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Conservation efforts in Inner Mongolia have spurred the northern region's development and benefited the national capital,top regional officials said yesterday in Beijing. The autonomous region,which is known as a major source of the seasonal sandstorms that blanket Beijing,has "done what it could" to curb ecological deterioration,Yang Jing,chairman of the regional government,said. "Protecting the environment has been listed as Inner Mongolia's most important infrastructure project," Yang told a press conference organized by the State Council Information Office yesterday to mark the region's 60th anniversary. "The number of sandstorms has fallen significantly in recent years,which favorably influences the weather in Beijing and Tianjin." Inner Mongolia,which is some 300 km north of Beijing,has long been thought of as the capital's backyard.However,the distance is not enough to protect Beijing from the wind-borne dust and sand that blow down from the region. Dust blown in from western Inner Mongolia blanketed Beijing nearly two months ago,lowering visibility to 4 km from 20 km the previous day. Inner Mongolia has spent some 20 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) on efforts to halt desertification in an area measuring 16.7 million hectares over the past five years.It has also increased its forest coverage to 17.6 percent of its total area from 14.8 percent in 1999,Yang said. At least 3 billion yuan was earmarked to implement the massive "Beijing-Tianjin windblown sand sources control project" in a bid to build a green ecological belt in northern China,according to regional government sources. The project involves 458,000 sq km of land,about 48 percent of which lies in Inner Mongolia. "There are several sources of sand and dust (affecting Beijing) besides Inner Mongolia.We have done what we could on our part," Yang said. Chu Bo,secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China,said yesterday that 70 percent of the region's livestock has been confined to enclosed pastures to reduce the grazing pressure on grasslands. In addition to returning farmland to forests and reclaiming overgrazed pastures,Inner Mongolia has encouraged traditional pastoral areas to develop alternative industries. Citing Erdos as a success story,Chu said the city would have plunged into an ecological vicious circle had it not built up secondary and tertiary industries. As a result,the city of 1.4 million people is expected to have a gross domestic product of 100 billion yuan ($13 billion) this year,a level of prosperity that can only be found in the country's coastal regions,Chu said. Inner Mongolia is home to China's largest grasslands.The region spans 1.18 million sq km,which is about twice the size of Ukraine. 不算太长吧.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon met fellow countryman and global popstar PSY for some 'Gangnam Style' dancing at the UN headquarters in New York last night.联合国秘书长潘基文当地时间周二晚上晚上在纽约的联合国总部接见了老乡-目前全球最火的《江南STYLE》的PSY，一起跳“骑马舞。”Ban Ki-Moon thanked PSY for coming to the UN with "such a big crowd" of reporters and said he was a "a bit jealous" that he was no longer the most famous Korean in the world潘基文感谢PSY的到来还说他有些“嫉妒”PSY，因为他，潘基文不再是这个世界上最著名的韩国人了。"I'm a bit jealous. Until two days ago someone told me I am the most famous Korean in the world. Now I have to relinquish. I have no regrets," Ban said.潘基文说；“我有点嫉妒他，直到两天以前还有人告诉我是世界上最著名的韩国人，结果现在我就不是了，不过我没有什么遗憾。”The two lavished praise on each other at UN headquarters Tuesday, with Ban even risking a few of Psy's trademark dance moves from the viral smash video Gangnam Style.这两位周二在联合国总部都对彼此大加赞扬，潘基文还向这位风靡全球的说唱歌手学了几招“骑马舞。”

China's online community won't have Watch-Wearing Brother to kick around anymore.中国的互联网上不会再有“表哥”了。Quoting local officials, the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Friday that Yang Dacai, a local official in Shaanxi province, had been ousted from his post for the possession of numerous expensive watches and other violations of discipline. Xinhua said officials are continuing a probe into his conduct.新华社上周五援引当地官员的话报道，陕西省地方官员杨达才因佩戴多块名表及其他严重违纪问题被撤销职务。新华社说，对调查中发现的杨达才的其他违纪线索，有关部门正在进一步调查。Mr. Yang rose to Internet notoriety earlier last month after a photographer captured him smiling at the scene of a deadly collision between and bus and a tanker truck in Shaanxi that killed 36 people.上个月早些时候，有人拍到杨达才在陕西省的一起交通事故现场面带微笑，此事在互联网上引发了强烈争议。在那起交通事故中，一辆客车和一辆罐车追尾，造成36人死亡。But it was his accessories that soon became the focus of China's online vigilantes. Some noticed the lowly public official appeared to be wearing an expensive watch. China's massive community of volunteer Internet sleuths soon found a number of other photos of Mr. Yang wearing a succession of different high-end watches the sort of time pieces a local official in the hustings would be hard-pressed to afford with a regular government salary.不过，是他的穿戴很快成为中国网民关注的焦点。一些人注意到，这位职位不高的公职人员似乎戴了一块名表。中国庞大的互联网“人肉搜索”群体很快就发现，在其他一些照片中杨达才戴着各种名表，这种名表是中国一名地方官员很难用普通工资买得起的。Dubbed Watch-Wearing Brother by his critics, Mr. Yang went on the offensive. In a highly unusual move for a Chinese public official, he turned to the Internet to address is critics directly. Writing on his account on Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service, he said he was sorry for his smile at the scene of the accident, explaining that he was having a hard time understanding the local dialect and wanted to put nervous comrades at ease. On the watches, he assured his critics that he purchased the watches 'using my own legal income.'被批评人士称为“表哥”的杨达才发起了反击。他做出了在中国公职人员中非常罕见的举措，借助互联网直接回应批评人士。杨达才在新浪(Sina Corp.)微博账户中写道，他要对遇难者家属表示诚挚道歉。他解释说：有的同志口音比较重，有些话我听不太清楚。我让他们放松些，可能一不留神，神情上有些放松。至于名表，他向批评人士保证是用自己的合法收入购买的。