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"With a total investment of 15 million yuan (US$1.85 million), it is the largest restoration to the magnificent halls of the temple since liberation (in 1949)."

Kong Fanzhi, head of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, said at a short inauguration ceremony to mark the start of a one-year project to restore the 600-year-old Imperial Ancestral Temple, which was renamed the Working People's Cultural Palace after the after the founding of new China. Beijing is speeding up efforts to revamp centuries-old historic sites and the city's symbolic hutong in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games and beyond.

"This is the first time that our advertising business has overtaken the wireless business in the past three and a half years by a large margin."

Charles Cao, CEO of Sina Corporation, a top Chinese Internet portal, told reporters after reporting strong growth in the company's advertising business. Revenue from online advertising grew to US$29.50 million, beating forecasts of US$26 million.

"The environmental price we have paid for rapid economic growth is too high. Excessive waste water is discharged, health hazards caused by water pollution frequently occur and many regions do not have a stable supply of drinking water."

Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan, who ordered local governments to take effective measures to curb water pollution, which remains a big threat to public health and social stability. Zeng spoke at a televised conference of the State Council on pollution control.

"To ensure global energy security, we need to develop and implement a new energy security concept that calls for mutually beneficial co-operation, diversified forms of development and common energy security."

Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke at an outreach session of the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, saying the international community should work together to maintain a sound political climate favourable for safeguarding the stability of energy-producing countries and regions, the Middle East in particular.

"Only around 50 qualified brokers will survive in the market, the others will have to quit trading or be purchased."

He Jiawu, a director of the Securities Association of China (SAC), said that the government plans to cut the number of securities brokers by half by the end of the year. Currently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the SAC have qualified 32 brokers, meaning that about 90 firms are left competing for the remaining 18 available qualifications.

"In the coming five years, China will, on the basis of its moon probes, plan deep-space explorations, focusing on lunar and Martian explorations."

Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, spoke at the 36th Scientific Assembly of Committee on Space Research in Beijing. It was the first time for a Chinese official to announce that the nation's space programme would include Martian probes.