Chinanews, Wuhan, July 12 - Nearly all the fish in the Donghu Lake in Wuhan died recently, about 50 tons. The foul smell has spread to adjacent areas, arousing wide complaints.

The fish were killed by polluted water; besides, local farmers had released too many fish fry into the lake, which had only made the problems worse.

“The pollution in the lake has long been a severe problem, but local environmental protection administration has never treated it seriously. In fact, we report the condition of the lake to them every year, and they just came, put some chemicals in the lake and collected some of the garbage in the lake, which was no use at all,” said a resident living nearby.

Our reporter also saw many drain outlets around the lake, discharging untreated sewage directly into the lake.

    MACAO, July 12 (Xinhua) — Macao recorded 289,266 package tourist arrivals in May, seeing a year-on-year rise of 21.3 percent, according to official statistics issued here on Thursday.

    The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that above 70.5 percent of the package visitors came in the month from the Chinese mainland.

    The SCS statistics also showed that the number of Macao’s hotel rooms reached 13,052 at the end of May, up 15.2 percent over the same month of 2006.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — China’s central-level State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and large to mid-scale companies will all adopt China’s new accounting standards that comply with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the end of 2009.

    The country’s small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 99 percent of the total companies in China, will not comply with the IFRS.

    Speaking at an international accounting conference in Beijing this week, Liu Yuting, director of the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), said central-level state-owned enterprises would comply with the new regulations by 2008 and the scope would be expanded to include all large and mid-scale enterprises a year later.

    ”The MOF will also speed up the construction of an internal control system on accounting to ensure the credibility of accounting information released by the enterprises,” said Liu.

    China’s listed companies adopted the new Chinese accounting standards at the beginning of the year. The standards, including 39 specific principles for corporate accounting, are much closer to international practices.

    ”There is a clear momentum toward accepting the IFRS as the common financial reporting language throughout the world, and companies from more and more countries including China are benefiting from the trend,” said David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

    ”The benefits of these accounting reforms for China are clear, “said Tweedie. “The new Chinese standards that incorporate accounting principles familiar to investors worldwide will encourage investor confidence in China’s capital market and financial reporting, and will be an additional spur for investment from both domestic and foreign sources of capital.”

    He added that for Chinese companies that are playing an increasingly global role, the acceptance of the new standards should also reduce the cost of complying with the accounting regimes of different jurisdictions in which they operate.

    The Republic of Korea announced its intention to adopt the IFRS in 2009, India will make a decision on the issue some time this month and Japan is also feeling the pressure to reform.

    Iraj Talai, regional manager of the financial management of the World Bank, said that China’s experiences in accounting reforms would be of great help to other emerging and transitional economies.

Chinanews, Beijing, July 12 ¨C Beijing sports officials plan to spend less money than previous Olympic Games on the construction of the Olympic stadiums and gymnasiums for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Construction costs for the new Olympic stadiums and gyms, the costs for the expansion of the old stadiums and gyms, and other related costs are all within the budgetary plans, said Beijing sports officials. They believe that the total costs for the Beijing Olympic Games will be lower than previous Games.

Construction work for the Beijing Olympic Games has been going on smoothly as scheduled and the costs are within the budgetary plans. As the Olympic Games draws near, there might be slight changes in the construction. However, so far, the construction costs are still within the budgetary plans, said Wu Jingjun, chief engineer at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Construction Project Working Office.

Three years ago, officials in Beijing proposed that it should hold the Beijing Olympic Games in a thrifty way. The proposal was widely applauded by the public. Instead of spending money carelessly, organizers are concerned more about building some eco-friendly projects.

¡°The idea of protecting the environment is embodied in every detail of the construction of Olympic stadiums and gyms,¡± said Wu.

According to available information, the Olympic construction projects have altogether used nearly 200 types of different methods related with environmental protection and more than 70 methods related with ecoenvironmental protection. These methods range from noise control and garden greening to the installation of environmental protection devices as well as solid waste treatment.

Chinanews, Lanzhou, July 12 ¨C The water level of Yueya Spring, which is dubbed ¡®the No.1 spring in desert areas in China¡¯, is decreasing sharply in recent years. Its water area has shrunk greatly from 24 mu, or 16,000 square meters, to the present 7.8 mu, about 5,200 square meters.

Yueya Spring is located five kilometers away from the southwest of Dunhuang city in Gansu. The shape of the spring looks like a crescent moon, hence its present name, Yueya (crescent moon) Spring. According to historical accounts, the spring was located in a moutaineous area. Although the spring was surrounded by sand dunes, the water in the spring had never dried up for over two thousand years, which was really a miracle in desert land.

In recent years, due to its natural geological location and improper human production activities, the water level of the spring has dropped dramatically. The water area of the spring also has shrunk greatly. In the 1950s, the spring¡¯s water area reached 20 mu (about 13, 333 square meters), and measured 7 meters deep; in the 1960s, the spring measured 6 meters deep and the water was very clear; in the 1970s, the spring contained enough water to irrigate farmland. However, its water level began to decrease. In the 1980s, the water level of the spring decreased by 6 meters compared with 1960.

In history, Yueya Spring was said to be the ¡°eyes¡± of Dunhuang. If the spring disappears, local natural environment and tourist resources will be adversely affected, some experts say.

    CHANGCHUN, July 12 (Xinhua) — Dong Gang, a native of Nong’an County, northeast China’s Jilin Province, has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering six of his family members in February, according to a statement released by the Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun.

    Dong, 29, killed his father, 63-year-old Dong Changqing, his mother, his elder brother, two sisters and his 12-year-old niece with an axe at the family home in Helong village after being scolded by his father for being drunk in the morning, the court said.

    He fled the scene but was caught by police the following day when he tried to return home with the intention of committing suicide.

    The court said Dong, who graduated from middle school 10 years ago, had been regularly criticized and snubbed by his parents and relatives and had developed a hatred toward them.

    Dong’s trial was carried out in Nong’an County by the same court on May 15 but a written verdict was not provided.

    Dong has pledged to appeal.