21.   China launches its satellites at Xicheng, in southwestern Sichuan province.

22.   Colombian troops advanced toward a remote town in a restive southwestern province Sunday following a rebel assault that the army said destroyed several homes and may have killed police.

23.   Flooding also occurred in Guiyang, the capital of southwestern Guizhou province, due to heavy rains late Monday and early Tuesday.

24.   Four peasants from southwestern Sichuan province were put to death for a string of robberies in prosperous southeastern Guangdong province, the newspaper said.

25.   Giant panda Cheng Cheng gave birth to twin cubs Thursday at a breeding research center in southwestern Sichuan province, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

26.   He also had served as commander of the Beijing military region and of the Chengdu region, in southwestern Sichuan province, the Xinhua News Agency said.

27.   He was to travel Wednesday to see hundreds of Khmer Rouge defectors in southwestern Kampot province.

28.   In recent days, there have been several angry anti-U.S. protests in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province bordering Afghanistan.

29.   In southwestern Walbrzych province, where several mines have closed under the economic reforms, only one shelter exists, she said.

30.   In southwestern Baluchistan province, the airports of provincial capital Quetta and the remote towns of Panjgur, Turbet and Zhob were shut for all civilian flights.