Hello and welcome to this edition of CRI Roundup . I'm Zheng Chenguang in Beijing.

Today is Saturday, January 12. Now let's recap what's happened in the past week.

• China's Scientific and Technological Awards have sparked a positive response from the Chinese scientific community.
• The Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Urged Proper Compensation for the Victims of Warehouse Explosion.
• And the U.S. warned Iran over provocative actions after the Pentagon's allegation that Iranian guard boats "provoked" three U.S. warships in the Straits of Hormuz.

Stay tuned!

The just concluded 2007 State Scientific and Technological Awards have sparked positive responses from members of China's scientific community, universities and others involved in the field.

Huang Boyun, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said a down-to-earth attitude, perseverance and hard work are the important factors in achieving success in scientific research.

"Any great scientific achievement can be obtained only by hard work and long-time accumulation."

In Tuesday's award ceremony, 351 scientific projects were awarded prizes. Petrochemical scientist Min Enze and botanist Wu Zhengyi won the top award for their progress in technological innovation.

The Chinese Ambassador to South Korea paid a visit to some of the relatives of the 12 Chinese laborers who died in a warehouse explosion in the country this week.

Speaking in Korean, the ambassador said he believed that the South Korean government would provide all necessary treatment and care for the injured workers and would facilitate compensation for the victims of the tragedy.

"I hope the South Korean government urges the related companies to provide compensation to the families of victims in a proper way as soon as possible and within the scope of the law."

A total of 40 people died after an explosion and fire tore through a logistics centre in Icheon on Monday.

Mayor Cho Byung-dun expressed his sorrow for the accident and said his government would supervise prompt compensation payments by the companies involved to the families of victims.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton emerged victorious from New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday evening, turning around a campaign that appeared to be stumbling after a third place finish in the Iowa caucuses last week.
In the days before the New Hampshire primary, however, she overhauled her campaign operations in the state and helped turn things around.

"Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice. Now, together, let's give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me."

On the Republican side, presidential hopeful John McCain came in first at the New Hampshire primary, completing a remarkable comeback and climbing back into the running for the US presidential nomination.

McCain expressed his gratitude to the voters in New Hampshire.

"I listened to you, I answered you, sometimes I argued with you, but I always told you the truth as best I can see the truth, and you did me the great honor of listening. Thank you New Hampshire."

The U.S. has warned Iran to refrain from taking what it termed, "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."

The strong response came after the Pentagon alleged Monday that five Iranian revolutionary guard boats "provoked" three U.S. warships in the Straits of Hormuz over the weekend.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini played down the incident between Iranian boats and U.S. naval ships.

He said the incident was a common occurrence, one that takes place every now and then by each party. It was resolved, he said, when the two parties identified each other.

Shareholders of CHINA EASTERN have rejected a deal to sell part of the airline to SINGAPOREAN investors, but agreed to allow two SINGAPOREAN AIRLINES managers on its board of directors.

A group of investors including TEMASEK, the SINGAPOREAN state-run investment company, planned to buy a 24 percent stake in CHINA EASTERN.

They were offering nearly FOUR HONG KONG dollars a share, but shareholders considered it inferior to offer from AIR CHINA'S parent company, CHINA NATIONAL AVIATION, which offered fiver HK dollars a share.

Despite the bid falling through though, shareholders approved a separate resolution appointing the chairman and chief executive of Singaporean Airlines to CHINA EASTERN'S board.

CHINA NATIONAL AVIATION on Monday said it would table its offer of FIVE HONG KONG dollars a share within two weeks.


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 website.

I'm Zheng Chenguang, bye for now!