Poor facilities block energy use

The lagging construction of power transmission lines has constrained the use of electricity generated from new energy resources in China, an expert said. Twenty billion kilowatt-hours of wind-generated electricity were wasted last year, mainly due to underdeveloped transmission facilities, said Zhang Guobao, director of the Expert Advisory Committee under the National Energy Administration. China has abundant wind resources in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and other northern areas.

CRI launches radio service branches

China Radio International on Sunday launched three new radio service branches in Georgia, Jordan and Albania. CRI said its radio service branch in Georgia's capital of Tbilisi will broadcast around the clock in English and Georgian, focusing on news and music. The broadcasts will reach more than 2 million people. The branch in Jordan's capital Amman will provide daily news and music around the clock as well.

5 samples test positive for H7N9

Five samples taken from poultry and the environment in three eastern provinces have tested positive for the H7N9 bird flu virus, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Sunday. The virus, which has killed at least 27 people thus far, was detected in three samples from the environment taken from Shandong province and two chicken samples from Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces.

Program entices museum visiting

Beijing museums launched a program to encourage students to conduct immersion studies and visit museums in May. The program was launched on Friday by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage. A total of 152 of the city's 165 museums are participating in the program. The capital provides 150 yuan for urban students and 200 yuan for suburb students to cover entrance tickets and travel costs. It aims to guarantee that each student visits museums twice for free.

One-third of adults have hypertension

China has more than 330 million people with high blood pressure and one out of every three adults has hypertension, Professor Liu Lisheng, president of the World Hypertension League, said on Sunday. The prevalence rate for hypertension in Chinese men between the ages of 25 and 34 has surpassed 20 percent, Professor Liu said, citing a report released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lock-up shares eligible for trade

China's stock market is expected to see 18.31 billion yuan ($2.95 billion) in locked-up shares become eligible for trade next week, according to data from bourses. The figure was significantly down from the 40.9 billion yuan in shares that became tradable this week, data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges showed.

Rain predicted for quake zone

Meteorological authorities said on Sunday that rain is expected to fall in quake-hit areas in Sichuan province over the next three days. Lushan county will see light and moderate rain, as well as cloudy weather, from Sunday to Tuesday, the National Meteorological Center said.

Relief work is under way in the county to ease the losses caused by a magnitude-7 earthquake that occurred on April 20.

Hubei

Policeman drowns after rescuing man

A 19-year-old policeman drowned while trying to save a person in the Qingjiang River, in Yichang, Hubei province, on Saturday. Lyu Junfeng, a native of Henan province, had been a soldier of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces for more than a year. With the help of people on the bank, Lyu rescued a worker at a local hydropower plant who had fallen into the water. But Lyu became tired and drowned.

Gansu

4 dead as tricycle falls into trench

An agricultural tricycle rolled over into a roadside trench in Gansu province on Sunday, leaving four passengers dead and the other two aboard the vehicle injured, local authorities said. The accident occurred at about 7 am as the tricycle fell into a 5-meter-deep trench beside a country road in the Xigu district of Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, the district's work safety authorities said.

Jilin

Zoo apologizes for tiger abuse

A zoo in Changchun, Jilin province, apologized on Sunday for the mistreatment of Siberian tigers and said it would stop animal performances, China News Service reported. A micro-blogger posted photos online of trainers at the zoo whipping tigers last week. Jilin Provincial Siberian Tiger Park said on its micro blog that trainers from Oriental Animal Performance Group contracted by the zoo were responsible. "Because the mistreatment of the endangered animals violates the Wild Animal Protection Law, we will cancel our contract with the group," the zoo said.

China Daily-Xinhua