement issued during Premier Wen Jiabao\’s visit to Pakistan last year. According to the statement, the two countries agreed to boost cooperation in conventional energy, renewable energy and nuclear energy for civilian use.

By the end of 2010, Chinese enterprises had signed contracts with Pakistan worth a total of 19.87 billion dollars. China\’s direct investment in Pakistan hit 1.36 billion dollars, while Pakistan\’s investment in China reached 57.38 million dollars, according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry.

Source: Xinhua

Children from all over the world submitted a low-carbon lifestyle declaration to the United Nations Children\’s Fund (UNICEF) in Shanghai on Tuesday, urging their peers to live a low-carbon life, organizers said.

The declaration was conceived during a forum held at the 2011 Shanghai International Children\’s Art Festival, which was organized by UNICEF and the China Welfare Institute (CWI).

More than 100 children from China, the United States, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt presented the declaration, which calls on children from around the world to act immediately to reduce carbon emissions and protect the Earth.

Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF\’s delegate to China, accepted the declaration on behalf of UNICEF.

Since its debut in 2004, the forum has played an important role in improving exchanges between Chinese and foreign youth, said an official with the CWI.

Source: Xinhua

Tibet followed the steps of many other Chinese provinces and municipalities Tuesday in launching an old-for-new home appliance subsidy program.

Under the program, consumers selling their old appliances to recycling companies are eligible for a 10-percent discount on the purchase of new appliances, said Ma Xiangcun, director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Department of Commerce.

The new program targets five designated products — televisions, computers, air-conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines, and consumers can get a subsidy ranging from 250 yuan (39 U.S. dollars) to 400 yuan per unit while buying those appliances, Ma said.

As Tibet has no qualified recycling companies for electronics, old home appliances need to be sent to other provinces to be dismantled and recycled, and the government shall bear all the costs in transportation, he added.

To stimulate consumption, China began a subsidy plan for home appliance buyers in nine municipalities and provinces in June 2009, and expanded the pilot program to 28 municipalities and provinces in June 2010.

Source: Xinhua

A total of 583 lead battery manufacturing plants were shut down after government authorities conducted a series of inspections earlier this year in an effort to reduce heavy metal pollution.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), a total of 1,930 lead battery production, assembly and recycling plants have been inspected as of the end of July.

Of these plants, 252 were given permission to continue operating and 80 were still under construction. Operations for 1,015 of the plants were suspended, the statement said, adding that the names of all of the plants have been publicized.

According to the statement, many of the plants were closed because they had small production scales and poor technical standards, while others were closed for improperly disposing of pollution or for poor management practices.

Heavy metal pollution is a serious concern in China. A toxic spill led to the poisoning of 168 people in east China\’s Zhejiang Province in March.

The MEP urged environmental departments at all levels to further observe environmental conditions and wastewater treatment facilities used by battery manufacturing plants.

The lead battery plant overhaul was jointly initiated in March by nine government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the MEP.

Source: Xinhua

China will use 630 million yuan (97.83 million U.S. dollars) to fund pilot programs created for the purpose of preventing the production and sale of illegal cooking oil, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Tuesday.

Thirty-three cities and districts across the country will receive the funds, including Beijing\’s Chaoyang District, Jiangsu Province\’s city of Suzhou and Hebei Province\’s capital of Shijiazhuang, according to a notice posted on the MOF\’s website.

The decision to distribute the funds was jointly made by the National Development and Reform Commission, the MOF and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The programs will focus on turning kitchen waste into useable resources to prevent cooked oil from returning to dinnertables.

China produces about 28 million metric tons of kitchen waste every year, said Nie Yongfeng, a professor of waste treatment at Beijing\’s Tsinghua University.

China has cooperated with Japan to run similar pilot programs in its cities of Qingdao, Guiyang, Xining and Jiaxing. The programs have been used to recycle kitchen waste, used tires and discarded packaging.

Source: Xinhua

A man stood trial Tuesday in Shanghai for allegedly killing a cab driver last year in New Zealand.

Xiao Zhen, a 25-year-old Shanghai native, is suspected to have stabbed the driver with a knife after a quarrel in Auckland on January 31 last year while he was studying there, according to a written statement issued by the No. 2 Intermediate People\’s Court in Shanghai Municipality.

The driver, Hiren Mohini, died after being stabbed in his heart, the statement said.

Xiao left New Zealand for Shanghai in the following month and was caught by police last June in Baoshan District.

The court did not announce a verdict on Tuesday.

According to Chinese law, Chinese citizens who have allegedly violated Chinese law out of Chinese territory must also be charged.

Source: Xinhua

Another 14 children were rescued by Chinese police in south China, the Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday.

On July 15 and 20, police from 14 provinces and autonomous regions simultaneously raided human trafficking gangs, detaining a total of 409 suspects.

As of Tuesday, a total of 103 abducted children have been rescued, according to the ministry.

Meng Jianzhu, Minister of Public Security, said on Tuesday that the country\’s police force will not stop efforts and investigation until all human trafficking cases are solved.

The chief police officer asked all police to cooperate with government agencies and ensure all rescued children return home safely.

The ministry will also collect blood samples from suspected abducted and traded children. Their DNA information will be used by the police to look for their own parents around the country.

Since April 2009, police nationwide have solved more than 39,000 human trafficking cases, busted 4,885 criminal gangs and saved 14,600 children and 24,800 women, according to statistics provided by the ministry.

Source: Xinhua

Volumetric measurement of Qinghai Lake, China\’s largest salt water lake, was launched on Aug. 2, kicking off the first nationwide water conservancy census of lakes in western China.

Including Qinghai Lake and Aibi Lake, the census will cover all typical lakes without any historic actual measurements.

As most of lakes in western China are located in high altitude areas, where geographical conditions are extremely complicated and prone to change, the census this time will fill gaps or further build up the database of such volume information.

Volume is not only a key morphological characteristic of the lake but also a key component of the country\’s basic national condition information.

Mastering the information contributes to the lake\’s water resource management, protection of the local ecology and environment and is useful for some scientific research.

By People\’s Daily Online

China\’s manned submersible Jiaolong recently completed its fifth dive test in the Pacific Ocean, during which it reached a depth of 5,180 meters, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said Tuesday.

The administration said that Monday\’s dive saw the submersible conducting a series of undersea missions, including collecting sediment and microbe samples.

The Jiaolong has conducted four dives in the Pacific Ocean since July 21, reaching 5,188 meters during its deepest dive, according to the administration.

The Jiaolong, designed to reach a maximum depth of 7,000 meters, completed 17 dives in the South China Sea between May 31 and July 18 last year, reaching 3,759 meters during its deepest dive.

China is the fifth country to send a man 3,500 meters below sea level, following the United States, France, Russia and Japan.

Source: Xinhua

A large number of sites discharging sewage into the ocean are violating environmental standards, the State Oceanic Administration revealed.

More than half of the country\’s seaside sewage discharge sites tested in March, and more than one-third tested in May, fell short of standards, the administration said in a report last week.

Up to 106 out of the 202 spots checked in March, including industrial and urban sewage discharging spots, failed to meet the standard.

Among the 46 spots tested in May, 17 spots failed, with the main pollutants being suspended matter and fecal coliform.

Water quality in 13 of the 17 key rivers running into the sea in the country tested as either unusable, or usable only in industrial parks or for entertainment without human contact.

The majority of the tests at 18 aquaculture bases from April to June indicated they were suitable for the aquaculture industry and human contact.

In Guangdong province, about 38 percent of the seaside sewage discharge spots failed to meet the environmental standard last year, the provincial oceanic and fishery administration said in a report last week.

The eight major rivers in Guangdong carried 1.08 million tons of crude oil-related substances, nutrient salt, heavy metals and arsenic into the sea in 2010.

About 4,150 sq km, or 8.5 percent of the sea off Guangdong, was seriously polluted, a slight drop from the previous year.

A priority in addressing sea pollution should be placed on the discharge of heavy metals, which poses serious harm to the food chain from sea life to humans, according to Li Bo, director of Friends of Nature, an environmental group.

The task is by no means an easy one, since numerous businesses are located along the coast, and GDP growth often comes out on top of environmental protection for the local governments, Li said.

The economy, including the fishing, food, pharmaceutical and tourism industries, eventually suffer from the pollution.

Since the public\’s awareness of environmental protection of the ocean remains weak and school education and non-governmental groups on the issue are not sufficient, the government should do more to improve the situation, Li said.

Source: China Daily