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Navy ships may head to Somalia

China is set to send a naval fleet on a mission to fight pirates in Somali waters, a military source told China Daily earlier this week.

A foreign Ministry spokesman said China wishes to work with others to reach a positive outcome.

Piracy off Somalia has intensified in recent months, with more attacks against a wider range of targets.

World Bank Chief praises China's stimulus package

China's economic stimulus package is "constructive" and its economy may grow faster next year than the World Bank predicted, bank president Robert Zoellick said on Sunday.

The World Bank's latest forecast puts China's GDP growth next year at 7.5 percent, well below last year's 11.9 percent.

Zoellick was in China this week and said the bank could approve a $710-million emergency loan for Sichuan and Gansu for quake reconstruction.

Thai opposition leader becomes new PM

Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva became the country's third prime minister in as many months, taking control with a slender majority and an economy teetering on the brink of recession.

But after the vote some 200 supporters of the government sacked by the court two weeks ago denounced the 44-year-old Oxford graduate as a front man for the military.

Obama's energy team features Chinese-American

US President-elect Barack Obama chose Nobel physics laureate Steven Chu as his energy secretary on Monday.

Chu, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and now directs the government's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, will head the Energy Department.

Obama's energy team will play a major role in his quest to revive the US economy by boosting renewable energy use and creating millions of "green" jobs.

Celebrating 30 years of reform and opening up

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up. In a speech at the Great Hall of the People, President Hu Jintao hailed China's rise from poverty to one of the world's biggest economies and a major political power.

The transformation has made China the world's fourth-largest economy in terms of gross domestic product, with 24.95 trillion yuan ($3.6 trillion) last year, up from 10th place with 364.5 billion yuan 30 years ago.

Hu also set targets for the country's development: China should become a more well-off society by 2021 and become modernized by mid-century.

Direct flights, shipping, postal with Taiwan

Earlier this week, the mainland and Taiwan launched daily direct passenger flights, shipping routes and postal services for the first time in 60 years.

Wang Yi, minister of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said the development was "a historical stride", while island leader Ma Ying-jeou hailed it as "a symbol of reconciliation".

Shipping links resumed Monday, with new sea cargo routes and direct postal services. Direct daily flights also started, with up to 108 daily flights per week, and 60 new cargo flights a month.

Previously flights between the mainland and Taiwan had to go to a third region, usually Hong Kong or Macao. The direct routes will now cut transportation costs and time.

China, Japan, S. Korea bolster cooperation

China, Japan and the Republic of Korea formed a tripartite partnership on the weekend to tackle the global financial crisis.

The three neighbors, which together account for 75 percent of the East Asian economy, vowed to push domestic demand, infrastructure projects and a regional web of trilateral currency swap deals.

The central banks of China and South Korea have agreed to a $26.3-billion currency swap to help the ROK have more liquidity to stabilize its currency.

This is the first such deal China has signed with a foreign central bank. The Bank of Korea announced a similar deal worth $20 billion with Japan last week.

Iraqi journalist throws shoes at President Bush

Last Sunday President George W. Bush ducked a pair of shoes hurled at his head during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki.

The assailant was Muntadar al-Zeidi, a television correspondent, who shouted that his action was a farewell gift from the widows, orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.

Despite being held by the Iraqi military, al-Zeidi has been hailed a hero.