Chinese cargo ship hijacked near Gulf
All 28 Chinese crew members aboard a China-linked cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates have been rescued.
The cargo ship, Xianghuamen, was hijacked by Somali pirates on Friday in the Sea of Oman near Iran's southern port of Chabahar.
The vessel, registered in Panama, belongs to Nanjing Ocean Shipping company in eastern China.
The cargo ship, setting off from Shanghai, made a stopover in Singapore to unload some goods and then headed for Imam Khomeini port in southwestern Iran when it was hijacked.
Nine Somali pirates climbed onto the cargo ship by their own ladders, fired shots on the ship and seized the Chinese crew members on board.
Two Iranian naval warships participating in the rescue operation followed the vessel and ordered the pirates to surrender. The pirates later threw their weapons into the sea and surrendered to the Iranian navy.
China-Japan financial cooperation moving steadily forward: ministers
The finance ministers of China and Japan have agreed that the Japan-China financial cooperation has been steadily moved forward.
Xie Xuren, Minister of Finance of China, and his Japanese counterpart Jun Azumi pledged to deepen financial cooperation by working with other relevant institutions at the fourth Japan-China finance dialogue in Tokyo.
At Saturday's meeting, the two ministers also exchanged views on the global financial situation. They agreed that the global economy continues gradual growth, but is still confronted with a lot of uncertainties, with the European sovereign debt crisis alleviated to some extent.
China says Australia's Huawei ban "unjust"
China says it is "unjust" for the Australian government to ban Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei from bidding on local broadband network contracts.
A spokesman with China's commerce ministry says China is "deeply concerned" over the matter.
Huawei Technologies has been rejected by the Australian government from bidding for work on a 35.9-billion-Australian-dollar high-speed broadband network for cyber security reasons.
The spokesman says Australia should not expel Chinese companies from fair market competitions in the name of security.
30 soldiers killed in avalanche in n. Pakistan
At least 30 soldiers have been killed and over 100 others buried as an avalanche hit an army camp in the Siachen Glacier area in northern Pakistan.
Some media reports say the rescue teams are facing problems due to bad weather condition at the Siachen glacier located at the height of 6400 meters above sea level.
Mali's junta signs deal of power transfer with ECOWAS: state TV
Mali's junta, which seized power on March 22, has signed framework agreement with ECOWAS that it would transfer power to the president of the National Assembly.
The junta will hand over power to the president of the National Assembly, Dioncounda Traore, during the transitional period, according to the agreement which also covers the formation of a national unity government and the lifting of sanctions by the ECOWAS.
The interim leader will be in a mission to organize democratic elections.
12 Chinese still trapped in flooded mine
Rescuers raced against time to try to locate 12 miners trapped in a flooded colliery in northeast China's Jilin Province on Saturday, more than 20 hours after the accident.
A total of 3,000 cubic meters of water has been pumped out from the tunnel of Fengxing coal mine in Jiaohe City, but the 12 miners remained missing.
More water pumps are being deployed to double the volume of water pumped out from the shaft.
The flooding occurred Friday when water from a neighboring colliery flooded Fengxing coal mine. Fifty-eight of 70 workers in the mine managed to escape.
3 trapped, 4 missing after building blast in NE China
Three people have been trapped and four others are still missing after an explosion early this morning ripped through a residential building in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Rescuers pulled three injured people from the damaged building, but found three are still trapped on the fifth floor and four more missing, according to the city's publicity department.
A probe into the cause of the blast is underway.
China cracks down on irregular banking operations
China's top banking regulator has started a nationwide crackdown on irregular banking operations, including unreasonable charging and credit terms.
An official with the the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) says the body has sent 12 inspection teams to banking outlets around the nation to identify problems and promote rectification of existing issues.
He says the commission will urge banks to further improve transparency in the charging of commission and establish a responding system for complaints.
Floods for South China, SW drought persists
China's southern provinces have entered their flood season but drought persists in southwestern regions.
The country's flood and drought prevention office says South and southeast regions are seeing increasing rainfalls while water levels at major lakes and rivers are higher than usual for this time of year.
Meanwhile, parts of southwest China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and central China's Hubei province are suffering from persistent drought, which is likely to expand to Guizhou province.
The office says the outlook for both flood control and drought relief is not good, and that local governments should get prepared as rain will continue falling in southern provinces and temperatures will keep climbing in drought-hit areas.
Beijingers to drink Yangtze River water by 2014
Beijing residents will have access to water from the Yangtze River within 30 months, as the first-stage construction of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project's central route is expected to be completed in October 2014.
Yangtze River water will reach the northern province of Shandong in December 2013 when the initial stage of the project's eastern route is finished., according to an official with the project office under the State Council.
The massive water transfer project is designed to take water from China's largest river, the Yangtze, to the country's arid northern regions. Water will flow northward via three routes -- an eastern route, a central route and a western route.