U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly in June from May’s six-year high as Americans felt worse on current financial conditions, according to a consumer sentiment index released on Friday.
Jun 282013
Jun 272013
Polish consumer sentiment fell slightly in June, with the consumer confidence index going down 1.09 points month-on-month to 81.5, the Ipsos research institute said on Thursday.
Jun 272013
Chinese authorities have shut down 31 news websites for operating without permits, conducting interviews in the name of news organisations and editing false information for blackmail and extortion, Xinhua news agency reported. According to the state internet information office, these websites include Ren Min Nei Can Wang, an unlicensed website that specialised in publishing false information …
Chinese courts to have 200000 jurors in two years
Chinese courts will have about 200,000 people’s jurors at all levels in next two years, the country’s Supreme People’s Court said Thursday. In China, the local courts currently employ 85,000 people’s jurors, which is a 52 per cent rise from that of 2008, reported Xinhua citing the statistics of Supreme People’s Court, the highest court in the mainland China. The supreme court has directed …
China to send peacekeeping troops to Mali
In a first, Chinese armed forces will be sent on a peacekeeping mission in the west African country of Mali, the government has said. According to defence ministry, it is the first time that Chinese armed forces will dispatch its security forces for peacekeeping mission. At the request of the UN, the Chinese government will dispatch nearly 400 servicemen to join the UN Multidimensional …
Top US Officer Rejects Comparison of US Chinese Cyber Snooping
WASHINGTON The top U.S. military officer on Thursday dismissed comparisons of Chinese and American snooping in cyber space, saying all countries gathered intelligence on their potential adversaries but Beijing’s problematic “nicherdquo; was intellectual property theft. Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the U.S. government was close to …
China Lifts 17-year Ban on Dalai Lama Photos at Tibet Monastery
BEIJING Chinese officials have lifted a ban on Tibetan monks displaying photographs of the Dalai Lama at a prominent monastery, a rights group said on Thursday, an unexpected policy shift which could ease tensions in the restive region. The decision concerning the Gaden monastery in the Tibetan capital Lhasa – one of the most historically important religious establishments in Tibet – …
Myanmar paddlers to train in China
The Myanmar table tennis team will undergo training in China next month as they prepare for the 27th Southeast Asian Games in December. The five-member team including a coach will receive joint-training with Chinese athletes, Xinhua reports. Currently, the team is being trained by a Chinese coach and three locals in Nay Pyi Taw for the South East Asian Games. In August, Myanmar is planning to …
Li Na enters third round at Wimbledon
Sixth seed Li Na of China overcame a blip in the second set to beat Simona Halep 6-2, 1-6, 6-0 and enter the women’s singles third round at Wimbledon here on Thursday. The world number 32 of Romania, who asked to receive a lengthy treatment after the opening set, found her pace in the next set to regain the momentum, causing the Chinese player to suffer most of her 14 unforced errors in the …
Chinese FM urges early resumption of nuke talks on Korean Peninsula
Beijing, June 27 (Xinhua-ANI): Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday urged all parties relevant to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula to resume talks as soon as possible. “Now, it’s time (for the parties concerned) to consider how to work together to resume the six-party talks,” Wang said on the sidelines of the World Peace Forum in Beijing. “We hope that all parties, instead of …
China should end involuntary rehousing relocation of Tibetans HRW
The Chinese government is subjecting millions of Tibetans to a policy of mass rehousing and relocation that radically changes their way of life, and about which they have no say, Human Rights Watch said in a new report published today. Since 2006, under plans to “Build a New Socialist Countryside” in Tibetan areas, over two million Tibetans have been “rehoused” – through government-ordered …
China Sex Scandal Official Gets Prison for Bribery
The official Xinhua news agency says the court in the municipality of Chongqing handed down the sentence Friday to Lei Zhenfu, the former top official of one of the city's districts. His punishment also includes the confiscation of personal assets and a fine of $48,000. Lei became notorious after a video of him having sex with a mistress was released on the Internet late last year. …
Central China hit by flood over 5000 evacuated
BEIJING, June 28. /ITAR-TASS reporter Andrey Kirillov /. More than 5,000 people have been evacuated in Hunan province, Central China, due to a flood caused by heavy rains not stopping since …
Sex tape official jailed in China—Xinhua
In this June 19, 2013 photo, a woman holds up a sign which reads ‘;Corrupt official falls off the horse, Common People celebrate, Report on corrupt officials who fall through the net’; outside the court where the first trial of Lei Zhengfu, former Communist Party chief of a local district, who was involved in sex tape scandal, will be held in southwest China’s Chongqing …
Chinas software sector growth rate slows
Software business revenue in China went up 24.2 percent in the first five months of the year from the same period in 2012, but the growth rate was 3 percentage points lower year on year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.The growth rate was 1 percentage point lower than that in the first four months, according to the ministry.Revenue topped 1.1 trillion yuan (178.54 …
Central China downpour forces 5000 to evacuate
Heavy rain since Monday has caused flooding in central China’s Hunan Province, forcing the evacuation of about 5,000 people. The downpour has affected 309,600 people in 173 towns and wreaked havoc to many water conservation, transportation and power facilities, according to provincial headquarters of flood control and drought relief on Friday. Huaihua City, located in the western part of …
Chinas 2012 cultural product exports exceed $20b
/enpproperty–> BEIJING — The export volume of China’s cultural products totaled $21.73 billion in 2012, an increase of 16.3 percent year on year, Minister of Culture Cai Wu said Thursday. Cai said the cultural industry’s output last year exceeded 4 trillion yuan ($650 billion), calling for further efforts to promote the sector’s development. He said the government will …
8 missing after fishing boat capsizes in E China
/enpproperty–> JINAN – Ships and helicopters are searching for eight people who went missing after their fishing boat capsized off the coast of East China’s Shandong province, local authorities said on Friday. A fishing boat from North China’s Hebei province capsized early Friday morning in waters near the Dongying sea area, the provincial maritime bureau said. Three of the …
Remains of slain Chinese mountaineer return home
The remains of Yang Chunfeng, a Chinese mountaineer who died in a Pakistani attack, arrive at the airport in Urumqi, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, June 27, 2013. Two Chinese nationals, Yang Chunfeng and Rao Jianfeng, were among 11 people killed in a pre-dawn terrorist attack in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Sunday. Yang, 45, was from Xinjiang, and Rao, 49, was a …
Sharp to manufacture cutting-edge LCD televisions in China from 2015
TOKYO — Struggling Japanese electronics giant Sharp on Thursday announced it would produce cutting-edge liquid crystal display panels for tablet computers, smartphones and other products in a Chinese joint venture from …
Mubadala Taiwans Farglory start $1bn UAE project
The four-tower complex Maryah Plaza will be built in phases on Al Maryah island, Abu Dhabi’s new financial free zone, with completion set for 2020, Mubadala said in a …
Chinas Yichun grows a model green city
Beijing on Wednesday. Since 1948, Yichun has provided a total of 270 million cubic meters of timber to the country, resulting in soil erosion, mudslides, frequent droughts, floods, disastrous winds and dust storms. This has had a disastrous effect on …
Bosch confident of its development in China
/enpproperty–> German industrial equipment maker Bosch said on Thursday that it plans to continue its expansion in China in coming years, as China is a stabilizing factor in the world economy, and its huge demand helps produce many job opportunities. Uwe Raschke, who is in charge of Bosch’s Asia Pacific business, said the company’s business in China achieved a double-digit growth …
Orchestra celebrates 40-year relationship with China
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s series of pop-up performances in Tianjin included an interactive percussion performance. Timpani players Angela Zator Nelson (left), Don Liuzzi (center) and Chris Deviney enjoy a jam session with fans in the city. Provided to China …
Jun 222013
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday gained slightly on bargain hunting, ending the week with a loss of 95.6 dollars per ounce.
Jun 202013
U.S. oil price fell slightly Wednesday as a report showed U.S. inventories rose last week and the Federal Reserve said it would keep buying bonds at a pace of 85 billion dollars a month.
Jun 192013
The Indonesian government remains confident that it can achieve its target of 6.3 percent growth this year despite the scheduled implementation of the unpopular fuel price hike.
Jun 182013
U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday on a strong note after a slide last week, boosted by a better-than-expected manufacturing activity index in the New York area and a rebound in stocks across the world.
Jun 162013
The Chinese mainland on Sunday announced a total of 31 policies in the areas of legal rights, education, culture, tourism and other aspects of economic and social life to further boost cross-Strait ties, during the fifth Straits Forum in southeast China’s Xiamen City.
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Yu Zhengsheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, addresses the conference of the 5th Straits Forum in Xiamen of southeast China’s Fujian Province, June 16, 2013.[Photo/Xinhua] |
The Supreme People’s Court will unveil judicial interpretation for recognizing and implementing the paper of civil mediation followed by Taiwan authorities at village, township and city levels, announced Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
To offer more convenience for Taiwanese visitors, an additional 11 provincial entry-exit administrative departments on the mainland will accept applications from Taiwanese compatriots who reside on the mainland for renewal of their entry permits, Zhang added.
Nine such departments already offered the service.
The mainland will also open 10 more categories of professional qualification examinations to Taiwan residents, support Taiwanese graduates from mainland colleges to start their own businesses, and provide subsidies for entrepreneurship training to students from Taiwan.
According to Zhang, 10 cultural exchanges bases will be set up on the mainland in Henan, Fujian and Beijing.
He said that another 11 historical sites will also play the role of cross-Strait communication bases, including the Confucius Temple in east China’s Shandong Province, and some revolutionary relic sites in central Hubei Province and southwest Chongqing Municipality.
The official, who did not specify when any of these new policies would take effect, added that a cross-Strait copyright trade center as well as a digital publication base working across the Strait will be established in Fujian.
In order to boost cross-Strait tourism, residents of 13 more mainland cities will be eligible to visit Taiwan as individual tourists under a new cross-Strait agreement, according to Shao Qiwei, head of the National Tourism Administration.
The 13 cities, including Shenyang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shijiazhuang, Changchun, Hefei, Changsha, Nanning, Kunming and Quanzhou, will extend the list of such mainland cities to 26.
The fifth Straits Forum opened on Sunday and is scheduled to wrap up on June 21 in Xiamen, a port city at the western side of Taiwan Strait.
It features an array of activities on grassroots exchanges between Taiwan and the mainland, including a main conference in Xiamen as well as sub-forums and seminars in cities across the province.
Mainland-Taiwan relations entered a tense era after the Kuomintang (KMT) lost a civil war with the Communist Party of China and fled to Taiwan in the late 1940s.
But relations between the two warmed up after the KMT, led by a new generation of leaders, returned to power in the 2008 Taiwan election, ending eight years of rule by the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.
SOURCE OF EXCITEMENT
The preferential policies announced on Sunday have drawn wide attentions from both sides of the strait.
Many delegates from Taiwan said the decision to allow residents in 13 mainland cities to apply for individual tourism to Taiwan would send ripples of excitement across the island.
Chang His-tsung, a spokesman for Taiwan tourism authority, called the 13 cities “top choices” in an interview with Xinhua.
The cities are located in different regions of the mainland and the choice fully considered the convenience of cross-Strait flights, Chang said.
Wang Hongyuan, head of China Quanzhou International Techno-Economic Cooperation (group) Taiwan branch, was glad to see Quanzhou on the list as more than seven million Taiwan compatriots have their ancestral homes as well as relatives in the city in Fujian Province.
“I have often been asked when people from Quanzhou could visit Taiwan independently, and now it comes true,” he said.
Syu Kuen-chin, a Taiwan expert on trade and employment market, said the over-crowded job market on the island had prompted many graduates there to consider “going west” and seeking a job on the mainland.
“The mainland’s favorable policy will certainly attract more Taiwanese students to the mainland for education and career,” Syu said.
PEOPLE ORIENTATION
Experts on Taiwan affairs said the latest policy package focuses on improving the wellbeing of ordinary Taiwanese, including those having settled down on the mainland or local Taiwanese who have close ties with the mainland.
“The most salient feature of this year’s preferential policies is touching down to the grassroots and focusing on the livelihood issues,” said Zhang Wensheng, professor at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University.
Zhang praised the policies of being “subtle and considerate” and comprehensive, covering areas from educational cooperation to copyright trading to direct flights.
“The new policies will make cross-Strait communication more convenient and promote cultural integration, reflecting the people-orientated mentality of the cross-Strait exchanges,” he said.
The latest policy package add to the total 124 such Taiwan-friendly policies released at the Straits Forum since it was initiated in 2008 as a major platform to further grassroots exchanges between the mainland and Taiwan.
As direct beneficiaries of the improving mainland-Taiwan relations, the ordinary Taiwanese are becoming supporters of this trend, according to Zhang.
“Taiwanese at the grassroots level are realizing their interests are closely tied to the cross-Strait relations and thus becoming the social foundation of the cross-Strait peaceful development,” Zhang said.
Jun 142013
Chicago agricultural commodity futures were traded mixed Thursday, with corn and soybeans prices going down but wheat price edging up as trading of the day was mostly dominated by profit taking.
Jun 142013
Dutch parties PvdA (Labor) and VVD (Liberals) on Thursday agreed extra austerity measures of 6 billion euros (8 billion U.S. dollars) were needed to address the structural budget deficit in 2014.