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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
The Beijing Hour
Evening Edition
It's Thursday, November 7th 2013.
I'm Marc Cavigli, welcome to the Beijing Hour broadcasting live from the Chinese capital.
Coming up on our program.
The upcoming CPC plenary session draws international attention from the US.
A trilateral meeting between China, South Korea, and Japan has been held to discuss cooperation.
And the Colombian president claims progress in talks with the FARC group.
Business, China will fuel market vitality by reforming their registration system.
Sports, A rocket carrying the Olympic torch has blasted off from Earth on its way to the International Space Station.
Entertainments, Mayday, a band from Taiwan, is getting ready to embark on a giant tour of Europe.
Plus Special reports takes a look at how China’s creative and culture industries play a part in the economy.
Weather
Beijing will be clear with a low of 3 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow cloudy with a high temperature of 13.
Meanwhile Shanghai will be clear tonight, with a low of 16, cloudy tomorrow, with a high of 23.
Lhasa will be clear tonight, minus 2 degrees the low, cloudy tomorrow with a high of 14.
Elsewhere in the world, staying in Asia
Islamabad, overcast with a high of 21.
Kabul, sunny, 12.
Over in Australia
Sydney, overcast, highs of 32.
Canberra, sunny, 29.
Brisbane, sunny, 29.
And finally, Perth will also be sunny with a high of 29.
Top News
Senior diplomats from S.Korea, China, Japan hold talks amid frosty ties
A trilateral meeting between China, South Korea and Japan has been held to discuss ways to boost cooperation among the three countries.
South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama joined the high-level dialogue in Seoul.
Liu Zhenmin says all the parties need to strengthen their efforts to push forward regional cooperation.
"Overall speaking, the trilateral cooperation has continued to move ahead over the past years, but the progress has been slow due to some difficulties and challenges. I hope today's Seoul trilateral meeting will be offering help to increase mutual understanding and trust among us and contribute to a sound and stable development of the trilateral cooperation in the coming years."
No talks among the three Asian powers have been held since the trilateral summit and ministerial-level dialogues were held in Beijing last year.
Tokyo has repeatedly made claims of its sovereignty over a chain of islets known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, bringing harsh backlash from Seoul.
The current dialogue also comes amid tensions between Tokyo and Beijing due to the territorial dispute surrounding the Diaoyu islands.
Seoul and Beijing have also been strongly protesting the recent trips by members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet to the controversial war-linked Yasukuni shrine.
China urges flexibility in Iran nuclear talks in Geneva
China has called on relevant parties to adopt a flexible and pragmatic manner as they begin a new round of talks on the Iran nuclear issue in Geneva.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei says China hopes the talks make new progress as soon as possible, and that China has been working towards this end.
He adds China is ready to cooperate with all sides to make the Geneva talks successful.
Ahead of the meeting, Michael Mann, spokesman for European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, expresses optimism about the upcoming talks.
However he says the result still relies on the Iranian side.
"If the Iranians are prepared to really address the core issues here, then of course we can adjust what we've said so far. But our proposals are on the table, remain on the table, and again I would stress that the ball is in the Iranians' court to really engage on the key issues here."
Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif has also expressed cautious optimism about the talks, saying the issue is "not insoluble".
Iran had a fresh round of talks with the so-called P5+1, in Geneva last month.
Tehran insists on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, while the West alleges the republic is making nuclear bombs.
Chemical weapons watchdog verifies previously inaccessible Syrian site
International inspectors have verified one of the two remaining chemical weapons sites declared by Syria.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had already verified 21 out of 23 sites declared to the agency last month.
Two sites were considered too dangerous to reach.
Under a Russian-American brokered deal, Syria agreed to destroy its entire stockpile of toxic nerve agents and munitions by mid-2014.
Santos reaction as government and rebels reach partial agreement in peace talks
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has described the agreement his government has reached with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia as "unprecedented."
Santos also rules out ending talks with the FARC rebel group.
"There has been talk of cutting off the (peace) dialogue or taking a break. We will not do that. When we are moving forward, when we are seeing results, it is not the time to stop. To the contrary, it's time to accelerate, to continue with more encouragement, more enthusiasm to succeed in putting an end to this conflict in a definitive manner,"
The Colombian government and FARC earlier announced a partial agreement regarding the FARC's participation in national politics.
FARC lead negotiator Ivan Marquez is suggesting his organization may become a registered political entity in Columbian politics.
"We reiterate now and we will continue to do so that this is not a process of submission, but, with certainty we continue to effectively advance along the path of transformations that the majority has demanded."
FARC rebels have been engaged in a half-century long conflict with the government of Columbia.
The two sides started peace talks earlier this year.
The talks in Havana are the fourth attempt since the 1980s to reach peace.
The other three fell apart amid disagreements, mutual recriminations and flare-ups of violence.
Philippines embrace for powerful typhoon
Authorities in the Philippines have evacuated residents and closed schools as Typhoon Haiyan approaches.
Norbel Saa is the Barangay Macabalan Chairman.
"We are prepared together with the residents here for the coming typhoon."
Haiyan, a category five storm, is expected to strike central parts of the country on Friday.
It is predicted to hit areas already struggling to recover from a 7.3-magnitude earthquake last month.
Meteorologists have warned Haiyan could be as devastating as Typhoon Botha which killed at least 1-thousand people in 2012.
China launches its 30th scientific expedition to Antarctica
Anchor:
China has launched its 30th scientific expedition to Antarctica.
For more information let's trun to CRI's Wu Yanping.
Reporter:
The Chinese research vessel and icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, has left Shanghai and set sail on the country's 30th scientific expedition to Antarctica.
The team is comprised of 256 members from both home and abroad.
The expedition will last for 155 days, covering over 31-thousand nautical miles during its entire course.
Zhao Huili is a reseacher from the Polar Research Institute of China.
"This is our 30th scientific expedition to Antarctica. The key task is to set up a fourth research station, Taishan station."
Taishan Station, which is scheduled to be completed next year, will be set up on Princess Elizabeth Land.
Qu Tanzhou is the director of the Arctic and Antarctic Administration at the State Oceanic Administration.
"Taishan station would connect scientific activities between Zhongshan and Kunlun stations and provide logistic support to those activities. It can also be used as a transfer station for flights between Zhongshan and Kunlun stations."
The new summer station will be used to study geology, glaciers, geomagnetism and Antarctica's atmosphere.
China launched its first expedition to the Antarctic in 1984 and has already established the Changcheng Station, Zhongshan Station and Kunlun Station.
For CRI, I'm Wu Yanping.
US observers expect ambitious reform measures at key party session
Anchor:
A number of US observers say they are expecting a bold roadmap to be unveiled at this weekend's party meeting here in Beijing.
CRI's Washington correspondent Xiaohong has more.
Reporter:
Jonathan Pollack, director of the Brookings Institute's China Center, says all eyes will be on China as the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee begins to convene over the weekend.
He says many observers expect the meeting will outline the new administration's economic reform plans.
"We see, for example, the opening of Shanghai Free Trade Zone, which pilot for free trade zone, which in theory means that doors will open more to the inside of China. At the same time, so much what we've heard from the leadership, including their discussions with the United States, presumes a process that will be more welcoming to foreign investment."
David Dollar, formerly the U.S. Treasury's top official in China, is describing the anticipated economic reforms as a "China re-balancing strategy."
He's calling on the central authorities to focus on Hukou and land reform to try to help bolster both consumption and productivity.
"So, as people move to cities, their income rises, their consumption rises. So Hukou reform can really help with both supply side and demand side of the challenges that China faces."
David Dollar says he believes easing mobility restrictions, along with other financial and fiscal reforms, should allow China to maintain growth of 7 to 8-percent over the next 5-years.
But at the same time, William Jones, senior editor of the Executive Intelligence Review, is cautioning the authorities not to be overly aggressive in its reform plans for the financial sector.
"If it's opened up too much, you're gonna have a lot of hot money coming into China, driving up inflation, and the government thereby by introducing these reforms relinquishes a large degree of its control over what happens. And that can really spins out of control. So I think reform is necessary. Everybody is in the agreement with that. But if the pace is too quickly, I think it represents a very great danger for China."
Traditionally the third Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee normally sets the political and economic course the central authorities have for their term in office.
Most observers in the US say that while policy directions in China are important, it's the implementation which is key.
Xiaohong, CRI, Washington.
China is still in great demand of personnel to serve positions in international organizations
Anchor:
Some experts are suggesting that China is still in urgent need of reserve talents who are qualified for key positions of international organizations.
The suggestion is made after China's Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping, has been elected to the Presidency of UNESCO's 37th Session of the General Conference.
CRI's Xie Zhao has more.
Reporter:
Hao Ping, the Vice Minister of Education, is the first Chinese person to chair UNESCO for a two-year mandate.
The Vice Minister says the appointment indicates not only can he be relied upon to fulfill the role, but China can also be trusted.
"Today, I feel that my mission is glorious and my responsibility is huge on this solemn platform. All the representatives of the UNESCO member states have unanimously elected me to the president of the 37th General Conference. This means not only am I trusted, but my nation is trusted."
Hao Ping adds his appointment reflects China's growing influence on the world stage.
"With China's growing national strength and increasing influence on international affairs, many countries have high expectations of China, the world's second-largest economy. They hope China can be trusted with responsibilities in UNESCO and take the role of a responsible country."
Wu Jianmin is China's former ambassador to France, and former chairman of the International Exhibition Bureau.
He says another factor contributing to Hao's appointment is his numerous qualifications.
"China has its own candidate. That's Hao Ping. However, if the candidate was not accepted, the appointment could not be realized."
Besides Hao Ping, a rising number of Chinese have taken key positions in international organizations over past years, such as WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, IMF deputy director Zhu Min, and Li Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
However, according to a new report from the United Nations, compared to other major countries in the world, the proportion of Chinese serving international organizations is relatively low.
As of June, there are only 74 Chinese nationals working in the UN secretariat, excluding translators.
This number is much lower than the UN's estimate which ranges between 116 to 157.
Meanwhile, there are only 11 Chinese nationals serving senior management positions, compared to 48 American, 19 British and 14 Japanese nationals.
Wu Jianmin explains China still lacks personnel to serve key positions at international organizations.
"On one hand, it's a matter of whether or not international organizations need China to send more people to fill in these positions. On the other hand, it depends on whether or not we have qualified candidates. According to my experience, people from other countries serving higher positions in international organizations are usually very familiar with how the organizations work. That needs years of working experience in those organizations."
Wu suggests China should foster more young talents, and dispatch them to work for international organizations as early as possible.
For CRI, I'm Xiezhao.
License plate lottery to be harder in BJ
Anchor:
The latest stats show only around 1 percent of appliers can get their license plates through the lottery system here in Beijing.
And that chance is expected to be even slimmer as the municipal government has decided to cut down the new car registration quota by 37.5 percent, starting from next year.
CRI's Liu Min has the details.
Reporter:
According to the new plan, from 2014, the quota of license plates available per year will go down from 240,000 to 150,000. The municipal government says that it is the only way to slow the increase in the number of cars on the road. Rong Jun is a staff member at the Beijing Transportation Regulatory Commission.
"We had a clear target when making this decision. If we continue to issue 240,000 license plates each year, we will see 5.44 million cars on the road by the end of this year."
Due to the massive number of potential car buyers in Beijing, license plates are given out via a lottery system. The change will no doubt make it harder for those entered in the lottery to be awarded a plate.
A Beijing resident says driving is a necessity of their daily life.
"Leaving aside if I'm able to buy one, I need a car because I have a child, and having a car would make it much easier for us to take him to places like parks on the weekends."
However, road congestion isn't the only problem people in Beijing are facing. The State Meteorological Administration has released a report saying Beijing is experiencing the smoggiest year since 1962. All these problems are forcing the government to take stricter measures against air pollution.
Despite the new rules, many potential car buyers say they are victims of the lottery system and question the effectiveness of the policy.
"The policy had good intentions when it was launched. Authorities wanted to ease congestion by restricting the number of cars on the road, but I don't think it is working well."
Potential car buyers feel disappointed about the new policy to reduce the number of plates available. The tight regulations have forced many to rent license plates from car dealers illegally or register their car outside of the city.
Beijing adopted a license plate lottery system in January 2011, in an attempt to curb the growing number of vehicles driven on the city's streets.
Currently, around 240,000 license plates are allocated every year.
According to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, 1.55 million people have applied for a license plate and are currently waiting to receive one.
For CRI, I am Li Dong.
Biz Reports
Asian stock
Reporter:
Asian stock markets fell on Thursday as auto makers weighed on Tokyo.
Investors remain cautious ahead of the major risk events scheduled to occur at the end of the week.
On Friday, the US is due to release its monthly labor report, which will be the indicator for the Federal Reserve to start to reduce its bond-buying program.
Meanwhile, China will start a major political meeting over the weekend.
The country's new leadership is expected to unveil a blueprint for economic policy for the next decade.
When the market closed,
The benchmark Shanghai Composite down 0.5 percent.
The Shenzhen Component lost 0.6 percent.
Hong Kong stocks closed down 0.7 percent.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.7 percent.
Toyota lost 0.9 percent after the car maker reported a net profit of 4.45 billion US dollars in the third quarter.
The disappointing results from Toyota had a knock-on effect on other Japanese car companies, Honda Motor fell 1 percent, and Nissan was 0.5 percent lower.
Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's Kospi was down 0.6 percent and Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.1 percent.
PBOC prudent monetary policy
Anchor:
The central bank here in China has decided to halt its open market reverse repurchase operations after resuming the operation last week.
The People's Bank of China has injected 8 billion yuan, or over 1-billion US dollars, of funds into the banking system through the liquidity management tool via 7-day reverse repos this Tuesday.
The amount is nearly 820-million dollars less than what was conducted a week ago.
Statistics show over 2-billion dollars in reverse repos will become due this week.
In tabulation, the PBOC have withdrawn a net 820-million dollars from the banking system this week.
The PBOC has said that it would use open market operations, reserve requirement ratio adjustments and short term liquidity injections to adjust interbank liquidity.
The central bank also said it would call for Chinese banks to improve their liquidity and risk management.
For more on that, CRI's Paul James earlier spoke with Cao Can, CRI's Financial Commentator.
…
Back Anchor:
Cao Can, CRI's Financial Commentator.
China Said to Allow US Investors to Indirectly Invest in A-Share Market
Internal sources have revealed US investors will soon have access to trade shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.
China's top securities and foreign-exchange regulator has given joint approval to Bosera Asset Management and Harvest Fund Management to sell exchange-traded funds or ETFs in connection with the yuan-denominated A-shares in the US.
Currently, overseas investors are only allowed to trade A-shares under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors known as QFII and RQFII programs with predetermined quotas.
The same sources have also disclosed the ETFs offered by Bosera and Harvest will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
This is the first time China has allowed American fund firms to offer mutual funds outside Hong Kong.
China to Fuel Market Energy by Reforming Registration System
A Chinese official has reiterated the importance of market vitality here in China.
Zhao Mao, head of China's market supervising agency, highlights a recent reform on the capital registration system.
"The reform of capital registration is in favor of stimulating the vitality of market players...The reform will motivate the enthusiasm of investment, encourage business startups, increase the employment rate, and greatly help develop small and micro businesses, especially the innovative businesses."
The policy was officially adopted by the State Council last month.
As a main part of the policy, restriction of capital registration will be relaxed.
People will no longer have to meet the required minimum registered capital when they establish the Limited Liability Company.
However Zhang Mao, director of the China's General Administration for Industry and Commerce, says stricter supervision on the market is needed.
"We'll change the way of supervision from purely administrative means, to the construction of a better integrity system. We'll adopt means of more information announcement, more information sharing and more information restraint. We'll strengthen the credit supervisal to improve the integrity of the market, and this is the basis."
Zhang notes the reform also applies to the foreign-funded enterprises in China.
Lenovo profit jumps, beating expectations
Chinese personal-computer maker Lenovo once again beat expectations, posting a 36 percent increase in its quarterly net profit.
Lenovo is reporting its net profit has come in at near 220 million US dollars for the third quarter up from 162 million dollars over the same period a year ago.
The firm has seen its world-wide PC shipments increase by 2 percent year over year propelling Lenovo's global PC market presence to over 17 percent.
Last year, the rate stood at under 16 percent.
However, Lenovo has gradually shifted its focus to selling smartphones.
The company's smartphone shipments grew more than 78 percent from a year ago to over 12 million units.
In China, Lenovo is the second-largest smartphone vendor behind Samsung.
Shipbuilding- Local leaders express alarm amid reports nearly 2,000 jobs to go at shipyards
British defense contractor BAE Systems Maritime is announcing a job cut plan at three shipyards with the number of layoffs hitting nearly 2-thousand.
Philip Hammond is the British Defense Secretary.
"The loss of the such a significant number of jobs is of course regrettable, but was always going to be inevitable as the workload associated with the carrier build comes to an end."
This will officially put an end to the warship building business in England over its hundreds of year's history.
But BAE will keep its maintenance and radar system operations in Portsmouth.
India eases rules for foreign banks
India is easing its rules on foreign banks' presence in the country.
Under the new rules, foreign lenders will be allowed to set up "wholly owned subsidiaries" in India.
This means foreign banks can set up branches anywhere in the country.
Headline News
China, Brazil vow enhanced BRICS cooperation
Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao has met with his Brazilian counterpart Michael Temer with both vowing to promote solidarity and cooperation among BRICS countries.
The two met in Beijing where Li said China and Brazil are both in important periods of economic and social development and must encourage a bilateral strategic partnership.
Li has also expressed hope the two countries will strengthen political and strategic mutual trust.
Temer hopes both sides can maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges and strengthen the coordination on multilateral affairs to benefit both countries' people.
Senior diplomats from S.Korea, China, Japan hold talks amid frosty ties
A trilateral meeting between China, South Korea and Japan has been held to discuss ways to boost cooperation among the three countries.
South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama joined the high-level dialogue in Seoul.
Liu Zhenmin says all the parties need to strengthen their efforts to push forward regional cooperation.
No talks among the three Asian powers have been held since the trilateral summit and ministerial-level dialogues were held in Beijing last year.
China urges flexibility in Iran nuclear talks in Geneva
China has called on relevant parties to adopt a flexible and pragmatic manner as they begin a new round of talks on the Iran nuclear issue in Geneva.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei says China hopes the talks make new progress as soon as possible, and that China has been working towards this end.
He adds China is ready to cooperate with all sides to make the Geneva talks successful.
Iran had a fresh round of talks with the so-called P5+1, in Geneva last month.
Chemical weapons watchdog verifies previously inaccessible Syrian site
International inspectors have verified one of the two remaining chemical weapons sites declared by Syria.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had already verified 21 out of 23 sites declared to the agency last month.
Two sites were considered too dangerous to reach.
Under a Russian-American brokered deal, Syria agreed to destroy its entire stockpile of toxic nerve agents and munitions by mid-2014.
China Said to Allow US Investors to Indirectly Invest in A-Share Market
Internal sources have revealed US investors will soon have access to trade shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.
China's top securities and foreign-exchange regulator has given joint approval to Bosera Asset Management and Harvest Fund Management to sell exchange-traded funds or ETFs in connection with the yuan-denominated A-shares in the US.
Currently, overseas investors are only allowed to trade A-shares under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors known as QFII and RQFII programs with predetermined quotas.
The same sources have also disclosed the ETFs offered by Bosera and Harvest will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
This is the first time China has allowed American fund firms to offer mutual funds outside Hong Kong.
Newspaper Picks
Xinhua
"Sex education cartoon an instant online hit"
A cartoon series answering the question "where do I come from?" has become an instant hit this week, breaking a Chinese taboo of educating youngsters about the birds and the bees.
The three-part series, each lasting a minute, uses humour to describe where babies come from, why boys and girls are different and how to prevent sexual assaults, topics which many parents try to avoid.
The cartoon tells children "they were not picked up at a garbage dump," a typical jokey reply given by many Chinese parents.
Beijing Morning News
"Car buyers may need to prove they own parking spaces"
Beijing's transport commission has suggested that ownership of a parking space should be a new prerequisite for car ownership.
The commission suggests that applicants for new car license plates through the lottery system should show proof of owning or leasing a parking space.
The suggestion was applauded by experts, who said many foreign countries have introduced such a measure as a way to curb the rising numbers of vehicles.
The transport commission reveils that more than 40 percent of the vehicles in the city don't have fixed parking spaces.
The Independent
"The life aquatic: How the Earth would look if all the ice melted"
Maps have been produced by National Geographic magazine showing huge swathes of eastern England, most of Denmark, the entire eastern seaboard of the United States, Bangladesh as well as a large part of China beneath the sea.
The interactive online maps show a radically different planet Earth after land ice in Greenland, the Antarctic and elsewhere all melted.
The Black Sea would join the Caspian Sea in Europe, while there would be a vast lake in central Australia.
In Africa Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt would be lost and the temperature rise would make much of it uninhabitable.
Scientists say it would take more than 5,000 years to melt all the five million cubic miles of ice on Earth.
India Express
"A nagging boss may cripple your immune system"
A new study suggests stressful workplace may dramatically change gene expression in your immune system and significantly impact your health.
The research shows that chronic stress changes gene activity in immune cells before they reach the bloodstream.
With these changes, the cells are primed to fight an infection or trauma that doesn't actually exist, leading to an overabundance of the inflammation that is linked to many health problems.
This is not just any stress, but repeated stress that triggers the sympathetic nervous system, and stimulates the production of new blood cells.
While this response is important for survival, prolonged activation over an extended period of time can have negative effects on health.
Special Reports
Cultural and Creative Industries Propels Chinese Economy
Anchor:
Senior officials and insiders are suggesting a robust growth in China's cultural and creative industry account for a huge part of the economy.
The comments are made during the ongoing Beijing International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo.
CRI's Shen Ting has more.
Reporter:
Yu Changxiang is an official with the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
He points out the cultural and creative industries in China have made huge economic contributions recently.
"The print and media trade, and radio, film and television industry has been witnessing a prosperous development and earning a business revenue exceeding two trillion yuan in 2012. Meanwhile, from the global perspective, all other nations are working hard to develop their cultural and creative industries and also seeking bilateral cooperation."
China is trying to increase its contribution to the culture sector of the national economy.
According to the Ministry of Culture, the output of the industry strives to account for 5 percent of China's gross domestic product in 2016.
To reach this target, both the central and local governments have mapped out their goals of cultural development in the coming years.
Hou Yulan, deputy secretary-general of the expo's organizing committee, is also an official with the Beijing municipal government.
She has announced Beijing's target in local cultural and creative industries' development.
"Under our planning, the added value of Beijing's cultural and creative industries would double by 2015, striving to take up 15 percent of the city's GDP. We aim to build cultural and creative industries into a strategic backbone for the local economy."
Anita Huss-Ekerhult is Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations,
She says copyright protection is crucial in the development of cultural and creative industries.
"A well-functioning copyrights system plays a central role in sustaining the creative industries. The creative industries, in turn, are vital in sustaining national culture and cultural identity. The world intellectual property organization made a summary of its studies concluding that in highly-developed economies: the contribution of copyright industries to both GDP and employment is high: 10-percent GDP and 8-percent employment in the case of Australia."
In addition, professionals in cultural companies say China should learn from other nations.
For CRI, I'm Shen Ting.
Sports
Rocket carrying the Olympic flame blasts off ground
A rocket carrying the Olympic flame has successfully blasted off from earth ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
The torch will make its way to the International Space Station before being taken into space.
For safety reasons, the torch will remain unlit until it is taken out on a historic spacewalk.
The torch will remain in space for five days.
Aside from sending the torch into space, the Russian have also come up with a number of other fancy torch relay ideas.
Last month, the flame traveled to the North Pole on a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker.
Later this month it will sink to the bottom of the world's deepest lake, Lake Baikal.
The flame is also set to reach the peak of Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Russia and Europe in February before it finally stops at Sochi's stadium.
Nadal ends the year as world number one after beating Stanislas Wawrinka
In tennis,
Rafael Nadal sealed his world number one ranking after defeating Stanislas Wawrinka at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
It took Nadal two hours and 13 minutes to beat his Swiss opponent in one the tightest series between the two.
Rafa took early leads in both sets, only to watch Wawrinka rally and pull even.
But Nadal managed to outperform in the final sets, winning a tight 7-6, 7-6.
"It was a double important victory, because that makes me qualify for the semi-finals and at the same time I clinch the year number one. It's something that I said the whole year, it's something that doesn't worry me much, but at the end, it's much better to be number one than number two, so very happy it's a very important win and I'm happy with the way I finished the match."
Also from today's action, number 6 ranked Tomas Berdych beat third-ranked David Ferrer in two straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Group B is to return to action tomorrow with seventh-ranked Roger Federer scheduled to go against ninth-ranked Richard Gasquet in the early match.
Second-ranked Novak Djokovic is to face fifth ranked Juan Martin del Potro in the late match.
Arsenal earns away win in Dortmund
In football, great news for Arsenal fans as the Gunners have snatched a 1-0 away-win in the Champions League.
This time is against last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund.
Until this game, Dortmund had not lost at home to any English opposition in seven encounters.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger called the victory a "clever win".
"It was a question of being focused, intelligent and not to make the first mistake and wait for the moment where we could create openings in our defense. We did that."
Aaron Ramsey's header and the only goal of the match lifted the Gunners to top Group F with nine points from four games.
Dortmund now sits in the third place of the group with 6 points.
Meantime, Spanish giants Barcelona moved five points clear of the rest in Group H after beating AC Milan 3-1.
Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets each had one goal in the first half before Messi had his second seven minutes from time.
AC Milan was saved from a neat 3-0 sweep only because Barca defense Gerard Pique put through his own goal.
Also from the Champions League actions, Samuel Eto'o struck twice to give Chelsea a 3-0 victory against German side Schalke.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho spoke highly of Eto's and 32-year-old's two-goal contribution in the game.
"My favourite players are the players that win matches for me, not the ones that lose matches for me (laughs) and some will worked with me in the best season of my career, we won everything, so he's in a good position (laughs).
The win moves Chelsea three points clear at the top of Group E and earning a draw at Basel will ensure them passage to the last 16.
Indiana extends their winning streak to five
Moving on to the NBA,
The Indiana Pacers have extended their winning streak to five after beating Chicago 97-80.
The five-nothing winning streak is a first for their franchise's history and makes them the only team without a loss in the new season.
Paul George led Indiana with 21 while David West scored 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Chicago's star Derek Rose and Luol Deng had 17 each for the Bulls, who fell to 1-3 after four games.
In other action, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 45 points to lead Okalahoma City ease past the Dallas Mavericks 107-93.
Toronto continued on its five-game losing streak after conceding 92-90 to Charlotte.
Over in San Antonio, Tony Parker's late scoring helped the Spurs finished ahead of Phoenix 99-96.
Elsewhere, the Golden State Warriors dominated the Minnesota Timberwolves 106-93 on the road.
New Orleans hammered Memphis 99-84.
Boston held on to defeat Utah 97-87 for their first win of the season at home.
Orlando, Washington and Milwaukee were the night's other winners.
Entertainment
Tiawan Band MayDay to go on massive European tour
Award winning rock band, May Day are all set for their first European tour.
The five-piece from Taiwan will be performing 71 shows in 40 cities.
The first gig will take place a London's Wembly Arena on February 21st and from then they'll spend a full two years on the road.
The band's Bassist, Masa, audiences can expect a real spectacle.
"Last time the concert was more simple, just like a normal stage, and we were five guys on a stage playing our instruments. But this time there are many different things like LED big screen, and there are some visions on the stage and lighting will also be very different from the last time, so we are really excited to present this concert to European friends."
In order to communicate better with Western audiences, Guitarist, Stone, says they are currently working on breaking down the language barrier:
"We translate all our Chinese lyrics into English right now in YouTube or other media. Also we tried to write some songs that using not Chinese words - something like we have song called 'O A O A' and it's 'O' and 'A' the letters, so people can easily come to our shows and sing with us."
Although touring will soon be taking centre stage, the band says that they are not letting their creativity take a backseat.
Vocalist Ashin reportedly composes many songs and plenty of lyrics on planes whilst jetting across the world.
'Sweetheart Chocolate' Premieres in BJ
Chinese film "Sweetheart Chocolate" has premiered in Beijing today.
The love story stars Lin Chi-ling from Taiwan and Japanese actors Hiroyuki Ikeuchi and Yusuke Fukuchi
Lin plays a girl from Shanghai studying in Japan where she meets two local men and falls in in love with them.
The Chinese actress shows she has a talent for speaking Japanese in the film and her co-star Hiroyuki Ikeuchi speaks broken Chinese when needed.
The film's screen writer Mi Zi, said a trip to Japan inspired her to make this movie:
"I once visited Hokkaido. It was so beautiful there that I decided create a love story and shoot a film. "
Directed by Tetsuo Shinohara, the film will reach theaters on November the 8th.
Alec Baldwin and James Todback on new docufilm 'Seduced and Abandoned
Alec Baldwin and James Todback are hitting cinema screens with their new docufilm "Seduced and Abandoned"
It was screened at this year's Canne's film festival and pays a nostalgic homage to the movies featuring interviews with those who have an irrational love of film, including: Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese and Ryan Gosling.
One of the key points that the filmmakers touch upon is the fickleness of fame:
'Seduced and Abandoned' where he's talking about the worth of Alec and Neve (Campbell) in a movie being about four or five million dollars in terms of name value, but an actress who would elevate the budget and mean that he would give us more money to make a movie is, as he puts it, 'what's her name Natalie Portman?' And the idea, and it's entirely unconscious obviously, but why does he call her 'what's her name Natalie Portman?' As opposed to Natalie Portman? Because he knows that a year from now, two years from now, it'll be 'what's her name' somebody else and Natalie Portman will be not worth anything."
"Seduced and Abandoned" is released in the UK on 8 November.
Star Wars to hold open castings in the UK
Despite the obvious trappings of fame and celebrity, that doesn't stop huge amounts of people dreaming of being a superstar.
Starring in blockbuster films is normally out of he reach of mere mortals like you and me, but that dream is about to become reality, for two people at least, as Star Wars Episode VII is holding open castings in the UK and Ireland.
However, those who saw the original films first time out are out of luck as they're looking for young actors.
The female part is a street-smart teenager, who is brave, strong and can take care of herself but has a good sense of humour.
The other part is a male in his early 20's. After growing up without a father, he doesn't have a good sense of what it is to be a rough strong man, but despite this he is intelligent, capable and shows courage when needed.
That’s it for this edition of the Beijing Hour.
The upcoming CPC plenary session draws international interest from the US.
A trilateral meeting between China, South Korea, and Japan has been held to discuss cooperation.
And the Colombian president claims progress in talks with the FARC group.
Business, China will fuel market vitality by reforming the registration system.
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