Top political advisor vows to help promote economy, stability
China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin has vowed to further efforts in stimulating a "steady and robust" development of the country's economy and promoting social stability in 2012.
He made the pledge in a report delivered at the opening meeting of the Fifth Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body in Beijing.
Jia Qinglin promised in the report that the CPPCC will play its role well in "coordinating relations, pooling strengths, providing proposals and advice to policymakers."

China ready for parliament's annual session
China is ready for the opening of its top legislature's annual session, with all delegations having arrived in Beijing.
The session's press center says all the preparations for the Fifth Session of the 11th National People's Congress, including paperwork and venue arrangements, have been completed as of Saturday.
Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies will attend this year's session, scheduled to open on Monday.

Chinaraises six-point statement for resolving Syria issue
Chinese Foreign Ministry has issued a six-point statement for the political resolution on Syria issue.
The statement says China follows closely the development of situation in Syria, firmly maintains that the current crisis should be resolved through political dialogue in a peaceful and appropriate manner, and has made unremitting efforts to this end.
China urges the Syrian Government and all parties concerned to immediately, fully and unconditionally cease all acts of violence, particularly violence against innocent civilians.

Russians vote for new president

俄羅斯人投票競選總統
Voting began on Sunday in Russia in the presidential election which almost certain to hand victory to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The candidates running for the election are incumbent Prime Minister Putin, leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Sergei Mironov from A Just Russia party and an independent and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
Opinion polls show that most voters are expected to support 59- year-old Putin who had served two terms as president from 2000 to 2008.

Eight missing after bulk freighter sinks in S China
Two sailors were rescued but eight others are still missing after a bulk freighter sank in collisions in waters off south China's Zhuhai city Friday night.
Authorities say the freighter collided with a Panama-registered ship due to foggy weather and the freighter with 10 crew aboard sank after the collision.
Two of the crew were rescued Saturday during the search and rescue efforts and rescuers are still looking for the missing sailors.
The collision also caused slight fuel spill after a fuel tank of the Panamanian ship was damaged. But the maritime authorities say the spill has been handled and the cleaning work is under way.

Police cracks arson killing 13 in N. China province
Local police say they have cracked an arson killing 13 people and injuring one in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province.
A 48-year-old man surnamed Wu who had an offender history was the alleged arsonist. DNA tests by the police showed he was one of the deceased, according to the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau.

China expands cross-border settlement in yuan to all exporters
China's central bank says all companies qualified for foreign trade activities can conduct cross-border export settlement in yuan.
The People's Bank of China says in a statement that China expanded cross-border trade settlement in yuan to cover all goods exporters in order to "meet market demand and make foreign trade more free and convenient."
It says till now, all companies engaging in goods and service trade or other activities under the current account can choose to settle in yuan.

China hopes to send Long March-5 rocket into space in 2014: scientist
Chinahas made key technological progress in developing Long March-5 large-thrust carrier rocket and it is hopeful that the new generation rocket will make its maiden flight in 2014.
A Chinese rocket scientist says engineers and scientists have succeeded in developing the first hydrogen box that will be used to store fuel for the Long March-5 rocket.
The Long March-5 rocket will more than triple Chinese rockets' carrying capacity in the outer space, with a maximum low Earth-orbit payload capacity of 25 tonnes and geosynchronous orbit payload capacity of 14 tonnes.

Chinais working on speedy commuter railway service
China is working on the speedy commuter railway service to ease travels between metropolitans and their satellite towns.
A senior railway expert says the country is busy developing new trains suitable for such service.
He says a prototype of the speedy commuter train, designed to travel at a speed of 200 km to 250 km, is expected to roll off the assembly line by the end of this year.