French President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy(L) welcomes Britain's outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair prior to a meeting in Paris. Blair said on Friday he was sure Sarkozy would do "a very good job" as French president, following talks between the two men in Paris. [Photo: AFP]
Hello and welcome to this edition of CRI Roundup on Saturday, May 12th. I'm Wenjie in Beijing. Let's take a look at some of the main events during the past week in China and around the globe.
China's safety watchdog punishes over 130 people responsible for five serious accidents.
Nicolas Sarkozy wins the French presidential election.
British Prime Minster Tony Blair says he will step down in June.
Identification and repatriation of the victims killed in last week’s Kenya Airways plane crash is underway.
And the first World Forum of Confucius Institute opens in Kyoto.
China's safety watchdog says it has punished more than 130 people after they were found responsible for five serious accidents that claimed a total of 249 lives.
The five serious accidents occurred from the end of 2005 to the end of last year. Four of them involved mine blasts. One was a traffic accident.
Minister of the State Administration of Work Safety, Li Yizhong says the accidents should be considered "lessons that have come at the cost of blood and lives”.
"We can tell from the results of the investigation that work safety rules have, to a great extent, been ignored by these companies. They just try to increase their production capacity, overwork their employees and overload their equipment. Lots of policies and measures designed to guarantee workers' personal safety have not been implemented."
The minister also says strengthening law enforcement is the only effective way to deal with the current situation.