BEIJING: Beijing police confirmed Thursday they have detained 18 people for allegedly causing an affray and intentionally injuring artists at an art zone on Monday.

The artists staged a brief protest against the attack and the demolition of the art zone in Chaoyang District, Beijing,  Monday afternoon, after the incident.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau’s information office said the suspects allegedly broke into three artists’ workshops in Changdian Village, Chaoyang, on Monday. Police later arrived to control the situation in response to a phone call from the artists.

More than 10 artists, including Ai Weiwei, rallied on Chang’an Avenue at about 3 pm Monday, expressing discontent over the demolition of the Chuangyi Zhengyang Art Zone in eastern Beijing’s Chaoyang District.

GUANGZHOU: The death toll of a fireworks explosion has risen to 20 as an injured person died in hospital in south China’s Guangdong Province, local authorities said Saturday.

The explosion occurred at Shiqiaotou Village, Junbu Township of Puning City at about 8:00 pm Friday, according to the provincial public security department and Puning city government.

Bodies of 13 people were discovered at the scene Friday night and seven others died in hospital later. Eight people are still in critical conditions.

Villager Yang Junshu and his family were setting off firecrackers in front of his house. It is believed that the flame ignited other fireworks on the ground and caused the huge explosion, a witness surnamed Yang, whose house is about 200 meters away from the scene, told Xinhua.

Police have detained Yang Junshu and his nephew Yang Keqin. Their relatives have handed in 8 million yuan ($1.17 million) for compensation.

The municipal government has identified 10 of the dead, seven men and three women, including the detained suspect Yang Junshu’s mother Chen Yaxia, brother Yang Junmao, daughter-in-law Yang Beibei.

The others include two sons and a daughter of a neighbor of Yang Junshu and four villagers.

Police and work safety officials have started a safety check on the sale, storage, transportation and the use of fireworks in Puning. Officials said they would close all unlicensed retailers.

Fireworks and firecrackers are a necessity for celebrating the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in China. The festival ends Sunday.

YINCHUAN: Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang called for more efforts to promote the development of China’s west region on Saturday.

Li made the remarks during an inspection tour in the west Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

“Expanding domestic consumption is key to economic restructuring which is crucial to accelerating the transformation of economic development mode, a strategic task for China at present and in the long run,” Li said.

Advancing the development of west China is conducive to boosting domestic consumption, adjusting the structure and raising the level of economic development, given the region’s vast area and great demand potential, he said.

Li also urged more efforts to raise the quality and efficiency of economic growth by promoting circular economy and green economy, and enhancing resource conservation and environmental protection.

The West Development Strategy is a policy adopted by the Chinese government in January 2000 to help underdeveloped western region, including 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, to catch up with the more prosperous eastern region.

MELBOURNE, Australia – More than just a champion, Roger Federer was recognized Sunday as a humanitarian.

A charity match initiated by Federer to raise money for Haiti earthquake victims has raised more than $600,000, said Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard.

The January 12 earthquake that has killed at least 150,000 in Haiti struck three days before the start of the Australian Open.

Federer organized a mixed-doubles fundraiser on the eve of the Open that featured some of tennis’ top stars, wearing microphones on court and providing comedic commentary as they played.

Among them were Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Lleyton Hewitt.

The match at the Rod Laver Arena raised about $125,000, with seats priced to sell at just under $10.

Donations poured in after that: the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour and the International Tennis Federation contributed a combined $265,000; the Grand Slam Committee gave $177,000, Pollard told the crowd on center court after Federer won his 16th Grand Slam final.

Federer beat Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (11), to win his 16th Grand Slam title and his fourth Australian Open.

Players have also donated rackets that are being auctioned on eBay and have raised almost $40,000.

“Haiti is a tragedy that has touched the hearts of the world,” Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood said in the statement. “The tennis community just wanted to help.”

TOO MUCH INFORMATION: Andy Murray was asked why he kept touching his left hip during the championship match.

“It’s not really a problem. It’s not really my left hip. It’s quite hard to explain,” said Murray, who then went on to explain.

“I wear cycling shorts, and sometimes they’re quite tight. So you need to _ you know, Roddick does it a lot, it’s kind of what Rafa does on his other side,” he said.

Andy Roddick is known to tug at the front of his shorts and Rafael Nadal regularly pulls at the back of his shorts.

“I don’t really know what I’m trying to say, but basically my hip is fine,” Murray said, smiling. “It was just the cycling shorts were tight.”

NOW FOR THE NUMBERS: A record number of fans attended the Australian Open this year, where players ordered more than 2,000 pasta dishes and vendors sold 110,000 ice creams every day.

The two-week figure for crowd attendance was 653,860, up by nearly 50,000 from the previous record, organizers said in a statement.

China’s Li Na and Zheng Jie created history when they became the first two Chinese players to reach a Grand Slam semifinal, drawing a record number of Chinese journalists _ who were among the 1,500 media covering the event, the statement said.

British media also attended in record numbers to cover Andy Murray’s attempt to end a 74-year Grand Slam drought for British men.

The fastest serves of the tournament were recorded by Americans Taylor Dent (144 mph, or 231 kph) and Venus Williams (125 mph, or 201 kph).

A team of racket stringers strung 3,297 rackets, using close to 24 miles (40 kilometers) of string.

The Australian Open Facebook page drew 56,696 fans and nearly 10,000 followers on Twitter

BEIJING: Australian Open semifinalist Li Na becomes the first Chinese player ever to enter the WTA rankings top 10 when new rankings were released on Monday.The Chinese, 27, who lost to top seed Serena Williams in Australian Open semifinal last Thursday, stepped up seven places to reach a career-high No 10 when WTA official website released the new rankings after the tournament.

Her compatriot Zheng Jie, who also made the semifinal in the Australian Open but was eliminated by Belgian Justine Henin, upgraded 15 places to rank 20.

Li and Zheng made history by becoming the first two Chinese players to reach the top four of a Grand Slam tournament simultaneously.

Williams, who beat Henin in Saturday’s Australian Open final, has extended her current stretch at No 1 to 15 weeks.

Dinara Safina of Russia was No 2, followed by US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki at a career-high No 3. French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova at No 4 and Australian Open quarterfinalist Venus Williams at No 5.

China’s tennis chief, Sun Jinfang, said the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) did not make a cent from Australian Open semifinalists Li Na and Zheng Jie and the other self-managed players and used their contributions to support the nation’s youth players.The top four Chinese women players, who include Li and Zheng, left the state-support system to manage their own careers at the end of 2008, thanks to a groundbreaking “flying away” move. According to the contract reached between the players and the CTA, they still have to give eight percent of the prizemoney on the WTA tour or 12 percent of their marketing profits to the association. Previously, the portion was as high as 65 percent.

The CTA does not want a cent from the players. The money they gave us previously went towards tennis development in China and is now being used to help young players train and develop,” said Sun (pictured) during a party on Wednesday organized by the WTA tour to celebrate Li and Zheng’s semifinal appearances at the Australian Open last month.

Sun revealed most of the self-managed players stopped giving money to the CTA after the move. Surprisingly, Sun, who used to take a tough line on the money issue and once blasted world No 51 Peng Shuai for complaining about handing over too much, said with a smile she and the CTA did not intend to push the players to handover earnings.

“It’s up to them (to give or not) and we will never push them to do that although we know how much prizemoney they earn from the WTA tour. As for the marketing profits, they just gave me a figure.

“The reason for having such an item (concerning giving money to CTA) in their contracts is that we hope they can show gratitude and return something to the sport.”

Li and Zheng received cheques amounting to almost 2.5 million yuan (US$360,000) each for reaching the last four at Melbourne Park.

Sun also lavished praise on Li and Zheng and put them in the same class as national sporting heroes Yao Ming and Liu Xiang.

“NBA, track and field and tennis are all mainstream sports. Li and Zheng’s success has put China firmly on the world tennis map. Their achievements are equivalent to what Yao (basketball) and Liu (hurdles) have done.”

Sun also took a bow for enacting the “flying away” move against “doubts, risks and pressure”.

“You can’t imagine the pressure and risks we faced since enacting that move,” Sun told China Daily. “There were many doubts when we introduced the move in 2008.”

The tennis chief said the initiative would serve as a model for other Chinese sports teams on the road to “professionalization”.

“I think it can work for other sports in China,” she said. “At the athletic level, sport in China is very strong but at the professional level it is poor.

“What we did in tennis could be an example of how to boost professional sports in China.”

James Cameron’s Avatar is a rare visual treat but the 3D movie has had some unexpected side effects, including eye ache, dizziness, and even vomiting, among a small group of audiences.

According to Chinese media, a middle-aged lady who watched the movie, went to hospital afterwards, feeling so dizzy she could hardly stand. Another viewer said in an Internet posting he felt acute eye ache and had blurred vision after watching the film. Doctors found he had acute glaucoma.

Wang Wei, a senior doctor in the opthalmic department at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, says people can rest assured, watching a 3D movie is not dangerous.

“Only 3-5 percent of the population are vulnerable to glaucoma,” he says. “For other people, they might just experience eye fatigue.”

3D movies try to create a 3D feeling with two overlapping 2D images, quite different from the natural way eyes perceive 3D.

“Therefore people need to constantly adjust their eye structure, but also need to make a mental effort to put the two images together and treat it as real 3D,” Wang explains.

Meanwhile, the eyes are more likely to get tired because the two parts of the 3D glasses allow only half of the ordinary amount of light into the eyes.

“The feeling of eye fatigue is almost the same as that of glaucoma: headache, an eye swelling, nausea, and even vomiting,” Wang says. “But most people will get better after an hour or two in the case of ordinary eye fatigue. If the symptoms are prolonged, one needs to see a doctor.”

The worst situation for glaucoma patients who go without proper treatment is loss of sight.

Wang describes the group of people most vulnerable to glaucoma as those who are over 40 years old, with a family history of glaucoma. He recommends these people take medicine before watching 3D Avatar, or watch the 2D version instead.

In its toughest response in three decades to US arms sales to Taiwan, Beijing announced over the weekend that it would curtail military exchanges with Washington, and sanction US companies involved, and warned of severe harm to bilateral ties.

Though overall relations between the two world powers are unlikely to collapse over the single issue, Chinese experts said, their cooperation on key international matters such as those related to Iran, Afghanistan and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) could be severely impacted.

The Obama administration notified Congress on Friday of its proposed arms deal to Taiwan, a $6.4 billion package.

The sale includes 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, 114 Patriot “Advanced Capability-3″ anti-missile systems, and command-and-control enhancement. The US also will supply 12 advanced Harpoon missiles, plus two mine-hunting ships.

The package, however, did not include F-16 fighter jets, a deal many believe could have seriously roiled US-China relations.

The deal, which the Pentagon said would “serve US national, economic and security interests”, is pending approval of the US Congress.

Beijing responded furiously with a raft of reprisals.

The Ministry of National Defense announced Saturday that it would suspend military contacts with Washington and vowed to “closely follow the situation and make an appropriate response”.

The Foreign Ministry said it would impose sanctions on US firms involved in the deal, despite Beijing’s long-standing reluctance to use official sanctions in international disputes.

It did not specify which companies could potentially be affected.

It also warned of “severe harm” to bilateral relations and declared the cancellation of a vice-ministerial level consultation with Washington on security, arms control and nuclear nonproliferation scheduled soon.

China will put more investment, subsidies, fiscal and policy supports into vast rural areas this year . The aim is to better coordinate urban and rural development, the central government said on Sunday.

The government will continue to enhance financial support to agriculture and farmers, improve agricultural subsidy systems and maintain a good order in farm produce market, said the first document of the year issued jointly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China’s Cabinet.

The central government said budget priority should be given to infrastructure construction in rural areas and programs which are aimed at improving rural residents’ livelihood.

More subsidies will be channeled to increase the output of crops, potato, highland barley and peanut, as well as the purchase of agricultural machinery, said the document.

The government would implement more policies for purchasing and stockpiling major agricultural products, including corn, soybean and oilseeds, to stabilize prices of major farm produce.

More efforts will be made to strengthen financial services including micro-credit loans and insurance service in rural areas, according to the document.

It promised that basic banking services would be available in all villages and towns in the next three years.

It called for more efforts to develop village banks, loan-lending companies, and mutual funds in a bid to guide more capital flows into the rural financial market.

The central government also asked for further expansion of rural consumption market as part of the country’s accelerating measures to boost consumption.

Singer Rihanna arrives on the red carpet at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles January 31, 2010.