China has spent more than US$53 million in aid to oil-rich Timor Leste (East Timor) in the past decade, Reuters reported. Analysts say China’s desire to diversify its strategic energy interests is behind the strengthening ties.

Venezuela announced a three-year, US$16-billion investment deal with China for oil exploration in the Orinoco River, said the BBC.

The China National Petroleum Corporation’s work at Iraq’s Ahdab field has highlighted dissatisfaction among local Iraqis who believe they are benefiting little from a multibillion-dollar development, according to The National.

Cancer casts a shadow around Shangba in Guangdong province, where farmland has been contaminated by heavy metals used to make batteries, computer parts and other electronics devices, Reuters reported. 

Every 30 seconds, a Chinese baby is born with physical defects because of the country’s degrading environment, China Daily quoted an official of the National Population and Family Planning Commission as saying.

A study of Beijing taxi drivers found that increases in levels of fine particulate matter were associated with decreases in heart rate variability (HRV) in young and healthy drivers. Decreased HRV is a risk factor for adverse cardiac effects such as heart attacks, according to Innovations Report, which cited Environmental Health Perspectives.

China’s carbon emissions are unlikely to fall low enough to keep global warming below 2° Celsius, according to government adviser Dai Yande, deputy chief of the Energy Research Institute, The Guardian reported.

China is on track to meet ambitious targets for moderating greenhouse-gas emissions, according to E3G, a British think tank, according to the Financial Times.

Potentially, China could be a US$500-billion to US$1-trillion annual market for “green technologies”, the Associated Press said, citing a report by the China Greentech Initiative.

China plans to build 42 high-speed railway lines by 2012, according to Agence France-Presse, which quoted state media.

NGOs are working with the government, media and local communities to dispel certain myths in order to protect animal species, said China Daily. Some species are declining due to belief in the medicinal value of some animal parts or because people consume “delicacies” to show their wealth and social status.

More than 66,000 hectares of land has been afforested with funds from the China Green Carbon Fund, Xinhua reported.

Prepared in cooperation with PACE