Hello and welcome to this edition of CRI Roundup on Saturday the 17th of February. I'm Emma Moore in Beijing.
Let's take a look back on some of the main events of the past week in China and around the globe.
The international community has responded positively to the joint document on the Korean Peniusular nuclear issue. The document was signed on Tuesday after six-party talks in Beijing.
China says it hopes concerned parties will keep their word and implement the first steps toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
"This is an important step for the six-party talks process. The denuclearization process of the Korean Peninsula has entered a material phase...We are ready to work with concerned parties to start related works and to implement related duties at an early date."
That was Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has welcomed the agreement, while the Japanese government has described the document as a landmark in the process of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.
Under the document, North Korea will shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility and invite back IAEA personnel to conduct monitoring. In exchange, the country will receive emergency energy assistance within 60 days.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has formally asked Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to form a unity government.
After eleven months in power, the Hamas government stepped down on Thursday night.
Mahmoud Abbas, of the moderate Fatah party, then formally delivered his letter of resignation, asking Haniyeh to put together a national unity government.
"We are charging you to form the upcoming Palestinian government within the limited mentioned period in the basic law which is three weeks, with two further weeks to be added."
He also asked Haniyeh to respect past Palestinian agreements with Israel. Haniyeh remains caretaker prime minister until the new government is formed.
It remains unclear whether or not Israel and the West will accept the new Palestinian government.
NATO has agreed to equip the fledgling Afghanistan National Army to enhance its capacity.
Afghan Defense Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak says agreements were reached at a recent meeting of NATO defense ministers in Spain, to give more support to Afghan soldiers.
Turkey, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have all agreed to donate weapons.
About 13,000 coalition troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan to hunt down militants and facilitate reconstruction.
China tackled over 17,000 commercial bribery cases from August 2005 to the end of 2006 involving more than 4.5 billion yuan.
Li Yufu, deputy director of the leading group on combating commercial bribery, under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, says more than 2.6 million enterprises and governmental departments have carried out self-inspection.
More than 400 million yuan of illegal earnings have been recovered since the campaign against commercial corruption and bribery began.
Li Yufu says China will push for more transparency in government affairs.
"Issues disturbing market order and concerning common people's immediate interests have been placed as top concerns in the campaign... Those enterprises and individuals involved in commercial bribery will be punished severely and placed on a blacklist."
China will also work out measures to deal with bribery in multinational companies.
Chinese leaders attended a grand gathering in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday morning to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival.
Chinese President Hu Jintao chaired the gathering and Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a speech.
Leading members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee including Wu Bangguo and Jia Qinglin also attended the festival gathering.
And with that we conclude this edition of CRI Round Up. Remember, if you have any comments or suggestions, or would like to listen to any of our programs online, you can log on to our website: crienglish.com
I'm Emma Moore in Beijing. Thanks for listening. Stay tuned for more on China Radio International.