China starts annual parliamentary session

BEIJING, March 5 -- The 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliamentary body, opened its second annual session Wednesday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Premier Li Keqiang will deliver his first government work report at the opening meeting.

Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies from across the country attended the opening meeting along with top Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli.

A silent tribute was observed at the opening meeting for victims of a terrorist attack at a train station in southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, in which knife-wielding assailants from Xinjiang killed 29 civilians and injured another 143 late Saturday.