China tones down family planning enforcement

BEIJING – Driving through China’s countryside a decade ago, it was not uncommon to see harsh-sounding family planning slogans painted on the sides of buildings. Frightening phrases like “one more baby means one more tomb” and…

Weak dollar may lift China inflation

BEIJING – Though there appears to be a light at the end of the US debt crisis tunnel, the agreement reached over the weekend in Washington won’t remove concerns over a weaker dollar, which will…

Emissions scheme due for rough landing

BEIJING – Air transport associations and 21 airlines from home and abroad expressed strong opposition at a seminar on Monday against an EU plan to force countries into its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Starting Jan…

Fishing season beckons in S China Sea

A powerboat leads a large fishing boat departing from a port in Sanya, South China’s Hainan province, Aug 1, 2011. Fishing vessels started operations after the South China Sea fishing ban was lifted on Monday,…

Lengthy drought leaves 4m in need of water

GUIYANG – A lingering drought has caused water shortages for 4.28 million people in China, the country’s drought relief authority said on Monday. A farmer looks anxiously on Monday at peanut crops that have been…

Power runs short in South China

NANNING – The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is seeing its most serious electricity shortage in the past two decades, leaving nearly 30 percent of the region’s demand for electricity unmet, local power authorities say. The…

Large shops to install high-quality cameras

BEIJING – A monitoring device that can photograph customers’ faces clearly started operating in large and medium-sized supermarkets and shops across the city on Monday, an officer of the municipal public security bureau said. The…

Xinjiang children enjoy summer camp in Beijing

BEIJING – Madina, a fifth-grade Uygur girl from Hotan city, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, watched the dolphin show at Beijing Zoo on Monday afternoon with intense curiosity, just like other children in the aquarium….