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China Daily Africa | Updated: 2015-08-07 10:29
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Gold stamps marking Beijing's successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics are displayed at a ceremony in the Chinese capital on Aug 4. There will be 199,999 1-gram stamps for sale, and they will cost 999.9 yuan ($160) each. Guo Chunju / Xinhua

Chinese FM to visit three African nations

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay an official visit to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from Aug 8 to 10, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Aug 4.

Wang will make the trip at the invitation of Sierra Leone Foreign Minister Samura Kamara, Liberian Foreign Minister Augustine Ngafuan, and Guinean Foreign Minister Francois Lounceny Fall.

He visited Ethiopia, Djibouti, Ghana and Senegal in January, choosing Africa as the destination of his first visit in the new year to show how China values Africa.

Flight MH370 wing part discovery confirmed

Malaysia confirmed on Aug 6 that a piece of a wing washed up on an Indian Ocean island beach recently was from Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, the first trace of the plane found since it vanished last year with 239 people on board.

"Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Prime Minister Najib Razak said in an early morning televised address.

"I would like to assure all those affected by this tragedy that the government of Malaysia is committed to doing everything within our means to find out the truth of what happened."

The announcement, providing the first direct evidence that the plane crashed in the ocean, closes a chapter in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history, but gives victims' families little clue as to why it disappeared.

The plane disappeared on March 8 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying a dozen crew members and 227 passengers from 15 countries. There were 154 Chinese passengers on board.

"It's not the end," said Jacquita Gonzales, who lost her husband Patrick Gomes, a flight attendant. Although they found something, you know, it's not the end. They still need to find the whole plane and our spouses as well. We still want them back."

The airline described the discovery as a major breakthrough in resolving the disappearance of MH370.

US doctor named as killer of second lion

Zimbabwe has accused a US doctor of illegally killing a lion in April, as it seeks to extradite a Minnesota dentist who killed a well-known lion named Cecil in July.

Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, shot the lion with a bow and arrow near Hwange National Park, without approval and on land where hunting was not allowed, Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority alleged.

Landowner Headman Sibanda was arrested and is assisting police, it said.

Seski, a gynecological oncologist who directs the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, is a big-game hunter, according to safari outfitters and bow hunting sites. Pictures on the sites identify "Dr Jan Seski" as the man standing next to slain animals including elephants, a hippo, an ostrich and antelopes.

Investors explore trade deals in Rwanda

More than 30 Chinese firms attended the East Africa-China business forum in Kigali on Aug 3 to explore investment opportunities in Rwanda.

Han Jun, the president of the East Africa Chinese Chamber of Commerce, expressed interest in east Africa's regional infrastructure projects, Rwanda's manufacturing sector and real estate development.

Han said the aim is to help attract more Chinese investors into Rwanda and the region.

Francis Gatare, the CEO of the Rwanda Development Board, said the forum was part of wider efforts to increase Chinese investments in the country.

Chinese investments in the last five years in Rwanda are valued at more than $170 million, according to official figures.

These include Rwanda's exports to China and Rwanda's imports from China.

China is Africa's largest trading partner, with the value of trade increasing 20 times in the past 15 years to reach $200 billion last year.

Chinese business cooperation with Africa is in several areas including construction, trade and engineering.

Namibian boxer is crowned world champ

Namibian boxer Paulus "The Rock" Ambunda became the International Boxing Organization super bantamweight world champion in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, on Aug 2.

Ambunda was crowned world champion for the second time in a different weight category, after a tough 12-round fight against Leandro Esperante of Argentina for the vacant title. He first became a World Boxing Organization Bantamweight champion in 2013, but lost that title five months later.

Esperante came to the fight prepared and dominated the first five rounds, as he brought the crowd at Ramatex to a standstill when his left hook downed Ambunda in round two.

After being counted out twice by referee Andile Matika of South Africa, Ambunda managed to beat the count as the round came to an end.

He put up a great fight in the third round, but Esperante managed to keep him under control, and after 12 rounds of great boxing it was left to the judges to decide the winner.

China aims to be Africa's 'most reliable partner'

Decades after supporting African countries to win independence and liberation, China has positioned itself as "a most desirable and reliable" partner for the continent on its journey to industrialization.

"China has always made sure our cooperation with Africa caters to Africa's need," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during talks with Sam Kutesa, president of the 69th UN General Assembly, who is also Uganda's foreign minister.

"China is a most desirable and reliable long-term partner for Africa to achieve industrialization and hopes to make new contributions in this regard," he said.

Diplomats will not leave Somalia, says envoy

China will not withdraw its diplomatic staff from Somalia despite the July 26 bombing of a building that hosted the Chinese embassy, the ambassador to the East African country said on July 30.

The staff, which is seeking a new temporary office, will not be frightened off, Wei Hongtian said.

"China will, as always, continue to support the peace process of Somalia and reconstruction after the war," Wei said. "We will not leave Somalia."

An armed police officer at the Chinese embassy was among 15 people confirmed dead in the suicide car bombing at the Jazeera Palace Hotel in Mogadishu, where the embassy is located. Four workers were injured in the blast.

Former military leader faces prosecution

The Central Committee Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China has expelled Guo Boxiong, a former military leader, from the Party.

The bureau has also referred his case to military prosecutors. The bureau also decided to transfer his case to military prosecutors.

Guo, 73, formerly served as the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The decision was made after the bureau approved a report by the Central Military Commission disciplinary inspection authority on Guo's investigation.

It found that he took advantage of his post to seek promotion and other benefits for others and accepted bribes personally or through his family.

Report: Job picture to brighten slowly

China's labor market shrank slightly in the second quarter, as the wider economy continued to stabilize and recover, but jobs will rebound slowly through December, a joint report by online recruiter Zhaopin and the China Institute for Employment Research predicted on July 30.

The report is based on an index developed by the institute to monitor trends in the labor market. After reaching 2.46 in the first quarter (its highest point since 2011), the index saw a slight decrease to 2.03 in the second quarter, which was attributed to the macroeconomy.

The service sector and private sector contributed more to employment than before, the report said, adding that China's labor market is undergoing a broad restructuring, along with the national economy.

New rule covers HIV as work hazard

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission has issued a regulation recognizing HIV as an occupational hazard in some professions.

The move standardizes responses to occupational HIV exposure to better protect the rights of health workers and to curb AIDS-related discrimination, said Wu Zunyou, director of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention. The regulation, which takes effect immediately, mainly covers jobs in medicine, public security and judicial departments. It does not cover prostitutes.

Under the regulation, those exposed to the disease will be given a treatment called post-exposure prophylaxis, which involves taking anti-HIV medication as soon as possible to try to reduce the chances of becoming HIV positive.

Modified mosquitoes aid dengue fever battle

More than half a million specially bred male mosquitoes are being released on Shazai, an island in southern China, every week to fight dengue fever.

The mosquitoes, produced at a science park "factory" in Guangdong province, can make female mates infertile.

Scientists have managed to reduce the number of mosquitoes by more than 90 percent in some areas of the island, which lies in a suburb of Guangzhou.

The mosquito "factory" was opened on July 17 and can produce 10 million male mosquitoes a week infected with wolbachia, a bacterium that exists widely in many insects, including mosquitoes. Research shows that eggs produced by mosquitoes that mated with wolbachia-infected males are infertile.

Bid to improve standards for guides

A guideline on protecting the rights and interests of more than 700,000 tour guides on the Chinese mainland was released on July 30. Under the guideline, travel agencies should sign contracts with tour guides, specifying job description, salary and social insurance.

If agencies want to hire part-time guides, they should do so only from other travel agencies with the employers' permission. At the same time, the guideline encourages travel agencies to establish a performance-based reward system using appraisals such as tourists' feedback.

The China National Tourism Administration, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions jointly released the guideline.

China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/07/2015 page2)

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