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[Metro & Sports]

• China hopes to be among the first countries ready with an A/H1N1 vaccination program for babies and children aged 6 months to 3 years.
• Beijing will raise non-residential water rates starting Friday to encourage water saving in the thirsty Chinese capital, local government said Wednesday.
• Unusually cold weather and the resulting soaring energy consumption for heating have caused power outages and shortages of natural gas in parts of central and eastern China.
• The Wuhan Evening News reports doctors have successfully separated conjoined twin sisters after a marathon operation in Hubei province yesterday.
• A dramatic final night of World Cup qualifying has seen all of the 32 places decided with European powerhouses France and Portugal going through.
• Roger Federer will face U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, home hope Andy Murray and Spain's Fernando Verdasco in the tougher of the two round robin groups for the ATP World Tour finals in London next week.

[China's Champion] No More Shark Fin Soup

International organization calls on conservation measures to protect sharks, beginning with the reduction of fishing and consumption of shark species.

[Cultural Voyage] Flour Sculpture

Chinese people use flour to make many different kinds of food - noodles, steamed bread, and dumplings. Do you know that flour can also be made into sculptures? Hundreds of years ago, people in Shanxi province used their artistic talents in the daily life and created the distinctive folk art of flour sculpture.

[Showbiz News]

• Director Zhang Yimou will begin shooting a heart-wrenching romance set in China in the 1970s, the Guangzhou Daily reports.
• Kung fu superstar Jet Li has confirmed that he is a Singaporean citizen.
• Taiwan's "king of entertainment" Jacky Wu plans to sue a local magazine for allegedly misreporting that he borrowed 500 million New Taiwan dollars, or about 15.6 million U.S. dollars from illegal money lenders.
• Johnny Depp has been named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for the second time - nudging out last year's hunky winner Hugh Jackman.

[Strange News]

• A retired teacher was seriously injured when he put his hand inside a tiger's cage to touch the animal at a circus in Nankang, Jiangxi province, recently.
• A 107-year-old woman shocked her neighbors in Yichuan county, Henan province, when she recently started teething again.
• A 30-year-old man blames his mother, who bought an "unlucky apartment" in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, for not being able to find a suitable wife in so many years.
• The Xianfeng county people's court in Hubei province turned down a man's request for compensation from his ex-wife who failed to get pregnant.

[Real China] Kids Carrying Heavy Schoolbags

Kids in China are now fighting for the entrance to a better further education, undertaking heavy study burden.

[Tour Tips] The Badalinng Great Wall

The Great Wall of China is considered to be one of the wonders of the world. It attracts visitors from all around the globe and every level of society, including most recently, US president Obama.