BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — Total turnover on China’s stock markets rose timidly on Thursday amid renewed concerns about possible government moves to curb liquidity following the announcement of a surge in the country’s already huge forex reserve.

    The combined turnover of the Shanghai and Zhenshen bourses edged up to 104.7 billion yuan (13.8 billion U.S. dollars) from Wednesday’s 99 billion yuan, still low compared with the daily level of more than 200 billion yuan in May.

    China’s huge foreign exchange reserves hit a record of 1.33 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of June, up 41.6 percent from thesame period of last year, the People’s Bank of China announced Wednesday.

    A total of 266.3 billion U.S. dollars were added to the country’s foreign exchange reserves in the first half of 2007, 144billion U.S. dollars more than a year ago, said the central bank.

    This came after China announced a trading surplus of 26.91 billion U.S. dollars in June, up 85 percent on a year earlier.

    Figures released by the central bank on Wednesday showed that RMB deposits increased by 904.1 billion yuan in June, 493.3 billion yuan more than the same period of last year.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A- and B- shares listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose 50.27 points, or1.30 percent, to 3915.99 points.

    The component index of the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange was up 65.07 points or 0.51 percent, to 12,850.74 points.

    Heavyweight financial stocks closed higher, with both the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China climbing 0.19 percent to close at 5.39 yuan and 5.37 yuan respectively.

    The Chinese currency stood at 7.5762 yuan to one U.S. dollar on July 12, a slight drop on the record high of 7.5712 yuan the previous day.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — At the invitation of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit will pay an official visit to China from July 17 to 22.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang made the announcement Thursday at a regular press conference.

    Qin said Kiir will hold talks with Zeng and meet with other Chinese leaders. The two sides will exchange views on strengthening bilateral relations and other issues of common concern, including the Darfur issue.

    As Sudan had agreed on the deployment of a hybrid AU-UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, Qin said China hoped parties concerned would implement relevant agreement through consultation as soon as possible.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — The General Logistics Department of the People’s Liberation Army has ordered all its troops to take measures to boost food safety at all messes, in the wake of a series of health scares.

    The department said in a recent circular that all commanders must realize that food safety is of significant importance to the PLA’s combat readiness.

    All the units must closely monitor the whole process of food supply from purchase to processing, and strictly ban the use of fake or substandard products, the circular said.

    Priority must be given to the supervision of food safety for troops with major tasks and canteens run by civil contractors, the circular said.

    HEFEI, July 12 (Xinhua) — China’s environment chief on Thursday unveiled a set of tough new rules to tackle worsening lake pollution while lambasting the country’s “bumpkin policies” that encouraged local officials to turn a blind eye to environmental hazards.

    The regulations follow findings showing “rampant” violation of environment rules by almost nine in ten of the country’s industrial parks and two fifths of companies.

    Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said the new rules covering China’s three major lake areas — the eastern Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and the southwestern Dianchi Lake — included:

    – A ban on all projects involving discharges containing ammonia and phosphorus, and the turning down of existing applications to establish such projects.

    – A ban on the production, use and sales of detergents containing phosphorous around the lake drainage areas.

    – The removal of all fish farms from the three lake areas by the end of 2008.

    – A ban on fishponds, vegetable and flower farms that may involve the use of fertilizers within one kilometer of the lakeside.

    Zhou outlined the measures at a special meeting on lake pollution in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province.

    In the last two months, blue-green algae outbreaks have been reported in the three lake areas, endangering domestic water supplies. On July 4, water supplies to 200,000 people in Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province, were halted for more than 40 hours after ammonia and nitrogen were found in a local river.

    ”Environmental problems, if improperly handled, can trigger major social crises, and improving water quality has become our most urgent task,” Zhou told environment officials.

    He said illegal activities that harmed the environment were “rampant”.

    SEPA investigations showed 87.3 percent of the 126 industrial parks in 11 provinces had violated environment rules, allowing environmentally harmful companies into their parks.

    They also showed half of the 75 wastewater-processing factories failed to properly process water or were not operating at all. Of 529 companies that SEPA inspected, 44.2 percent were violating environment rules.

    ”Hazards are everywhere, and environmental accidents are very likely to happen,” he said.

    Some local officials often relied on companies for GDP contribution and their own promotions, and failed in their responsibilities to supervise the companies’ environmental impacts.

    ”We must get rid of all ‘bumpkin policies’ or protective local policies that sacrifice the environment for profit,” Zhou said.

    Frequent water pollution incidents also increased the cabinet’s concern, as a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday stressed the need to amend the existing law on handling water pollution, allowing for harsher punishments.

    China recorded 161 pollution accidents last year, according to the SEPA. The authorities shut down 3,176 polluting plants in a campaign in which the discharges of 720,000 companies were inspected last year, according to the SEPA.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Thursday met with German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

    The two sides had in-depth discussion on China-Germany and China-EU relations, agreeing to further enhance communication and cooperation between the two countries, so to push forward the healthy development of China-Germany and China-EU ties.

    The two sides also exchanged views on major regional and international issues of common concern.

    Also on Thursday, Erler held talks with Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Quan, and met with Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — Police have arrested a key suspect in the alleged trafficking of five newborn babies in north China’s Hebei Province.

    Hebei police apprehended Zhang Shuanglong, who allegedly sold the babies to two other traffickers, in his home city of Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, on July 5.

    Police set up road blocks, which resulted in the rescue of another three babies and the arrest of four suspects in a separate case on June 29.

    In the early hours of June 3, traffic police found the three baby boys and two girls all about 10 days old on the backseat of a black VW Santana sedan near the toll gate on the Qingdao-Yinchuan Freeway, in Nangong, a county-level city in Hebei.

    The car caught the attention of a highway patrol officer when its driver suddenly switched lanes while waiting to pay the toll. The officer became suspicious when he noticed the car’s trunk was missing a lock and looked as if it had been tampered with.

    When the policeman tried to question the driver, he and another man in the passenger seat refused to get out or roll down their windows. A minute later, they suddenly jumped out brandishing knives and ran away.

    The two men were said to have escaped into the fields adjacent to the freeway and disappeared. Police gave chase but failed to catch them.

    Police found the car was stolen in Shanghai in May. The license plate belonged to Zhang Shuanglong, who allegedly confessed after his arrest that he sold the babies to the two man nicknamed “Xiaohei” and “Xiaoliang”.

    The eight babies were taken to the Friendship Hospital in Nangong, where they are reported to be in good health.

    However, their identities remain a mystery despite Hebei police calling on parents of disappeared infants in east China for DNA samples.