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Checks on foreigners stepped up in Beijing

Immigration officers in Beijing have intensified inspections of foreigners as an increasing number have started to use China to enter third countries illegally, officials said.

Ji Lixia, assistant head of the Beijing office of China Immigration Inspection, said the number of foreigners being deported has continued to rise in the past three years, but he declined to give an exact figure or the growth rate.

Some reports have said that about 200 foreigners were deported last year after attempting to enter China without proper documentation.

Since Jan 1, 2013, many Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have launched a 72-hour visa-free policy for visitors from some countries who have valid airline tickets to a third country.

Most of the deported foreigners are from developing countries or regions troubled by war, and they were returned for staying in China illegally or for disturbing public order, Ji said.

Two dozen die as gas blasts hit Taiwan

At least 26 people were killed and more than 260 injured on Aug 1 by powerful gas blasts in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung.

The explosions overturned cars and ripped up roads as terrified residents fled an inferno.

President Xi Jinping conveyed his condolences to victims' families, saying he was deeply concerned after learning of the heavy casualties.

The explosions sparked massive fires, which tore through the city's Cianjhen district, leaving a yawning trench running for hundreds of meters down the middle of a major thoroughfare and littering the streets with bodies.

Dramatic video footage captured by car dashboard cameras showed multiple blasts and pillars of flame erupting from manholes as drivers frantically tried to avoid being engulfed.

Four firefighters who went to the scene after residents smelled gas were among those killed in the blasts and rescuers were searching for two others who disappeared.

One street was torn open along its length, swallowing several fire engines and other vehicles, while some houses had their roofs blown off.

Twelve Chinese fishermen received prison sentences ranging from six to 12 years from a Philippine Palawan regional court after the group's vessel rammed into Tubbataha Reef Natural Park in April last year.

The Palawan court convicted them of poaching and violating the Tubbataha Reefs National Park Act of 2009, according to the Philippine newspaper Philstar. The vessel's captain, Liu Wenjie, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and 11 other fishermen got sentences ranging from six to 10 years.

Each was fined $100,000, according to provincial prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez, who added that the 12 will be imprisoned at the Iwahig Penal Colony in Palawan.

In April 2013, the Chinese men were caught when their fishing vessel ran aground in Tubbataha Reef. According to The Associated Press, the boat was carrying frozen meat of protected pangolins, a species of anteater.

China, India ties shift to high gear

The engine driving Sino-Indian ties has been turbo-charged recently and the neighbors, once wary of each other, are now discussing multibillion-dollar deals, working together for Asian prosperity and transforming their relationship, India's ambassador to China said.

Ashok Kantha, whose association with China began nearly 35 years ago, said in an interview with China Daily that there has been a complete makeover in Sino-Indian ties. In 1981, Kantha came to China after studying Chinese at Nanyang University in Singapore.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China four times before winning the general election by a landslide in May, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was the first foreign leader Modi spoke to after he was sworn in.

Company neglected safety before explosion

The workshop explosion in Kunshan on Aug 2, which has claimed at least 75 lives and injured 185, was a major accident for which company leaders and local government should take responsibility, according to investigators.

An investigative team headed by Yang Dongliang, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, concluded that company leaders neglected safety regulations.

Many workers at Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products confirmed that the wheel-polishing workshop caught fire two months earlier but no one paid attention as the fire was extinguished quickly.

Song Changxing, a former worker at Zhongrong, said he started to vomit large amounts of blood and had nosebleeds before he was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, a disease of the lungs caused by longtime inhalation of dust, especially mineral or metallic dust.

Breast-feeding in China far below world average

China's health authority reported a breast-feeding rate of 27.8 percent, far below the world average of 38 percent, at an event to mark World Breastfeeding Week, from Aug 1 to 7 each year.

According to the World Health Organization, breast-feeding is the best way to provide newborns with the nutrients they need. Breast-feeding is recommended until infants reach six months, and it should be continued with supplementary foods for up to two years.

In China, the breast-feeding rate for babies up to six months is expected to reach at least 50 percent, according to the Outline Program for Development of Chinese Children (2011-2020), issued by the State Council.

"Breast-feeding is crucial to newborns' health, but we are still far from that goal," said Qin Geng, deputy director of the Maternal and Child Health Department of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Greece evacuates 79 Chinese from Libya

Seventy-nine Chinese nationals were evacuated from Libya and taken to Athens on board the Greek frigate Salamis.

The evacuees arrived safely at Piraeus port near the Greek capital on Aug 2 after a 27-hour trip across rough seas, and were set to return to China within two days.

The 117-meter warship, which can carry 220 passengers, was sent to Tripoli on July 31 to pick up Greek embassy employees as well as Greek and foreign citizens.

The operation was ordered because of the worsening security situation in the Libya. Clashes between rival militias in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi had left at least 214 people dead and 981 others wounded since July 13.

(China Daily European Weekly 08/08/2014 page2)