CRI摘要

Hello and welcome to this edition of CRI Roundup on Saturday, April 21. I'm Qiu Wei in Beijing.

Let's take a look at some of the main events from China and the world over the last week.

• Tickets are on sale for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
• Wednesday marked the sixth train speed increase in China.
• The US saw the deadliest shooting rampage in its history.
• And the Association of Taiwan compatriots Invested Enterprises on the Mainland were inaugurated in Beijing.

More than 7 million tickets have been on sale since Sunday for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Organizers say 75 percent of the tickets are for domestic sale and the rest are for overseas.

Wang Wei, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games said Olympics tickets will be affordable for the general public. 

"The proposal of the ticket prices is made based on huge market research, public polls and statistical analysis. The tickets are affordable to the majority of people."

The most expensive tickets are for the opening ceremony, which cost 5,000 yuan, or some 650 US dollars.

Ticket prices for the 28 sports sessions range from 30 to 1,000 yuan, or about 4 to 130 US dollars.

Orders can be processed on the organizing committee's website and at 1,000 designated Bank of China branches.

However, tickets will not be delivered until June next year.

For events that are oversubscribed, recipients of the tickets will be picked by random selection.

For tickets outside China, the responsibility for distribution will be given to the respective national Olympic committees or their designated agents.
Wednesday marked the sixth train speed increase in China.

The speed lift enabled bullets trains to run more than 200 kilometers per hour.

Hu Yadong, deputy minister of Railways, explained the significance. 

''The train speed is more than 200 kilometers per hour now, which is a new record for us. There are over 6,000 kilometers of tracks the bullet trains run on, so boosting the speed by such large scale is uNPRecedented in world railway history.''

Hu Yadong said thanks to the speed increase, there are now 22,000 kilometers worth of rail lines that trains running at 120 kilometers per hour can run on. That's up from 16,000 kilometers.

Experts say the extra speed on the rails will increase passenger and cargo capacity significantly. 
The Association of Taiwan compatriots Invested Enterprises on the Mainland were officially inaugurated in Beijing.

The association is a non-profit organization initiated by Taiwan business people.

It's the first national association funded by Taiwan businesses since the first local association of this kind was founded in Beijing in 1990.

Chang Han-wen, the first Chairman of the Association, said the business body will serve as a platform to promote cross-Straits economic and trade exchanges as well as the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations. 

"The association is expected to promote cross-straits exchanges, regularize the charter flights, achieve an earlier realization of direct links of mail, trade and transport, and expand the economic and trade ties across the Taiwan Straits."

The association is expected to serve as a bridge between Taiwan enterprises and the central government, as well as boost economic and trade cooperation across the Taiwan Straits.

Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said he hoped the association would listen to Taiwan business people's opinions, protect their legal rights, help solve their problems and work as a bridge between its members and the government.

The gunman in the shooting of Virginia Tech University has been identified as Cho Seung-hui, a 23 year old South Korean, who studied English at the university.

Cho Seung-hui killed 32 people before shooting himself dead on Monday morning. It was the deadliest campus massacre in U.S. history.

Joining many others, US President George W. Bush offered condolences at the Virginia Tech Tuesday. 

"Laura and I have come to Blacksburg today with hearts full of sorrow. This is a day of mourning for the Virginia Tech community and it is a day of sadness for our entire nation. We've come to express our sympathy."

Before flying to the university in southwestern Virginia, Bush also ordered flags flown at half staff and issued a written proclamation in honour of those killed and wounded.

Chinese President Hu Jintao extended his condolences to President Bush over the mass shooting. Hu Jintao also offered condolences to the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Earlier UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many other world leaders also condemned the shooting rampage.
Ban said "any such rampant killing of innocent citizens and children is totally not acceptable."