Society

Plastic wrapped man initiate the anti-plastic-bag campaign in China.

As other cities in China are still struggling to contain the "white pollution" of flying plastic bags by limiting their use, Lhasa takes one step further, by banning bags from production to sales.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates was in China on Saturday to raise awareness of the dangers of secondhand smoke in the country with the world's largest smoking population.

Gates is partnering with Robin Li, chief executive of Baidu Inc., which operates China's most popular search engine, in a foundation using traditional and online media to pinpoint the dangers of inhaling smoke from the cigarettes of others.

"Both (media) let people know about the damage of forced smoking and give some education about how in a very polite way they can ask people not to put them in that situation," Gates said at a news conference in Beijing.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said Friday that China is ready to work with all relevant parties to push for new progress in international anti-terrorism cooperation.

Hu made the remark in a written interview with reporters from Kazakhstan and Russia on the eve of his upcoming visit to Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine from June 12 to 20.

Hu said, with the joint efforts of the international community, positive progresses have been made in international anti-terrorism efforts and terrorists activities encountered a serious blow.

"But at the same time, we should see that the international anti-terrorism situation is still severe, and some terrorist organizations are still active," said Hu, adding there is still a long way to go in the fight against terrorism.

Two people were injured in a suspected revenge bombing at a government building in China, state media said Saturday, the second such attack attributed to disgruntled locals in recent weeks.

The detained suspect, a man surnamed Liu, allegedly set off the explosion in the northern city of Tianjin on Friday out of "revenge against society," Xinhua news agency reported.

Two people were slightly injured in the incident at a municipal government building in the Hexi district of Tianjin, a major city about 100 kilometres southwest of Beijing, the report said.