42 confirmed dead in gas outburst in NE China's coal mine

A gas explosion in a coal mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has killed 42 miners and left 66 missing.

A spokesman with the rescue headquarters says the gas outburst in Xinxing Coal Mine, owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group, in Hegang City, happened 400 meters underground Saturday morning. Rescuers are still searching for the missing.

The Hegang Mining Bureau Hospital says it has taken in 29 injured miners from the accident and all of the hospital's 800 medical workers have joined in the rescue work.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited the hospital Saturday afternoon, and urged medical workers to do their utmost to save the injured miners.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have also made instructions on the rescue work.

Top Chinese political advisor meets French Polynesia high commissioner

China's top political advisor, Jia Qinglin, has met with French High Commissioner of the Republic in French Polynesia Adolphe Colrat in Papeete .

Jia Qinglin arrived at the South Pacific island for a technical stopover amid his four-state trip.

He told Colrat the Chinese government has attached great importance to its friendly relations with France, and will work with France to ensure that bilateral ties will develop along the right direction.

Jia Qinglinl will continue his visit to Peru, Ecuador and Brazil .

China, EU hold human rights dialogue

China and the European Union have held the 28th round of human rights dialogue in Beijing.

The two sides agreed to maintain the positive momentum of the human rights dialogue and exchanges, to promote the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

Ambassador: U.S.-China relations more focused on global issues

U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman says China-U.S. relationship that by large is entering a period where the focus would be more and more on global issues.

Huntsman made the remarks at the Forum for America/China Exchange at Stanford (FACES) in Peking University, a top university in China.

He told the delegates attending the forum that U.S. and China could strengthen cooperation in areas including military, people to people exchanges, climate change, clean energy and economic crisis.

China needs national plan to boost consumption: expert

A Chinese expert says high savings and weak consumption is still the main structural problem for China's economy, and the country needs to craft a national plan to boost consumption and adjust the economic structure.

In an interview run by the China Securities Journal on Saturday, Xia Bin, a researcher with the Development Research Center, a think-tank under the State Council (cabinet), says China's GDP growth in 2010 would mainly rely on expanding domestic demand.

He says China needs a consumption-oriented structural adjustment plan in order to help the economy further expand domestic demand, especially residents' consumption.

Russian defense orders to grow 8.5 percent in 2010: Putin

Russia says its military orders will increase by 8.5 percent to total 40.5 billion U.S. dollars next year.

Addressing the national congress of the United Russia Party , Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also said Russia's economy is expected to shrink by 8 to 8.5 percent this year.

U.S. demands Iran give positive response to UN draft deal

The United States has reiterated its call for Iran to give a formal response to an UN-backed draft deal over its nuclear program.

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told a news briefing that Iran has not responded positively to the IAEA proposed agreement for the provision of nuclear fuel for its Tehran research reactor.

He said the US urges Iran to reconsider the opportunity offered by this agreement to meet the humanitarian needs of its people and to engage seriously in a dialogue and negotiations.

Wood said senior officials of the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, the so-called P-5-plus-1, and EU high representative will have further meetings in coming weeks to discuss Iran's nuclear issues.

Singapore to host World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention in 2011

Singapore will host the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC), the biennial gathering of Chinese businessmen around the globe, in October 2011.

This was announced at the closing ceremony of this year's WCEC convention in Manila.

More than 3,000 Chinese businessmen, including 1,000 from the Chinese mainland, attended this year's two-day conference, which focused on cooperation to weather the ongoing financial crisis and to explore ways for sustainable growth in the private sector.

China is dynamo of world economy: ECLAC

China is a dynamo of the world economy and is playing a central role in helping a global economic recovery.

Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for the Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said this in an interview with Xinhua.

He said China is part of the world trade of wheat, rice, soya, sugar and others, playing a very important role in the increase of those product exports. The same happens in the case of the minerals and oil.

He said China is one of the most important market for Latin American and the Caribbean products.