DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “China vows equal treatment in rare earth regulation” plus 9 more

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- China pledged on Friday it will abide by World Trade Organization rules and apply "same policies" to both domestic and overseas companies in rare earth production, processing and export, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said Friday.
Yao said China noticed that rare earth prices have kept rising over the past few years after the country's adjusted rare earth administration and boosted by factors including changes on the international market and speculation.
The price rises, however, is conducive to regulating the rare earth industry and protecting the environment, he said.

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Chung Ui-hwa, deputy speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (ROK), will lead a delegation of the assembly to visit China from July 17 to 22.
Chung Ui-hwa and the delegation was invited to the country by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC),the top legislative body of China.
The delegation will attend the sixth meeting of exchanges between the parliaments of the two countries.
The NPC and ROK National Assembly launched the regular exchange scheme in January 2006.

HARBIN, July 15 (Xinhua) - The Sino-Russian border island, Heixiazi, in northeast China's Heillongjiang Province, will begin to receive tourists on July 20 on a trial basis, the provincial authorities said Friday.

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Rain that hit Beijing and many other parts of the country Thursday night and early Friday morning has caused flight delays and cancellations at Beijing Capital International Airport.
China Southern Airlines canceled nine flights Thursday, which stranded 1,510 passengers at Beijing Capital International Airport, said officials with the company's Beijing branch.
The airline added eight flights Friday morning, according to the company.
The rain also caused delays to 72 flights and cancellation of 11 flights of China Eastern Airlines among its planned 107 flights Thursday, the company's Beijing branch said.
Air China canceled 118 flights from Thursday night to Friday morning due to the downpours. The company said it plans to add 46 flights Friday.
Showers are expected in the capital Friday, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
The administration said heavy rains or rainstorms will hit parts of Hainan Province, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Heavy downpours will hit parts of the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan and Tibet Autonomous Region, it said.

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Following are home news items to be covered or pursued by Xinhua on Friday:
1. Heixiazi Island on China-Russia border to open to tourists
2. Follow-up on Bohai Bay oil leaks
3. Follow-up on Wuyishan Gongguan Bridge collapse in Fujian Province
4. Ministry of Commerce releases new data

TV News Magazine: CHINA VIEW
1, Click on Today
Liquidity: Shanghai SME's dilemma
China's Cartoon screened in Korea
2, Mobile court in deep mountains
3, China Facebook
Editor's Notes: China View from CNC World is a 30-minute daily English in-depth news program that brings global audience a panorama of what happens across China and face-to-face interviews over hot issues in China that interest people around the world.
Global viewers can tune into CNC English programs via Asia-Pacific Satellite-6 at 134 degrees east longitude, with parameters set as "6065MHz/3840MHz." The programs can also be viewed at www.cncworld.tv.

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- ChiNext Index opened at 935.54 points Friday, up 2.77 points from the previous close.
The index, officially launched on June 1, 2010, on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, has a base value of 1,000 points.
The ChiNext Index, together with the Shenzhen Component Index and the Shenzhen SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Board Index, makes up the three core indices reflecting the performance of China's stocks listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Following are the central parity rates of the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) against seven major currencies announced on Friday by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System:
Currency           Unit          Middle Price (in RMB yuan)
U.S. Dollar        100                646.65
Euro               100                916.04
Japanese Yen       100                8.1782
Hong Kong Dollar   100                83.000
British Pound      100                1,044.60
Malaysian Ringgit  46.516             100
Ruble              434.90             100
The central parity of RMB against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of enquired prices from all market makers before the opening of the market in each business day.
The central parity of RMB against the other six currencies is based on the central rate of RMB against the U.S. dollar of the same business day as well as the exchange rates of the six currencies against the U.S. dollar at 9 a.m. of the same business day in the international foreign exchange market.

HANGZHOU, July 15 (Xinhua) -- An early Friday cave-in in east China's Hangzhou City left at least a truck driver injured and closed down a pivotal road bridge, police and witnesses said.
The cave-in happened at around 2 a.m., leaving a 20-meter long, 1-meter wide pit on the right lane of the No. 3 Qiantang River Bridge, said a traffic police officer at the scene.
A passing heavy truck loaded with steel plates toppled down the bridge but its driver jumped out before it crashed onto the ground.
The injured driver was sent to a nearby hospital. Police said his condition was not critical.
Investigators said the truck was overloaded, as more than 100 tonnes of steel plates were collected from the scene, though the wreck of the vehicle weighed only 32 tonnes.
A resident who lives near the bridge said he heard two bangs and felt his home was shaking. "I thought it was an earthquake," he said on condition of anonymity.
The cave-in site is only a few hundred meters from the Qiantang River, a major waterway in east China.
A temporary traffic ban has been imposed on the bridge and several other roads linking to the bridge. Altogether 13 bus routes have been diverted.
The No. 3 Qiantang River Bridge opened in 1997 and links Hangzhou's city center with the Xiaoshan International Airport. Authorities said it is off-limits to trucks.

HANGZHOU, July 15 (Xinhua) -- At least a driver was injured when a section of a bridge collapsed in Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang Province on early Friday morning.
The driver has been sent to hospital, according to local police.
A section of bridge approach, more than 10 meters long and over one meters wide, collapsed, leaving a huge hole on the No. 3 bridge over the Qiangtang River, said the police.
Investigation into the cause of the accident in underway.

BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese railway authorities are making all efforts to iron out problems with the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and hoping for more public understanding and support on the project, a railway official said Thursday.
Wang Yongping, spokesman with the Ministry of Railways, apologized on Thursday for three delays on the newly-built railway over the last five days during an online chat hosted by people.com.cn, the online arm of China's People's Daily.
Currently, there was more likelihood of problems arising as the railway line had just opened, he said.
One of the high-speed trains heading for Beijing broke down on Wednesday, and hundreds of passengers had to change trains to complete their journey. Power failures halted 19 trains on Sunday and 29 others on Tuesday.
The 1,318-km Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway went into operation on June 30. The train trip between the two cities takes less than five hours.
The Wednesday incident was caused by a failure in the tractive transformers on the train, which lead to a drop in speed to 160 km per hour. The railway is designed to handle maximum train speeds of 350 km per hour.
Local authorities transferred the passengers to a spare train because its slow speed would have compromised other train trips running on the same line, said Wang.   
"These malfunctions had not caused any major safety risks, but they have truly affected the railway's operation," he said.
Wang said the railway was designed to be "sensitive" to safety risks, therefore, the trains had immediately to stop running in case of a power failure or bad weather.
High winds and thunderstorms caused an equipment failure in a high-speed train on Sunday when it was passing through Shandong Province.
The trains have reliable safety monitoring systems, which "might sometimes affect travelling," but could help avoid railway accidents and protect passengers from safety risks, said Wang.
Wang admitted that railway authorities should increase capabilities to prevent equipment failures and deal with emergencies.
Malfunctions were very likely to happen as the railway had just started operating, but railway regulators will try their best to stabilize its performance, he said.
Wang promised the railway ministry would conduct a thorough safety check on the high-speed railway system and optimize the operation.
Authorities will further improve emergency response plans, which were established before the railway was put into operation, including passenger evacuation and aid repairs. Enhanced training will be offered to staff on the trains.
Sun Zhang, a researcher with the Shanghai-based Tongji University, said the railway operator should also strengthen communications to passengers and other departments.
There would be fewer disputes if train attendants could clearly explain what had happened to the passengers instead of simply saying "there will be a temporary stop," he said.
Railway authorities should also get timely weather information from weather observatories, so that the train operators can find solutions to unfavorable weather conditions as early as possible, he added.
The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway has carried an average of 165,000 passengers each day from July 1 to 13, with highest daily transportation volume of 197,000 people, according to Wang.