In This Edition

 

Pakistani army rejects an American investigation report into last month's NATO strike on two of its border posts, which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and injured 13 others.

 

Aftershocks continue to rattle in New Zealand South Island city of Christchurch following a series of shakes on Friday.

 

Argentina legislates to curb farmland sales to foreigners, a measure the government claims vital to protect the country's strategic resource.

 

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Pakistani Army Rejects NATO Strike Inquiry Report

Pakistani army has rejected an American investigation report into last month's NATO strike on two of its border posts, which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and injured 13 others.

 

The report cites misinformation as the main reason for the incident.

 

Pentagon spokesperson George Little.

 

"Inadequate coordination by U.S. and Pakistani military officers operating through the border coordination center - including our reliance on incorrect mapping information shared with the Pakistani liaison officer - resulted in a misunderstanding about the true location of Pakistani military units."

 

The US military also says it was the Pakistani side that opened fire first, resulting in NATO forces launching the assault in response.

 

Pakistani officials state that Islamabad will look at the findings carefully and then articulate a detailed response.

 

NATO, Afghan and Pakistani forces use the joint border control centers to share information and coordinate security operations.

 

In the wake of the incident, Pakistan shut down NATO's supply routes through its territory.

 

Earthquakes Hit Christchurch in NZ

 

Aftershocks continued to rattle in New Zealand South Island city of Christchurch following a series of shakes on Friday.

 

There have been 15 shakes in the past 24 hours, with many over 4.0-magnitude and the latest was 5.1-magnitude, the government geological agency GNS Sciences reported.

 

Two 5.8-magnitude and 6.0-magnitude earthquakes in a swarm of large aftershocks on Friday wreaked more damage and fear across Christchurch, panicking Christmas shoppers, cutting power and covering parts of the eastern suburbs in silt.

 

Hundreds of travellers had their Christmas plans disrupted after Christchurch Airport was temporarily closed following the first quake on Friday.

 

Ken Gledhill, the head of Geohazards Monitoring, says there may be more quakes to come, as the recent tremors are inter-related.

 

"This whole sequence was kicked off by the September 2010 event, which changed the earth under our feet in Christchurch. And this series of earthquakes is a result of that, including the February and June one. This is almost like a re-run of the June one."

 

Christchurch is the largest city in New Zealand's South Island, and is still recovering from a quake measuring 6.3 in February, which caused up to 15 billion US dollars in damage.

 

For the latest situation over there, CRI"s Liu Yan earlier talked to Chen Xi, our Sydney correspondent.

 

Argentine to Limit Land Purchases by Foreigners

Argentina has passed a law to curb farmland sales to foreigners in the country. The government says the measure is vital to protect a strategic resource.

 

Foreigners will only be allowed to buy up to 1,000 hectares of land in the country's most productive central Pampas farming belt, or the equivalent in terms of productivity levels.

 

The law will also set a 15 percent limit on the total amount of land that can be owned by foreigners in the country as a whole and in each of its municipalities.

 

Senator Maria de la Rosa says the volatility of other sectors has driven investors to push up the price of land.

 

"The volatility of international food prices also helps that speculative capital come to acquire rural land in Argentina because they're more profitable assets than others, so that's also the opportunity to discuss and pass this law."

 

Critics say the curbs could cause uncertainty and deter investment in Argentina, which is the world's third-biggest soybean exporter and a major producer of corn and wheat.

 

Giusti-niani Ruben is from the opposition party.

 

"We socialists always maintained that there's a clear connection between concentration and 'foreignization.' Regarding the concentration of land, we always maintained that it's the other side of progress."

 

Growing global demand for bio fuels and food, especially grains crops such as soybeans, have fueled the debate over the need for tighter controls on land sales to foreigners in Argentina.

 

US Lawmakers Agree to Extend Payroll Tax Cut

American Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have agreed to demands by President Barack Obama for a 2-month extension of tax cuts for all workers.

 

After days of wrangling, House Speaker John Boehner changed course and dropped demands for immediate holiday season talks with the Senate.

 

"Middle-class families and small businesses are struggling and they're making sacrifices, and I think this agreement will help our economy."

 

Boehner expects both House and Senate to pass a new bill by Sunday, while congressional negotiators work out a longer-term measure that would also extend jobless benefits for millions of Americans and prevent doctors from absorbing a big cut in Medicare payments.

 

The agreement is a clear win for President Obama, as the payroll tax cut is the centrepiece of his 3-month campaign-style drive for jobs legislation.

 

European Council President Sends Book on Happiness to EU Leaders

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy is sending books to EU leaders for the New Year.

 

The book, titled "The World Book of Happiness", is a compilation of 100 short essays in positive psychology.

 

In an accompanying letter, the council president urges the leaders to make people's happiness and well-being their political priority for next year.

 

And in his Christmas message from the European Council meeting room, Van Rompuy sticks to his positive theme.

 

"Like many of you, I will celebrate Christmas at home, with my family, and this time, for the very first time, with my granddaughter. I'm convinced that she, and all other young Europeans will grow up in a vibrant and lively European Union."

 

The European Union is going through the worst crisis in half a century, as high levels of government debt threaten the future of the shared euro currency.

 

In the past two years, emergency management has become the overriding issue facing the 27-nation bloc.

 

China Makes Plan for Its Coastal Waterways

China's Ministry of Transportation has issued plans for the country's coastal waterways for the first time.

 

Cao De-sheng, Deputy Director of the ministry's Maritime Bureau, says one plan for a ship-routing system focuses on some congested and accident-prone areas along the coastal waterway, while another plan for ship fairways will cover all vessels' courses.

 

At present, China's marine transportation handles 93 percent of the country's foreign traded goods, 99 percent of imported iron ore, and 95 percent of imported crude oil. The number of ships on China's coastal waters has hit more than four million and is expected to reach five million in 2015.

 

Meanwhile, more than 330 maritime traffic accidents with a death toll of 320 occurred in China last year, resulting in a total direct economic loss of 324 million yuan.

 

Cao says the two plans are significant for China's shipping industry.

 

"The two plans will positively protect the shipping industry's interest, ensure the safety of the lives and property of the people, reduce the risk of ship pollution, increase traffic efficiency, and promote the economic development of the shipping industry."

 

The ministry has also mandated that local maritime bureaus make an effort to implement ship-routing systems in three to five years and fully implement the two plans in 10 years.

 

Pop Singer Yang Yuying Returns to Stage

Chinese pop singer Yang Yuying has returned to stage after more than a decade of absence.

 

She co-performed with her ex-partner pop singer Mao Ning while recording for a nostalgic program at Shenzhen Satellite TV.

 

Yang is now in her 40s. She used to be one of the best-selling pop singers in China in the early 1990's.

 

Her comeback this time has revived many fans' beautiful memories. After all these years, they still fondly remember her signature songs, such as "I Don't Want To Say" and "Whispering Love to You."

 

Yang withdrew from her singing career in 1997 and attempted to make a comeback in 2000, although unsuccessful.

 

In 1999, her image was somewhat tarnished, when rumors were swirling around that she had intimate relations with a relative of China's most notorious smuggler Lai Changxing.

 

Why 24-hour Convenience Stores Hard to Survive in Beijing?

It is easy to assume that 24-hour convenient stores should be commonplace in a metropolis, but that is not the case here in Beijing.

 

As Zhang Wan reports, the municipal government is trying to encourage retail giants to tap into the business.

 

A Wumart convenience store on Zhongguancun Street in Beijing is very popular with passersby, because it provides 24-hour service and warm steamed stuffed buns and boiled sweet corn late into the night. The shopkeeper says the warm, instant food draws many white-collar workers who stay late at the office.

 

"People want to eat some warm food at night in winter. The sales volume during the night constitutes a third of the entire day's sales."

 

But if you don't live near busy streets, you may not have such a convenience. Beijing residents find it difficult to shop at late night and complain that they have to walk far to find a convenience store that stays open late.

 

Cao Yuanxiao, Deputy General Manager of Hi-24 Convenience Stores, explains why most convenience stores are unwilling to open in some communities.

 

"The operational costs of 24-hour convenience stores are very high, including water and electricity fees and labor costs. Therefore, we would not choose a place which is not commercially thriving and populous."

 

Lu Jiehua, a sociology professor at Peking University, says the government should support community convenience stores, because they provide basic public services.

 

"The municipal government should map out a convenience store network so that the stores are evenly distributed every three to five kilometers. Besides, when we design a community layout, we can leave some room ahead of the time for convenience stores."

 

Lu says his research indicates that the many convenience stores in Shanghai have been very successful. You can easily find a domestic or foreign branded one on foot within several minutes. He says convenience stores in Beijing can also learn from the experience of 24-hour convenience stores in foreign countries, which often provide other services such as laundry, document typing and duplication, delivery arrangements, and the distribution of tourist discount vouchers.

 

The Beijing municipal government's 12th Five-Year Plan says local officials will urge convenience store chains to set up shop in local communities in the next few years. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce is promoting branded chain stores to open in local communities and encouraging them to provide more resident-friendly services.

 

For CRI, I'm Zhang Wan.

 

Chinese Shoppers Funding Christmas Boom in UK

Retailers in the UK are reporting a boom in overseas customers this Christmas, with visitors from China spending 10 times the average.

 

Some stores have seen as much as a 60-percent increase in sales to those from abroad, with shoppers from China appearing to top the list.

 

Chinese shoppers are reportedly dropping around 1-thousand pounds per shopping session.

 

The average shopper in Britain is only putting down around 70-pounds.

 

For more on this, Rebecca Hume talked with Richard Dodd with the British Retail Consortium.

 

US Holiday Films - NEW A Roundup of Films in U.S. Theaters Christmas Weekend

Moviegoers in the US can expect a mix of thrilling adventures and bleak portrayals of war in theaters this holiday season.

Tom Cruise kicks off Christmas with a bang in the action-packed "Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol," which opened Wednesday.

 

The fourth installment of the high-impact franchise has Cruise performing one of the most dynamic stunts ever, as he climbs on and jumps off the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

 

Cruise says it was hard work preparing for the stunts.

 

"I spent months working on physically how we were going to do it. So each shot, I was focusing on every move. When I'm doing it - when I'm coming off the building I'm on a single pick, so my body is going like this, which doesn't look as elegant. I really had to figure out how to hold that. I had cross winds, so my legs were going."

 

Renowned film-maker Steven Spielberg has two movies out for the holidays. "The Adventures of Tintin" opens today and "War Horse" will open on Christmas day.

 

"War Horse" chronicles the horrors of war through the eyes of an English farm horse that is sold to the army and later captured and pressed into service by the Germans.

 

Also on the warfront, Angelina Jolie's directorial debut "In the Land of Blood and Honey" opens today and Zhang Yimou's "The Flowers of War," will hit theaters in selected cities.

 

Actor Christian Bale says he's excited the Chinese film is reaching audiences in America.

 

"I think it's surprising how few people are familiar here in the States about the Rape of Nanking. And I myself, I was aware of it but I didn't know an awful lot about it. And it would be wonderful if this movie did allow people to know more about that."

 

The highly anticipated American remake of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and Matt Damon's new family film "We Bought a Zoo" are also showing during the holiday season.

 

Xinhua

 

This one's from Xinhua. Authorities have apparently called for more cultural programs and activities during the upcoming Spring Festival. The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, jointly released a statement aimed at enriching the cultural lives of its citizens. It says publicity departments should organize cultural and arts institutions to go to rural areas, urban communities, factories, border areas and military camps to deliver performances and cultural experiences during the festival. It also calls for radio stations and TV channels to provide audiences with first-class programs reflecting the core values of China's cultural tradition. And it says admission to public cultural institutions, including museums, libraries and galleries should be free during the festivities. The holiday period for the Spring Festival runs from 22nd to the 28th of January.

 

The BBC

 

Here's one from the BBC about flu vaccines. Scientists believe the effectiveness of the vaccine depends on the time of day you receive it. A team from the University of Birmingham say men should get their jab in the morning and women in the afternoon. They say synchronising the needle with the body's natural daily rhythms makes it more likely to offer good immunity. And researchers plan to test their theory by using patients in Birmingham as guinea pigs. They will monitor the apparent immunity of 300 people based on gender and when they receive their influenza vaccine. The reason behind the research is a belief that there is an interaction between hormones and immune system messages that fluctuate throughout the day. The findings hope to benefit the elderly, whose immune systems get sluggish with age. It hopes to improve the current statistic which sees only a third of elderly people getting full protection from their winter flu vaccine.

 

Market Update

 

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, the last trading session before the Christmas Holiday, as strong data on housing market offset weak consumer spending.

 

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average gained over one percent to12294. The broader S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent to 1265. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up more than 0.7 percent to 2619.

 

Moderate gains in the Europe market, too. London's FTSE 100 gained one percent to 5513. Frankfurt's DAX added half a percent to 5879. And CAC-40 in Paris rose one percent to 3102.