Govt Gets New Spokesperson

The Chinese Government has named veteran journalist Wang Chen as its chief spokesperson. Wang replaces Cai Wu as minister of the Information Office of the State Council. Cai was made minister of culture at the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress in March.

Wang, 57, spent 26 years in journalism at Guangming Daily, a Beijing-based publication mainly catering for the country's intellectuals. In August 2001, he was appointed editor in chief of People's Daily, China's largest national newspaper, after serving 14 months as vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Wang was promoted to publisher of People's Daily in November 2002.

Chen Liangyu, former secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made his first court appearance on corruption charges in Tianjin on March 25.

The 62-year-old Chen was accused of accepting bribes of 2.39 million yuan ($340,000) and helping two local businesses embezzle 2 billion yuan (nearly $300 million) from the city's social security fund. He was also found guilty of illegal land transactions carried out by his younger brother.

Chen, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee since November 2002, was sacked from his Party posts for corruption investigation in September 2006, after the misuse of Shanghai's social security fund was exposed. Among the 25 senior government officials and state-owned company executives involved in the scandal were several of Chen's longtime aides. According to a recent report of the National Audit Office, 33.9 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) had been misappropriated from the fund, with most of the money going to real estate projects.

Chen, who was expelled from the CPC in July 2007, is the highest-ranking official to be prosecuted in China in more than a decade.

One of China's most controversial criminal defendants in recent years, Xu Ting got handed a major reprieve on March 31, when the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, slashed his jail term from life to five years.

Last November, Xu, a 24-year-old migrant worker from north China's Shanxi Province who withdrew 175,000 yuan ($24,400 then) from a faulty ATM in Guangzhou in April 2006, was convicted of grand larceny by the same court and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The unexpected judgment had sparked heated public debate on whether his actions constituted a crime and what penalty he deserved. The Guangzhou court retried Xu's case in February after a higher court concluded that the life sentence was not supported by hard evidence.

The latest ruling was based on the fact that Xu's crime was not premeditated and involved no violence, the court explained.

Xu said he would not appeal after hearing the sentence.

"Please set your mind at rest because China has an abundant supply of rice."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, squashing fears that the recent 30-percent jump in international rice prices would have an impact on China's food supply, when talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Greater Mekong River Subregion Summit in Vientiane, Laos. Wen said that China has stockpiled about 40-50 million tons of rice

"I am not suggesting that more regulation is the answer, or even that more effective regulation can prevent the periods of financial market stress that seem to occur every five to 10 years."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a 30-year Wall Street veteran, after unveiling on March 31 the most extensive overhaul of the U.S. financial regulatory system since the Great Depression

"Earth Hour shows that everyday people are prepared to pull together to find a solution to climate change. It can be done."

James Leape of WWF International, organizer of the "Earth Hour" campaign that saw up to 30 million people across the world turning off their lights for 60 minutes on March 29 to show concern for global warming

"Anyone can stay at hotels as of midnight last night, as long as they have ID and the money to pay for a room."

A night porter at the Chateau Miramar Hotel in west Havana. Cuba has lifted a ban on its nationals staying at hotels reserved exclusively for foreigners, which is the latest step to liberalize the state under new President Raul Castro, who has ended bans on Cubans buying computers, DVD players and cellular telephones

"It is a matter of considerable disappointment, it has dented national pride."

British Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick, criticizing travel chaos at London Heathrow Airport's newly opened Terminal 5 after the $9-billion complex's state-of-the-art luggage-handling system failed to work as expected