Xinjiang

Longest rail tunnel completed in region

The longest railway tunnel in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was completed on Friday. Spanning 22.45 kilometers, the left part of the Zhongtianshan Tunnel was finished on Friday morning, making the tunnel the longest of its kind in Xinjiang and the third-longest in China, according to the Urumqi Railway Bureau. The tunnel took about seven years to build and the right section, 22.47 km in length, was finished in September 2013. The tunnel is part of Nanjiang Railway's second trunk that links Turpan with Korla in southern Xinjiang. The 333.87-km-long line, expected to begin operation at the end of the year, will slash shorten train journeys by 122 km.

Beijing

Chinese firm sets up high-tech venture in US

A Chinese company launched a high-tech incubator in Silicon Valley in the United States on Friday to create a platform to connect China and US high-tech industries. Officials of China Fortune Land Development, a leader in investment and operation of industrial areas in China, say the CFLD's high-tech incubator is an important step to realize the goal of combining industrialization and innovation in China and the US. The incubator provides a new way to translate technological innovation into business results. Technological innovation in the US can develop in an industrial environment in the incubator and eventually reach out to the Chinese market.

Russia

Putin gets OK for armed forces in Ukraine

Russia's parliament granted President Vladimir Putin permission to use the country's military in Ukraine and also recommended on Saturday that Moscow's ambassador be recalled from Washington over comments made by President Barack Obama.

Earlier on Saturday, Obama had warned Russia that military intervention in Ukraine would lead to "costs". Obama and European leaders would consider skipping a G8 summit meeting this summer in the Russian city of Sochi if Moscow intervenes militarily in Ukraine, a senior US official said.

China Daily - Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 03/02/2014 page2)