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At least three people were confirmed dead after a poisonous gas leak Friday morning in a viscose fiber production enterprise in southwest China\’s Sichuan Province, according to local government sources.

The gas leak occurred at Yibin Grace Group Co., Ltd. in Yibin City of Sichuan Province.

At least three people died and some injured are hospitalized. Exact number of casualties is yet to be available.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese tourists visit the Heixiazi Island in Fuyuan County, northeast China\’s Heilongjiang Province, July 20, 2011. The first batch of 150 tourists landed the Heixiazi Island, a border island that links China and Russia, as it was opened to the public on Wednesday. The island has been evolved into a travel destination since China and Russia agreed in November 2010 to jointly develop it into an eco-tourism zone. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

Visitors take photos around the China-Russia boundary marker on the Heixiazi Island in Fuyuan County, northeast China\’s Heilongjiang Province, July 20, 2011. The first batch of 150 tourists landed the Heixiazi Island, a border island that links China and Russia, as it was opened to the public on Wednesday. The island has been evolved into a travel destination since China and Russia agreed in November 2010 to jointly develop it into an eco-tourism zone. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)
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The death toll has risen to nine after a coach hit a truck Saturday in Jiangsu Province, local publicity officials said Sunday.

The collision occurred 1:38 p.m. Saturday at a crossroad in Daxu Town in Xuzhou City, killing six people on the spot and injuring 26 others. Three of the injured had died after treatment failed by Sunday noon, according to the Publicity Department of Xuzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Currently four people are in intensive care but their injuries are not life threatening. Nineteen others injured are in a stable condition.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.

The death toll in a vehicle collision accident occurred on a highway section in east China\’s Zhejiang Province Thursday morning has risen to nine, as police found one more body from the distorted van truck.

The overloaded van bumped into the rear of a heavy haul trailer at around 4:49 a.m. on the highway linking Ningbo and Wenzhou in the province.

All of the casualties occurred on the van. The 3-seat van carried 13 people with five squeezing in the driver\’s cabin and eight hiding in the carriage compartment.

The accident site remains cordoned off, as police are clearing steel bars dropped from the heavily-loaded trailer.

Cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (R, front) meets with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird in Beijing, capital of China, July 18, 2011. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

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More than 800 people and 300-odd motor vehicles are stranded in a highway in southwest China\’s Yunnan Province after the road was partly covered by a landslide Saturday morning, according to local police.

No casualties are reported.

The mudslide occurred at around 10:00 a.m. Saturday in Fugong County of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture. Mud and rocks from the snow-cladded Biluo Mountain rushed to the Wagong Highway, the only highway leading to Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County of the Prefecture, and covered a more-than-100-meter-long section of the road.

Rescue work is under way.

Source: Xinhua

Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet 60 years ago, the epoch-making progress the region has experienced in the past six decades make people confident that Tibet will embrace a brighter future with the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Sixty years ago, the CPC took the Tibetan people out of a dark, underdeveloped, poor and closed society to a new era of bright, developing, prosperous and open society.

Tibet has abolished feudal serfdom and established socialism, and achieved remarkable developments in industrial sectors as well as infrastructure facilities such as highways, railways, airports and telecommunications networks.

Looking back to Tibet\’s development over the past 60 years, it should be learnt that the leadership of the CPC is a political guarantee of all the progress.

Since 1980, the CPC Central Committee and central government have held five special work conferences focusing on the development of Tibet. Concrete and feasible strategic blueprint and policies have been worked out to ensure that Tibet will develop in the right direction.

The socialist system is another important guarantee of Tibet\’s prosperity and stability.

The democratic reform and regional autonomy after the peaceful liberation of Tibet have brought democratic rights to the Tibetan people and made them the masters of their own society.

The joint efforts made by the Tibetan people together with the people from other parts of China are providing a strong momentum for Tibet\’s construction. Thousands of people across the country have devoted their lives for the region\’s construction and development.

Due to the unique geographic conditions of the region, Tibet needs to follow a scientific development path with distinctive features that suit the situations of the country and the region.

Looking into the future, continuous efforts to adhere to the fundamental policies and practices for Tibet\’s development are the basic foundation underlying Tibet\’s further development and future prosperity.

The leadership of the CPC, socialist system, ethnic regional autonomy, reform and opening up policies, and the market economy will always be the cornerstones to ensure and sustain the region\’s development and long-term stability.

The region\’s development should gain momentum from efforts to improve the people\’s livelihood with a people-oriented approach. In 2010, the per capita GDP in Tibet topped 17,000 yuan (2,631 U.S. dollars), which is 34 times the figure in 1959 on a comparable price basis. Great achievements in education, health, transportation and telecommunications in Tibet are evidences that the Tibetan people are enjoying their share of the country\’s reform and development.

Ethnic and national unity as well as social harmony are also important safeguards for the region\’s continuous progress.

Over the past 60 years, people from all ethnic groups in Tibet, under the CPC\’s leadership, have conducted resolute battles to oppose separatism and managed to maintain overall stability in Tibet. The region could not develop without a safe and harmonious social environment.

The Himalayas has witnessed the great changes in Tibet over the past 60 years. Under the leadership of the CPC, people have plenty of reasons to expect that the future for Tibet will be much brighter.

Source: Xinhua

The government will help Tibet University, the region\’s top university, to grow into an internationally-recognized university, officials said.

"The school is not yet a leading university in China, but is becoming one," said Professor Tubdain Kaizhub, head of the university\’s economics and management department. "The school\’s developmental momentum is so strong that we often feel great pressure," he added.

The professor, who has been working at the university since 1985, described the changes that have taken place in Tibetan higher education over the past two decades as "tremendous."

He said that when the university\’s economics and management department was founded in 1987, there were fewer than 100 students enrolled in the department, and only ten teachers available to instruct them. Today, the department has over 800 students.

About 90 percent of the university\’s graduates stay in Tibet to work, the professor said. "As Tibet is in its prime time for development, I am confident that the demand for college-educated workers will keep growing," he said.
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Rain that hit Beijing and many other parts of the country Thursday night and early Friday morning has caused flight delays and cancellations at Beijing Capital International Airport.

China Southern Airlines canceled nine flights Thursday, which stranded 1,510 passengers at Beijing Capital International Airport, said officials with the company\’s Beijing branch.

The airline added eight flights Friday morning, according to the company.

The rain also caused delays to 72 flights and cancellation of 11 flights of China Eastern Airlines among its planned 107 flights Thursday, the company\’s Beijing branch said.

Air China canceled 118 flights from Thursday night to Friday morning due to the downpours. The company said it plans to add 46 flights Friday.

Showers are expected in the capital Friday, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

The administration said heavy rains or rainstorms will hit parts of Hainan Province, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Heavy downpours will hit parts of the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan and Tibet Autonomous Region, it said.

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