China quakes affect more than 95,000 people

September 30th, 2009 Study says China quake a once in 4,000 years eventBEIJING — China's devastating earthquake last year that left some 90,000 people dead or missing was caused by a geological event that occurs about once every 4,000 years, a study led by Chinese researchers said Sunday. Researchers said the 7.9-magnitude quake was caused by the breaking of solid rock separating major fault segments, allowing the quake to cascade along multiple faults.

July 22nd, 2009 China says 'ample evidence' against Rio employeesBEIJING — China has told Australia it has "ample evidence" a detained Australian manager for miner Rio Tinto Ltd. and three co-workers stole state secrets, a Chinese diplomat said Wednesday.

July 21st, 2009 BEIJING — China on Tuesday defended its policies on ethnic minorities, saying the violence in Xinjiang that killed nearly 200 people this month was triggered by separatists and not its treatment of Uighurs. During a televised news conference, the vice minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission blamed an underground separatist movement of Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs and said China will never tolerate secession in its far western region.

July 15th, 2009 Foreign direct investment in China falls 6.8 pctBEIJING — Foreign direct investment in China fell in June for the ninth straight month but the decline was less severe than in May, data showed Wednesday, adding to signs of an economic recovery. Investment in June totaled $9 billion, down 6.8 percent from a year earlier, said Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian at a news conference.

July 15th, 2009 Australian PM warns China in Rio Tinto caseADELAIDE, Australia — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday warned China that the world is watching how it deals with an investigation into four detained employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. Rudd urged China to consider its economic ties with other countries as it dealt with the men, who have been held since July 5 on espionage charges.

June 15th, 2009 Foreign direct investment in China falls 17.8 pctBEIJING — Foreign direct investment in China fell in May for the eighth straight month as the global economic crisis battered trade and corporate finance, the Commerce Ministry said Monday. Foreign direct investment in May totaled $6.4 billion, down 17.8 percent from the same month last year, while the number of new approved foreign companies reached 1,649, down 32 percent year-on-year, ministry spokesman Yao Jian said at a news conference.

June 6th, 2009 Report: 26 people dead in China from landslideBEIJING — China's state television says 26 people have died in a landslide that buried an iron ore plant and several homes in a valley in southwestern China. CCTV said Saturday that seven people have been rescued, three of which were seriously injured but in a stable condition in the hospital.

May 31st, 2009 Geithner says US wants closer ties with ChinaBEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he wants to develop the same kind of close working relationship with China that the U.S.

May 4th, 2009 Asia Pacific countries start disaster drillsMANILA, Philippines — Nearly 300 rescue workers began disaster-response drills Monday that included a mock high-seas rescue of passengers from a sunken ship, reflecting Asia's deepening concern over a series of deadly natural disasters. The readiness of countries to collectively respond to a disaster has become a life-and-death matter for a disaster-prone region that could face the dire effects of global warming, including more destructive tropical storms and flooding from rising seas, officials said.

April 29th, 2009 China Unicom says 1Q profit $525 millionBEIJING — China Unicom Ltd., one of China's three major state-owned phone companies, said Wednesday it earned 3.6 billion yuan ($525 million) in the first quarter following its merger with rival China Netcom. The profit for the three months ending March 31 was equal to 0.15 yuan per share, the Beijing-based company said.

April 22nd, 2009 26 people sickened by chemical leak in east ChinaBEIJING — A Chinese state news agency says 26 people have been poisoned from chemicals left in old barrels outside a residential block in eastern China. The official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday that the people became sick in Jinyun county in Zhejiang province after a chemical company sold 100 iron barrels with some chemicals inside to a man who left them 10 meters (yards) from a residential block.

March 31st, 2009 BEIJING - China declared Tuesday that it desired mutually beneficial cooperation with India and it posed no threat to New Delhi. 'The leaders of China and India have already reached consensus that the two countries will not pose a threat to each other,' Xinhua quoted foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang as telling reporters here.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A record 95,537 people visited the Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sunday, an official statement said. 'The Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan including the Musical Garden, Spiritual Garden, the Herbal Garden and the Biodiversity Park saw a record number of visitors on Sunday.

February 18th, 2009 WELLINGTON - A powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck the remote Kermadec Islands region, in northen Thursday, the New Zealand Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) said. The quake occurred at 10:53 a.m.

February 3rd, 2009 BEIJING - China has sacked a top official of the state-run China Development Bank on corruption charges, officials said Wednesday. Wang Yi, vice president of the bank and a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was sacked for 'severe violation of disciplines and the law', the disciplinary commission of the CPC, said.