China says it will continue to work with the international community to make greater contributions to improving food security in African countries and sustainable development.

While addressing the Ministerial Mini-Summit on the Humanitarian Response to the Horn of Africa at the United Nations,. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that China is gravely concerned with the most severe drought and famine in 60 years that have occurred in Northeast Africa, also known as Horn of Africa. 

He said the Chinese government has announced to provide the African region with emergency grain aid and money donation, which is worth about 70 million US dollars.

Yang Jiechi said the international community should actively support African nations in their efforts to achieve food security and development, and increase assistance to agricultural development in Africa and offer a favorable environment for the development of African nations.

 

IMF calls for action to tackle global crisis

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde has urged world leaders to implement measures available to deal with the "dangers confronting the global economy." 

He told reporters after the International Monetary and Financial Committee that there was a "clear common recognition" of the current financial crisis, especially in euro area.

Lagarde said the world is "half way through" the work that needed to be done to deal with the crisis.

 

25 protesters, 11 dissident soldiers killed in Yemen capital clashes

At least 36 people were killed, including 11 defected soldiers, and more than 100 others were wounded when troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh shelled a camp of protesters and a base of a defected military unit in Yemen's capital Saturday.

Medics and defected officials say more than 200 mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and Katyusha Rockets hit the protesters' Change Square and the military base of the defected First Armored Division.

 

Putin to run for Russian president in 2012 

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he will run for president in 2012.

He announced the long-awaited decision after President Dmitry Medvedev proposed Putin run for the post at the ruling United Russia party's congress.

Putin also said he was confident that Medvedev would become prime minister after the 2012 election and the ruling party would win in the parliamentary elections in December.

 

NASA says defunct satellite falls back to Earth 

The U.S. space agency NASA says a decommissioned U.S. satellite fell back to Earth but its precise re-entry time and location remained unknown.

The NASA stresses the risk to public safety or property is extremely small.

The UARS satellite, launched in 1991 from a space shuttle, was the first multi-instrumented satellite to observe numerous chemical constituents of the atmosphere with a goal of better understanding atmospheric photochemistry and transport.

 

First Chinese cargo flight lands in St. Louis, U.S. 

The first cargo flight from China which departed from Shanghai has landed in Missouri state's St. Louis Lambert International Airport, marking the establishment of a link between China's financial hub and the U.S. heartlands.

Both American and Chinese notables including Chinese Consul General to Chicago Yang Guoqiang and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay attended the welcoming ceremony and expressed their confidence that the two countries would both benefit from the new aviation connection. 

China Cargo, the airline managing the trans-Pacific aviation route, currently plans to run weekly flights between Shanghai and St. Louis, with officials seeking to boost the frequency to three shipments a week before the U.S. holiday season.

 

China promotes use of agricultural machinery for autumn production 

China's ministry of Agriculture says as the nation's grain production is heavily reliant on autumn crops, agricultural authorities should coordinate their efforts to maximize mechanical advantages in production of crops harvested during this season.

The ministry urges local authorities to send technicians to help the use of agricultural machines and promote technologies for agricultural mechanization.

 

China plans to give more entitlements to parents moving to cities to be with children 

As many aged Chinese parents are likely to migrate to cities where their children live, the government plans to give them the same entitlements as local citizens.

The plan for senior citizens' development in the 12th Five-Year Program period (2011-2015) was posted on the website of the State Council, or Cabinet. 

An official with China's National Working Commission on Aging says as many Chinese young people leave their hometown for work, policies must be made to facilitate migration of their aged parents, to encourage family support of the elderly.

He says among others, household registration (hukou) restraints should be eased so that migrant parents can enjoy the same social welfare as local citizens.

 

Beijing urged to expand chip implants in dogs to keep rabies in check 

Beijing lawmakers have urged the municipal government to implant digital identification chips in the city's roughly 2 million pet dogs to prevent unvaccinated dogs spreading rabies.

An official with the rural affairs committee of the Beijing municipal people's congress, says Beijing's dog registration rate is too low, giving the authorities too little information about pet dogs' vaccination situation. 

Beijing has 950,000 registered dogs and about 1 million unregistered dogs whose vaccination is hard to check. 

More than 30,000 people were bitten by dogs in Beijing last year, with nine deaths linked to rabies.