【英语简明新闻】Headline News 2016 March 22

Blasts hit Brussels airport and metro station Several explosions have rocked the Belgian capital just days after the capture in Brussels of the main suspect in the Paris terror attacks in November. Two explosions struck the Zaventem airport near the American Airlines and Brussels Airline check in desk. Belgian media say at least 13 people were killed and 35 were wounded. One hour later, a blast hit Maalbeek metro station, close to the city's main European Union buildings. There are reports suggesting 10 people were killed by that blast. The Belgian government has raised the terror alert level to the highest across the country. Stormy weather leaves four dead in Guangdong Heavy rains and hailstorms have wreaked havoc in several regions in southern China, leaving four people dead in Guangdong, the hardest hit province. The violent weather has swept parts of Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou over the weekend, triggering floods in some areas. 4 people died in Guangdong after a building collapsed during the storm. In Hunan, more than 3,000 houses have been damaged, affecting over 80 thousand people. Vaccine scandal investigators identify fraud wholesalers China's drug regulator has identified nine vaccine wholesalers suspected of filing fraudulent reports of buyers' identities. Local authorities have been given until Friday to find out who the real buyers of the vaccines were. The wholesalers, based in six provinces, came to light as police attempted to trace vaccines worth more than 570 million yuan or 88 million U.S. dollars allegedly sold illegally since 2011 by a mother and daughter. Police in Shandong Province announced last month that they had arrested the pair, neither of whom were authorized to sell the vaccines. Long list of conflicts divide Obama, Castro at press conference Cuban leader Raul Castro and visiting U.S. President Barack Obama have held a joint press conference following their talks in Havana, focusing on the continuing economic embargo and the Guantanamo Naval Base. The two leaders agreed to work together on common challenges, but Castro emphasized that the blockade remains a major sticking point in further developing bilateral ties. Responding to Washington's statments as regards to human rights, Castro suggests no country is perfect. For his part, Obama acknowledged that the actions taken by Washington in the past half a century had not been good for the US or for Cuba. He pledged that the embargo will end, but stopped short of giving a timeframe. Shipment of Plutonium Leaves Japan for the US A British ship has left Japan, carrying weapon-grade plutonium to the United States for storage. The ship is loaded with more than 330 kilograms of the highly dangerous material, enough to make about 50 nuclear weapons. The Japanese government says the shipment was part of an agreement between the US and Japan, without providing further details. Japan holds nearly 50 tons of plutonium. Japan to permanently deploy missile interceptors amid intensified frequency of DPRK launches Japan has decided to permanently deploy its ground-based missile interception system in Tokyo following North Korea's increasingly frequent launches of ballistic missiles. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani says the PAC-3 surface-to-air missile system would be deployed by this time next year. He has also ordered Japan's Self-Defense Forces to shoot down any inbound ballistic missiles from North Korea that is either aimed at, or would see stages of the missile fall toward Japanese territory. North Korea launched five projectiles into waters of its east coast on Monday, after test-firing a mid-range ballistic missile on Friday in defiance of United Nations resolutions. Myanmar's parliament announces nominees of cabinet members including Aung San Suu Kyi Myanmar's parliament has made public the 18 nominees for ministers submitted by president-elect Htin Kyaw. Leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, is among them, although it is not yet known which ministry she will be heading. Myanmar's new government led by Htin Kyaw, a close ally of Suu Kyi, is expected to be sworn in on March 30th. Air pollution top public environmental complaint in China China's Ministry of Environmental Protection says it received nearly 15,000 public tip-offs about pollution in 2015, with air pollution dominating the complaints. Water and noise pollution were the other two major public concerns. The ministry says the industries subject to most complaints were chemicals, non-metallic mineral processing, metal smelting and processing. China extends ban on ivory imports China is extending a ban on ivory imports to protect African elephants. The State Forestry Administration says two one-year bans launched last year will be extended to the end of 2019.