Beijing

Mainland, Taiwan to hold new talks

Chief mainland and Taiwan negotiators for cross-Straits relations will hold their eighth round of talks on Aug 9 in Taipei.

Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, are expected to discuss and endorse an investment protection agreement.

The two parties are also expected to discuss and sign an agreement on customs cooperation, according to a press release issued on Wednesday by the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Govt to promote breastfeeding

The Ministry of Health has said it hopes to have half of China's mothers breastfeeding within eight years.

"The ministry will make great efforts to increase the rate to 50 percent by 2020 in the country, but that needs cooperation of all stakeholders, including hospitals, families, and communities," said Xu Xiaochao, a senior official with the maternal and children health and community health department under the ministry.

Currently, only about 30 percent of newborns younger than 6 months old are breast-fed exclusively on the Chinese mainland, a recent ministry survey showed.

Hebei

Officials charged for toxic capsules

At least 38 officials in three provinces have either been dealt disciplinary punishments or face criminal charges following a medical-safety scare that revealed pill capsules were being made from leather shoes.

A number of companies in Hebei province were using calcium oxide to bleach waste leather before stewing the leather into industrial gelatin to sell to capsule makers.

According to the Ministry of Supervision website, 12 officials in Hebei, 20 officials in Henan province and six officials of Zhejiang province have been held responsible for the scandal and will be punished or face criminal charges.

Shanxi

Coal mine flooding traps 12 workers

Twelve people were trapped after a coal mine flooded on Wednesday morning in North China's Shanxi province, according to local authorities.

The accident occurred around 3 am at a pit under construction, which is located in Hongtong county, Linfen city, a spokesman with the provincial coal mine safety administration said.

Twenty-two people who were working underground escaped from the flooded shaft, said the spokesman, adding that rescuers had managed to talk over the phone with four of the trapped.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily 08/02/2012 page2)