新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2013/08/08（打印版）

China's top badminton players through the second round at the BWF World Championships.

Special reports takes a look at new guidelines banning animal acts at zoos here in China.

Shanghai has just experienced its hottest day since the city's meteorological records began 140 years ago.

The city issued its fifth high temperatures alert as the highest temperatures topped 40.8 degrees Celsius.

Shanghai has witnessed almost 20 days with temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius so far this year.

Beijing will be cloudy today, with a high of 34 degree Celsius in the daytime, and it will be clear tonight with a low of 24.

In Shanghai, it will be sunny today, 40 the high, and it will be clear tonight, the low of 31 degrees Celsius.

Lhasa will be cloudy in the daytime the temperature's at 24, and tonight will be clear with a low of 13 degree Celsius.

Chinese authorities have handed down record fines worth 670-million yuan against foreign milk powder makers for price fixing.

The National Development and Reform Commission is hitting Mead Johnson, Dumex, Abbott, Biostime, Friesland and Fonterra with the fines.

Fonterra, Mead Johnson and Biostime have accepted the fine and say they don't intend to contest the penalty.

NDRC initiated the probe into 9 companies in March amid speculation they were involved in setting minimum resale prices for distributors here in China.

Sales of foreign milk powder brands account for about half of the total volume in China.

The bacterial scare with Fonterra products is starting to raise concerns among Chinese mothers.

The botulism scandal from the New Zealand formula producer has caused doubts against foreign formula among Chinese mothers. Some moms say that they don't know what kind of brand to choose given the current situation.

"I thought foreign brands would be better than Chinese formula, but I didn't realize that they also have problems. Not to mention that the bacteria in the milk powder is lethal. I will be more cautious when choosing formula brands."

"Many mothers are under the impression that foreign brands are more reliable and pure. But such contamination has scared us and dented our faith in foreign brands."

Chinese formula brands seemed to gain some hope in the market right after Fonterra announced the contamination. Domestic brands such as Royal Diary, Sanyuan and Yili witnessed notable increases in the A-share market. But some stock analysts commented that the favoring of Chinese brands is only a short-term response to the recent scandal.

In fact, this is not the first time foreign milk brands have had their problems exposed, but recognition among Chinese consumers remained strong. Given the scare from both domestic and foreign brands, Chinese consumers say they don't have any options left and some have even become wary of domestic brands.

"One of my friends stopped giving her baby any formula milk when Dumex had their problem. She used to buy in bulk, but now she's only feeding her baby Chinese meals."

"I don't think it's fair to be so picky on foreign brands. Under the same strict standards, I don't think domestic brands would survive the examination at all. Given the current situation, I have to choose those with less or minor problems."

For the domestic dairy industry, this is indeed a good opportunity to flip over and regain trust from consumers. Wu Songhang, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Mother-Infant-Child Industry Association says the domestic dairy industry is facing a huge challenge to rebuild their reputation.

"Domestic dairy companies need to put quality as their priority in the process of gaining consumers. At the same time, the government's supervision and inspection needs to be specified and carried out more efficiently. Many domestic brands are merging with foreign ones, and this is a good opportunity to elbow out companies with misconducts. Only through such ways can domestic brands slowly regain trust from Chinese consumers."

Chinese media point out that domestic dairy brands should not celebrate when foreign brands are in turbulence, but rather, learn to improve product quality and release information in time. Others say it is a naive conjecture that more fans of foreign formula brands will turn to domestic ones only because fsome oreign brands have problems.

Russia has expressed disappointment at U.S. President Barack Obama's cancellation of next month's scheduled summit with President Vladimir Putin.

But Kremlin has said it remains ready to cooperate with the United States on many issues.

Obama's move is in response to Russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to Edward Snowden.

US spy agency contractor Snowden is accused of leaking intelligence information to the media, which Obama said could compromise American security.

"I was disappointed because, you know, even though we don't have an extradition treaty with them, traditionally we have tried to respect if there's a law breaker or alleged law breaker in their country, we evaluate it, and we try to work with them. They didn't do that with us."

Despite the decision not to meet one-on-one with President Putin, the White House says Obama still plans to attend the Group of 20 economic summit next month in St. Petersburg.

Obama and Putin last met in June on the sidelines of the Group of 8 summit in Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, a meeting between the U.S and Russian foreign and defense ministers will take place as scheduled in Washington this Friday.

US President Barack Obama is set make a speech later this month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech.

U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his well-known "I have a dream" speech to over 250-thousand supporters in August 1963, in which he called for an end to racism against African Americans.

The interim authorites in Egypt say all foreign mediation efforts to resolve the current political deadlock in the country have failed.

Interim President Adly Mansour had been talking to diplomats from the US, EU, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates:

"We have given a chance to all diplomatic efforts, to resolve the current issues in the Egyptian situation, and we gave enough space and exerted all efforts for the sake of stopping violence and bloodshed and returning to normal Egyptian society. I would like to be honest that these efforts did not achieve the desired success, in spite of the full support given by the Egyptian government."

Mansour says his government is now calling an end to such efforts and the country will press ahead with its own roadmap.

However Mansour still says Egypt will welcome efforts to support the country's post-Morsi roadmap.

Meanwhile Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has warned supporters of Mohamed Morsi their protest camps in Cairo will be dismantled.

The Muslim Brotherhood say they refuse to move from the main protest site in Cairo's Nasr City neighbourhood.

Yemen's defence minister says the country's military will take all measures to ensure the safety of foreign diplomatic missions in the country.

"The embassies have moved some of their citizens, but we can make sure that they will remain in Sanaa and not move from Sanaa at all. The threats are a kind of campaign and also a kind of psychological war."

Earlier, Yemeni authorities claimed to have foiled plots by al-Qaida to take over key cities in southern Yemen and attack strategic ports and gas facilities.

The Yemeni government has critisized the U.S and other countries for evacuating some of their embassy staff.

The U.S flew some non-essential embassy staff out of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa earlier in the week and extended closures until Saturday.

Several other countries including Britain and Germany have also evacuated some of their staff with France maintaining their embassy closure until Sunday.

South Korean authorities have accepted a request from North Korea for a new round of talks connected to the Kaesong Industrial park.

This will be the 7th round of talks between the two sides since the North shut down the facility earlier this year.

Meanwhile, South Korean government has announced it will pay out insurance to the companies affected by the shutdown of the joint industrial park.

"Our government decided to pay insurance claims to companies at Kaesong Industrial Complex after South and North Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council made decision."

In exchange, the 109 South Korean companies with operations at the facility just across the border in North Korea, will have to pass ownership of their company assets to the South Korean government.

Seoul's decision to pay out the insurance claims comes amid domestic protests demanding the complex be reopened.

Around 500 South Koreans managing factories in the stalled complex have gathered in the border city of Paju, demanding talks be resumed.

Hundreds of passengers are still stranded at the main airport in Kenya's capital Nairobi after a massive fire ripped through the international arrivals hall and forced its closure.

The Kenyan government said no serious injuries were reported, but two people were treated for smoke inhalation.

"Contingency measures have been put in place to stabilize the situation and to return the airport to normal operations. President Kenyatta wishes to reassure the entire aviation industry -- investors, local and international travellers, that everything is being done to resume normal operations."

Up to now, domestic and international cargo flights have resumed service at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Kenya's Red Cross said flights were also being diverted to Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Uganda and the Kenyan cities of Mombasa and Kisumu.

The fire broke out on the 15th anniversary of the US Embassy bombings in Nairobi and neighbouring Dar es Salaam.

But Kenyan authorites said there shouldn't be any speculation before an invesitigation could determine if it was a militant attack.

Authorities in Hong Kong have uncovered a major smuggling operation involving endangered species.

Over 11-hundred ivory tusks, 13 rhino horns and five pieces of leopard skin were found inside a container.

"From 2010 up till now, every year we detect three to four cases of smuggling ivory tusks. We do not have intelligence or information showing that there is a rising trend of smuggling ivory tusks."

The World Wide Fund for nature has labeled China as the world's largest market for the illegal trade in ivory.

Investors took profits amid fears about the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering of its quantitative easing programs.

Another head of local Federal Reserve Bank hinted about the scaling back of the asset purchases programs if the U.S. labor market remains on the current strong path.

On the economic front, U.S. mortgage applications increased 0.2 percent from a week earlier.

Moreover, the U.S. consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.9 percent in the second quarter.

The market was weighed down by concerns that the U.S. and UK central banks may start to tighten monetary policy sooner than markets had expected.

In the wake of the Fonterra contamination scare, the Ministry of Commerce here in China is stepping up inspections of all imported dairy products.

The move comes after New Zealand diary giant Fonterra determined that human error resulted in its products being tainted with a potentially-deadly bacteria and shipped around the world.

At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce says separate investigations are being launched into pricing and bribery allegations by a number of drug makers.

Securities regulators here in China are working to try to close loopholes in the current initial public offering process.

The moves are also expected to streamline underwriting procedures and improve the way information is disclosed.

The moves by the China Securities Regulatory Commission could be in preparation for the much-anticipated reopening of the IPO market.

The CSRC has yet to set a time-table for the potential resumption of IPO's here in China.

A new study in the United States is suggesting state governments are carrying both total and future liabilities in the range of between 1 to 4 trillion US dollars.

The Harvard Institute of Government report suggets the debt at the state level is a result of pension and health care programs for government workers.

These future liabilities are in addition to the money that individual state governments may have already borrowed.

US policy makers are now being confronted with the challenge of trying to reduce the debt loads without causing any drastic consequences for people's lives.

For more on this situation, CRI's Nathan Wakelin-King spoke with Professor Geoffrey Garet, founder of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

Professor Geoffrey Garet, founder of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, speaking with CRI's Nathan Wakelin-King.

The Bank of England is planing to keep interest rates at a record low until unemployment falls to 7-percent.

"The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) intends not to raise bank rates above its current level of 0.5% until at least the labour force survey headline measure of unemployment has fallen to a threshold of seven percent. While the unemployment rate remains above seven percent, the MPC stands ready to undertake further asset purchases is further stimulus is warranted. "

Carney says forward guidance does not mean the Monetary Policy Committee is promising to keep interest rates low for a particular period of time.

He stresses the path of bank rates and asset purchases will always depend on economic conditions.

The central bank also forecasts the economy will grow 0.6 percent during the current quarter.

The central bank expects the rate to average 7.1 percent in the third quarter of 2016.

JPMorgan is reportedly being investigated by the U.S. government over offerings of mortgage-backed securities.

The U.S. Department of Justice said the firm violated federal securities laws in offerings of subprime mortgage securities during 2005 to 2007.

JPMorgan also said in a quarterly filing that it is responding to parallel investigations relating to mortgage-backed securities.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors just filed a $850 million civil lawsuit against Bank of America Corp over the sale of bonds backed by jumbo mortgages.

News of the investigations comes after U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to hold companies responsible in financing the housing bubble that caused the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

JPMorgan raised its estimate of possible legal losses to $6.8 billion at the end of June.

A company providing discounted gift certificates through its deal-of-the-day website reported quarterly revenue that rose to $608.7 million.

The stronger-than-expected result is reportedly due to its new mobile-centric strategy.

Previously the company has struggled with management turmoil and a rapidly crumbling business.

Groupon has in recent months re-invented itself as a more traditional e-commerce business selling long-term deals through its smartphone app.

Chinese authorities have handed down record fines worth 670-million yuan against foreign milk powder makers for price fixing.

The National Development and Reform Commission is hitting Mead Johnson, Dumex, Abbott, Biostime, Friesland and Fonterra with the fines.

Fonterra, Mead Johnson and Biostime have accepted the fine and say they don't intend to contest the penalty.

Russia has expressed disappointment at U.S. President Barack Obama's cancellation of next month's scheduled summit with President Vladimir Putin.

But Kremlin has said it remains ready to cooperate with the United States on many issues.

Obama's move is in response to Russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to Edward Snowden.

Despite the decision not to meet one-on-one with President Putin, the White House says Obama still plans to attend the Group of 20 economic summit next month in St. Petersburg.

This means current Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok will need to resign and a snap election will be called.

Only 93 out of the 193 lawmakers in the lower house have voted to support the new cabinet, which was just formed last month.

Philippine investigators are recommending homicide charges against 8 coast guard personnel allegedly connected to the killing of a fisherman from Taiwan.

However, Philippine investigators have found that while the boat from Taiwan was fishing illegally, it didn't pose a risk to the Coast Guard boat.

Philippine Coast Guard members shot and killed the fisherman from Taiwan in early May.

Shanghai has just experienced its hottest day since the city's meteorological records began 140 years ago.

The city issued its fifth high temperatures alert as the highest temperatures topped 40.8 degrees Celsius.

Shanghai has witnessed almost 20 days with temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius so far this year.

APPLE is offering cut-price chargers to customers who trade in fake or third-party items following two incidents where one person died and another was seriously hurt.

From Friday, people with unauthorized power adapters will be able to swap them for certified Apple models for 68 yuan, compared to the regular price of 149 yuan, Apple said yesterday.

Initially designed to protect residents from a nuclear explosion, a fallout shelter in Hebei Province is to be transformed into a tourist attraction.

With the complex expected to be opened by the end of 2015, the plan is for an entertainment "under-city" with catering and shopping attractions.

The Confucius Research Institute of China published the Chinese version of a textbook on Confucius' works for Austrian Universities.

President of the Confucius Research Institute of China said the book would help promote cultural exchanges between China and Austria.

Internet cafes in Kunming are required to install electronic real-name registration systems that will prevent users from staying online for more than 24 hours.

The system, which takes effect in September, is to reduce risks of internet addiction.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission said adjustments will be made to the country's family planning policy at "an appropriate time," amid recent speculation on a loosening of the policy.

Authorities in Shanghai have kicked three officials of its top court out of the Party and placed another on a two-year probation inside the Party for allegedly hiring prostitutes.

Police have placed the four under administrative detention for 10 days. The hotel which provided prostitution services has been ordered to suspend operations for rectification.

A migrant worker has been charged with keeping a young woman as a sex slave for 11 days in a cellar at his home in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province.

The teenager was stripped and chained up in a 4.5-cubic-meter cellar and repeatedly raped.

Despite new guidelines banning animal acts at zoos here in China, many of the facilities across the country are still using the animals in the now-illegal performances.

Media reports say that animal performances can currently be seen at around 50 percent of zoos in cities and 90 percent of wildlife zoos. Meanwhile, various other entertainment venues, such as the World Park in Beijing, also provide animal performances.

Performances require animals such as elephants to demontrate their balancing and jumping abilities, which "might seriously impair the animals' physical and psychological health".

Huang Chengming, researcher from the Institute of Zoology, China Academy of Sciences explains:

"Judging by the animal's appearance alone, it would be hard to tell their pain. Usually, the animals, upon correctly completing a movement instructed by their trainers, are given a reward. Otherwise, the animals would be punished."

Actually, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued a circular back in 2010 banning animal performances nationwide, but the rule does not apply to aquariums.

However, as the circular didn't specify penalties, and considering the huge profits to be made from animal performances, it's very difficult to wipe out the practice. It remains a common practice in many zoos across the country.

"We did receive the circular by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. But animal performances are still included in our entry ticket. Usually, during the May Day holiday, we would suspend the animal performances because it tends to be too crowded for visitors watch it during this peak season. However, visitors would file complaints about the cancellation; they like these performances so much."

"Animal performance is one of the main ways to attract visitors, and zoos charge money, with which they raise these animals. Also, I don't think the zoo will abuse these animals."

"If they (the animals) are kept in a safe condition, I think that it is ok, if they are kept safe and happy. There is a policy in the US that you have to keep them (animals) in humane conditions, but it's not always followed."

Researcher from the Institute of Zoology, China Academy of Sciences, Huang Chengming points out that people should do things that really are good for animals.

"Animal performances aim to entertain people; however, people should consider from the perspective of animals, and do things that really are good for them."

Some people say a zoo should be a site demonstrating animal protection efforts. However, a total ban on animal performances would take time and require public cooperation as well as a change in attitudes.

Chinese badminton players are through to the third round at the BWF World Championships

China's top badminton players are all through the second round after the third day of competition at the BWF World Championships in Guangzhou.

China's Lin Dan sailed through his second round matchup against world no. 29 Eric Pang of the Netherlands.

The Olympic gold medalist and reigning champion easily defeated Pang in two sets: 21-14, 21-17.

Second seeded Chen Long of China defeated Japan's Sha Sasaki in two sets. That victory keeps him on course to meet his compatriot Lin in the quarterfinals.

The 24-year-old is a fierce competitor, not to be underestimated. He won the world super series Finals last year and took this year's All-England Open.

The mens top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia met some resistance in his second round match against Indonesia's Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.

Lee dropped the first set, 14-21, and scraped a 21-18 win in the second, before finding his rhythm in the third.

The top two seeds Liu Xuerui and Wang Yihan both defeated their competitors in two sets. But seventh seeded Wang Shixian battled Hsiao Ma Pai of Chinese Taipei for a grueling 84 minutes, before finally winning the third set 21-11.

The Australian and English cricket teams are rejecting claims that their bats may have been tampered with during the Ashes series.

Australian broadcaster Channel Nine reported that silicon tape might have been attached to the edges of bats to fool the Decision Review System.

The system uses thermal-imaging cameras to allow the third umpire to review on-field decisions.

Australian captain Michael Clarke insisted that no one on his squad was cheating. And England's Graham Onions called the accusation outrageous.

It just doesn't seem right and I know that England players would never put anything on their bats. Tape has been used to mend cracks or - people have favourite bats - to try and last as long as possible. It sounds completely silly to even think that people are putting things on their bats to try and help them and cover up decisions."

The latest word is that the International Cricket Committee is not going to investigate the claims.

But the ICC has sent a senior official to Durham ahead of tomorrow's fourth Test to address players concerns about the DRS.

The mens top eight seeds have now entered the fray at the Rogers Cup after being given byes in the first round.

And Wimbledon champion Andy Murray defeated Marcel Granollers in two sets to advance to the third round.

Canada's Vasek Pospisil delighted the home crowd by dispatching Czech Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal is building up his fitness by playing in the mens doubles division. He and partner Pablo Anduja defeated another Spanish duo, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, in the first round.

China's Li Na advanced to the third round after defeating Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two sets.

Rory McIlroy is hoping to regain his confidence by defending his title at this weekend's PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

Last year the Northern Irishman beat David Lynn by eight strokes, which is the largest margin of victory in championship history.

But the 24-year old has had a difficult season, missing the cut in three of his last five starts before last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

"First and foremost, I just haven't been swinging it the best this year. I got into a couple bad habits with my golf swing, and it's just taken my a little bit longer to get out of them and obviously when you're fighting that so much, it's hard to play the golf that I want to play, which is fluid, which is free-flowing.

McIlroy said that heading into the tournament as the defending champion has returned some of his swagger, and his confidence is as high as it's been all year.

The 24-year old is looking for redemption after failing to make the cut at last month's Open Championship.

"It's very straight forward, it's not too tricked up, kind of what you see is what you get. But there is a lot of rough, it's very thick and you're going to have drive the ball on the fairway. Yeah you don't want to mess with the rough".

A video from Kobe Bryant's Nike tour is making headlines today. Apparently, the NBA great has the power to make a grown man cry.

The video shows one Shenzhen fan so overcome with emotion by being in the presence of his basketball idol that he bursts into sobs.

His popularity in the country is astonishing, and wherever he goes, massive crowds turn out to see him.

Superstar Angelababy has lit up Beijing with the premiere of her new film "Crimes of Passion".

In the movie Angelababy plays a police officer investigating the mysterious disappearance of a prized artifact.

The stars were joined by director Gao Qunshu and singer Na Ying, who provided the theme tune.

Actor Harrison Ford has joined the cast of the third film in the Expendables action franchise, while original star Bruce Willis won't be returning for the sequel.

The movie is to be directed by Patrick Hughes and will reportedly feature a younger group of action heroes who clash with the older generation before eventually coming together and saving the day.

'The Expendables' topped the US box office chart when it opened in August 2010, a feat repeated when its sequel was released two years later.

The Expendables 3, is due for release in August 2014 and will also star Jason Statham, Nicolas Cage and Chinese action hero, Jackie Chan.

The trailer for 'Enough Said', which features the last leading role of James Gandolfini - has released its first trailer.

The romantic comedy follows Eva who is left torn when she discovers her new love interest is the ex-husband of her new friend.

Sopranos actor-Gandolfini, died from a heart attack while on holiday in Rome with his 13-year-old son in June.

The film will premiere at the 2013 Toronto Film International Festival and will be released in selected cinemas in the US on September 20th.

Aniston and Sudeikis memorably shared the screen together in 2011's comedy, the hit "Horrible Bosses."

Like that film, "We're the Millers" - in which she plays a stripper posing as a mom - is also a dark, subversive comedy.

Sudeikis plays a pot dealer that has a stroke of bad luck and forced into smuggling marijuana over the Mexican border.

The Kick-Ass 2 director says that he is surprised with Jim Carrey's decision not to promote the film due to the level of violence it contained.

Carrey, who is well-known for his support of gun control measures,said that he could no longer support the project following the Sandy Hook school massacre.

Director Jeff Wadlow said that he had not spoken to Carrey since the actor made the announcement in June.

Kick-Ass 2 follows 2010's ultra-violent comic book movie and sees Chloe Moretz and Aaron Taylor-Johnson reprise their roles as high school pupils turned DIY superheroes Hit Girl and Kick-Ass.

新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2013/08/08（在线收听）