China explains details of new oil pricing mechanism

BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China's top economic planner Friday announced details of the country's new oil pricing mechanism, for the first time after the new pricing system kicked in at the beginning of this year.

In a statement on its website, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said China would adjust domestic fuel prices when global crude prices reported a daily fluctuation band of more than 4 percent for 22 working days in a row.

The commission said refiners would enjoy "normal" profit when global crude prices are below 80 U.S. dollars per barrel, but would face narrower profit margins when the crude prices rise above 80 U.S. dollars per barrel.

However, fuel prices would not go further up, or only be raised by a small margin, when crude prices rise above 130 U.S. dollars per barrel, and fiscal and tax tools would be used to ensure supplies, the NDRC said.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose 37 cents a barrel to settle at 56.71 U.S. dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday after reaching a six-month high of 58.57 dollars.

Crude prices staged strong rally on news of upbeat economic data in the United States, rising more than 10 percent in two weeks.

The NDRC statement also came a day after it denied an online report claiming imminent price hike.

C1 Energy, an energy information website, Thursday reported that the Chinese government would raise fuel prices as of midnight Thursday, but said later the price adjustment had been canceled, with reasons unknown.

Spaniel Alfie proves its a dog-eat-dog world as he gobbles up a toy puppy

It was a case of dog-eat-dog when spaniel Alfie swallowed a toy puppy.

Owners Joanne Dutton and daughter Madeline, seven, were amazed when the vet's X-ray revealed the cause of the dog's illness.

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afterheateatoypuppy.

Vet Mark Allington said: 'We took an X-ray of Alfie and it was fairly obvious what he had swallowed and it was removed after a couple of hours' surgery.'

Joanne said: 'Alfie is back to normal again now - running around like a lunatic.'

Ivanovic bows to Radwanska in Rome Masters

ROME, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Ana Ivanovic's suffered a setback on way to French Open on Wednesday when she was ruled out of the third round in Rome Masters with a 6-1 3-6 6-4 loss to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

The Serbian fifth seed, yet to win a title this year, looked on the way to victory when 4-0 up in the final set, after having fought back from set down. But she shockly lost the following six games.

Ivanovic had tidied up her act in the second set of the match at the Rome tournament, which is played on clay like the French Open, after making an inept start and losing the first set in just23 minutes.

Radwanska, seeded 10th, will take on the winner of the match between American fourth seed Venus Williams and Russia's Anna Chakvetadze in the quarter-finals.

Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova ended Italy's hopes of a localchampion when she battled to a 6-3 3-6 6-0 victory over Flavia Pennetta.

Kuznetsova set up a meeting with champion Jelena Jankovic who eased through when Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko retired ill from their third round match with the Serb leading 6-1 1-0.

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Xian has sky-high plans for sightseers

China's ancient capital Xi'an plans to offer visitors a bird's eye view of the city, officials said Wednesday.

For 50 million yuan ($7.15 million), China Aviation Industrial Base in Yanliang, an outlying district about 50 km from downtown Xi'an, plans to buy five to eight helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft that will fly tourists at altitudes of 200 meters to 3,000 m, said project manager Gao Liting.

A ride will last 30 minutes to two hours and will take sightseers over the sacred Daoist mountain Huashan, the mausoleum of the legendary Yellow Emperor and the Hukou Waterfalls in the Yellow River, he said. Tourists can also try parachute jumps, shoot videos and even do some flying.

Gao said the base was negotiating with potential investors, including foreign aircraft manufacturers, travel companies and domestic business owners who are interested in the project.

He said specific plans would be unveiled before the end of this year.

Part of the plan will include opening one of the country's leading aircraft makers, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group, to tourists, said Jin Qiansheng, director of the Yanliang aviation base.

According to the developed countries' experience, more people choose to travel by air when per capita GDP exceeds $2,000; when the figure tops $4,000, there's a growing demand for private planes, said Jin.

He said China's aviation industry would therefore expect another boom when per capita GDP tops $4,000, presumably in 2012.

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