Chinese president offers condolences to Chile over earthquake

Chinese President Hu Jintao has sent a message of condolence to his Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet over the casualties and property losses caused by the powerful earthquake that struck Chile earlier Saturday.

Hu Jintao said China is ready to offer emergency relief assistant to Chile to help those affected by the earthquake through their difficulties.

He said he was confident that under the leadership of the government, Chile would be able to overcome the catastrophe and reconstruct its homeland.

A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Chile early Saturday, killing at least 147 people.

Chilean persident Bachelet has declared a "state of catastrophe" in the country. She urged the people to remain calm, and has sent three rescue teams to the affected areas.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed condolences for the victims of the devastating Chilean earthquake and said his organization was ready to provide immediate assistance.

Chinese Premier Wen to chat on-line with netizens on Saturday

Premier Wen Jiabao says China's massive stimulus plan has been proved to be effective and China's economy has bottomed out and witnessed a sound recovery.

During an online chat with Netizens in Beijing on Saturday, the premier said he was confident in China's economic development in 2010, although it was "the most complicated year" for the country's economy.

Saturday's online chat with netizens was jointly hosted by the central government website and Xinhua News Agency website.

It is Premier Wen's second online chat with netizens since last February.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State to visit China in March

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg will visit China early next month.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement that Steinberg and Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, will pay the visit from March 2 to 4 to "exchange opinions with the Chinese side over matters related to China-U.S. relations," .

The high-level visit comes amid recent tensions between the two countries following Washington's 6.4-billion-U.S.-dollar arms sale plan to Taiwan and President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Chinese ship escorts released Greek ship

A Chinese naval vessel early Sunday morning conducted a successful mission of a released Greek merchant ship off the Somali coast, at the request of the Greek side.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says in a statement that the merchant ship Navios Apollon, hijacked by Somali pirates in December 2009, is now on its way to the safe waters under the escort of the Chinese vessel.

The ship has one Greek and 18 Philippine sailors aboard.

A Chinese naval ship escorted a Singapore-flagged tanker, hijacked off the Somali coast last month, to the safe waters on Friday.

China vows crackdown on online gambling as industry proliferates

China's Ministry of Public Security has vowed to step up crackdown on online gambling.

An official with the ministry's cyber security bureau says Initial statistics show more than 2,000 foreign and domestic gambling websites target Chinese gamblers.

He says online gambling exists in all Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to "varying degrees."

The official says police investigation showed most domestic online gambling operations are controlled by institutions abroad.

Conservative estimates show tens of billions of yuan flow out of China via online gambling annually.

Severe drought continues to ravage southwest China

Severe drought will continue to ravage southwest China as no major rainfalls are expected in the next three days.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) urges local governments in provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to take necessary water-saving measures and to prevent forest fire.

Facing the lingering drought, the administration on Saturday switched on its level-3 response to meteorological disasters, asking local meteorological departments to closely watch the development of the disaster.

It has urged local governments to use reserve water to ensure the consumption of residents, to adopt water-saving measures in agricultural and industrial production, and to restrict water supply for the service industry.

Abu Sayyaf guerrillas killed 12 people in southern Philipines

Guerrillas of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militant group have attacked a village headed by a former government militia commander in southern Philippines, leaving at least twelve people dead and dozens wounded.

The attack came on Saturday morning, a day after militants freed two Chinese hostages they held hostage in Maluso for more than three months. But authorities have yet to confirm that group is behind the abduction.

Obama to host nuclear security summit in April

U.S. President Barack Obama will host an international nuclear security summit in Washington on April 12-13.

The White House says the purpose of the summit is to discuss steps to secure vulnerable nuclear materials and prevent acts of nuclear terrorism.

This confirmation of the highlighted event came after the United States and Russia resumed their talks earlier this month in Geneva on a nuclear arms reduction treaty as a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that expired on Dec. 5, 2009.