28,2013.O’Sullivan and Pan challenged each other in a nine ball game and a snooker game Saturday.
Dec 282013
Dec 282013
Britain’s world champion snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan reacts in a nine ball game against Chinese billiard star Pan Xiaoting in Yanzhou,east China’s Shandong Province,Dec.
Dec 282013
28,2013.O’Sullivan and Pan challenged each other in a nine ball game and a snooker game Saturday.
Dec 282013
Britain’s world champion snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan performs billiard skills during his match against Chinese billiard star Pan Xiaoting in Yanzhou,east China’s Shandong Province,Dec.
Dec 252013
Chinese smugglers have allegedly dug a concrete tunnel into Hong Kong equipped with concrete walls and interior lighting to import mobile phones and other electrical goods. The authorities believe that the smugglers could make huge profits by avoiding border fees and taxes as the semi-autonomous zone has different tariffs to the mainland, the BBC reports. The tunnel was discovered last week in …
Chinas rural poverty on the decline report
The number of rural poor in China has dropped by nearly 67 million from 2010 to 2012, according to an official report. By the end of 2012, there were nearly 100 million rural residents still living in poverty, Xinhua cited from the State Council’s report Wednesday. Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, delivered the report to …
China sets five-year plan to check corruption
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has vowed to fight corruption and maintain its “high-handed posture” in the next five years. The CPC Central Committee Wednesday issued a five-year (2013-2017) plan on building a system to punish and prevent corruption, Xinhua reported. It stated: “If the problems of work styles and corruption are not handled properly, they will critically harm the party, …
China aims for judicial transparency
China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has issued a judicial interpretation which clarifies procedures of cross-examining cases of state compensation. The move aims to boost the country’s judicial transparency and ensure that the compensation claimants and those liable for compensation have equal rights of information, participation and expression, reported Xinhua. Cross-examination should be …
Standings of CBA league
Following are the standings of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league after Wednesday’s games (tabulated under games won, lost, winning percentage and points), according to Xinhua. 1. Guangdong Hongyuan 15 2 88.2% 32 2. Xinjiang Guanghui 14 3 82.4% 31 3. Beijing Ducks 13 4 76.5% 30 4. Dongguan Marco Polo 11 6 …
Apple fined for breaching fair trade law over iPhone pricing in Taiwan
Apple has been reportedly fined Tw 20 million dollars for breaching a fair trade law over iPhone pricing in Taiwan. The Fair Trade Commission said that an Apple unit in charge of Taiwan sales had interfered in the pricing and mobile phone payment rates of three local telecom service providers, despite selling them the distribution rights to the phones. According to News24, the commission said …
Taiwan fines Apple for unfair practices
Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Wednesday slapped Apple Inc’s Asia subsidiary with a fine of 20 million new Taiwan dollars ($666,800) for pricing irregularities in iPhone 5S and 5C, Xinhua reported. The FTC said in a statement that Apple Asia violated the island’s free trade regulation by restricting local telecom operators’ iPhone service contract prices for years, sparking public …
China exposes corrupt disciplinary officials
The top disciplinary arm of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wednesday detailed four corruption cases involving disciplinary officials as part of an anti-graft effort, Xinhua reported. The officials received punishments ranging from sentences to sacking after they were found to have been involved in bribery, according to the website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection …
China Reaches 7.6 Percent in GDP in 2013
Beijing, Dec 26 (Prensa Latina) China is expected to reach a 7.6 Gross Domestic Product growth this year, a 0.1 percent more than the goal planned for this period, which according to experts will contribute to maintain that pattern in 2014. Experts expressed satisfaction with this annual GDP growth, despite it is lower than the 7 percent reported in 2012, and the 9.3 percent in 2011. Addressing …
China to escort weapons
China will provide an escort for maritime transportation of Syria’s chemical weapons, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on Thursday.Geng said at a monthly press briefing that the action responds to the call of both the UN Security Council and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).According to the OPCW, the most dangerous chemical substances will …
Court orders perv-bashing prof not to leave China
A controversial professor who claims Peking University has “too many perverts” was banned from leaving China by a Beijing court on Wednesday.Haidian district court rebuffed former Peking University Professor Zou Hengfu’s appeal against a ruling confining him to the country while in the middle of a defamation lawsuit involving the university and a nearby restaurant.Zou posted the …
China Opens Mobile Telecoms Market To Private Capital Alibaba Unit And Rivals To Compete With China Mobile China Unicom and China Telecom
In a bid to break the monopoly of major operators and stimulate innovations in business patterns of the world’s largest wireless market, China announced Thursday that it is set to hand out the first batch of virtual telecom operator licenses before the end of this …
Chinese company acquires Scientific Protein Laboratories
Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said the acquisition of the Waunakee company will expand its presence as one of the leading suppliers of heparin …
Bank not found liable for missing 100k yuan
Jing’an District People’s Court has dismissed a man’s lawsuit against a bank that he accused of failing to protect his bank account after 100,000 yuan ($16,470) disappeared from his savings, the court said Thursday.The plaintiff, whom the court called Min Zhou, filed a lawsuit against the bank on March 15, demanding 100,000 yuan, plus 4,033 yuan in interest, according to a court …
Taiwan fines Apple for price restrictions on iPhone contracts
Customers fill up an Apple flagship store in Shanghai Wednesday. Caption: ICTaiwan’s fair trade regulator fined Apple Inc $666,700 for restricting the prices charged by local telecom carriers for their iPhone contracts, the first time Apple has been fined for such practices.The regulator said that Apple Asia, a unit of the Cupertino-based company, required carriers to obtain its permission …
China’s coal tax reform on track
China’s resource tax reform plan for the coal industry has already been submitted to the State Council and might possibly be carried out as early as January 1, 2014, a source was quoted by a financial information portal as saying Thursday.The source was quoted by financial portal aastocks.com as saying that the preparation work for coal resource tax collection, which will be calculated …
Clarity needed for China’s economic policy
China has hardly been lacking in policy pronouncements in the final months of 2013. From the 60-point reform program of the early November Third Plenum to the six core tasks endorsed by the Central Economic Work Conference of early December, the Chinese leadership has put forth a multitude of new options to address the daunting challenges China faces in the years ahead. When seen in its …
Chinese US militaries have multiple communication channels DM
The Chinese and US militaries have multiple communication channels and have maintained necessary communication on the action level, said a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Thursday about a recent encounter between warships of the two countries in the South China Sea.”The captain of the Chinese aircraft carrier had direct phone talks with the captain of the US warship after the encounter, …
Chinas growth may hit 7.6
If PLA went to war tomorrow, it would field an arsenal bristling with hardware from Germany, France and Britain. Most of China’s warships have German engines. Click …
Taiwan CB Keeps Rates Steady On Moderate Growth Muted Price Pressures
Taiwan’s central bank on Thursday left its key interest rates unchanged for the tenth quarter in a row, citing moderate growth and muted inflationary pressures. The Board of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) decided to maintain the benchmark – the discount rate – at 1.875 percent. The decision was broadly in line with economists’ expectations. The central bank expects …
Chinas president Xi Jinping notes Maos mistakes on 120th anniversary
China marked the 120th birthday of its Communist founder Mao Zedong with free noodles in his home town of Shaoshan, in the central province of …
Chinese Military Uncovers Secret Tunnel
The underground passageway goes from the city of Shenzhen to Hong Kong. It’s outfitted with concrete walls, interior lighting and rail tracks, presumably intended to transport goods. Chinese authorities believe a gang intended to use the tunnel to smuggle cell phones and other electronics to Hong Kong — which has lower tariffs than the …
Dec 232013
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| The new one-child policy is expected to go into force in some provincial regions in the first quarter of 2014. [file photo] |
![The new one-child policy is expected to go into force in some provincial regions in the first quarter of 2014. [file photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20131224/8c89a590f56e1423522c06.jpg "The new one-child policy is expected to go into force in some provincial regions in the first quarter of 2014. [file photo]")
A bill submitted to China’s top legislature for deliberation aims to allow couples to have two children if either parent is an only child. The suggested relaxation of the family planning policy is expected to bring China roughly 13 million more babies in five or six years, top demographers said.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, submitted the bill on adjusting and improving the family planning policy to the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), which runs from Monday through Saturday.
The new one-child policy is expected to go into force in some provincial regions in the first quarter of 2014, said Yang Wenzhuang of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, adding that health and family planning authorities at various levels are conducting risk assessment for the policy.
They are still calculating the number of such couples and their situations before specific regulations are approved by provincial peoples’ congresses, the official said.
The State Council argues adjustment to the policy in the face of a steadily declining birth rate and changing demographics.
The birth rate has remained relatively low and shows a tendency to fall further. The rate has dropped to between 1.5 and 1.6 since the 1990s, which means each Chinese woman of child-bearing age gives birth to 1.5 to 1.6 children on average. The working population began to drop in 2012 by 3.45 million annually, and it is likely to fall by 8 million each year after 2023.
The population aged 60 and above will reach 400 million and account for one-fourth of the total population in the early 2030s, up from one-seventh now.
“If the current family planning policy persists, the birth rate will continue to fall and lead to a sharp drop of the total population after reaching a peak,” said Li Bin, minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, when briefing lawmakers.
The sex ratio at birth has been over 115, (115 boys vs 100 girls), in the past two decades and in 2012 it reached 117.7. A ratio between 100 and 107 is considered normal.
“It is the right time to make changes. The low birth rate is stable, the working population still large and the burden of supporting the elderly remains relatively light,” she said.
The State Council suggests that provincial congresses and their standing committees amend local family planning regulations after evaluation of local demographics.
An increase in births is expected if the policy changes but will not seriously affect the food supply, public education, healthcare or employment, Li said.
China’s food safety and public service schemes are designed to meet the needs of 1.43 billion population in 2020 and 1.5 billion in 2033. Even with the policy change, the total population will not exceed 1.38 billion in 2015, Li said.
Family planning must continue, since a large population remains a major obstruction to realizing comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development.
Local authorities are expected to implement the family planning policy, improve people’s awareness and punish those who violate the policy.
Dec 212013
South Korea’s Lee Eunbyul(L)and Lee Soyoun(R)celebrate after the women’s short track 3000m relay final at the 26th Winter Universiade in Trentino,Italy,Dec.
Dec 212013
Gold medallist China’s Guo Yihan(C),silver medallistSouth Korea’s Lee Eunbyul(1st L)and bronze medallist Tao Jiaying pose for photos during the awarding ceremony of the women’s short track 1000m at the 26th Winter Universiade in Trentino,Italy,Dec.
Dec 212013
Gold medallists Ng Yan Yee(L)and Cheong Jun Hoong of Mylaysia pose during the awarding ceremony of women’s synchronized 3m springboard final of diving at 27th SEA Games in Nay Pyi Taw,Myanmar,Dec.
Dec 212013
China’s Guo Yihan competes during the women’s short track 1000m final at the 26th Winter Universiade in Trentino,Italy,Dec.