Pigeons banned from flying near airport during Olympics

Chinanews, Beijing, July 23 – About 50,000 pigeons will be prohibited from flying around the Capital Airport when the 2008 Olympic Games are held in Beijing, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
The Capital Airport will be the first and last stop for Olympic family members to stay in Beijing during the Olympic Games. In order to guarantee the safety of the airport, the administration team in the Capital Airport recently held a meeting with airport staff members and other persons concerned to discuss how to tackle the possible problems that might be caused by pigeons around the airport.
Pigeons, once running into passenger planes, might sometimes destroy the planes. Since 1990, there were at least 147 air crashes that were caused by birds hitting the planes and 120 aircraft were destroyed during the accidents. In developed countries, about 900-6,000 air crashes occur every year.
The administration team in the Capital Airport recently conducted an investigation about pigeons living near the airport. In the end, they find that there are about 50,000 pigeons raised nearby. The Capital Airport administration team has worked with the Chinese Racing Pigeon Association in an attempt to prevent pigeons from flying around the Capital Airport when the Olympic Games are held.

Three Gorges Dam withstands largest flood peak

Sluices are opened to divert flood water at the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang of central China's Hubei Province, July 22, 2007. The flood peak has gone through the Three Gorges Dam while about 17 sluices are opened to divert flood water. (Xinhua)
July 23 - The highest flood peak in this flood season on the Yangtze River has passed through the Three Gorges Dam area as of Sunday.
The flood, the third in the season formed due to continuous rainstorms upstream since mid July, poured into the reservoir in central China's Hubei Province at a peak speed of 44,000 cubic meters per second Saturday afternoon.
It has slowed down as of Sunday morning and the speed is expected to drop to 30,000 cubic meters per second in three days, according to Zhao Yunfa, a senior engineer with China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC).
Seventeen sluice gates have been opened to keep water level below the designed 144 meters and to ease the flood pressure on the mid-lower reaches. At present, the project is working normally, according to Zhao.
However, some 60 boats and more than 200 workers are trying to clear up a large amount of floating plant roots, crop straws, rotten leaves and tree branches flushed into the reservoir by the flood, preventing them from affecting shipping and navigation.
The reservoir's water level has been allowed to fluctuate between 143.9 and 145 meters during the flood season this year, according to CTGPC.
The Three Gorges reservoir, the world's largest hydroelectric project, was built on the Yangtze River, China's longest, to prevent floods and generate electricity.

Astronomer to award UFO eyewitnesses

Chinanews, Nanjing, July 23 - At the UFO Scientific Forum, Wang Sichao, a researcher from Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory, declared that he would offer a reward of 10,000 yuan in cash or in 10,000-yuan worth of equipment yuan to eyewitnesses of UFO.
Wang is one of the most authoritative UFO researchers in China, who has been studying in this field for more than 30 years. He believes that the reward will promote the Chinese people's enthusiasm for UFOs. Wang is even planning to build a UFO monitoring network in China.
The top award will be issued once every three years, and the second and third awards will be issued every year.

Qinling giant pandas expand their habitat

Chinanews, Xi'an, July 23 - Qinling giant pandas, the most populous giant panda subspecies in the world, have started to expand their habitat. According to a latest survey, their habitat has expanded 26 km eastward, 39 km westward, and 4 km both northward and southward.
It is estimated that there are 300 wild Qinling giant pandas. Compared with the giant panda subspecies in Sichuan Province, they look more like cats than bears. Besides, they have a smaller skulls but bigger teeth. The hair on their chests is dark brown, and their bellies are light brown.
"Currently, 71.7% of their habitat is under protection in Qinling Nature Reserve, which covers about 435.35 thousand hectares," said Zhou Lingguo, the Department of Conservation of Shaanxi Provincial Forestry Administration.

Doctors separate conjoined twin girls

A nurse takes care of a pair of conjoined twin girls prior to a separation surgery at the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province on Sunday, July 22, 2007. Doctors in north China succeeded in the surgery, and they currently remain in a stable condition.
July 23 - Doctors in north China succeeded in separating a pair of four-month-old conjoined twin girls on Sunday, and they currently remain in a stable condition.
After the arduous operation from 9:40 a.m. to 9 p.m., doctors at the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University in this capital of Hebei Province separated the twin's livers, repositioned their hearts and rebuilt their breastbones.
Both are in a relatively stable condition, but they still have to survive the crucial and dangerous 72 hours after the operation, according to Li Yanmin, director with the hospital's pediatric department.
The twins, born on March 15 prematurely without breastbones, spent their first four months with livers, hearts and a large area of their breast and abdomen connected, according to Li.
The girls suffered congenital heart diseases and malnutrition when they were born, weighing only 4.3 kg jointly. Doctors did not carry out the operation until they grew to 7.5 kg.
The operation was made three days after one of another pair of conjoined twin girls in southwest China died of heart and lung failure after being separated from her sister.
The eight-day-old baby girl was born with complicated heart disease that led to heart and lung failure, according to a doctor in charge of the operation.
The other girl will not be safe until she survives the remaining four-day period.

Guangdong to ban game food restaurants

Chinanews, Guangzhou, July 23 - According to Guangdong Provincial Industrial and Commercial Administration, it will conduct a comprehensive check in restaurants for wild animals, particularly to ban those "underground" game food restaurants. From now on, no restaurants will be allowed to put "game food" on their signboards.
The administration will collect information of such restaurants from various sources before the check. Besides, game food market will also be closed.
The check will be focused on rats, hamsters, civet cats and pangolins, which are common on the recipes of many wild animal restaurants in Guangdong.
The wild animals (both living and dead) found in the check will be confiscated, and a heavy fine will be imposed on those who sell food made of such animals. The living animals will be sent to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau, while the dead will be burned and buried.

AIDS patient gives birth to a healthy baby

Chinanews, Changsha, July 23 – After becoming a mother for seven months, Xiao Wang, an AIDS patient, cried with happiness when she was recently informed that her baby had passed all related health checks that showed that it was free of AIDS virus infection. The success was only possible after doctors and nurses had applied intervention measures to the mother and the infant for a whole year. The baby thus became the first lucky baby in Hunan Province that was born healthy by a mother who carried AIDS virus, the Sanxiang Metropolitan News reported.
Xiao Wang, 27, was diagnosed to be infected with AIDS virus after she went to the Xiangya No. 2 Hospital to check her lung infection problem in March 2006. Knowing that she was an AIDS patient, doctors and nurses in the hospital tried to persuade her to terminate the pregnancy. But Xiao Wang wouldn't hear of it. Seeing this, Professor Zheng Yuhuang, a renowned doctor on AIDS disease treatment, and the doctors from the gynaecology and obstetrics department and the paediatrics department in the Xiangya No.2 Hospital worked out a detailed plan to try to apply intervention measures to mother and baby during the whole pregnancy process.
After having been pregnant for seven months, Xiao Wang started to take some anti-virus medicine. In the later regular prenatal checkups, it was shown that the virus amount in Xiao Wang’s blood had been controlled to normal range.
In November 2006, Xiao Wang was moved to a maternity ward that was prepared especially for her. On November 28, she gave birth to a baby boy. The baby had passed all medical checks related with AIDS. The nucleic acids amplification test showed that there was no AIDS virus in the baby’s blood. From December 2006 to June 2007, Xiao Wang fed the baby at home with milk, vegetable soup, and porridge. She didn’t feed the baby with breast milk.
After the baby was born, doctors and nurses at the Xiangya No.2 Hospital monitored the health status of the baby regularly. During this time, the baby had never caught any disease and grown well.
When the baby was seven months old (a critical time when doctors could tell whether it was finally infected with the disease), doctors at the hospital gave a comprehensive medical check to the baby. The results showed that the baby had passed all related tests and there was no AIDS virus in its blood. The intervention measures conformed to related standards set by the China Disease Prevention and Control Center and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.

Beijing to build 20 tree-shaded parking lots

Chinanews, Beijing, July 23 - According to a report by Beijing Evening News, Beijing will build 20 large tree-shaded parking lots this year. Currently, trees have been planted around 11 parking lots in Dongcheng, Xicheng, Haidian and Fengtai districts. Before 2010, all the 567 parking lots within the 4th Ring Road will be shaded by trees that will keep summer heat off the parked cars.
The parking lots within the 4th Ring Road cover some 235.33 hectares of land, but there are no trees planted around them yet.
"Our test shows that the temperature in a silver car under tree shade at 2:00 PM in a summer day is about 27 degrees centigrade, while the temperature in a similar car directly illuminated by sunlight is 57 degrees centigrade. The temperature in a black car under tree shade is 25 degrees centigrade, but under the sun, the temperature in it can be as high as 70 degrees centigrade," said a clerk from the Beijing Municipal Afforestation Administration.
Currently, the afforestation of 20 parking lots, including the one for the members of the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games, and the one near the Temple of Earth, has been completed. The Afforestation Administration has selected huge trees, which will provide shade big enough to cover the parking lots.

Burgeoning Internet industry benefits int'l investors

Chinanews, Beijing, July 23 – China has 162 million Internet users. The fast expansion of Internet industry not only has created a lucrative market for domestic Internet companies, international investors have also made large gains from the burgeoning Chinese Internet industry, the China Business News reported.
However, according to Ma Yun, president of china.alibaba.com, China “still does not have any real Internet companies so far. ”In his view, a real Internet company should have at least 200 million Internet users and its scale can rival large global Internet companies such as Google, Yahoo, eBay or Amazon, whose existence can bring unprecedented changes to the public’s traditional way of life and working mode.
Despite this, many small Chinese Internet companies still woo large international investors.
Industrial news shows that alibaba.com is planning to go public in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in an attempt to raise as much as one billion US dollars in the stock market. Other Internet companies are also planning to list at overseas market. Companies like Kingsoft, 9you.com, ztgame, and ourgame.com intend to raise 100 million US dollars at securities market.
The soaring number of Internet users in China has laid a solid foundation for some domestic Internet companies to develop into large cyber giants, some industrial experts say. Of all those listed Internet companies in securities market, the market value of tencent.com has already exceeded 7 billion US dollars, while the market value of Baidu has also reached around 6 billion US dollars. For tencent, the company’s turnover this year will reach 500 million US dollars, fairly close to the business performance of US Internet companies.
In a recent report released by Citigroup, the world’s financial service company predicts that in two years, the number of Chinese netizens will surpass that of the United States and Chinese Internet market will grow to become the second largest market in the world, only next to the United States. The report suggests that investors should pay attention to this information.
In China, the fast expansion of Internet industry has produced some millionaires like Ding Lei and Chen Tianqiao. At the same time, Chinese Internet industry will continue to grow rapidly as the industry attracts more and more international investors

Guangdong GDP will surpass "four little dragons of Asia"

Chinanews, Guangzhou, July 23 – Based on the economic achievement made during the first half of this year, Guangdong Provincial Statistics Bureau estimates that Guandong's GDP for the whole year might reach 390 billion US dollars, more than the average GDP figure (380.6 billion US dollars) achieved by "the four little dragons of Asia", the Nanfang Daily reported.
In 1998, Guangdong's GDP reached 103 billion US dollars, exceeding the GDP figure of Singapore (82.8 billion US dollars). In 2003, the GDP in the southern Chinese province hit 191.4 billion US dollars, more than the GDP figure of Hong Kong (158 billion US dollars). It is expected that Guangdong's GDP in 2007 will surpass that of Taiwan (376.6 billion US dollars). If this comes true, Guangdong's total economic volume by then will have surpassed three of the four little dragons of Asia in fifteen years and is catching up with South Korea.
Information shows that since 2005, great changes have taken place in Guangdong in its efforts of trying to catch up with South Korea. In that year, Guangdong's GDP growth reached 45 billion US dollars, exceeding related GDP growth in South Korea (34.5 billion US dollars). This further narrowed the economic gap between the two.
Both Guangdong and the four little dragons have limited land mass and their economy is largely driven by export. This year, the export volume of Guangdong is expected to reach 379 billion US dollars, to surpass that of South Korea and Hong Kong.
It should be noted, however, that apart from total GDP, Guangdong still lags far behind the four little dragons in terms of per capita GDP, per capita expenditure, industrial structure and urbanization level.
Statistics show that in 2005, the per capita GDP in Guangdong was 2,980 US dollars, or one-fifth of the related figures in South Korea and Taiwan and less than one-eighth of the related figures in Hong Kong and Singapore. Such per capita GDP level was only equivalent to the GDP level of South Korea and Taiwan twenty years ago and that of Hong Kong and Singapore thirty years ago.