PEOPLE/POINTS

“The accident cautioned us that safety is the priority for railway development.Starting safety checks is a pressing need to raise the government’s credibility and also a key measure to ensure the safety of railway transport.”

Chinese Vice Prem ier Zhang Dejiang, in Beijing, during a mobilization meeting on August 15 for safety checks on China’s high-speed railways in operation and under construction

“If the trend in the ratio imbalance continues w ithout intervention, it w ill put at risk the equality of the sexes, the development of girls, the law ful interests and rights of women and the nation’s long-term development.”

Li Bin, M inister of the National Population and Family Planning Comm ission of China, at a national teleconference in Beijing on August 16

“In the future, China’s agricultural cooperation w ith Africa w ill focus on technology demonstration, personnel training, and

infrastructure construction, promotion of agricultural production and trade, and food assistance.”

Lu Shaye, Director General of the Department of A frican A ffairs of the Foreign M inistry of China, pledging further support for food security in A frica in an interview w ith Xinhua News Agency in Beijing on August 16

“The most likely scenario we have to guard against right now ends up being more of a lone wolf operation than a large,well-coordinated terrorist attack.”

U.S. President Barack Obama, warning against the threat of a lone wolf terror attack on the United States in an interview w ith CNN in Washington, D.C. on August 16

“Increasing trade and investment w ith China w ill be an im portant contribution to the Canadian government’s top priority of creating jobs and com pleting the econom ic recovery. That is our No.1 focus.”

Canadian Foreign M inister John Baird, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency in Ottawa on August 14

“Nowhere are high food prices, poverty and instability combining to produce tragic suffering more than in the Horn of Africa.”

World Bank President Robert Zoellick, on August 15, after the latest World Bank’s Food Price Watch was released