Midweek Round-up July 9

In today's report we follow the Olympic Torch to the wilds of Inner Mongolia but first the International News:

International News

G8 sets emissions date

The world's top economic powers agreed yesterday to halve their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The Group of Eight, or G8, insists the whole world must reduce emissions.

Critics said the 50 percent reduction target was insufficient, and has called for ambitious mid-term targets for countries to cut emissions by 2020.

The new pact will take effect when Kyoto's first phase expires in 2012.

Bomber kills 41

Forty-one people are dead after a car bomb went off outside the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday.

The massive blast that rattled much of the city, was detonated by a suicide bomber, killing the Indian military attaché and dozens of Afghans queuing up for visas.

Several nearby shops were also damaged or destroyed in the blast, and smoldering rubble covered the street.

The deadly morning attack in the Afghan capital is the worst since the fall of the Taliban in 2002.

Local news

Twins for quake Panda

Giant panda Guo Guo, an evacuee from the southwest China earthquake, gave birth to twins on Sunday.

The cubs are the first to be born since the quake rocked Sichuan Province on May 12.

Guo Guo is also the first panda to give birth around the globe this year.

Yesterday authorities unveiled a 2 billion yuan reconstruction plan for the Wolong nature reserve, which will be relocated to Gengda in north-western Sichuan.

Cities on green-blacklist

A report by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has blacklisted two of country's industrial regions.

A national report shows Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has the dirtiest rivers and lakes while Shandong province spewed the highest amount of sulfur dioxide or SO2 into the atmosphere.

The ministry has targeted several other cities and power plants for their ineffective actions to achieve the central government's green target of cutting major pollutants by 20 percent by 2010.

The report also shows Beijing, as the Olympic Games host city, has reduced its pollution level after years of effort.

News on the Olympics

Torch heads west

The wild plains of Inner Mongolia is the next destination for the Olympic torch.

After leaving Gansu province on Tuesday the national relay headed west into China's largest autonomous region.

The cities of Hohhot, Ordos, Baotou and Chifeng will welcome the torch on its journey.

Inner Mongolia will be the last ethnic autonomous region to host the Olympic torch relay.

Olympic currency

The People's Bank of China hasreleased a commemorative bank note to mark the 29th Olympiad.

Six million notes have been released into the market holding a denomination of 10 yuan.

The special edition currency is 8mm longer than the normal 10yuan note and features a picture of the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest on one side and an image of the Greek discus-thrower Discobolus on the other.

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

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Meghan Peters is a foreign language expert at China Daily's Web site. A recent graduate from the University of Washington in Seattle, Meghan has written for The Seattle Times, the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the Seattle Weekly, where she also worked on various multimedia projects.

" style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 153px" title="">Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. In December he left for Singapore where he is currently based to work on an online TV science series for kids and some work with MediaCorp Studios, the national broadcaster. Marc returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website's Olympic media news coverage.