Al-Qaida linked group claims Baghdad attacks

Six Chinese nurses win Florence Nightingale medal for outstanding contribution

Six Chinese nurses were awarded the Florence Nightingale medal on Tuesday for their prominent contributions to health care.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also the honorary president of the Red Cross Society of China, conferred the medals on the nurses in Beijing.

Premier Wen Jiabao and senior leaders including Li Changchun, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang also attended the awarding ceremony.

Vice premier Hui Liangyu said at the awarding ceremony that Chinese nurses have made great contribution to the country's humanitarian cause.

A total of 28 nurses from 15 countries worldwide won the award this year.

WHO: China's H1N1 vaccine safe, effective

A senior official of the WHO says the China-made A/H1N1 flu vaccine has proven to be safe and effective.

The agency’s representative in China, Michael' Leary, says he would like to get the China-made vaccine, adding nearly all of the adverse reactions from the shot detected so far were mild and temporary.

China has vaccinated more than 300,000 people on the mainland against the A/H1N1 flu and is making the free vaccination program available nationwide.

Chinese medics get special training for critical flu cases

China's Health Ministry has asked medical institutions across the country to train their staff to identify and treat critical cases of A/H1N1 influenza, after three deaths have been reported.

However, the ministry did not reveal details of the training schedule in its statement on the ministry website Tuesday.

The Chinese mainland has reported more than 36,000 cases of the virus, of whom almost 30,000 have recovered.

China to spur private investment with stimulus package

China will take more measures to encourage private investment in the next stage of its 4 trillion yuan (585 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package,

An official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) .said Tuesday the NDRC, the country's top economic planner, will allocate 3 billion yuan of government investment for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote their innovation capability, energy saving and emission reduction, and production condition improvement.

He said the government will roll out policies to shore up private investment in expanding market threshold and improving administrative service.

Taiwan authorities relax restrictions on mainland media on island

A Taiwan official says local authorities will relax restrictions on media coverage by mainland news organizations in the island.

Chao Chien-min, deputy head of the Mainland Affairs Council, says mainland correspondents posted on the island no longer need to inform Taiwan's information authorities before making interview trips.

China eyes consensus on Iran's nuclear-fuel supply issue

China hopes relevant parties could reach consensus through consultations on the issue of Iran's nuclear-fuel supply at an early date.

That’s according to a Foreign Ministry spokesman on Tuesday.

IAEA director general Mohamed El Baradei proposed a draft agreement in which Iran would ship to Russia most of its uranium stockpile to be enriched there.

Iran not to ship its uranium stockpile abroad in one go

Iran says it will not ship all of its existing enriched uranium abroad to be processed in one go.

The English language satellite Press TV quoted a diplomat as saying that sending the entire enriched uranium stockpile abroad altogether is against Iran's national interests.

According to the report, Iran can send the scheduled amount of its low-grade uranium in separate shipments so that its fuel supply provided by foreigners is guaranteed.

Multiple roadside bombings kill 8 U.S. soldiers in S. Afghanistan

Eight U.S. service members and one Afghan civilian were killed Tuesday in multiple roadside bombing attacks in southern Afghanistan.

Nearly 20 U.S. soldiers have been killed in two straight days in riot Afghanistan as three U.S. helicopters went down Monday, leaving 11 troopers and three civilians dead, all Americans.

Al-Qaida linked group claims Baghdad attacks

Al-Qaida's umbrella group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 155 people.

That’s according to the associated press.

The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, has posted a statement on the Internet saying that its martyrs targeted the dens of infidelity.

The same group also claimed responsibility for August bombings of two government ministries in Baghdad that killed more than 100 people.

WHO calls for tackling global health risks to prevent millions of premature deaths

The World Health Organization says millions of premature deaths could be prevented by tackling global health risks.

A WHO report, published on Tuesday, says that by addressing six health-related factors, global life expectancy could be increased by nearly five years.

These factors include childhood underweight, unprotected sex, alcohol use, clean water shortage, sanitation and hygiene, and high blood pressure.