Search Efforts for Air Crash in Full Swing ...China Simplifies Passport Applications in 2003 ...Beijing Residents Oppose Ban of Subway Beggars ...Jolie Funds Program for Cambodian Farmers .  
 
Egyptian-French rescue efforts have been in full swing to fish out bodies of victims and wreckage of an ill-fated plane which plunged into the Red Sea and killed all 148 people aboard. At the crash scene off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egyptian search and rescue teams were working to recover the remains under the circumstances of strong currents, underwater canyons and sharks in the deep waters. France also sent a submarine robot and a warship to Egypt to intensify the rescue efforts, while Boeing said it was sending an investigator to Egypt to probe the accident. All 148 people, including 135 passengers, most of them French tourists, and 13 crew members, were killed when a Boeing 737 belonging to private Egyptian company Flash Air plunged into the Red Sea early Saturday shortly after take-off.
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China has simplified its passport application procedures in more than 100 major cities. Residents in some urban areas can apply for passports by presenting their ID cards and permanent residence booklets, rather than preparing the highly detailed package of documents that was required previously. The policy will be extended to cover 80 percent of major cities across the country this year.
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An online poll has shown that most Beijing residents oppose the regulation forbidding begging behavior in metro. Half of the participants think that the government should treat beggars differently instead of simply just driving them all out of the subway station. They say some singers are demonstrating their talents in subway tunnels, and should not be banned. While the children beggars who are forces by greedy adults should be strictly crack down upon.
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"Tomb Raider" star Angelina Jolie is funding a program to donate cows to poverty-stricken Cambodian farmers. Three hundred families will get one cow each to help them earn money, hopefully dissuading them from logging and hunting wildlife for a living. Jolie is giving $1.5 million to the organization for its environmental protection efforts in remote parts of northwestern Cambodia. The 28-year-old actress is having a house built in Cambodia. She fell in love with the country when scenes for "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" were shot at the famed Angkor temple complex.