China held a promotional event on Friday in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the upcoming Fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.
Themed "China and Africa: Together Toward Modernization," the expo is scheduled to take place in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province, from June 12 to 15.
At Friday's event, a promotional video highlighting the economic and cultural ties between China and Africa, particularly the connections Changsha has forged with African countries, drew significant attention from the audience.
In his keynote speech, Qiu Zhongyi, commercial counsellor at the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, noted that under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders, China and South Africa have continued to deepen their economic and trade cooperation. He highlighted that South Africa will once again serve as the guest country of honor at the upcoming Expo -- an opportunity that will further promote the in-depth integration of the two countries' industrial, supply, and value chains.
To date, more than 12,000 participants from 44 African countries and six international organizations have registered for the event, setting new records in both scale and international participation.
China holds promotional event in Johannesburg for upcoming China-Africa Trade Expo
The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.
The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.
Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.
"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.
Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.
Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.
"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.
Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight
