BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese shares rebounded slightly in low turnover on Friday as investors began to regain confidence following reports of imminent market-friendly policy announcements.

    The key Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, rose 49.03 points, or 1.14 percent to 4,348.54. The Shenzhen Component Index edged up 169.42 points, or 1.08 percent, to 15,823.88.

    Next week, during the two annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — NPC deputies and CPPCC members affiliated with the securities regulatory commission will submit proposals seeking to lower transaction costs, the China Securities Journal reported on Friday.

    Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said on Thursday that 2008 would be a pivotal year, during which the commission would reform and improve the capital market and step up market supervision and law enforcement.

    Yao Gang, new CSRC vice chairman, told a seminar on Thursday that the risk management of institutional investors should be improved.

    Banking heavyweights performed “moderately” well with eased concern over on refinancing, said Lin Songli, analyst at Guangzhou-based Guosen Securities.

    Pudong Development Bank extended recent gains, rising 3.03 percent to 42.13 yuan (about 6 U.S. dollars). The Shanghai-based commercial lender confirmed on Wednesday that it would sell no more than 800 million additional shares, fewer than the earlier rumored 1 billion.

    The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation’s biggest commercial bank, went up 0.93 percent to 6.53 yuan and China Construction Bank, the second-largest, rose 0.64 percent to 7.91 yuan. Most other banks — including China CITIC bank, China Merchants Bank and the Bank of Communications — also edged up about 1 percent.

    The Chinese currency set yet another new high on Friday when it broke the 7.11 mark against the U.S. dollar. The yuan, as it is also known, has risen more than 2.58 percent against the dollar this year and many experts predict that its total appreciation will exceed 10 percent in 2008.

    ”The faster yuan appreciation largely checks expectations of soaring inflation and reflects the robust economy,” said Lin.

    PetroChina, which accounts for around a quarter of the Shanghaiindex, gained 1.48 percent to 22.57 yuan, but it’s still well below its peak of 48.6 yuan when it made its debut on the Shanghaion Nov. 5 last year.

    Combined turnover further decreased to 76.3 billion yuan from 117.05 billion yuan on Thursday.

    LANZHOU, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — The first regional sandstorm in spring 2008 hit northwest China’s Gansu province on Friday, with the arid Minqin county experiencing a strong sandstorm, a local meteorologist said.

    The sandstorm started at 8:00 a.m. and lingered, according to observations at meteorological stations in Lanzhou, Jinchang, Minqin, Jintai and Gaotai. Floating sand and dust were observed at several other meteorological stations.

    The strong sandstorm hit Minqin county at 12:40 p.m. and turnedthe sky dark and yellow, with a visibility of about 300 meters at ground level, said Hu Lili, an observer with the Minqin weather station.

    People wrapped scarves tightly around their mouths and sand gotinto houses through doors and window gaps, she said.

    The strong sandstorm ended at around 2:00 p.m. in Minqin but the dusty weather continued.

    The first sandstorm of this spring hit Gansu’s Dunhuang and Yumen cities on Feb. 22 but didn’t develop into a regional sandstorm, which requires three observations in a single day.

    Most of the province will have fine weather on Saturday, the Lanzhou Municipal Meteorological Observatory said on Friday.

    However, parts of Yulin and Yan’an — cities in neighboring Shaanxi Province — are expected to experience sandstorms, and central parts of the province will be enveloped in floating dust as strong wind hits on Saturday, the provincial meteorological station forecast on Friday afternoon.

    The China Meteorological Administration said earlier this month that the northern regions were likely to experience more frequent and severe spring sandstorms than last year.

    URUMQI, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — China’s wild animal guardians said that much needs to be done to save wild animals trapped in the snowbound Pamir Plateau in northwest China from starvation.

    ”We estimate that some 100,000 wild animals have been trapped in the mountains to the southwest of Xinjiang,” said Dai Zhigang, head of the endangered animal protection station under the Forestry Bureau of Kashi Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in western China.

    Dai said that new sightings of dead animals, mainly grazing species and wild birds, have been reported by wardens every day since Feb. 7, when the blizzard waned. The station could not provide an exact death toll because it lacked personnel to do a full survey.

    ”We have raised small sums for hay at 20 locations, but we lack the money and manpower to do more,” said Dai.

    The plateau’s eastern slope is the prime breeding area for 300 wild bird species and more than 100 mammal species including argali (Marco Polo) wild sheep and black stork, China’s most endangered species.

    The worst winter weather in 50 years has blocked animals’ feeding paths. The latest remote-sensing figures from the Xinjiang Observatory suggested that snow covers 750,000 square kilometers in southern Xinjiang, of which 440,000 square km had snow cover of more than 10 centimeters deep.

    Dai said that there used to be some 4,000 argali wild sheep roaming the area. The rare species, unique to the Pamirs, may face extinction due to lack of food in early spring, when mountain vegetation is hard to find, especially after the snowstorm. Many feeble members of the species have fallen prey to wild carnivores.

    The situation of the snow leopard, wild yak and Tibetan mustang is more optimistic, since they can better tolerate arctic temperature, said Dai.

    In villages in Shule County, Kashi Prefecture, thousands of wild geese were found starved in a cornfield covered with snow. Villagers said that they often saw wild birds fall from the sky due to hunger. Herdsmen and farmers also complained that starving wild animals often intruded into fields and barns in search of food.

    The weather also struck Xinjiang’s agricultural and animal-husbandry sectors hard, causing losses estimated at 4.7 billion yuan (653 million U.S. dollars), said the regional government earlier this month. The figures showed that 54 percent of fruit tree plantations had been affected by the disaster and more than 100,000 livestock had died.

    SHANGHAI, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — A century-old steel bridge in Shanghai will be closed on Saturday for renovation ahead of the 2010 World Expo, according to the city’s renovation plans.

    Waibaidu Bridge, built in 1907 and one of China’s oldest steel bridges, will be dismantled and rebuilt. The move is part of efforts to restore the city’s famed waterfront under the Bund Refurbishment Project.

    Traffic will be diverted to neighboring expressways and bridges.

    Workers will start removing electricity and cables that run through the bridge before lifting and pulling out the steel girders with a barge. The steel portions will be transported to shipyards to remove dust and repair damaged parts.

    The bridge abutments will also be dismantled for a complete rebuild. According to the plan, the restored span be reopened around March 2009.

    Waibaidu, which translates to “outer free ferry-crossing”, has been one of the major bridges in China’s financial hub. It links the downtown and the eastern part of the city and spans more than 100 meters.

    The crossing, also known as the “Garden Bridge”, is not only a local architectural landmark, it is also emotionally linked with residents. It is called “Grandma’s Bridge” by many and days beforeits closure, throngs of residents and tourists swarmed the span to snap photos.

    The whole closure process, which starts at Friday midnight, will be broadcast live on the Xinmin website (www. xinmin.cn) from 10 p.m. Friday night.

    In preparation for the six-month expo, Shanghai has budgeted 28.6 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) to transform the city. Outdated steel factories are being relocated and shabby buildings dismantled.

    The city, which now has 150,000 foreign residents and receives 6 million foreign tourist annually, is readying itself to host 70 million tourists in 2010.

    The event organizing committee forecasts more than 200 countries and international organizations will attend the 184-day event, more than the 120 countries that participated in the Japan 2005 World Expo.

   ¡¡GUANGZHOU, Feb. 29 (Xinhua)– Five people died in a hardware store fire in the southern province of Guangdong on Friday morning, local authorities said.

    The fire broke out in the store in the Liwan district of Guangzhou, the provincial capital. Firemen got an emergency call at around 4:00 a.m. and put out the fire an hour later, the municipal fire fighting department said on Friday.

    The cause of the accident is under investigation.

    SHANGHAI, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — Yum! Brands Inc, the world’s largest fast food chain operator, formally introduced its third pizza brand Pizza Hut Express to the Chinese market when it opened its first store in Shanghai on Thursday.

    Different from the Pizza Hut canteens and Pizza Hut Delivery outlets, the Pizza Hut Express, located in the Pacific Department Store in Xujiahui district, provides low-priced take-away snacks.

    Pizza Hut Express also has outlets in Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

    ”We’ve introduced all of our pizza brands to China because of the strong consumer demand and good sales achievements in the market,” said Su Jingshi, president of Yum! Brands Inc China Division.

    ”We’ll use our advantage of scale management to cope with the rising costs of raw materials,” Su said.

    The three pizza brands will be available in more than 100 cities by the end of this year with 500 Pizza Hut canteens, 78 Pizza Hut Delivery stores and a number of Pizza Hut Express stores as that type of store matures, said Su.

    Besides Pizza Hut, Yum! also owns KFC, Taco Bell and a local brand, East Dawning. It has already opened 350 Pizza Hut restaurants and 50 Pizza Hut Deliveries, in addition to more than 2,000 KFC outlets in China.

    Yum! reported 16.9 billion yuan (2.36 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in China in 2006 and has been the biggest catering group in China for years.