Thursday, September 25, 2008

Kyrgyz Cultural Festival opens in Beijing

A reception marking the opening of the Kyrgyz Cultural Festival was held here Wednesday evening.

Present at the reception were more than 100 guests from government departments, cultural, business and media circles of the two countries.

Addressing the reception, Kyrgyz Minister of Culture and Information Sultan Raev said the opening of the Kyrgyz Cultural Festival reflected the friendship of the two states and the sound developing momentum of bilateral relations.

Chinese Vice Minister of Culture Zhao Shaohua expressed the hope that the two sides could make common efforts for promoting bilateral cultural exchanges.

As the opening show of the festival, Kyrgyz art groups gave a performance at Tianqiao Theatre in Beijing on Tuesday evening.

Chinese president Hu Jintao in 2007 signed a joint declaration with his Kyrgyz counterpart Kurmanbek Bakiyev, in which the two states vowed to hold cultural festivals in respective countries.

Chinese Cultural Festival was held last year in Kyrgyzstan.

Source: Xinhua

Kremlin: Venezuelan president to visit Russia

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will pay a two-day visit to Moscow since Thursday, the Itar-Tass news agency said, citing the Kremlin.

"The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chavez will stay on a brief working visit in Russia on Sept. 25-26this year at the invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Chavez is expected to meet with Russian leaders and agreements for cooperation in energy, science and technology will be signed during the visit.

Chavez is now in China for a state visit and he will visit Paris and Lisbon following his stay in Moscow.

Source:Xinhua

Backgrounder: key facts about General Debate of UN General Assembly

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Wednesday delivered a speech at the annual General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly. It was the first time a Chinese premier took the floor at the UN general debate.

In the speech, Wen expounded on China's foreign policies and stance over major international issues.

Following are some key facts about the General Debate of UN General Assembly.

The General Assembly occupies a central position as the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. Comprising all 192 UN members, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter. It also plays a significant role in the process of standard-setting and the codification of international law.

The Assembly meets in regular session intensively from September to December each year, and thereafter as required.

The annual General Debate of the General Assembly, which traditionally features statements by dozens of heads of state or government as well as ministers, lasts nine days.

The debate provides an opportunity for UN members to discuss international issues on an equal footing. Representatives from member states expound on stands and views on issues of common concern.

The theme of the general debate of this year is "The impact of the global food crisis on poverty and hunger in the world, as well as the need to democratize the United Nations."

During the 63rd session, the 192-member body will examine the immediate and root causes of the world food crisis, and its impact on world hunger and poverty and discuss UN reforms.

Three high-level sessions on development issues are expected to be held this year, including a high-level UN meeting for the Millennium Development Goals , which will be held on Thursday.

Representatives from some 150 countries, including more than 90heads of state or government, are expected to attend the MDGs summit, which will be convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the aim to generate further actions to realize the MDGs by 2015.

Source:Xinhua

Mekong countries approaching to basin-wide hydropower decision

The Mekong River Commission on Thursday launched the Regional Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on its Hydropower Program in Vientiane, the Lao capital, as the participants at the meeting proposed the planning process involved in the development of hydropower dams in the Mekong region should include expertise and views from a wide range of interested parties.

The consultation, bringing together over 200 representatives from governmental agencies, private sector companies and financing agencies, NGOs and civil society groups, international organizations and the donor agencies that support the MRC as development partners, runs from September 25 to 27.

Chantavong Saignasith, MRC Joint Committee member for the Lao CDR, said during the opening ceremony that hydroelectricity has long been recognized as one of the cleanest, most sustainable and, in the long run, least expensive methods of generating power. Acknowledging there can be negative impacts associated with hydropower, he said it was therefore important that the Lower Mekong countries were able to study the benefits and costs associated with building dams before making decisions.

According to Chantavong, the MRC provides decision-makers in the four Lower Mekong countries, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, with a sound knowledge platform, enabling them to assess the gains and impacts of each hydropower proposal in a basin-wide context. This includes scientific input from many different fields and sources across the Mekong region and beyond, from village-level fisheries research to international navigation experience. The MRC can source and provide such data, and also assesses plans for various power-generating scenarios through integrated modeling tools.

Presentations to the meeting were made by participants from all stakeholder sectors, including national electricity enterprises from the MRC member states, environmental advocacy groups, developers, and National Mekong Committees. Hydropower industry experts from China and outside Asia also attended the consultation, thus contributing to eventual outcomes in development.

The MRC Hydropower Program is being designed to assist this decision-making process, and to help set up mechanisms that can make sure the countries' concerns are addressed as approved projects are implemented.

Jeramy Bird, Chief Executive Officer of the MRC Secretariat, said the creation of a framework for regional and cross-sectoral cooperation on hydropower gives great impetus to sustainable development in the Lower Mekong Basin. The MRC believes, said Bird, that developing cooperation and dialogue between countries, at multiple levels of society, can help ensure the growth of the hydropower industry be managed in a way that conserves environmental resources and the livelihoods of the people that depend on them.

Source:Xinhua

Backgrounder: The Mekong River Commission

The Mekong River Commission on Thursday launched consultation meeting for the regional Mekong Hydropower Program platform here on Thursday, aiming to shape a way for the river's future hydropower development which is shared by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and China.

The MRC was formed on April 5, 1995 by an agreement between the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The four countries signed The Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin and agreed on joint management of their shared water resources and development of the economic potential of the river.

The MRC has been built on a foundation of nearly 50 years of knowledge and experience in the region starting from 1957 when it began life as the Mekong Committee which was founded by the United Nations .

In 1996, China and Myanmar became Dialogue Partners of the MRC and the countries now work together within a cooperation framework.

The MRC is an international, country-driven river basin organization that provides the institutional framework to promote regional cooperation in order to implement the 1995 Agreement. The MRC serves its member states by supporting decisions and promoting action on sustainable development and poverty alleviation as a contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The MRC supports the Mekong Program, a Regional Cooperation Program for the Sustainable Development of Water and Related Resources in the Mekong Basin owned by its member countries.

The four goals of the organization for 2006-2010 are to promote and support coordinated, sustainable, and pro-poor development; to enhance effective regional cooperation; to strengthen basin-wide environmental monitoring and impact assessment; to strengthen the Integrated Water Resources Management capacity and knowledge base of the MRC bodies, National Mekong Committees, Line Agencies, and other stakeholders.

Source:Xinhua

Mekong countries launch hydropower consultation

Countries along the Mekong River launched a consultation meeting for the regional Mekong Hydropower Program platform here on Thursday, aiming to shape a way for the river's future hydropower development.

All the four member countries of the hosting Mekong River Commission , Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and MRC's dialogue partner China and other countries' observers, will discuss during the three-day meeting for achieving a future dialogue mode on important aspects of hydropower development that require an integrated basin perspective.

The MRC's Hydropower Program aims to co-operate and promote sustainable development, utilization, management and conservation of water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin in an integrated approach for the economic and social well-being of the people in the riparian countries.

The primary objectives of the Regional Consultation are to gather information on the scope and approach of the MRC's emerging Hydropower Program; to provide an opportunity to assess and disseminate major and related activities of the program; and to provide a forum for discussing some of the key issues facing hydropower development in the Basin.

The MRC approved its Hydropower Strategy in 2001 and drafted a Concept Note for its Hydropower Program in 2005. These documents were a comprehensive attempt to interpret emerging international good practice and lay out what it meant for the Mekong region, and identify strategic work areas and possible components of the program.

After the three-day consultation, representatives will pay a visit to the Theun Hinhoun Hydropower Scheme in Lao's Khammuan Province.

Source:Xinhua

Official: China likely to realize all anti-poverty goals by 2015

China is likely to realize all the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said Wednesday.

He made the remarks as he and Kemal Dervis, administrator of the UN Development Program , co-launched the 2008 edition of the Report on China's Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals at the UN Headquarters.

With the MDGs fully integrated into its development framework of building a well-off society in an all-round way, China has realized ahead of time the goals of halving poverty and achieving universal primary education, and is likely to realize all the MDGs by 2015, he said.

China will make every effort to contribute to the implementation of the MDGs worldwide, he said.

Dervis spoke highly of China's progress in implementing the MDGs, saying that China, through its efforts to eradicate poverty, has made significant contributions to the global endeavor to combat poverty and hunger.

The United Nations stands ready to enhance its cooperation with China so as to push for the timely realization of the MDGs, Dervis said.

Source:Xinhua

UN: Global FDI to decline 10% this year

Global foreign direct investment flows are expected to reach 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars this year, representing a 10 percent decline from the record level in 2007, a UN report said on Wednesday.

Global FDI inflows rose in 2007 by 30 percent to reach an all-time high of 1.83 trillion U.S. dollars, said the annual World Investment Report, which was released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development .

The upward trend in 2007 was apparent in nearly all regions and subregions of the world, despite the global financial and credit crisis that began in the second half of the year, according to the report.

Developed countries continued to attract the largest share of FDI inflows, reaching 1.25 trillion U.S. dollars. The United States remained the largest recipient country, followed by Britain, France, Canada and the Netherlands.

FDI inflows to developing countries also reached a new record of 500 billion U.S. dollars. While South Asia, East Asia, South-East Asia and Oceania accounted for half of all FDI into developing countries, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the largest increase .

Developed countries remained the biggest source of FDI, accounting for 1.69 trillion U.S. dollars in 2007. The United States was still the top FDI provider at 314 billion U.S. dollars.

Developing countries also continued to gain in importance as a source of FDI, with outflows peaking at 253 billion U.S. dollars. The biggest sources were China, Hong Kong and Russia.

The report said, however, that global FDI flows would decline in 2008 due to the slowdown and financial turmoil in the world economy.

Economic slowdown and financial turmoil have led to liquidity crisis in money and debt markets in many developed countries. As a result, merger and acquisition activity, the main driver of FDI, has begun to slow markedly.

In the first half of 2008, the value of M&A transactions was 29percent lower than in the second half of 2007, the report said.

It estimated that overall FDI flows in 2008 will be about 10 percent less than the level of last year. But FDI flows to developing countries are likely to remain fairly stable.

Source:Xinhua

Facing great Millennium Development Goals

World leaders at the Millennium Summit in the year of 2000 mapped out a set of millennium Development Goals to alleviate poverty. Progress has been made globally toward attaining them to date and 2008 is the year for a mid-term review of the MDGs. At the time for the new periodic review of these goals, the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals that opens at the UN Headquarters Thursday, or September 25, will draw increasing global attention.

MDGs, which were agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in Sept. 2000, cover eight areas with goals set to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main development challenges. In fact, they are, among others, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to popularize education in elementary schools, to promote sex equality and autonomy of women, to reduce child mortality and morbidity rate, to improve maternal health reinforce, to battle against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to advance a global partnership of development.

The eight goals, which offer a blueprint with concrete targets for development, are to halve the global population in extreme poverty by 2015, to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005, to fulfill tasks to eliminate gender disparity at all levels of education by 2015 and to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. So, actions rather words are particularly crucial and imperative before these great goals.

This poses indeed a final examination on global development, whereas China's performance in this severe test is especially eye-catching because the nation is a permanent member of the UN Security Council as well as the largest developing country with a population of 1.3 billion people.

With an aggravated imbalance in global economy coupled with outstanding, thorny problems of finance, energy and food security over recent years, China has, for its part, worked in an earnest, pragmatic and down-to-earth way to overcome all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, and contributed itself in the attainment of MDGs. As a pace-setter to eliminate extreme poverty, the country has solved the problem of feeding its own 1.3 billion people by means of protecting the arable land, building or further improving farmland irrigation facilities and farming conditions, and striving to spread agro-science technologies.

Thanks to these viable and active efforts, its poor population dropped from 62.13 million in 2000 to 28.41 million in 2007, and the ratio or proportion of rural poverty fell from 6.7 percent to 3 percent during the last seven-year period; those Chinese freed from poverty during the 1990-2007 period accounted for more than 70 percent of the global population in poverty. Consequently, China has become the first country to fulfill the goal of halving its needy population set by the United Nations MDGs ahead of schedule.

While stepping up its own economic development, China has constantly helped other developing nations in their endeavors to attain their MDGs in strict compliance with the "principle of acting according to one's ability and each doing his utmost". Apart from reducing or exempting 376 debts of 49 heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries without any conditions, it has decided to grant zero-tariff treatment to 42 least developed nations which have diplomatic ties with the country, and it has so far actually carried out the zero-tariff treatment with 39 of these LDCs.

With regard to the African countries, which have more difficulties in achieving MDGs, China has intensified its efforts to come to their aid. Its government has offered various types of aid packages to assist them, and signed bilateral aid agreements with 48 countries, and provided them with more than 800 complete sets of equipment. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has helped Africa train approximately 30,000 personnel of various professions; it also exempted 308 debts of 34 heavily indebted and least developed African nations, and signed debt exemption protocols or deals with 32 countries.

Besides, China has scored periodic progress in such aid avenues as its grant of preferable loans to Africa, in building agricultural technology demonstration centers, putting up hospitals, setting up centers for malaria prevention and treatment, and proving new combination drugs for malaria treatment for African nations.

In the present-day world, people have come to recognize "the me in you" and "the you in me", and so global ties of interests have never been so close and interwoven as they are today. So we have no option but to pull together and concert efforts to help one another in times of trouble. We not only want to be good ourselves alone but also very much want others to be good too. Its significance is not merely a good political intention, as we believe to a great extent that helping others is simply meant to help oneself.

China has striven to implement MDGs in an all-round way via its own endeavor and, with its own development, it proceeds to prompt other developing countries to attain their MDGs; this gives expression to China's diplomatic concept of keeping to the path for peaceful development, the mutual-beneficially and win-win strategy of opening to the outside world and adherence to spurring the development of a harmonious world.

Taking a broad and more farsighted view, the establishment and execution of this concept in such a big developing nation is indeed a vital contribution, which is beneficial to the Chinese nation and its people as well as the world at large.

By People's Daily Online and its author is PD desk editor Wen Xian

Chinese agency: Reports of tainted rice exports to Japan untrue

China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Thursday posted the transcript of its Monday press conference on its website, disputing reports of contaminated Chinese rice exports to Japan.

The agency was asked about reports that 799 tonnes of rice exported to Japan "between 2006 and 2007" had been found to contain methamidophos, a harmful chemical.

Some Japanese media also reported that one Japanese company had used 295 tonnes of the rice to process food products, according to AQSIQ.

Regarding those reports, the government body said it had held talks on Sept. 8 with Japan's China Embassy, which said the rice was exported to Japan from China around 2003. That was before Japan listed methamidophos as an item to be checked, and the exported rice then was qualified by Japanese standards.

The administration said when the chemical was detected in 2006 and 2007, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had said that the rice was inedible and directed the Osaka-based wholesaler, Mikasa Foods, to treat the problematic rice.

Source: Xinhua

Life continues in quake-hit Tibetan areas

Norbu, host of a Tibetan family, lost his house and livelihood when the May 12 quake shook his hometown in Samen Village in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Sichuan Province, yet four months after the tragedy, when we step into this small village with 51 Tibetan households, we found that those quake survivors including Norbu family have devoted themselves to the reconstruction of their houses and lives.

Busy working on repairing the roof, Norbu plans to rebuild a relatively comfortable house where his family can live for the next couple of years.

"We really suffer from huge lost and at that time we live in a temporary tent not for from our damaged house," pointed to the tent, says Norbu. "Now, the government is offering a daily stipend of 10 yuan and 500 grams of food. There is no problem for our basic life. What we have problem is the cost for rebuilding our house. I have spent 200,000 yuan to build this house before the quake and it needs about 30,000 yuan to repair the roof and terrace, but we can only get a subsidy of 5,000 yuan from the prefecture government, of course the amount is not enough. But all of us obviously know that we have so many households suffering from the disaster, it is really not easy for the government to deal with."

More than 5 million people were left homeless after the earthquake in Sichuan Province. The government has given 5,000 yuan to each family who lost their home to build makeshift accommodation in remote villages. Furthermore, the government has also designated 19 provinces and municipalities to each aid a county in the worst hit quake areas. These provinces are helping to rebuild schools, hospitals and other infrastructure projects such as roads, electricity and gas supply systems.

Now the survivors themselves are also struggling to rebuild new lives as locals start repairing the damaged houses once home to so many people and some residents come back to their daily handicraft work. Peace and leisure, this is what we have seen at Zada Village of Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture as a Tibetan girl is sewing at a sartorius and two Tibetan boys are mending fishing net opposing to the clear quake trail.

"We must depend on the government, but we also need the power of ourselves," said Shenzha Rgyal, a retired Tibetan soldier who becomes the host to a small restaurant in Li County. "Evacuating guests in my restaurant is my first act when the quake came and I also join in the volunteer team to give a hand to material-transport as well as establishing temporary tents for some ten households."

As a matter of fact, there are countless volunteers including those Sichuan locals and some others from all over the world giving a hand to the rescue as well as the reconstruction.

Without waiting for signals from the authoritarian government, Liu Jin, a 22-year-old student in China's richest city, Shanghai, joined tens of thousands of volunteers to offer help to the needy quake-sufferers.

"I believe people will unite even better in the future and we will have much experience if there comes another disaster," said a volunteer.

As time goes by, life continues in the quake-hit areas and tomorrow is another day.

By China Tibet Information Center

Myanmar steps up control of trans-border animal diseases

Myanmar is making arrangements to establish more animal quarantine laboratories in two areas bordering Thailand as part of its bid to step up control of trans-border animal diseases under the two countries' cooperation program in the aspects, the local 7-Day News reported Thursday.

The two border areas are Myawaddy and Kawthoung in southeastern Kayin state.

The Myanmar side is to offer building and health workers, while the Thai side is to provide technical knowhow and materials, the report said, adding that a Thai delegation from the Animal Development made a study trip to Myanmar last week as a preparatory move.

Myanmar has been placing emphasis on control of trans-border animal diseases, introducing animal quarantine laboratories in border trading areas with neighboring countries.

Under an agreement between the Livestock Breeding Veterinary Department of Myanmar and the Agriculture Department of China's Yunnan Province reached in 2006, animal quarantine labs inareas such as Muse, Lashio, Kengtung and Myitkyina, where border trade activities are carried out, are being built.

These labs will help transfer information speedily and test thesafety of live animals and animal byproducts intended for export and import through border trade, experts said.

In December 2007, under an agreement signed between the LBVD and the Japan International Cooperation Agency , the latter will provide aid worth of 102 million Japanese yen to Myanmar to help the country fight five animal diseases including avian influenza by setting up laboratories, exchanging information and conducting refresher courses for the diseases control, according to an earlier report.

Source: Xinhua

First Chinese tourist group to Israel leaves today

80 members of the first Chinese tourist group to Israel, organized by China Travel Service Head Office and China Youth Travel Service, will leave for Israel on Sept 25 and Sept 28, 2008 respectively.

This means the agreement between China and Israel about Chinese tourist group's travel to Israel has finally been implemented after one year's preparation.

"The agreement not only has great marketing potential, but also will promote the mutual understanding and cooperation between two countries," Barella, Israeli Tourism Minsiter, said in an interview.

She also mentioned about the safety of tourists. She said: "Safety is always the most important thing to be cared about for traveling in Israel. Israel is the most experienced country to deal with terrorism and to guarantee the safety of tourists. In addition, terrorist activities happened in Israel never aimed at foreign tourists. So, it is safe traveling in Israel."

By People's Daily Online

NASA wishes China success on launch of Shenzhou-7 mission

"NASA wishes China success on the launch of Shenzhou-7 and the safe return of its crew," a spokesman for the U.S. space agency told Xinhua on the eve of the mission.

China has announced that the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft will lift off on Thursday night. This will be the third Chinese manned space mission, but the first time Chinese astronauts perform a spacewalk.

"Spacewalks are very important to space exploration," said Michael Braukus, the public affair officer at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. "Spacewalks will probably be necessary in the repair and assembly of future exploration spacecraft."

He said NASA's Apollo missions demonstrated the scientific importance of leaving the spacecraft and venturing outside into the moon's hostile environment to collect samples and perform science experiments.

When asked about the prospect of cooperation between U.S. and China in the field of space exploration, the spokesman told Xinhua that during the NASA Administrator -- Michael Griffin's visit to China in Sept. 2006, the China National Space Administration and NASA agreed to form working groups for discussion in Earth science and space science.

"U.S. and China meet for initial discussions and exchange information on subjects of mutual scientific interest, centered on complementary measurements and data exchanges on missions that arealready being pursued," Braukus said. And the recent meetings took place on June 30 and July 1, 2008.

NASA's space exploration missions include expansion of human knowledge of our planet and phenomena in space. "International dialogues can increase this knowledge," said Braukus. "China's space program offers potential opportunities for cooperation in Earth and space science."

Source: Xinhua

JIUQUAN, Gansu: Shenzhou VII will lift off between 9:07 pm and 10:27 pm today, carrying three astronauts, one of who will become the first Chinese to

Eight newborns died between Sept. 5and 15 in a hospital in northwest China's Shaanxi province, with an iatrogenic infection suspected as the cause, local authorities confirmed on Thursday.

The babies were among the 94 admitted by the No. 1 hospital affiliated with the College of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University in Shaanxi's capital, between Aug. 28 and Sept. 16.

Some were born in the hospital while others were admitted for various illnesses, local sources said.

An initial investigation found no connection between the deaths and the milk powder fed to the babies.

The Shaanxi provincial government has urged the university to punish those who tried to cover up the incident.

Zheng Xiaoming, vice governor of Shaanxi, ordered the newborn wards to be closed and disinfected so as to prevent more infections.

A task force of experts from the State Health Ministry and the Health Department of Shaanxi are conducting further investigations.

Source: Xinhua

Shenzhou VII lifts off tonight

JIUQUAN, Gansu: Shenzhou VII will lift off between 9:07 pm and 10:27 pm today, carrying three astronauts, one of who will become the first Chinese to walk in space, senior space program officials said yesterday.

One of the astronauts, Zhai Zhigang will walk in space around 4:30 pm on Saturday, media reports said.

The spacecraft will carry astronauts Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, too.

One of the major tasks of the three-day mission is extra-vehicular activity , or spacewalk in this case, mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao said at a news conference yesterday. The success of the task will mark a remarkable step forward for China.

The other tasks include releasing a small monitoring satellite and satellite data relay trials, said Wang, who is also deputy director of China's manned space program office.

"The Shenzhou VII mission marks a historic breakthrough in China's manned space program. It is a great honor for all three of us to be part of the mission, and we are fully prepared for the challenge," Zhai Zhigang said when he and the other two astronauts met the media yesterday.

Tonight's mission will be the second stage of China's three-stage manned space program, which eventually is aimed at building a space lab and a space station by 2020.

Engineers began loading fuel in the carrier rocket at 4 pm yesterday, a process that would take seven hours and meant the launch was "irreversible", Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center officials said.

Shenzhou VII will be launched from atop the Long-March II-F carrier rocket into orbit 343 km from Earth.

Two of the astronauts will enter the orbital module, put on EVA spacesuits and prepare for the spacewalk. One of them will put on a China-made "Feitian" EVA suit and the other, a Russian Orlan-M "Haiying" suit.

And "one of the two will get out of the cabin and retrieve the test samples loaded outside the module," Wang said.

Compared with the previous two manned space flights, the Shenzhou VII mission faces unprecedented technical difficulties, he said, even though China has achieved a series of technical breakthroughs, including making an EVA suit and airlock module.

During the mission, the astronauts will have to assemble and test the 120-kg EVA suits, depressurize and re-pressurize the cabin, and exit and re-enter the orbital module.

"The process of EVAs cannot be simulated completely on the ground and some of the newly developed products have to be tested in flight for the first time," Wang said.

Thirteen Orlan-M spacesuits, three for actual EVAs, were received from Russia under a contract signed in April 2004, he said. Moscow developed the spacesuits, while Beijing gave the power supply and communication systems.

"Russian experts have provided technical assistance throughout the mission," he said.

Thanks to the collaboration, China took only three and half years to design the EVA spacesuit. Or else it would have taken eight years to do so, Chen Shanguang, head and chief designer of the project's astronaut suits and other accessories, said.

Russia helped train the astronauts and develop the Shenzhou spacecraft, too.

But soon China could train foreign astronauts, Xinhua quoted Chen as having said. "China's two successful manned space missions have showed it has the technical ability to independently train astronauts in future."

In 2003, China became the first country after the US and Russia to send a man into space. It followed it with a two-man mission in 2005.

Source:Xinhua

U.S. space expert: "Spacewalk is an important step for China's space exploration"

"With goals laid out for a space lab and eventual space station, the planned first spacewalk during Shenzhou-7 mission is an important step toward those eventual goals for China's space exploration," Joan Johnson-Freese, a space expert at U.S. Naval War College told Xinhua in a recent interview.

China has announced that the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft will lift off on Thursday night. This will be the thirdChinese manned space mission, but the first time Chinese astronauts perform a spacewalk.

"Spacewalking is a critical capability for the assembly of a space lab or space station, and this first spacewalk will put China one step closer ," said Johnson-Freese, who is a famous expert studying the Chinese space program. She envisions that when China's Long March 5 launch vehicle becomes operational, then a Chinese space station and the potential for a manned lunar mission become real.

Spacewalks are inherently dangerous because the environment of space is so harsh and unforgiving for humans. "So, the fact that China is planning to use its own space suit -- which must be flexible for movement, provide life support for the astronaut, and yet protect against such hazards as micrometeors -- shows significant technical achievement and confidence," She added.

"China is to be commended for its rapid advancements since Shenzhou-5 ," Johnson-Freese said that she is certainly following the Shenzhou-7 mission. "It appears to me as part of an ambitious, yet incremental program for China's space exploration."

When asked about China's role in the international space exploration cooperation in the future, Johnson-Freese said China has certainly shown itself technical capability of playing a valuable role in a potential space partnership.

In a U.S. Congress hearing on Sept. 15, Johnson-Freese ever told the U.S.- China Economic and Security Review Commission about the implications of space cooperation with China.

After Shenzhou-5 , "enthusiastic congratulations and invitations for expanded space cooperation were sent from Europe and Russia," she said. And just on Oct. 30, 2003, China joined an increasing consortium of countries working with Europe on development of the Galileo navigation satellite system.

"While the agreement remains a shell and the ultimate role China will play in Galileo is unclear, it is clear that other countries are willing and in fact anxious to work with China in Space," She said at that hearing. "That has significant planning implications for U.S.."

However, she noted in the interview with Xinhua that space is part of a larger relationship between countries. For large-scale cooperation to be considered between the U.S. and China, "I think other requirements will need to be met".

For example, it would be very useful if China could share information about its program, and decision making structure, as other countries do.

In the meantime, "I am an advocate of both dialogue and cooperation. I hope there will be opportunities for more dialogue between the U.S. and China, reciprocity of visits and information sharing, and taking small steps toward cooperation, starting perhaps with space science and Earth science."

Source:Xinhua

Taikonauts to take traditional Chinese medicines in Shenzhou-7 spaceflight

China's Shenzhou-7 astronauts will take traditional Chinese medicine in their spaceflight to treat motion sickness, doctor with the astronauts training center said on Thursday.

The medicine, prepared in capsule forms, is called "Taikong Yangxin Capsule". It can be diluted with water and taken to treat motion sickness in the space flight, said Li Yongzhi, director of medical department of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

"It is made of more than ten types of Chinese herbs, and has proven to be effective in improving the astronauts' cardiovascular conditions," she said.

The medicines are specially developed remedies for the mission, Li said. They have passed pathological and clinical tests and have been approved by the government supervising authorities.

Li and her colleagues have spent 10 years collating the astronauts' physical indices during training and space flights, on which the doctors have composed different recipes for each astronaut.

Taikonauts Yang Liwei, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, who flew in 2003 and 2005, took the herbal medicines before and after their spaceflight but didn't take the medications on board their spaceship.

Li said the pills on Shenzhou-7 will be particularly useful for the two astronauts who are scheduled to carry out extra-vehicular activities. "The medicine will boost their physical conditions and improve their adaptability in an extreme environment," she said.

The three Shenzhou-7 Taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are scheduled to take off between 9:07 p.m and 10:27 p.m. on Thursday. The highlight of their mission is a spacewalk.

Source:Xinhua

Chinese taikonauts recall what it's like in space

Chinese taikonaut Yang Liwei said he could never forget the moment when he blasted off from the earth and became the country's first spaceman.

"When I waved goodbye to the crowds, I felt the whole country was there to support me. That moment stays with me forever," Yang said.

On October 15, 2003, Yang boarded on the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft and pioneered the world's most populous country's journey into space. His space tour was broadcast live across the nation.

"Every moment of the flight was memorable. It was the first big step China took in its space exploration," he said.

Yang was privileged to be the first Chinese spaceman, and his tour was accompanied by many surprises. About 100 seconds from the lift-off, he was hit by a bout of terrifying vibrations of the rocket. "I felt my internal organs were upside down, and there were waves of nausea in the ascent," he recalled.

Before he could recover from the vibrations, he was seized by the inevitable gravity loss. "I suddenly lost any sense of direction. It was a feeling I never had in my training," he said.

"Staying in the space was a whole different thing. I only slept about half an hour in the journey and spent all the other time trying to fully take in the experience," Yang said.

"I could see the coastlines and mountains of the earth. When the spacecraft flew from the shadow of the earth to the sunny side, there was this impressive aura at the horizon and the scene was strikingly beautiful."

"I didn't feel alone. I felt like the whole mankind and the earth was with me and supporting me."

Yang returned to the earth as a space and national hero. He received a promotion and witnessed an upsurge of public interest in space exploration.

"There has been more responsibility and pressure on me now than before," he said, "I hope I can get more young people to be more interested. That's probably a bigger task than just flying a spacecraft."

Li now takes on a lot of administrative duties, but he still trains with his peers. "Maintaining a high level of skills is a basic requirement for the astronauts. I'm ready whenever another mission calls me," he said.

After Yang, two more astronauts were sent to space on the Shenzhou-6 spacecraft in 2005. Nie Haisheng and Fei Junlong spent five days in the capsule touring the earth.

For the second mission, engineers made a few changes to the rocket and the craft to alleviate the physical discomfort, but the duet also had to endure the challenges of a space flight, like space motion sickness and decompression.

Fei excited the audiences with a few somersaults in the capsule. Nie enjoyed a set of customized meals, but missed his favorite spicy foods and garlic sauce. Apart from carrying out stipulated tasks, they chatted and exchanged tips for fishing, a pastime they shared.

When the two joined predecessor Yang to as the few to ascend beyond 300 kilometers from the earth, they were also captured by the beauty of space.

"When I flew over the earth, I couldn't help looking down from the porthole. The universe is infinite, but the earth is the only place one calls home, and that's where everyone's root is," Nie said.

"A German astronaut asked me whether I wanted to fly again. I replied 'definitely'," said Fei.

The Shenzhou-7 space mission, which includes a spacewalk, will be more demanding and more risky than the previous two, the astronauts said.

"The mission is prelude of a more advanced chapter of China's space industry development, and everyone is looking forward to its success," said Yang Liwei.

Source: Xinhua

Shenzhou-7 mission to promote peaceful use of outer space

The launch of China's third manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 was an important part of China's effort to "explore and make peaceful use of outer space," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said here Thursday.

The ultimate purpose of China's manned space mission is to explore and make peaceful use of outer space, in a bid to boost the national economy and benefit the people, Liu told a routine press conference.

"We believe this will further promote China's space flight technology and make a contribution to the peaceful use of outer space for humankind. We wish the Shenzhou-7 mission a complete success," he said.

China has announced that the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft will lift off on Thursday night. This will be the third Chinese manned space mission, but the first time Chinese astronauts perform a spacewalk.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese President Hu meets Shenzhou-7 taikonauts

Chinese President Hu Jintao had a brief meeting with taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, before their boarding of the country's third manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7, on Thursday and wished them success in the mission.

"During the mission, you will wear the homemade Feitian space suit for the first time and carry out China's first extravehicular activity, which is a great leap for China's space technology," Hu said at a see-off ceremony at the launch center.

"With strong support of the whole nation, thorough preparations of various sectors, rigorous training and sophisticated skills of yourselves, I believe you will have a complete success in the mission," Hu told the taikonauts.

"The motherland and people are waiting for your triumphant return," Hu said.

The Shenzhou-7 will blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China later Thursday. The launch window was set between 9:07 p.m. to 10:27 p.m .

Source: Xinhua

Taikonauts enter Shenzhou-7 spacecraft on 3-hour countdown

All three Chinese taikonauts have entered the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft at 18:28 p.m. Thursday, about three hours ahead of its scheduled launch.

They then plugged their spacesuits to the re-entry module of the craft and checked the communication system with the ground control after reviewing the operation manual of the spaceship.

The Shenzhou-7 will blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China later Thursday. The launch window was set between 9:07 p.m. to 10:27 p.m .

Chinese President Hu Jintao met the trio taikonauts before they entered the spacecraft.

Hu wished the trio taikonauts a complete success in the mission during the brief meeting.

"With strong support of the whole nation, thorough preparations of various sectors, rigorous training and sophisticated skills of yourselves, I believe you will have a complete success in this glorious and sacred mission," Hu said.

"The motherland and people are waiting for your triumphant return," he said.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese taikonauts face immense challenges in maiden spacewalk mission

Chinese astronauts on board the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft will face immense challenges in their mission, scheduled to kick off between 9:07 p.m. to 10:27 p.m. local time on Thursday.

Space motion sickness, which occurs to most spacecraft passengers, can cause dizziness, vomiting and nausea, while depression, another type of ailment that accompanies the space flight, could incur joint pain, breath difficulties or even a loss of consciousness.

"Some of these malaises could be life-threatening. For example, if the occupant throws up, the vomits will block the tubes and circuits in the spacesuit and cause fatal consequences," said Li Yongzhi, director of medical department of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

"The safety of the astronauts has always been a source of concern," she said.

Li said the medical support team have been dealing with these challenges since the first manned space mission in 2003. New precautionary measures have been taken prior to the Shenzhou-7 mission, the highlight of which is the first ever spacewalk by a Chinese astronauts.

Doctors at the center collected data on their physical situations and concocted different prescription for each astronauts. Dozens of types of medications, including newly-developed traditional Chinese medicine capsules, have been loaded to the spacecraft. Medical drips are also prepared for the spacewalking astronauts.

The taikonauts started taking medications eight hours before the flight, and take regular doses every day during the flight, Li said.

Source: Xinhua

China's Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft to pass six key tests for successful mission

China's Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft and three astronauts on board will have to pass six key tests to fulfill their mission, said Zhou Jianping, the program's chief designer, in Jiuquan, Gansu province, Thursday.

TEST 1: BLASTOFF

"For any manned space program, the possibility to come across deadly failures is larger during the launch," said Zhou at the Jiuquan satellite launch center of northwestern Gansu Province.

Although the Long-March II-F carrier rocket, to carry the spaceship, had succeeded in bringing six spacecraft to the outer space, a series of contingency plans were made to protect the safety of astronauts, he said.

The 100-meter-high launch tower is equipped with a slide to facilitate astronauts escape from the spaceship when an accident happens.

The control center is 1,500 away from the launch tower in a bid to reduce threat to the ground staff.

Eight contingency modes were designed for the spaceship during the ascent stage, four inside the atmosphere and the other four out of it.

"Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is confident of a successful blastoff for it has successfully launched more than 100 satellites and spacecraft in the past five decades. We have the world's latest technologies and management," said Cui Jijun, the launch center director.

TEST 2: TRANSFER THE ORBIT

The Shenzhou-7 spaceship will transfer from an elliptic orbit to a circular one in its fifth circle around the earth. Whether it will succeed in this stage will be critical for the spaceship to fulfill all its tasks and land on the scheduled landing area in the timetable, said Zhou.

The spaceship will first travel on the elliptic orbit, 200 km away from the earth at the nearer point and 350 km at the farthest point, and it will transfer to the circular orbit 343 km away from the earth, to make its return trip easier.

Beijing Aerospace Control Center will take in charge of controlling the spaceship at this stage. "We are confident of fulfilling this task as we have performed well in the country's first moon probe mission," said Zhu Mincai, the center's director.

TEST 3: PUT ON SPACE SUIT

Astronauts will start preparing for the spacewalk in the spaceship's ninth circle around the earth. The most important part is to put on the space suit. The whole preparation will take about14 hours.

Chinese only spent four years in developing its own EVA suits, named Feitian.

Despite repeated training, it will be the first time for the astronaut to put on it in the outer space. The astronaut must strictly follow the procedure. Any mistake will lead to deadly results, said Zhou.

"It will be much different to put on it in the space from doingit on the earth," said Liu Boming, one of the three astronauts to be on board, "But I can only tell you what is the difference when I am back."

TEST 4: AIRLOCK

The airlock, a pressure chamber linking the main body of the spaceship to the outside, is new on Shenzhou-7 and was not required on the previous six space flights. Whether it will work properly decides whether the astronaut can finish the spacewalk.

Inside the airlock, the air pressure will reduce to zero before the astronaut steps outside and restore to the normal level inside the module after he returns. The whole procedure must finish within a certain period of time.

"The airlock is well designed and safe," said Zhang Bonan, chief designer of the manned spacecraft system.

TEST 5: SPACEWALK

The highlight of the whole program will be the 30-minute spacewalk when the Shenzhou-7 travels around the earth in the 29thcircle.

It will be a test for both the astronauts and the ground staff. The astronaut that walks into the space will take test samples from the surface of the modules and solar battery, cooperating with another astronaut inside. The ground staff must maintain the communication between the control center and spacecraft and provide supports for the astronaut.

Every move must be well done, including opening the door of there-entry module, closing it and sealing it. "It is not easy to do it in the outer space," Zhou said. "If the door is not sealed, there will be a disaster."

"In such an independent task as the spacewalk, it is the psychological factor that affects the astronaut's performance," said Yang Liwei, China's first spaceman and deputy director of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

TEST 6: BLACKOUT AREA

When the spaceship begins its journey back, it must start its engine at the right time for a second earlier or later will lead to a landing site 9 km away from the planned one.

The re-entry module will go through a "blackout" area when it re-enter the atmosphere, which means all communication with the ground will be weak and even cut off. It will greatly challenge the physical and psychological conditions of the astronauts.

The blackout will disappear when the module reaches the height 40 km from the ground.

"The landing system will search the module and rescue the astronauts as soon as they land. We will try our best to give a perfect end to the mission," said Sui Qisheng, director of the landing system.

Source: Xinhua

Draft document on Macao's higher education legal framework being finalized

The Macao Special Administration Government are finalizing its draft document on the higher education legal framework, said Chui Sai On, the SAR's secretary for social affairs and culture at an international conference held here on Thursday.

In an effort to strengthen the quality of the city's universities programs and activities, the SAR government is also working on the regulation of the credit system and the academic evaluation system that a modern higher education structure must require, said Chui when delivering his speech at the Asia-Pacific Sub-Regional Preparatory Conference for the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education.

The SAR government "has year after year allocated more resources and funding towards research and development in educational program... our reform aims at enabling our students to tackle the demands of society and the job market," he said.

Currently, Macao has 10 higher educational institutions, among which four are public while six private. A total academic staff of1,500 are working in the universities during the academic year and there are nearly 27,000 registered students, according to official statistics from the SAR government.

"This might be a small number when compared with the figures to other countries and regions. Nonetheless, our commitment, motivation to implement reforms promoting institutions with better academic quality, more autonomy, and greater accountability, I believe, are the same," he noted.

Some 200 scholars and academic professionals from 32 countries and regions attended the two-day conference jointly organized and sponsored by the SAR government and UNESCO Bangkok.

The organizers said that the aim of the preparatory conference is to prepare for the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education which will be held in Paris between July 6 and 8 next year. Although being titled "Facing Global and Local Challenges: the New Dynamics for Higher Education", the conference mainly focused on higher education within the Eastern and Southern Asia.

"After the 1998 World conference, it is time to assess our efforts, what we achieved, where we stand, and attain if our policies towards a continuously changing and demanding learning society are still effective," Chui said.

Source: Xinhua

"Taikonauts" a sign of China's growing global influence

As China made another giant leap into space with the Shenzhou-7 craft launch on Thursday carrying a crew that is scheduled to make the nation's first space walk, the word "taikonaut" cropped up in media reports around the world.

It's appearing in dictionaries, too.

The word is a hybrid of the Chinese term "taikong" and the Greek "naut" , or astronaut, according to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Another variation on the term is "cosmonaut", coined during the Soviet space era.

"The fact that taikonaut has been listed in popular dictionaries like Oxford and Longman shows that the word has been recognized by quite a number of English speakers. It can be seen as another sign of China's growing global influence," said Chen Lin, a linguistics professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

"It is not the first time that a Chinese word was 'adopted' by users of a foreign language," Chen said, citing such terms as kungfu, hutong and names of Chinese dishes seen in restaurants around the world.

But all the other words that were borrowed by foreign languages users refer to things of China's past, Chen said. This new word "shows that China has more to export to the world than just kungfu and Chinese food," he said.

Taikonaut was coined in 1988 when China started to train astronauts. It became well known in 2003 when China sent its first spaceman Yang Liwei to space in the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.

Two years later, the Shenzhou-6 took off from China's Jiuquan Launch Center for a five-day mission carrying taikonauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng.

During the Shenzhou-7 mission, one of the three taikonauts on board will make China's first space walk, in a China-made space suit. That walk will make China the third nation after Russia and the United States to stroll in space.

"China is not only recognized as a nation with a long and fascinating history, but also a leading technological power," Chen said.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese President celebrates successful Shenzhou-7 launch

Chinese president Hu Jintao congratulated the country's space scientists and taikonauts on the successful launch of the manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Thursday.

"The successful launch marked the first victory of theShenzhou-7 mission," Hu told Chinese experts and other work staff at the center after officials declared the spacecraft entered the preset orbit.

"On behalf of the Party Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission, I'd like to extend warm congratulations to all work staff and army forces participating in the mission," said Hu.


The Long-March II-F carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou-7 spaceship blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, on 21:10 p.m., Sept. 25, 2008.
The manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province at 9:10 p.m., after a breathtaking countdown to another milestone on China's space journey.

Source: Xinhua

Rays within sight of first divisional title

BALTIMORE, Maryland: The Tampa Bay Rays moved to within sight of their first American League East title by winning both games of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 and 7-5 on Tuesday.


With the regular season in the final week, Tampa Bay moved three games ahead of the Boston Red Sox, who beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 to clinch at least the AL wild card, with the victories.

The double-header victory on Tuesday reduced Tampa Bay's "magic number" to two, meaning any combination of Rays' victories and Red Sox losses equalling two, would clinch the AL East title.

Both teams have five games remaining before the regular season ends on Sunday.

Tampa Bay play Baltimore on Wednesday before beginning a four-game series at Detroit, while the Red Sox finish their series against the Indians on Thursday before hosting the New York Yankees for their final three games of the season.

The Rays had the worst record in the major leagues last season and had never previously qualified for the playoffs since their formation 11 years ago.

The Rays recovered from a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the fifth and one each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to complement seven strong innings by pitcher James Shields in the first game of the double header.

Tampa Bay were also down in the second game, 5-1, before Evan Longoria homered and pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro drove in two runs in a six-run eighth inning rally to complete the win.

"That was quite a comeback right there," Rays manager Joe Maddon said after the second game. "The whole team contributed."

Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1

In Toronto, New York will miss the postseason for the first time since starting its run in 1995.

Mike Mussina pitched five shutout innings to earn his 19th win and Jason Giambi homered for the Yankees against Toronto, but it wasn't enough to keep New York's slim postseason hopes alive as Boston beat Cleveland minutes before the Yankees won. The Red Sox win clinched at least the AL wild-card and eliminated the Yankees from postseason contention.

Mussina will try for a career-high 20th victory on Sunday at Boston.

With his 269th career victory, Mussina moved past Jim Palmer into 33rd place on Major League Baseball's career list.

Royals 5, Tigers 0

In Detroit, Zack Greinke and Leo Nunez combined on a four-hitter to lift Kansas City.

Mike Aviles, Ryan Shealy and Alex Gordon homered for Kansas City, which has won 10 of its last 12.

Greinke allowed four hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out four. Nunez retired six straight in the eighth and ninth.

Detroit has lost 11 of 12 and was shut out for the 13th time this season. Freddy Garcia gave up five runs and seven hits in five innings.

Mets 6 Cubs 2

In New York, Johan Santana sparked New York with an unusual broken-bat infield single and struck out 10 in eight innings to lead the Mets over the Chicago Cubs in the National League on Tuesday.

With one out in the fifth, Sean Marshall hit Nick Evans and Santana followed with a broken-bat grounder up the middle. Marshall eluded a piece of Santana's bat but the ball got past him and kicked off the broken wood, bouncing off the glove of shortstop Ronny Cedeno.

After an out and a walk, David Wright lined a tying two-run single to left. New York added four runs in the sixth off reliever Chad Gaudin .

Jose Reyes had a three-run triple for his 200th hit of the season and Wright drove in two runs for the Mets.

Braves 3, Phillies 2

In Philadelphia, Casey Kotchman homered and Mike Hampton won for the first time in a month for Atlanta.

Philadelphia leads New York by 1 1/2 games in the NL East.

The Phillies twice had serious shots at big innings against the oft-injured Hampton , who won for the first time since Aug 16. They left the bases loaded in the third and ran themselves out of a rally in the sixth to lose for only the second time in 12 games.

Nationals 9, Marlins 4

In Washington, Florida's playoff hopes officially ended at the hands of a team simply trying to avoid 100 losses.

Alberto Gonzalez went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Shairon Martis got his first major league win as Washington broke a five-game losing streak.

The Marlins' fourth straight loss, coupled with New York's victory over Chicago, mathematically eliminated Florida from the wild-card race.

Washington's loss tally remained at 98. The Nationals need to go 4-1 the rest of the way to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1976.

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Serbs in Spain, Dutch go to Argentina for Davis draw

PARIS: Spain will host Serbia and fellow finalists Argentina will take on the Netherlands in first round Davis Cup world group action following Tuesday's draw for the 2009 edition.

The Spaniards, champions in 2000 and 2004 and led by world number one Rafael Nadal, will face two-time runners-up Argentina, bolstered by teenage star Juan Martin del Potro, in the Nov 21-23 final.

But already their rivals have an eye on the new season - particularly the United States, beaten by Spain in last weekend's semifinal in Madrid.

Team USA, with a record 32 wins, will have home advantage as they take on Roger Federer's Switzerland, the 1992 runners-up.

With his packed schedule Federer often skips the opening round action but may be persuaded to make an exception this time with compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka looking for a strong teammate.

A factor which could persuade Federer, dethroned this season by Nadal as world number one, to join the fray is that the ATP has decreed that rankings points will be available.

Nadal and co will meanwhile not be able to count any chickens against a Serb side led by world number three Novak Djokovic, who is backed by 43rd-ranked Janko Tipsarevic and doubles world number two Nenad Zimonjic.

France, whose ninth and most recent crown came in 2001, travel to the Czech Republic, winners as the old Czechoslovakia in 1980, while the most recent winners from eastern Europe, 2005 champions Croatia, host a Chilean side fresh from defeating Australia in their playoff.

Russia, twice champions since the turn of the millennium but beaten by the Argentines last weekend in their semi, travel to Romania, who proved too strong this month for India.

Three-times champions Germany, who have faded since the era of Boris Becker and Michael Stich, face neighboring Austria after the latter ended Britain's hopes of a berth while seven-times winner Sweden receive Israel.

The great absentees are Australia, 28-time winners but who were condemned to another season in the Asia/Oceania zone after losing their weekend play-off to Chile in Antofogasta.

First round action will take place between March 6 and 8, a month later than usual, while the quarter-finals will be held on July 10 to 12 ahead of the semis and playoffs on September 18-20 with the trophy match on December 4 to 6.

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Zheng beats cough and Radwanska

Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie would have regretted it if she had quit the China Open because of the cough she picked up.

The world No 30 thought about withdrawing but decided to hang in there and convincingly defeated sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in straight sets yesterday.

"The China Open is in my homeland, so I had to keep trying," said Zheng after the 6-2, 6-3 win.

Zheng picked up the cough at the Guangzhou Open a week ago, when she was a semifinalist, and developed into a fever before her first round match on Tuesday.

However, the player known for her persistence, which helped her make tennis history by entering the last four at July's Wimbledon, as a wildcard, once again brought her best form against all the odds.

"This is probably the worst situation ever," Zheng said. "I had to spend a lot of time warming up before the game. I started to find my form after the fifth game in the first set, which had 10 deuces."

Her victory saved some blushes for the host after her teammates, including the nation's top player Li Na, Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai all crashed out of the tournament in their first-round matches the day before.

"I just tried to do my best," said Zheng, who was asked why she appeared so stable while most of her compatriots had problems. "I don't really think about it."

With an overnight 3-0 lead, Zheng had few problems disposing of Radwanska in the rain-interrupted first-round game. She raced into a 5-0 lead and took the first set 6-2. The duo traded breaks in the middle of the second set but Zheng managed to gain a lead of 5-3 before serving for victory.

"I was not afraid of her because she is not a power player," Zheng said. "I played against her in Dubai in February and I lost in three sets. But then my physical condition wasn't good because I had just come back from injury."

Radwanska is just the latest of a string of high-ranked players who has fallen victim to Zheng. At Wimbledon the petite Chinese player defeated then world No 1 Ana Ivanovic, Hungarian Agnes Szavay and Czech Nicole Vaidisova en route to the semifinals.

"Chinese players received more attention after I got to the Wimbledon semifinals. It helps develop tennis in China," Zheng said.

"Beating a top-10 player will give me more confidence and I hope I will end the year with a higher ranking," added Zheng, who reached a career-high ranking of 27 in 2006.

"I'm not the kind of person that looks to make a long-term plan. I always challenge my best ranking and if I can go beyond that I will be very happy," she added.

She will next play Japan's veteran Ai Sugiyama.

Despite Zheng's victory, local players continued to fall yesterday as men's singles players Sun Peng and Bai Yan both lost in the first round to, respectively, Jean-Clude Schetter of Switzerland and Go Soeda of Japan.

In other matches, American men's eighth seed Sam Querrey defeated compatriot Jesse Levine 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 , while Czech Ivo Minar overcame South Korean Lee Hyung-taik 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Source: China Daily

Sheffield United claim tribunal success over Tevez

LONDON: English Championship side Sheffield United said on Tuesday a Football Association appointed arbitration hearing had ruled in their favour of their compensation claim against West Ham over the Carlos Tevez transfer saga.


Wayne Rooney in action with Calors Tevez during their premiership match at old Trafford in May last year.
United were relegated at the end of the 2006-07 season, Tevez making a massive contribution as West Ham clawed their way to safety.

The Argentine striker scored the winner as the Hammers won at Manchester United on the final day of the season to complete their revival at the Blades' expense.

The Premier League fined the Hammers a record 5.5 million pounds for fielding Tevez and compatriot Javier Mascherano despite their being ineligible to play under third-party ownership rules following complex transfers to West Ham.

They were found to have been partially-owned by businessman Kia Joorabchian's Media Sports Investment company.

Tevez last year joined Manchester United and Liverpool snapped up Mascherano.

Sheffield United first appealed to the league to be reinstated in the English Premiership but that failed so they instead moved to exact a financial settlement.

In a statement on their official website, www.sufc.co.uk, they said they had been successful.

Media reports said the club want some 30 million pounds for their demotion with chairman Kevin McCabe having previously stated that relegation cost United at least 50 million pounds in lost revenues.

McCabe said: "I can confirm that both clubs have been notified of the ruling. The arbitration panel has awarded in our favor.

"The matter is still legally in process so I do not wish to comment any further until we have completed that process."

A West Ham spokesperson told BBC Radio following the news of the tribunal ruling: "We need to digest the full findings of the arbitration panel and will consult our lawyers on the next steps we might take before making any further comment."

Former Blades boss Neil Warnock, who left Bramall Lane after the club were relegated, said: "It's a matter for justice and I think everyone in the country knows this is the right verdict."

Warnock, now manager of United's second-tier rivals Crystal Palace, commenting on the human as well as financial cost of relegation, also told Sky Sports News: "It was scandalous. It changed one or two lives and it shouldn't have happened. This verdict puts your faith back into the justice system."

An FA statement insisted there was no further right of appeal against this ruling and stressed the governing body had played no part in the verdict.

"The dispute has been heard by a private independent arbitration tribunal set up under the FA's rules.

"The arbitration tribunal is comprised of one member nominated by each club, plus an independent member agreed upon by the two parties.

"All aspects of the arbitration, including publicity, are then a matter for the arbitration tribunal and the two parties concerned.

"For clarity, The FA did not sit in judgement on this case, did not have any influence on the decision and did not appoint any of the tribunal members."

Source: China Daily/Agencies

We're in for the long run, Man City's owners say

LONDON: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan promised on Tuesday that he and his Abu Dhabi United Group were at Manchester City for the long term after completing the negotiations for their takeover of the Premier League club.

"I am delighted to tell you that negotiations are complete and the transfer of ownership will take place on Tuesday Sept 23," Sheikh Mansour said on the club's website .

"We are ambitious for the club, like you, but not unreasonably so and we understand it takes time to build a team capable of sustaining a presence in the top four of the Premier League and winning European honors.

"Whilst we want to bring in the best players in the world, we also want to see the academy continue to develop talent and give Mark Hughes the chance to bring home-grown players into the team.

"We will back his judgment in what players to bring in and we look forward to working more closely with him in the future. We are building a structure for the future not just a team of all-stars."

The Middle Eastern billionaire's takeover from Thaksin Shinawatra theoretically makes City the league's richest club - taking the mantle held by Chelsea for the last five years under Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

The new owners signaled their intentions on the final day of the transfer window by buying Brazil forward Robinho from Real Madrid for a British record 32.5 million pounds .

"I am a football fan, and I hope that you will soon see that I am now also a Manchester City fan," Sheikh Mansour said.

"But I am also a long-term investor and that is probably more important to the club and to you because it means we are here for the long haul and that we will act always in the best interests of the club and all of its stakeholders, but especially you the fans."

Chairman designate Khaldoon Al Mubarak published a letter on the website earlier in the day promising that the new owners planned to build a dynasty over the next 10 years, with Hughes the key to sustained success.

"Nothing rash is going to happen, we are not going to do crazy stuff," he said.

"We will work with Garry Cook and Mark. They call the shots and we are here to support to help build a sustainable club."

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Wenger's young guns have bright future

LONDON: Arsene Wenger declared himself confident that Arsenal's future is in safe hands after watching the club's youngest ever side inflict a 6-0 League Cup drubbing on Sheffield United.

Despite an average age of just 19, the young Gunners put the Blades to the sword with a pass-and-move masterclass that resulted in an embarrassingly one-sided League Cup 3rd round tie in which Mexican teenager Carlos Alberto Vela claimed a hat-trick.


Arsenal's English Midfielder Jack Wilshere vies with Sheffield United's Scottish defender Gary Naysmith during their Carling Cup 3rd round match at the Emirates, London, on Tuesday.
Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner scored a double and 16-year-old Jack Wilshere notched his first for the first team to leave Wenger purring with delight over what he described as a "complete" performance.

The Frenchman said: "The team showed a good mixture of talent and a mature collective spirit to play football the way we want to play.

"The way the team remained focused and they looked a complete team. I am very proud of that.

"We looked strong in every individual position, and that takes a lot of hard work."

Wenger hinted that Vela may not have to wait long for further first team exposure. "We knew about Bendtner, but we discovered more about Vela," he said. "He is a clinical finisher. I integrated Wilshere into the first team sometimes last season when he was 15 and he did not look out of place and it is natural for him.

"I was not surprised because I see them every day, but you never know on a big stage how they play. They did that with the belief we want them to have and the spirit we want then to have.

"Now for us the biggest challenge is to keep them together and slowly integrate them into the first team. Some have done that already."

Wenger said the performance was vindication of his parsimonious approach in the transfer market. "When you are under immense pressure to buy in every transfer window, when you know that you have these players behind it would be killing the work we have done."

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his first start for Manchester United since the Champions League final with a goal as Sir Alex Ferguson's side beat 10-man Middlesbrough 3-1 at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo began his quest to match last season's 42-goal tally by heading in a Ryan Giggs corner midway through the first half.

His effort was canceled out by Adam Johnson's volley early in the second half but Ryan Giggs restored the home side's lead after Middlesbrough had been reduced to 10 men following the straight red card issued to Emmanuel Pogatetz for a horrendous challenge on Rodrigo Possebon that left the Brazilian teenager with a suspected broken leg.

Ronaldo's compatriot Nani completed an ultimately comfortable win with United's third at the death.

Liverpool took a leaf out of Arsenal's book by naming a second-string side for their Anfield clash with League One's Crewe.

But the Reds could not match the Gunners in terms of quality as they labored to a 2-1 win.

Danish centerback Daniel Agger hammered in a 15th-minute freekick to get Liverpool off to a positive start.

But Crewe claimed a deserved equalizer through Michael O'Connor 10 minutes later and Liverpool struggled to break down the visitors until Brazilian Leiva Lucas restored the lead with a close-range header.

Championship side Burnley pulled off the biggest upset of the night when they knocked out the Premier League's Fulham, courtesy of an 88th-minute strike from 19-year-old local boy Jay Rodriguez.

Watford also claimed a Premier League scalp with an own goal by Hadyn Mullins condemning West Ham to their first defeat under new manager Gianfranco Zola.

Elsewhere, Swansea emerged victorious from their south Wales derby clash with Cardiff, courtesy of Jordi Gomez's goal.

Sunderland needed two late goals from Anthony Stokes to force their clash with Northampton into extra-time before finally coming through by winning the penalty shoot-out 4-3.

Premiership newcomers Stoke were also forced into extra-time after twice being pegged back by Reading but they also survived penalties, winning the shoot-out 4-3.

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Love wins 2008 Payne Stewart Award

ATLANTA: Former PGA Championship winner Davis Love III, who set up a foundation to improve the lives of vulnerable children and their families, won the Payne Stewart Award on Tuesday.

"Davis epitomises everything that the Payne Stewart Award stands for in his integrity, sportsmanship and spirit of giving back," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.

"He truly understands what it means to be a role model and has been a great ambassador for the PGA Tour and the sport of golf, both on and off the field of competition.

"He is a worthy addition to the list of distinguished gentlemen who have been honored with the Payne Stewart Award."

A 19-times winner on the PGA Tour and a veteran of six Ryder Cups, the 44-year-old Love claimed his only major title at the 1997 PGA Championship.

He established the Davis Love Foundation in 2005 to support national and community programs which focus on children and families in need.

Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, Tom Watson, Jay Haas, Brad Faxon, Gary Player and Hal Sutton were previous winners of the Payne Stewart Award.

The honor is given annually to a player sharing Stewart's respect for the traditions of the game and his commitment to uphold golf's heritage of charitable support.

American Stewart, who died in a plane crash in 1999, won 11 times on the PGA Tour, including three majors.

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Buoyant Kim ready to return to Tour reality

ATLANTA: Less than 48 hours after celebrating the best week of his life, Anthony Kim was back to business on Tuesday preparing for the final event of the PGA Tour's regular season.

The 23-year-old was still on a high as he reflected on his significant role in the US Ryder Cup victory over Europe while fervently hoping he had enough energy for this week's Tour Championship.

"There better be ," Kim told reporters at East Lake Golf Club. "I mean, I'm playing against 29 other players who deserve to be here who played great golf for a number of tournaments to get here.

"The Ryder Cup did take an emotional toll on me because our team did grind so hard. We put everything we had into it.

"But it's what we do for a living. You've got to get up, be ready to play and go out there and try and make some birdies.

"Coming off an emotional week at the Ryder Cup was an experience I'll never forget and hopefully it's something I can draw back on going into this week.

"I had a couple of adult beverages but it was all in good fun," he added with a smile, referring to the American victory celebrations on Sunday. "It was just a time to blow it all out and have some fun. Now I'm here, here at East Lake."

Kim, who qualified for the elite field of 30 for this week's lucrative FedExCup finale, will never forget his Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

The youngest member of the 12-man American team, he produced exhilarating form to win 2-1/2 points out of a possible four, ending the week with a 5&4 singles victory over Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

"I just had the best week of golf in my entire life, the best experience of my life, something I'll never forget," Kim said. "It's something I'll cherish for a very long time."

Despite being a rookie at Valhalla, he was delighted to be given the honor of playing Garcia in the first singles match on Sunday, setting the tone for the rest of his team.

"It meant a great deal," the world number 10 said. "Everyone that played in the Ryder Cup is a good player and there were no easy matches out there. On any given day, Sergio could beat me and I could beat Sergio.

"I know all about Sergio and we've become good friends. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. So it was a challenge that I really wanted."

Widely regarded as the brightest young talent in the American game, Kim has won two PGA Tour titles this season and has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve in golf.

"I've already figured out a couple of key points in my game and some flaws that I need to get better for next year.

"I'm already planning that out, starting to figure that out."

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Singh targets triumphant finish in low-key finale

ATLANTA: The FedExCup playoffs limp to an anti-climatic finish at this week's Tour Championship with Vijay Singh having all but secured the glittering trophy before Thursday's opening round.

After winning the first two of the four lucrative playoff events, the smooth-swinging Fijian simply needs to complete Sunday's final round to lift the Cup and pocket $9 million in cash with $1 million deferred.

Last place in the elite 30-man field at East Lake Golf Club would do the trick for Singh but he has set his sights on victory to end the PGA Tour's regular season with a flourish.

"It's a great feeling to know that all I need to do is tee it up and play and I've already won the FedExCup," the 45-year-old told reporters in the tournament build-up.

"But I want to make the point that I'm going to go out there and try to win the tournament. I love Atlanta and I love East Lake. I've had great success there.

"I know they've changed the golf course a little bit and I want to go out there and win it, make a point that I can win three out of four weeks.

"But I'd rather be in this position than going out there knowing that I have to win to win the Cup. This is a dream for every player out there to be in my position."

Killed suspense

Singh will be bidding for his fourth victory of the season, having also clinched the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone early last month.

Although he effectively killed off any chance of suspense at East Lake by winning the first two playoff events - the Barclays Classic and Deutsche Bank Championship - his rivals have much to gain.

"We're still playing to win this golf tournament and wherever you finish on the FedExCup, whether it's second or 30th, at this point it doesn't really matter," American Anthony Kim told reporters on Tuesday.

"Everyone is out here to win this golf tournament. Vijay is going to be remembered as the FedExCup champ so we're just trying to win this and finish as high up as we can."

Chad Campbell, who played with Kim on the triumphant US Ryder Cup team at Valhalla last week, agreed.

"I think it'll still be exciting," he said. "There will be a lot of stories there, and a lot of money to be made there in second, third, those places.

"It's still a golf tournament and I know everybody is here ready to play."

Twelve months ago, six players went into the Tour Championship with a chance of winning the inaugural FedExCup before Tiger Woods triumphed to become the overall champion.

This year six has become just one and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem accepts further tweaking of the ongoing FedExCup points system is needed to improve the four-event finale.

"The reality is the No 1 position in the FedExCup is sewn up before we get to Atlanta and that was not supposed to be part of the equation," Finchem said on Tuesday. "So that's an area that we certainly need to look at.

"But I don't think this week is irrelevant now. If you just think about the fact that some $22 million is at stake among these top-30 players in the world, so that means a lot."

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Zhangjiajie -- lost horizons

It is a fact of life, not necessarily to be applauded, that the world is largely an English-speaking place and that most people abuse this when traveling overseas.

Wherever people are , the natives are often ready and willing to hold a passable conversation with them, especially if they are in a service industry or trying to sell them something.

It would be all too easy to spend one's life in such blissful ignorance of any other language, were it not for the occasional mishap that occurs when one finds oneself in uncharted waters.

So it is in modern China, where its people's magnificent obsession with learning English has not yet reached those places which are for the first time opening their doors and hearts to foreigners.


The 1,300-year-old Fenghuang , home of the Miao ethnic group, has never lost its charm.

One such place is Zhangjiajie in western Hunan, one of the jewels in China's tourism crown.

Blessed with the chance to explore this land of spectacular scenery, my first discovery was most unwelcome: Nobody on my media tour bus, including the guides, spoke any English and these were to be my companions for the next week.

It is a frustrating and lonely experience when everything is explained in a foreign language to people who all around are absorbing a wealth of information, chatting and generally making merry, and when even media hand-outs and maps are also in Chinese and make no sense to the rest of the group.

With my ears likely to be of limited use in the days ahead, I resolved to open my eyes instead and the visual treats all around began to penetrate my resistance, for this is truly a place where you can gaze in awe at the finest scenery imaginable.

The Tourism Festival opened in, and focused on, its trump card, Zhangjiajie. 2008 is the city's 20th birthday but it has been a difficult one for the tourism industry, struck first by a freezing winter with icy roads and snowstorms, an economic downturn, shortened national vacations and, of course, the Sichuan earthquake.

The festival was a proactive effort to promote the region to a wider audience and thus revive this crucial element of the local economy.

My group stayed for five of the seven nights at the Xiangdian resort, 30 km from the city center but next to the country's first National Forest Park, a 7,000-sq-km wonderland of mountainous peaks up to 400 m high, streams, waterfalls and even naturally formed bridges. Well-informed tourists have been coming here ever since it was listed by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage site in 1992.

Strolling through it is a breeze - even the old and frail would have little difficulty negotiating the well-laid concrete walkways, both at ground level and up high along mountainside edges.

The peaks are all around, hundreds, if not thousands of them and they are the result of many years of erosion and quite a distinctive feature of Chinese landscapes.

If the sights alone don't take your breath away, the journeys between them surely will. First, a 385-m vertical ride up the glass-sided Bailong Lift on the outside of a mountain, the world's highest free-moving elevator; then the longest cable car ride in the world at Tianmen Mountain, followed by another aerial trip on an open-sided 2-seater chair, reminiscent of those found at ski resorts, with nothing between you and the clouds except for a movable metal bar.

During the epic cable car ride, I looked at the route ahead and the cable suddenly angled up and vanished vertically into the mist above. Surely, one wasn't heading up there. Wrong! This heart-stopping voyage carried me through the clouds as if I was truly flying through the sky.

Throughout the trip, my group bumped into a group of German tourists doing the same route. These well-seasoned travelers agreed the National Forest peaks were the equal of anything they had seen.

They also took pity on me and let me join their group for a day so I could benefit from their English-speaking guide. I stuck to them like glue and would have asked for a repeat the next day but at day's end found their base to be a 20-minute drive from mine - the tour bus driver agreed to get me back for 100 yuan. They are not averse to fleecing the unwary.

My week-long trip finished with a 4-hour bumpy ride to the charming 1,300-year-old town of Fenghuang , home of the Miao ethnic group. If the aerial jinks of Zhangjiajie don't jangle your nerves, this certainly will.

Our group hurtled at breakneck speed through the winding roads, with steep falls beckoning at every turn, all the time the driver's horn sounding near-continuously as if his hand were glued to it.

Once in Fenghuang, though, the tempo changed as I absorbed the town's gentle charm. By day, a trip to the Southern Great Wall on the town's outskirts. Originally built 450 years ago by Ming Dynasty rulers to defend the town from the rebellious Miao people, it was only discovered in 2000. Its original 190 km has either collapsed or been reduced by decay.

Then back to town and a gentle boat ride down the Tuojiang River which runs through its heart, a chance to admire the rows of waterside houses built on high stilts.

By night, it was farewell party time with a visit to one of the many bars and restaurants flanking the river. Thankfully, "ganbei" is a familiar concept.

My hotel, the Grand, was a 10-minute walk to the town's bustling shopping street. Like the Xiang Dian, it offered free Internet access - the Grand even provided a PC with Internet in my room, ideal for backing up digital pictures.

The Zhangjiajie region is deservedly getting the star treatment by tourism promoters and its people charmed me from start to finish. As time passes, more overseas visitors will eagerly seek it out on the map. I hope it's a map they all understand.

Source: China Daily