Picasso on Show in Shanghai

A staff member of the National Picasso Museum of France checks one of the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso’s works at the China Pavilion inside the site of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai on October 12.

Sixty-two priceless paintings and statues selected from the works of the renowned artist have been brought to the pavilion for an upcom ing exhibition to prem iere on October 18.

Besides these representative masterpieces, 50 valuable photographs show ing the artist’s whole life w ill also be presented. The exhibition’s estimated value is 678 m illion euros ($934 m illion). It w ill be held until January 10, 2012.

XINHUA

SOCIETY

Disaster Loss

Natural disasters have left 1,074 people dead or missing in China over the past nine months, according to a joint statement issued by the M inistry of Civil Affairs (MOCA) and the National Disaster Reduction Commission(NDRC).

Between January and September, natural disasters affected 480 million people nationw ide, resulting in the evacuation or relocation of 9.12 million people, the statement said.

The disasters also incurred a total of 302.8 billion yuan ($47.7 billion) in direct econom ic losses.

To deal w ith the disasters, the MOCA and the NDRC initiated level IV emergency response plans 29 times and level III plans tw ice over the course of the year, the statement said.

Mekong Tragedy

Shipping on the Mekong River, known in China as the Lancang River, has been suspended after two cargo ships were attacked on October 5 in the “Golden Triangle,”where the borders of M yanmar, Thailand and Laos meet, the maritime affairs department of southwest China’s Yunnan Province said on October 10.

Thai authorities have confi rmed that all 13 Chinese crewmen on the two hijacked ships were killed and identified the killers as a drug trafficking ring operating on the Mekong River.

According to the Yunnan Provincial Government, 116 of the 130 ships engaged in international shipping on the M ekong River are operated by Chinese companies.

Drug Rehabilitation

Judicial authorities have set up more than 220 rehabilitation centers across China and treated more than 230,000 drug users in the centers since their establishment, M inister of Justice Wu Aiying said.

The increased mobility of the population and the Internet have made drugs produced overseas more accessible to Chinese addicts, and judicial personnel have dealt w ith increased risks by helping addicts break their habit, the minister said.

The number of registered Chinese drug users neared 1.44 million as of June this year,according to statistics from the M inistry of Public Security.

Under China’s anti-drug regulations,drug addicts are transferred to judicial authorities’ rehabilitation centers after undergoing three to six months of compulsive rehabilitation by the police.

Affo rdab le Housing

China had started building 9.86 m illion units of affordable housing by the end of September, or 98 percent of the total amount planned for this year, the M inistry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said.

The Chinese Government p ledged to start construction on a further 10 m illion units of affordable housing this year, part of its five-year plan to build 36 m illion units by 2015 in an effort to give more low-income households access to housing.

Offsho re Inspec tion

The Chinese Government launched a nationw ide campaign starting on October 15 to inspect the country’s offshore petroleum drilling and exploration businesses to prevent future oil spills.

For three weeks, six inspection teams will check oil drilling and exploration platforms, pipelines, floating production storage and offl oading facilities, onshore term inals,docks and transport vessels in the Bohai Sea,the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

Oil that leaked from an oil drilling platform operated by Houston-based ConocoPhillips’China branch caused the country’s worst offshore pollution in June this year, contaminating more than 5,500 square km of water in the Bohai Bay.

PARA-GAMES The Eigh th Chinese Nationa l Gam es fo r the Disab led opens in Hangzhou,Zhe jiang Province, on Oc tober 11, w ith m o re than 5,000 ath letes partic ipating

ECONOMY

Sino-French Telecom Partnership

China Telecom Co., Ltd. signed a strategic partnership framework agreement on October 12 w ith France Telecom-Orange,allow ing both companies to better complement each other’s networks and services.

Under the agreement, Orange has agreed to allow China Telecom to extend Orange’s IPVPN (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network) services in Europe, Africa and the M iddle East to the subsidiaries of multinational Chinese companies.

Meanwhile, China Telecom has agreed to provide managed outsourced and field services to Orange’s multinational customers in China to allow Orange to improve IPVPN services for its enterprise customers in China and other Asia-Pacific countries.

Railw ay Bonds

China’s M inistry of Railways (MOR) auctioned 20 billion yuan ($3.15 billion) worth of bonds on October 12 to finance the construction of the country’s railway network.

The bonds were split into two categories: 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) worth of seven-year paper and 10 billion yuan worth of 20-year paper, according to the ministry’s announcement.

The State Council recently halved the income tax to 12.5 percent on earnings on the bonds issued by the MOR between 2011 and 2013.

At the end of June, the MOR’s outstanding debt stood at 2.09 trillion yuan ($328.6 billion).

Fuel Prices Dow n

China announced on October 8 its first fuel price cuts in 16 months, a move that w ill bring down domestic prices from record highs and is expected to ease stubbornly high domestic inflation.

HARVEST SHOW Visito rs look at exhibits at an ag ricu lture trade fair held in Harbin,no rtheast China’s Heilong jiang Province, on Oc tober 13. A to ta l o f 816 exhib ito rs and thousands o f agricu ltural p roduc ts w ere d isp layed

The National Development and Reform Comm ission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, reduced retail prices for gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan ($47.2) per ton starting October 9.

As a result, the benchmark retail price of gasoline was cut by 0.22 yuan ($0.035) per liter, while diesel’s price declined 0.26 yuan($0.04) per liter.

Since June 1, 2010, the NDRC has raised fuel prices four times follow ing escalating global crude prices.

How ever, the price of crude oil has fallen remarkably since August this year amid the worsening debt crisis in Europe and the United States and fears of a double-dip recession of the global economy that sapped oil demand.

CSR’s Overseas HQ

China’s biggest train maker, China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd.(CSR), w ill set up its Australian regional headquarters in Melbourne, capital city of the state of Victoria, said Prem ier of Victoria Ted Baillieu.

The headquarters, w ith an initial investment of $5 m illion and 20 employees, w ill open later this year and serve as CSR’s latest bid to bring China’s railway systems to Australia, which wants to expand its railway network.

CSR’s p lan fo llow s an Australia governm ent announcement in August that it plans to invest up to 108 billion Australian dollars ($106 billion) to build 1,600 km of high-speed rail links in its eastern states.

1. LIBYA

A m em ber o f the Libyan Red Crescen t un loads re lie f m ateria ls from China in Tripo li on Oc tober 11.The assistance package inc luded rice, ed ib le oil and m ed ic ine

2.UKRAINE

Fo rm er Uk rainian Prim e M inister Yu lia Tym oshenko a ttends a cou rt hearing in Kiev on Oc tober 11. Tym oshenko w as sen tenced to p rison fo r abusing her pow e rs in a 2009 gas dea l w ith Russia

3. NEW ZEALAND

A residen t su rveys an oil slick near Tauranga on Oc tober 12. A cargo ship struck a ree f and sp illed hund reds o f tons o f o il o ff New Zea land’s coasts,causing the w o rst ocean po llution in the country’s histo ry

4. INDIA

M ilitary he licop ters perfo rm on the ou tskirts o f New De lhi on Oc tober 8 to ce leb rate the 79th anniversary o f the Ind ian Air Fo rce

5. EGYPT

Cop tic Ch ristians m arch in Cairo du ring a p ro test on Oc tober 9 against the attack on a church in sou thern Egyp t. Pro testers c lashed w ith secu rity fo rces, leaving m o re than 20 dead

6. BRITAIN

Unem p loyed young peop le pose ou tside a London job center on Oc tober 10 as pa rt o f a cam paign to raise aw areness o f Britain’s unem p loym en t p rob lem