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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 08, 2004

Top 10 China, world news stories in 2003 selected

People.com.cn has selected out the top 10 domestic and world news stories in 2003, including US war against Iraq, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, China's successful spaceflight of Shenzhou-5 and election of Chinese new leaders.


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People.com.cn held a grand ceremony at the Hilton Hotel Thursday afternoon to unveil the election results of 14 items including the top ten news of 2003 (both domestically and internationally), the 2003 figures of the website, and the most popular net readers of the website's Strong Country Forum.

The top ten 2003 news of People.com.cn were voted out completely by netizens on the recommendation of experts and scholars. Yang Liwei, Zhong Nanshan, Ba Jin, Qi Faren and other six people were elected as the "2003 figures of People.com.cn".

Top 10 China news:
1. SARS epidemic which hit most of China this Spring and Summer attracted attention from the whole world. Chinese people, under the strong leadership of the new government, achieved great success in the anti-SARS war.

2. On October 15, Shenzhou-5 spacecraft was successfully launched and returned to ground safely on the next day, making China the third nation in the world to send a man into space. Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in the outer space.

3. In March of this year, China held the First Session of the 10th National People's Congress and elected new government leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. New CPPCC leaders were also elected at the First Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held in March.

4. On October 11-14, China held the Third Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee. The plenum deliberated and approved a decision of the CPC Central Committee on issues regarding the improvement of the socialist market economic system, outlining the economic reform tasks for China in the new century.

5. During the later half year of 2003, Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan repeatedly proposed staging a so-called "defensive referendum" to split Taiwan from China, which has aroused strong opposition and condemnation from Chinese government and its people.

6. The Three Gorges reservoir officially began to store water as the sluice gate started to close at 00:00 on June 1. On July 10, the first power generator of the project, the largest of its kind in the world, was connected to the power grid to begin generating electricity. The Three Gorges Project will play an important role in China's economic construction as well as power generation and environmental protection.

7. On June 9, twelve people were sentenced to death or imprisonment by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for their roles in the beating to death of a young man. The 27-year-old victim, Sun Zhigang, from Wuhan City of Hubei Province, was beaten do death on March 19 in a police clinic after being taken into custody for failing to carry his temporary residence permit. On June 27, local higher court upheld the original decision despite the appeal of the twelve. Sun Zhigang�s case also led to the abolishment of the 21-year-long national administrative rules related to city vagrants.

8. A fatal toxic gas leakage from abandoned Japanese chemical weapons killed one person and injured 42 others after barrels of mustard gas were dug up at a construction site in Qiqihar in early August.

9. Since this year, a batch of corrupted officials of provincial and ministerial levels has been sentenced or disciplined, including Li Jiating, Liu Fangren and Cheng Weigao, showing the Party's determination to fight corruption.

10. Seventy Chinese Navy sailors aboard a conventionally powered Navy submarine were killed in an accident in the water area east of Neichangshan, East China's Shandong Province, in March. The accident had caught the attention of the whole People's Liberation Army and all the people.

Top 10 world news:
1. US-British coalition forces launched war against Iraq on March 20 without the authorization of the United Nations. The coalition forces overthrew the reign by Saddam Hussein and set up the Iraqi Governing Council on July 13. Attacks and bombs against the US-British forces and other international groups took place one after another thereafter. Saddam was captured by the US troops near Tikrit on Dec. 13.

2. On October 15, Shenzhou-5 spacecraft was successfully launched and returned to ground safely on the next day, making China the third nation in the world to send a man into space. Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in the outer space.

3. From early 2003, the acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spread to 32 countries and regions of the world. The accumulated SARS cases around the globe amounted to 8,450 (including suspected cases), and 810 people died of the disease.

4. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on Jan. 10, saying the United States had violated the nuclear framework. China, the DPRK and the United States held tripartite talks in Beijing on April 23-25. China, the DPRK, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan held six-party talks in Beijing on August 27-29, revealing aspirations to peacefully solve the crisis through dialogue.

5. The US spaceshuttle Columbia disintegrated and crashed in Texas before its intended return to the ground, killing all seven astronauts on board. Investigations showed the tragedy was caused by a breach in the thermal protection system on the leading edge of the shuttle's left wing.

6. Terrorist attacks frequent. Since the beginning of 2003, terrorist attacks have happened one after another. A car bomb exploded at a foreign residence area in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia on May 12, killing 35 people. An explosive device was triggered off at the main entrance of JW Marriot Hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Aug. 5, which killed 12 people and injured 149. Two car bombs rocked Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 15 and Nov. 20, leaving 61 people dead and over 700 more injured. Forty-four people died and more than 200 were injured in a commuter train blast in Russia on Dec. 5, just before the Duma elections.

7. All chapters of the human genome was decoded by researchers from six countries in April, 2003. The significant breakthrough was made by scientists from six countries, including France, China, the United States, Germany, Britain and Japan, who have participated in the international Human Genome Project.

8. The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations formally proposed the "roadmap" peace plan for the Middle East in April, and it was accepted by Israel and the Palestinians.The roadmap peace plan was repeatedly postponed as Israel continued to take a hardline approach and internal conflicts within the Palestinians surfaced. Peace camps in Israel and the Palestinians launched the Geneva Accord with the aim of solving the unsettled problems in the region. The move was opposed by the Israeli government.

9. America and most part of Canada experienced a massive blackout on Aug. 14. The power outage caused 60 serious fires in New York City during the night of the same day. The blackout, which lasted for 29 hours, cost New York City 1.05 billion US dollars. In the evening of Aug. 28, a similar blackout afflicted London and southeast England. During the two-hour power failure, about 250,000 people were confined in the subways. A blackout hit San Francisco in the US state of California, cutting one-third power supply to the city.

10. The European Union leaders failed to reach consensus on the sticking point of weighted voting rights on Dec.13, leaving the bloc to have to search for other options in the near future to strike a deal.

By People's Daily Online


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