Society

Around China: More grants for drought victims

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-24 06:47

1.Beijing

More renewable energy needed

Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday called for more efforts to develop renewable energy in an effort to cope with rising domestic fuel demand and severe energy shortages.

"We must accelerate the development and use of renewable energies to ensure the country's energy security and better cope with climate change," Wen said at the first meeting of the National Energy Commission in Beijing.

China should take measures to ensure non-fossil fuels will account for 15 percent of China's energy consumption in 2020, he said.

The country will make a binding target to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, Wen said.

Retail sales expected to increase

China's Ministry of Commerce forecast Friday a 16 percent year-on-year increase in the country's retail sales for 2010, showing a domestic economic recovery.

An acceleration in urbanization will boost consumption and improvements in social welfare will also encourage consumers to spend, according to the report posted on the ministry's website.

The report did not forecast the volume of retail sales for the year.

Rural areas' increased demand and a boom in services consumption will also boost sales, the report said.

The report also predicted increased "green consumption", the consumption of energy-saving commodities and services, as the idea of a low-carbon lifestyle gains popularity.

Urban jobs are on upswing

A total of 2.89 million new jobs were created in China's urban areas during the first three months of this year, said an official at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Friday.

From January to March, the urban unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 4.2 percent from the full-year figure for 2009, with 9.19 million people registered as unemployed, Yin Chengji, spokesman with the ministry, said at a press conference.

The 2.89 million new jobs created were about 32 percent of the full-year job creation target of 9 million, Yin said.

Food additive regulations issued

China's top food safety authority issued new regulations on Thursday, setting more stringent requirements on the use and the approval of food additives.

The Ministry of Health's "Regulations of New Food Additives", published on its website, set six new restrictions on the use of food additives.

The new regulations forbid the use of food additives to mislead consumers about the content and quality of food or to fake food content.

Using food additives to disguise decaying and bad-quality food is also forbidden.

Under the new regulations, food producers are required to use the minimum amount of necessary food additives, and are not allowed to use those that would reduce the nutritional value of food.

2.Guangdong

Students sick after vaccinations

Forty-six out of 84 students have been hospitalized after they were given a Hepatitis B vaccine on Thursday in Huilai county in South China's Guangdong province, the head of local disease prevention and control center said on Friday.

The 46 students developed reaction symptoms including vomiting, stomachaches and dizziness after being given the vaccine at a primary school in Huilai county of Jieyang city, said Wu Junqiu, head of the county's disease prevention and control center.

Among them, 39 are better and only have slight stomach pains. The other five students' throats were inflamed, Wu said.

Local health authorities have sealed the remaining vaccine and stopped the further use.

The provincial disease prevention and control center dispatched experts to Jieyang Thursday to investigate.

3.Hong Kong

More grants for drought victims

The government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Friday approved two more grants totaling HK $4.14 million ($534,000) to help drought victims in the Chinese mainland.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said the funds will be given to two relief organizations to help drought victims in Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan.

Of the total, HK $2.64 million will go to Oxfam Hong Kong, and the other HK $1.5 million to World Vision Hong Kong, he said.

"The relief agencies have been asked to submit evaluation reports and audited accounts on the use of the grants after the relief projects have been completed," he said.

4.Shaanxi

Fire in auto repair shop kills five

Five people died and two were injured after a car oil tank exploded and set an auto repair shop on fire on Thursday in Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The accident took place at around 2:30 pm at Ruihan Auto Repair Shop in Xi'an, the provincial capital, according to the emergency management office of the provincial government.

The dead included one policeman and four workers of the shop, the office said.

"The fire engulfed the shop in less than five minutes," said a witness.

Police are still investigating the accident.

(China Daily 04/24/2010 page3)