Hello, and welcome to CRI Roundup. I'm Zheng Chenguang in Beijing.

Today is Saturday, February 16. Now, let's recap what has happened in the past week.

China says it will completely restore the power supply by the end of March.

Australia pledges to send more peacekeeping forces to East Timor after a failed assasination attempt President Ramos-Horta.

And Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has announced that Kosovo will declare independence this weekend.

Please stay with us.

China's State Grid says electricity supplies damaged by the worst winter storms in 50 years will be restored across the country by the end of next month.

At least two provinces, Guizhou in the southwest and Zhejiang in the east, lack full power since snow and ice cut power lines and delayed shipments of coal to power stations.

Electricity company officials said this week that the delays are the result of soaring industrial demand after the conclusion of the Lunar New Year holiday. Also, a number of damaged power pylons are in hard-to-access mountainous areas.

Yin Jijun is an official with the state grid.

'So far the state grid has recovered all of the connections between local grids in disaster-hit regions and the central grid network. Repairs are nearing the point of restoring power supplies. Our objective is to resume the central grid before March 10, and ultimately finish the complete recovery of the power supply network by the end of March.'

Meanwhile, China's Insurance Regulatory Commission has urged insurance companies to accelerate indemnity payments to snow disaster victims and adopt more flexible policies.

Insurance firms in China have received more than 850,000 disaster-related claims, and have paid victims over one billion yuan, or more than one hundred million US dollars.

Consumers reacted differently to the newly reduced caps on mobile phone roaming fees.

Most of them believe the cut will bring more benefits to the majority of users.

''When I was on business trips, the roaming fees were quite high. Now, I think it they are much cheaper.''

But some think there is still much room for further reductions.

''The standard should be cut more. Nowadays, mobile phones are widely used, so we wish the policies would benefit us, now and in the future.''

China announced this week that the country will more than halve the mobile phone domestic roaming fees, amid complaints from users about high prices.

According to the new policy, outbound calls will be charged at a rate of 0.6 yuan, or 8 US cents, per minute, while inbound calls price have been reduced to 0.4 yuan, or about 5 US cents, per minute.

The pricing scheme will take effect on March 1.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta remains in intensive care in a hospital in Australia after being shot in an assassination attempt on Monday in Dili, the East Timorese capital.

Doctors say Ramos-Horta will need several operations, but they're hopeful he will make a full recovery.

Gunmen shot and wounded Ramos-Horta and opened fire on a car carrying the prime minister in apparently coordinated attacks against the leadership of the newly independent nation.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has ordered a boost in security numbers to its northern neighbor.

"In response to a request from the government of East Timor, the National Security Committee of the Cabinet has met today and authorized a substantial and immediate reinforcement of Australian Defense Force personnel, as well as an additional contingent of AFP personnel."

Acting President Vicente Gutterres announced a two-day state of emergency on Tuesday after the assassination attempt.

Prosecutors in East Timor have also prepared arrest warrants for 18 rebel soldiers who were allegedly involved in the assassination attempts against the president and prime minister.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has offered a historic apology to the country's Aboriginals.

Delivering an emotional speech, Rudd said the government was sorry for the pain and suffering it caused those who were taken from their families when they were young.

Hundreds of indigenous Australians traveled to Canberra to witness the moment.

The former Howard administration, which lost last year's election, refused to issue a formal apology, claiming it would leave the commonwealth liable to a flood of compensation claims.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has announced that Kosovo will declare independence this weekend.

Thaci did not give a specific date but said "this weekend will be the last one before Kosovo declares independence."

Local media reported the Kosovo parliament will adopt a statement of intent to proclaim independence on February 17, just ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers. The proclamation will take effect in early March.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999.

With that, we conclude this edition of CRI Roundup.

If you have any comments or suggestions, or you want to listen to our program again, you can log on to www.crienglish.com, and select our English Web site.

I'm Zheng Chenguang. 'Bye for now!