Energy-saving engines promoted

China will step up efforts to develop energy-saving internal combustion engines and promote their use in coming years to reduce emissions, according to a guideline issued by the State Council.

Energy-saving internal combustion engines will account for 60 percent of the total engines in use by 2015, the guideline said. The State Council said China's internal combustion engines do not meet international energy-saving standards and many energy-guzzling products are still widely used.

Escort fleet to join exercise

The 14th Chinese naval squad heading for Somali waters will take part in a multinational exercise in Pakistan in March, military sources said on Sunday.

The "Exercise Aman-13" is scheduled to start in the North Arabian Sea on March 4. Aman is an Urdu word meaning "peace". The fleet, sent by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, departed on Saturday from a port in Qingdao, Shandong province, to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for escort missions.

Crackdown on wildlife trafficking

More than 200 wildlife product trafficking cases were cracked and more than 100 criminal suspects apprehended in a multinational crackdown, China's wildlife watchdog said on Sunday. China led the operation involving 22 Asian and African countries from Jan 6 to Feb 5, the State Forestry Administration said.

Through the operation codenamed "Cobra", 6.5 tons of ivory, 1.6 tons of shahtoosh, 22 rhino horns, 10 tiger hides, as well as other protected animal and plant species and products derived from them, were confiscated.

Locked-up shares to become tradable

China's stock market will see 95.8 billion yuan ($15.25 billion) in locked-up shares released for trading next week, according to statistics from Southwest Securities.

A total of 9.68 billion non-tradable shares of 27 listed companies will become tradable after their lock-up agreements expire next week, Southwest Securities said. The market value of next week's unlocked shares will be the second-highest seen this year, according to Zhang Gang, an analyst at Southwest Securities.

Sustainable growth is vital: officials

China's sustainable development has contributed to the global recovery and growth, high-ranking Chinese officials said on Saturday. Attending the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 in Moscow, Finance Minister Xie Xuren and Governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan outlined key points of the Chinese government's economic policies. China will keep implementing positive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy this year, Xie said.

More power used during holiday

Power plants nationwide generated more electricity during the Spring Festival holiday than the same period last year, according to new data. Electricity generated during the seven day holiday increased 4.61 percent year-on-year to 70.77 billion kilowatt-hours, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said. Power supplies remained stable and no serious electricity-related accidents occurred during the holiday, the commission said.

Non-ferrous metal production slows China's non-ferrous metal production expanded at a slower pace last year compared with a year earlier, according to new data. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement issued on Saturday that total production of 10 kinds of non-ferrous metals grew 9.3 percent year-on-year to 36.91 million tons in 2012, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.

Govt staff credit cards widely used

Government employee credit cards have been adopted across most of China, except for some remote regions, the country's finance authority said on Saturday.

The credit cards are to be used by public service employees for expenses, including business travel and conferences. The Ministry of Finance said more than 10,000 central government units and 380,000 local units have implemented the system since the project started in 2007. The special cards work like credit cards, but also serve as a State budget management tool. Clear records of transactions made on the cards are traceable, a feature that can boost fiscal transparency and contribute to anti-corruption efforts.

Liaoning

NE China's first nuclear power plant

The Hongyanhe nuclear power station, the first nuclear power plant and largest energy project in Northeast China, started operation on Sunday afternoon. The plant's first unit went into operation at 3:09 pm, said Yang Xiaofeng, general manager of Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co Ltd. Construction on the first phase of the project, which features four power generation units to be built at a cost of 50 billion yuan ($7.96 billion), began in 2007 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, Yang said.

Guizhou

110 released from bird flu quarantine

A total of 110 people who had close contact with two patients who contracted avian influenza H5N1 in Guizhou province earlier this month have been released from quarantine, local health authorities announced on Sunday. Two residents of the provincial capital of Guiyang were reported to have contracted the H5N1 virus on Feb 8. The health authority put 110 people who had close contact with the two patients under quarantine, according to the provincial government's emergency response office.

Shanxi

6 arrested over illegal funding

Two temples on Mount Wutai, one of four sacred Buddhist mountains in China, have been shut down and six people arrested over illegal funding of the sites, the local administration bureau announced on Sunday. Added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2009, Mount Wutai is home to about 50 Buddhist temples that were built between the 1st century AD and the early 20th century. Two illegal temples named "Foguozhongxin" and "Temple for the God of Wealth" were on Thursday reported to have hired fake monks to deceive tourists into donating money, buying expensive incense and paying unreasonable amounts for ceremonies.

Sichuan

Anti-graft official falls to his death

An anti-graft official in Sichuan province died on Sunday morning after falling off a building, local authorities said. Ke Jianguo, 45, head of the Anti-Embezzlement and Bribery Bureau of Chongzhou City, fell to his death at about 11 am, a Chongzhou municipal government official said. The cause of the incident is under investigation.

Xinhua