The Beijing Hour
Evening Edition
It's Friday, November 8th 2013.
I'm Marc Cavigli, welcome to the Beijing Hour broadcasting live from the Chinese capital.
Coming up on our program.
Super Typhoon Haiyan slams into the Philippines.
The Chinese Premiere highlights major economic policies ahead of this weekend’s plenary session.
And the US may partially lift economic sanctions on Tehran.
Business, France’s credit rating is cut from triple-A to double-A status.
Sports, The Chinese Basketball Association kicks off its new season with a match between the Guangdong Flying Tigers and the Sichuan Blue Whales.
Entertainments, Thor: The Dark World smashes into Chinese theaters.
Plus Special reports warns consumers about fake websites that masquerade as real ones ahead of China’s Single’s Day.
Weather
Beijing will be cloudy with a low of 5 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow cloudy with a high temperature of 15.
Meanwhile Shanghai will be cloudy tonight, with a low of 18, cloudy tomorrow, with a high of 26.
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, sunny with a high of 23.
Kabul, sunny, 16.
Over in Australia
Sydney, sunny, highs of 28.
Canberra, sunny, 24.
Brisbane, sunny, 31.
And finally, Perth will also be sunny with a high of 31.
Top News
Typhoon Haiyan slams into the Philippines
At least 4 people have been pronounced dead after super typhoon Haiyan battered the central Philippines.
This year's world's strongest typhoon has forced millions of people to flee to safer ground, cutting power lines and blowing apart houses.
Haiyan, a category-5 super typhoon, is reported to have had maximum sustained winds of 314 kilometers per-hour, with gusts up to 379 kilometers per-hour shortly before landfall.
At least 29-thousand people have evacuated in the southern city of Surigao in Mindanao Island.
The Philippines President Benigno Aquino III has warned people to leave low-lying areas and has assured the public of the country's war-like preparations.
"As always, no storm can bring a united Filipino people to its knees. It is my hope that we all stay safe in the coming days."
An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.
In 2011, typhoon Washi killed 12-hundred people, displaced 300-thousand and destroyed more than 10-thousand homes.
China issues yellow alert for typhoon Haiyan
Meanwhile, China has issued a yellow warning for high seas and monster waves in the next 24 hours which are likely to be generated by super typhoon Haiyan.
Forecasters say 8 to 10-meter waves will appear near the center of the typhoon, making the South China Sea situation severe for shipping.
Chinese premier outlines major economic policies ahead of key party session
Anchor:
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has outlined the central government's major economic policies ahead of a key party meeting this weekend.
CRI's Su Yi has the details.
Reporter:
Li Keqiang has made the policy statement following a meeting with several senior provincial governors.
The Chinese premier is emphasizing the need to manage the economy "within a reasonable range", saying any massive disruptions could derail the economy and make it "very difficult" to recover.
Li Keqiang has told the group of provincial governors "development is the most important task for China".
He went on to lay out several major policy directions being promoted by his administration, including streamlining the government, delegating powers to local authorities, urban renovation, stabilizing consumer prices and job creation.
At the same time, Li Keqiang has warned the governors that ignoring social welfare issues could disrupt the "psychological bottom line" of Chinese society.
The four-day plenary session this weekend is expected to include discussions on a host of major new policies.
Both Chinese policy makers and observers have been suggesting ahead of this session that comprehensive reforms are a must, and must be brought in now.
Chinese Academy of Governance Professor Zhu Lijia,
"Social justice is a major issue China is facing now, including the widening income gap, corruption, agricultural issues, job creation as well as social integrity. These must be put onto the top agenda of this round of reform. We must reconstruct the core value and key strategy of reform by promoting social justice. Only a just society is sustainable and only a just society can make people satisfied."
Political analyst Yu Haisheng is echoing this view, saying comprehensive reforms will unleash the power of China in an unprecedented way.
"Once the key barriers hindering the reform of education, pension system, healthcare and Hukou can be broken, I believe it could unleash massive energy in the Chinese society. It is just like what the country did at the exact same session of the 11th Central Committee."
The policy roadmap of previous Chinese administrations is usually laid out by the central committee during the third plenary sessions, which happen every five years.
For CRI, I'm Su Yi.
Roadmap of Reform: Finance
Anchor:
Economic observors are predicting the upcoming meeting will highlight the importance of optimizing the allocation of resources in the financial sector.
CRI's Cao Yuwei has more.
Reporter:
China's financial system is largely supported by the banking sector, which contributes over 80-percent of the capital on the financial market.
Meantime, experts say the banking sector is dominated by the five largest state-own commercial banks, implying a large inequality in the distribution of resources.
Chief economist of China CITIC Bank, Chu Xinfang, says allocation of resources is a crucial part of financial reform.
"Based on the current situation, companies rely on indirect financing from banks, with direct financing such as from the stock market is still playing a supporting role. Such a financing system is not suitable for economic development."
He adds that to expand channels for loan floatation and set up a multi-layer financing system is urgently needed to meet up with market demand.
Chu Xinfang also says liberalizing interest rates and foreign exchange rates can help optimize the allocation of resources. However, currently the government's decision is still believed to be the major driving force behind the pricing mechanism in the banking sector.
Andrew Peaple with Wall Street Journal says mandated interest rates might lead to mispricing of credit.
"Broadly speaking, there is still a mandated interest rate for banks to lend and also a mandated interest rate for you place your deposits at the banks. And there is a gap between those two. That guarantees the banks a certain amount of profits. Now that has been the system to date. But obviously that can lead to what we call the mispricing of credit."
His suggestion is to let interest rates go with what the market will actually pay.
But he's also concerned a sudden reform may lead some companies to go bankrupt.
At this point, Chu Xinfang says it's an inevitable result of competition.
"The point is how to let uncompetitive companies orderly withdraw from the market. For example set up a buffering mechanism for companies going bankrupt."
Recently, the Chinese government has been working towards further opening up the financial market.
Policies are favoring entity economy and allowing private capitals into the banking sector.
With Shanghai Free Trade Zone as a pioneer project, experts believe much more is coming after the third plenary session.
For CRI, this is Cao Yuwei.
US may partially lift economic sanctions on Tehran
US President Barack Obama says if Iran halts advances and reverses parts of its nuclear program, Washington would partially lift the economic sanctions on Tehran.
However he notes that "core sanctions" would remain in place.
"We can provide them some very modest relief, but keeping the sanctions' architecture in place, keeping the core sanctions in place, so that if it turned out during the course of the six months, when we're trying to resolve some of these bigger issues, that they're backing out of the deal, they're not following through on it, or they're not willing to go forward and finish the job of giving us assurances that they're not developing a nuclear weapon, we can crank that dial back up."
The comments come amid ongoing talks between Iran and the P5 plus Germany.
Iran says a nuclear deal with world powers is possible later today, as the US secretary of state has changed his travel plans to attend.
John Kerry, now on a Middle Eastern tour, will fly to the Swiss city at the invitation of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Correspondents say his dramatic decision to change his travel plans is a clear sign a deal with Iran may be within reach.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif has said Iran would not suspend uranium enrichment completely but could "deal with the various issues on the table".
U.S. Secretary of State comments on peace talks between Israel and Palestinian
Fore more on Kerry's tour in the Middle East,
he has warned Israel that it could face a third Palestinian uprising and deepening international isolation if the American-brokered peace negotiations fail.
"If we don't end the presence of Israeli soldiers perpetually within the West Bank, then there will be an increasing feeling that if we cannot get peace with a leadership that is committed to violence, you may wind up with leadership that is committed to violence."
Friction over the talks has risen recently because of Israel's plans, announced in tandem with its release of 26 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel says the release is for some 35-hundred new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Both Israelis and Palestinians have given grim assessments of the lack of progress in their talks, which the United States helped revive last July after a three-year hiatus.
Israeli troops have shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab one of them at a West Bank checkpoint.
Israeli troops have shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab one of them at a West Bank checkpoint.
It's the second Palestinian fatality in the territory within a few hours.
A police spokesman says the Palestinian man had brandished a knife and ignored calls to stop before he was shot and killed.
In an earlier incident in another part of the West Bank, Israeli soldiers killed a man who fired a flare gun at Israelis at a roadside bus stop.
UK spy chiefs condemn Snowden revelations during testimony at parliamentary committee
Britain's spy chiefs have given public, televised testimony to British lawmakers for the first time ever.
The testimony comes amid a fierce debate over intelligence tactics following allegations of spying on other governments.
The security heads told lawmakers the leaks from the former US National Security Agency analyst, Edward Snowden, is threatening Britain's security and educating its enemies about how to avoid detection.
John Sawers is Head of UK Foreign Intelligence Agency M.I.6.
"The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging. They have put our operations at risk, it's clear that our adversaries are rubbing their hands with glee, al-Qaida is lapping it up."
The parliamentary committee has previously taken testimony in private from the security chiefs.
Brazil, Germany formally present draft resolution on internet privacy
Brazil and Germany have formally presented a resolution to the UN General Assembly, urging all countries to extend internationally guaranteed rights of privacy to the Internet and other electronic communications.
The draft resolution follows reports of the US eavesdropping on foreign leaders, including Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Peter Witting is Germany's UN Ambassador.
"Today, there seem to be hardly any technical limitations for accessing, storing or combining personal data. But should everything that is technically feasible also be allowed? Where do we draw the line between legitimate security interests and the individual right to privacy? And how do we ensure that human rights are effectively protected both online and offline?"
His comments were echoed by Brazil's UN Ambassador, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota.
"In the absence of the right to privacy, there can be no true freedom of opinion and expression, and no effective democracy."
Merkel and other European leaders have expressed anger recently after reports alleging the National Security Agency monitored Merkel's cell phone.
The reports also suggests that the NSA program has swept up millions of French and Spanish telephone records.
Tepco says they expect the critical removal of fuel rods to go smoothly.
The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company says the removal process of fuel rods has so far gone smoothly.
Workers at the plant are preparing to extract thousands of nuclear fuel rods from the fuel pool of the No. 4 reactor.
The critical removal is expected to take place next week.
However Akira Ono, head of Fukushima Daiichi plant, says the whole decommissioning process will take decades.
"The decommissioning will take 30 to 40 years from now, so we're focusing on preparing durable equipment as well as changing our operational system to be suitable to such prolonged tasks."
Well over 1-thousand fuel rod assemblies need to be removed from a potentially unstable building.
These fuel rods contain radiation equivalent to 14-thousand times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima 68 years ago.
The removal was approved by the Japanese government last month.
Chinese experts to inspect Syria's chemical weapons destruction
Anchor:
Three Chinese chemical experts are set to take part in a mission focusing on the verification and destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.
Our reporter Xiuqi has the details.
Reporter:
The three experts are now in Hague, the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons or OPCW.
They will be trained for 2-weeks before heading into Syria to join the mission to destroy the war-plagued country's chemical arms.
The three experts are Zhang Guohua and Guo Jianzeng from the Chinese army, and Yang Jianguo, a civilian chemical engineer.
All three experts are former OPCW staff members and are highly experienced in chemical weapons disposal.
Guo Jianzeng briefs what the Chinese experts will actually do in Syria.
"We may be involved in the destruction verification. We will follow all the procedures set up by the OPCW. There are a lot of provisions specified in the chemical weapons convention. One requirement is these weapons must be destroyed irreversibly. To reach this purpose, any inspector from any country we need to do the same, which is to verify these weapons are indeed destroyed and cannot be used again."
But Guo Jianzeng says they are still waiting for a detailed working plan from the OPCW.
Meanwhile, chemical engineer Yang Jianguo introduces the most likely ways in which Syria's chemical weapons will be destroyed.
"According to the technology available now, there are two ways to destroy chemical weapons. One is high temperature burning, which involves long periods of time and large amounts of investment due to the building of incinerators. The other way is to mix another chemical stuff to the chemical weapons so that the weapons can be finally destroyed."
Syria has agreed to destroy its entire stockpile of chemical weapons by mid-2014 under a US-Russian brokered deal.
Syria is believed to possess more than 1-thousand tons of the nerve gas sarin, as well as mustard gas and other banned chemicals.
The OPCW has said all 23 of Syria's chemical weapons-making facilities had been put beyond use ahead of a November 1st deadline.
The destruction of the equipment was the first step toward eliminating the country's arsenal of the banned weapons.
The OPCW is supposed to approve a detailed plan submitted by Syria by November 15th.
Chinese Foreign Ministry says China has always supported the OPCW to play a positive role in the destruction and verification of Syrian chemical weapons.
China also expresses readiness to provide capital and technical assistance.
For CRI, I'm Xiuqi
Biz Reports
Asia stock
Reporter:
Asian stock markets fell on Friday, as signs of strength in the U.S. economy increased expectations that the Federal Reserve may start to roll back its stimulus earlier than expected.
The initial reading for U.S. growth in the third quarter came out well above expectations, with GDP rising 2.8 percent -- higher than the 2.5 percent seen in the second quarter and more than the forecast 2 percent.
Chinese shares declined ahead of the CPC meeting on Saturday.
The Shanghai Composite moved down 1.1 percent.
The Shenzhen Component fell 1 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave up 0.6 percent.
In Japan,
Tokyo stocks ended sharply lower with the Nikkei 225 dropped 1 percent.
South Korea's Kospi lost 0.4 percent.
Singapore stocks finished lower on Friday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index trimmed 0.8 percent.
China's January-October foreign trade up 7.6 pct
Official data shows foreign trade volume here in China has increased 7.6 percent through the first 10 months this year.
The total volume of imports and exports has hit 21 trillion yuan, or almost 3 and a half trillion US dollars, with imports and exports both seeing increases.
Exports rose almost 8 percent annually while imports were up just over 7 percent.
Notably, private foreign trade companies have seen their transactions up more than 22 percent.
Huang Guohua with the General Administration of Customs explains.
"The structure of China's main foreign trade businesses upgraded and diversified showed that our imports and exports are less and less dependent on the foreign-funded companies."
Foreign-funded firms saw their trade volume grow 0.4 percent while transactions of the state-owned companies dropped 1.3 percent.
France's credit rating cut by S&P to AA
Global rating agency Standard and Poor's has downgraded France's credit rating by one notch to double A.
S&P says the high unemployment rate seen in France has made it difficult for the country to press ahead with reforms which may substantially boost growth.
France has responded by saying its debt is one of the safest in the eurozone.
French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici says S&P has made quote "inaccurate criticisms" of his country.
S&P downgraded France's credit rating from triple A to AA+ two years ago.
Twitter IPO and other corp news
Anchor:
Twitter has completed its first day of trading in New York.
The social media company priced its initial public offering at 26 US dollars per share, valuing the company at more than 18 billion US dollars.
Twitter opened trading at 45-dollars-10-cents a share in the first minutes of trading, which is a 73-percent jump from the initial asking price.
Twitter rose to as high as 50-dollars-9-cents.
However, it closed out trading on Thursday at 44-dollars-90-cents, meaning investors who bought shares at the opening price actually lost money.
The Twitter IPO has been the most anticipated since Facebook's lackluster 2012 debut.
For more on the issue and other corporation news, we spoke earlier with Doug Young, associate professor at Fudan University and former China company news chief at Reuters.
…
Back Anchor:
Doug Young, associate professor at Fudan University and former China company news chief at Reuters.
Internet changing China's manufacturing industry
In business, social networking has not only made a big splash in changing the landscape of broadcasting but also offers businesses the ability to get immediate and accurate user feedback.
Li Wanqiang, the Vice President of Xiaomi, a domestic tech firm, explains how his company and therefore its consumers have benefited.
"We've improved our products according to the customers' suggestions. I think this is the greatest innovation in Xiaomi."
Xiaomi collects their users' comments and suggestions through sites such as Weibo and regularly updates its system and adds new functions.
Xiaomi says one-third of its added functions are based on user demand.
This trend of incorporating social networks into the operation of firms has slowly been adopted by traditional manufacturers of products like home appliance makers as well.
Chinese goods giant Haier has developed its own online platform which has transformed into an R&D center.
Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin comments on the system.
"Now we can use resources around the world. Thus, we have a saying that the world is our development and research center and our human resources department. In this way, our vision has been broadened and we are in touch with global resources."
A week after the platform launched, some of the world's leading research organizations have interacted with the appliance giant.
Haier has integrated 100-thousand global R&D resources into its own platform.
Japan gov't debt hits record 1,011.2 tln yen at end of Q3
Government debt in Japan has hit a record high of 10.3 trillion US dollars through the first three quarters.
The country's finance ministry is estimating the debt level is about to hit 11.3 trillion dollars for the full fiscal year this year.
Total debt in Japan is now more than twice the nation's GDP for the past year, which registered at 4.8 trillion US dollars.
Headline News
China issues yellow alert for typhoon Haiyan
China has issued a yellow warning for high seas and monster waves in the next 24 hours which are likely to be generated by super typhoon Haiyan.
Forecasters say 8 to 10-meter waves will appear near the center of the typhoon, making the South China Sea situation severe for shipping.
At least 4 people have been pronounced dead after super typhoon Haiyan battered the central Philippines.
This year's world's strongest typhoon has forced millions of people to flee to safer ground, cutting power lines and blowing apart houses.
Haiyan, a category-5 super typhoon, is reported to have had maximum sustained winds of 314 kilometers per-hour, with gusts up to 379 kilometers per-hour shortly before landfall.
China's January-October foreign trade up 7.6 pct
Official data shows foreign trade volume here in China has increased 7.6 percent through the first 10 months this year.
The total volume of imports and exports has hit 21 trillion yuan, or almost 3 and a half trillion US dollars, with imports and exports both seeing increases.
Exports rose almost 8 percent annually while imports were up just over 7 percent.
Notably, private foreign trade companies have seen their transactions up more than 22 percent.
Chinese man detained over fatal Taiyuan explosions
An ex-convict has been arrested over the explosions outside a provincial Party headquarters in north China's Shanxi Province this week.
41-year-old Feng Zhijun, a resident of the provincial capital Taiyuan where the blasts occurred, was detained early this morning.
According to police he has admitted to the crime.
Self-made bombs were used in Wednesday's explosions, which killed one person and injured 8 others.
Feng has previously served nine years in prison for theft.
There's no word yet on his motive.
US may partially lift economic sanctions on Tehran
US President Barack Obama says if Iran halts advances and reverses parts of its nuclear program, Washington would partially lift the economic sanctions on Tehran.
However he notes that "core sanctions" would remain in place.
The comments come amid ongoing talks between Iran and the P5 plus Germany.
Iran says a nuclear deal with world powers is possible later today, as the US secretary of state has changed his travel plans to attend.
John Kerry, now on a Middle Eastern tour, will fly to the Swiss city at the invitation of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif has said Iran would not suspend uranium enrichment completely but could "deal with the various issues on the table".
Palestinian officials: Arafat death not natural
Palestinian officials say scientific reports on the death of former leader Yasser Arafat show his death was unnatural.
At a news conference, they said their investigations into Arafat's death in a Paris hospital back in 2004 would continue.
A report issued earlier this week by Swiss scientists said Arafat's remains contained high levels of radioactive polonium.
Head of the Palestinian investigation committee, Tawfig Al-Tirawi, says Israel is the prime suspect in Arafat's death.
Newspaper Picks
China Daily
"Shanghai requires license for electric bike riders"
The Shanghai municipal government announced says electric bike riders in Shanghai will have to obtain a license from March.
Violators will be fined up to 200 yuan.
License holders from another provinces or municipalities will also need a local license from Shanghai to use non-motor vehicles.
Electric bike riders must be over 16 and the speed limit will be 15 km per hour.
The number of registered non-motor vehicles in Shanghai currently stands at 14 million.
China News Service
"Chow Yun Fat says he will donate 99% of his wealth"
The moviestar from Hong Kong says he will leave the huge sum to charity after he passes away.
As one of the highest paid Asian actors, Chow makes 40 million yuan (6.6 million US dollars) per film.
Chow and his wife Jasmine Tan also own properties worth more than 1 billion HK dollars (129 million US).
Though rich, Chow has long lived a simple life. One of Chow's friends said the television at his home has been used for nearly a decade.
Chow said he makes a fortune from society, so it is natural to use it for the good of society.
The couple without children has not decided how to use the money for charity. Chow had said that his wife wanted to set up a foundation to help those in need.
Medical Daily
Another good reason to keep working on your Chinese and English
"Speaking A Second Language May Delay Dementia and Fight Cognitive Decline"
A researcher from Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences in India has released a new study that highlights the protective ability of bilingualism.
The researcher said speaking more than one language is thought to lead to better development of the areas of the brain that handle executive functions and attention tasks, which may help protect from the onset of dementia."
This was the largest study completed on the topic to date.
The researcher discovered that people who spoke two languages had delayed onsets of Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, as well as vascular dementia — even if the bilingual person was illiterate.
However, the study didn't find any extra benefit for multi-linguists.
BBC
"US moves to ban trans fats in foods"
US food safety officials have taken steps to ban the use of trans fats, saying they are a threat to health.
The Food and Drug Administration said the fats, also known as partially hydrogenated oils, are no longer "generally recognised as safe".
The regulator said a ban could prevent 7,000 deaths and 20,000 heart attacks in the US each year.
If successful, the heart-clogging oils would be considered food additives and could not be used in food unless officially approved.
The ruling doesn't affect foods with naturally occurring trans fats, which are present in small amounts in certain meat and dairy products.
Artificial trans fats are used as a way to improve the shelf life or flavour of foods.
They're created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, making it a solid.
Special Reports
Double 11 Day
Anchor:
Ahead of November 11th, known in China as Singles' Day, online sales have already begun peaking.
However experts remind consumers to be cautious about phishing websites, which are sites that masquerade as trustworthy entities to obtain a user's personal financial information.
CRI's Li Dong has the details.
Reporter:
Alibaba Group, operator of China's biggest e-commerce platforms, will offer huge sales deals on Nov. 11 via its consumer-oriented platform, Tmall.com. Tmall.com's sales reached 13.2 billion yuan--or 2.2 billion U.S. dollars--on the same day last year.
But capitalizing on the internet shopping craze on Single's Day is not only the main aim of China's e-businesses, it's also the aim of scammers who use phishing websites to compromise the finances of unwitting shoppers.
According to research by internet security companies, the number of phishing websites disguised as online shopping entities is soaring. On average, more than seven thousand phishing websites have been in operation since September.
Wan Renguo is an internet security engineer.
"We receive more than 70 internet fraud cases everyday. Each consumer reported a loss of about 1,000 yuan on average. We estimate the cases of e-shopping fraud will rise a bit in the coming days."
Wan Renguo says, as technology booms, e-criminals are likewise upgrading their tactics. With the ubiquity of smart-phones today, a hacker can break into someone's mobile device with, for instance, a seemingly harmless QR code that is said to facilitate an online discount. However, when scanned, the QR code leaks the personal information of the mobile device's owner.
Plus, he says, the lifespan of phishing websites is also becoming shorter, which makes it harder for police to track their activities.
"These phishing sites live by hours. They have one particular feature, which is, the site will be abandoned once people who set these sites up finish taking your money. When the victims report their loss to the police, the phishing sites have already disappeared."
Wan Renbo advises that consumers should learn the differences between phishing websites and real e-shopping sites. Likewise, he suggests that consumers regularly bookmark the online shopping sites they visit.
During last year's Single's Day, Tmall.com, together with taobao.com, reached a record high of 19.1 billion yuan in sales volume, which is considered a hallmark in China's e-commerce history.
Taobao.com was the first big e-retail platform that used the Double-11 idea to promote sales. Taobao.com reached one million yuan worth of sales volume on that day in 2009. In 2010, that volume increased to 936 million yuan. The figure climbed up to 5.3 billion yuan in 2011, putting huge demand on shipping services, also an iconic moment in e-commerce history. That figure doubled in 2012.
For CRI, I am Li Dong.
Sports
2016 Rio Games introduce sport event signs on the 1,000th day countdown
The Brazilian Olympic Committee has unveiled its event sign designs known as 'pictograms' before the 1-thousand day countdown this Saturday.
The pictograms cover all 41 Olympic events and 23 Paralympic events.
For the first time ever the Paralympic events will have their own signs, showing the handicaps disabled athletes have to cope with while competing.
Bess Lula is among the 20-plus professional designers involved in the project.
"Our designs captured the best Rio has to offer. The beautiful city-scape of Rio, the curves of the coastline, and combining them with athletic flexes of sports, we want to impress the viewers with the easy-going and sports-loving character of the people of Brazil and the people of Rio."
Rio 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro Brazil from August 5th to August 21st.
The Para-Olympic events fall on September 7th and draw to a close on September 18th.
New CBA season opens as Guangdong face off league debutants Sichuan
The Chinese Basketball Association's new season has just opened with the Guangdong Flying Tigers facing off against League debutants Sichuan Blue Whales.
Guangdong went into this match as the defending champions, having already won seven previous CBA seasons.
Sichuan was promoted to the top-flight this season, after claiming the championship of this past season's National Basketball League.
Before the game started, the Blue Whales got their CBA baptism as they watch league officials dishing off the champion rings to such Guangdong players as Yi Jianlian and Zhu Fangyu.
But Sichuan looks like a team not to be easily beat as the team is under the reins of Coach JT Prada.
Sichuan also have former Los Angeles Lakers guard Darius Johnson-Odom and NBA center Hamed Haddadi on the lineup.
The rest of the league kicks off on Sunday.
This year's seasons will have 18 teams competing.
Steve Blake's last second 3-pointer gave the Lakers a suprise win over Houston
Moving on to the NBA,
Steve Blake hit a three pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-98 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Lakers' Dwight Howard finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds against his former team.
Jodie Meeks scored 18 points off the bench to lead the Lakers while Wesley Johnson scored 16.
Harden produced 35 points and nine rebounds in pacing Houston.
Over in Miami, the Heat has extended their winning streak to three after beating the visiting L.A Clippers 102-97.
The Heat trailed for much of the game before rallying back in the third period.
Dwyane Wade dominated the fourth quarter by scoring 11 points to put Miami ahead.
Wade finished with 29 points and seven assists and LeBron James added 18 points and five rebounds.
The Clippers have dropped two in a row on the road, the last game of their three-game road trip brings them to Houston on Saturday.
And lastly, in Denver, the Nuggets have snatched their first victory of the season, fighting off Atlanta Hawks 109-107.
Ty Lawson had 23 points for Denver Nate Robinson added 15.
Millsap paced the Hawks with 29 points and 10 rebounds.
Djokovic into the last four at London, while Federer gets off the mark
From the ATP World Tour Finals in London,
Defending champion Navak Djokovic has reached the semi-finals, after beating Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The 26-year-old Serb absorbed some strong attacks by Del Potro before stretching away in the deciding set to earn himself a second victory in Group B.
Djokovic said afterwards that the timing of his matches helped him.
"I was fortunate enough that my, my group was selected to play Tuesday and Thursday and both the matches that I played I played on night, in the night at 8pm which helped obviously, which helped to recover, to gain more time, to get ready for the matches and even though I'm through to the semi's I, I want to win every, every match that I play in."
Earlier in the day, Roger Federer beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets to keep his hopes of making it to the semi-finals alive.
Federer dropped his opening match to Djokovic, and this time around made easy work of Gasquet 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 21 minutes.
The Swiss will next meet Del Potro on Saturday to see which will join Djokovic in the last four.
Rafael Nadal has already booked his place in the semifinals from Group A and secured his place as world number one in the process.
Evergrande to meet FC Soeul at home in 2nd Leg of AFC Champions League Final
Lastly, a kindly reminder that the much-anticipated second leg of the AFC Champions League finals are now just hours away.
Chinese Super League Champions Guangzhou Evergrande is looking to make history as the first Chinese club ever to win Asia's top prize in football.
Guangzhou had a 2-2 away draw against South Korea's K-League Champions FC Seoul in their first leg match a fortnight ago.
Guangzhou Midfielder, Dario Conca, said it is going to be amazing to play at home, but it is up to the team to put 100 percent effort into winning the game.
The deciding match will kick off at 8 pm Beijing time tomorrow at the Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium.
Entertainment
'Thor: The Dark World' Hits Chinese Screens
The highly anticipated new Thor film has debuted in Chinese cinemas today:
Director Alan Taylor's 'Thor: The Dark World' in 3D Imax, sees the God of Thunder in a swashbuckling battle to save the universe once again.
No sooner had he restored order to the nine realms, than a mysterious race from before the dawn of time awaken to thrust it into jeopardy once again.
As we heard from the clip he requires help from his duplicitous brother who remains as slippery as ever.
Chinese Show to Perform in Vegas
All tourists in Las Vegas will have a chance to enjoy a real Chinese style show starting next month.
Today in the 8th China Beijing International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo, Beijing Jingwen Communication signed a contract with the Las Vegas Sands to put on the show "Panda!"
Sands' is a subsidiary of the luxury hotel "the Palazzo".
This is the biggest contract ever signed during the expo.
John Carperalla, the President of the Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo says he's very optimistic about the show:
"I was introduced to Director Zhao and he talked to me about his vision of the show. We found it was very interesting, and talked about the enormous occasion. We learned more about the capability of his team and we then have the confidence of entering the agreement."
The stunning show follows the heroic quest of a warm and caring panda, on an adventurous mission to rescue his beloved princess from the malicious demon.
The show will feature an all Chinese cast.
It features some of China's finest high-flying acrobatics, sensational masters from the Shaolin Temple where Kung Fu was born, stirring music and beautiful dance, along with amazing stage design.
1108 Emma Thompson honoured with handprints at Hollywood Chinese Theatre
British actress Emma Thompson has become the latest to leave her hand and footprints in Hollywood.
The Oscar winner made her mark in the concrete outside the TCL Chinese theatre in the Hollywood Boulevard.
Members of the cast of "Saving Mr. Banks", a film about Mary Poppins screenwriter P.L Travers:
One of her co-stars, Tom Hanks, who plays Walt Disney in the film ,begged her to stay in LA:
"Please Emma, leave England. Come here. Live with us. Live amongst us. Los Angeles and Hollywood needs your sense and sensibility. In England they don't appreciate you like we do. The UK can make no sense of your sensibility. Los Angeles is the place where you should park your 'Howard's End."
Hanks there, punning off titles of Thompson films.
Korean films celebrated in New York
New York's Museum of Modern Art has been shining a spotlight on Korean cinema.
One of the films on show was Moon Byoung-Gon's "Safe" which won this year's Palme d'Or Prize for short film at Cannes.
The director said he wants people "to realize Korean movies are getting fun and thrilling and are getting better and better."
Also at the event was, perhaps the most famous Korean celebrity in the US, "Gangnam Style" singer Psy.
"Well, you know, like music and like what we've experienced with my song last year you know it's like not related to one country, like country to country, nation to nation, we are sharing all the things so if it is a good thing we've got to share everything. That's what I think and of course Korean movies, it's growing right now and I'm so proud about it."
The film "End of Animal," directed by Jo Sung-Hee was also screened. It's being remade as a U.S. movie.
Microsoft unveils new games for XBox One out on November 22nd
Microsoft has previewed a host of games ahead of the November 22nd release of the Xbox One.
Game designers say new graphics capabilities add stunning realism to the faces and features in games.
Advanced artificial intelligence also adapts to the way you fight enemies, like the endless hordes of zombies in "Dead Rising 3."
Advancements in the Kinect motion detector also immerse games like never before, and just listen to what they're doing with fitness games:
"We can tell where your muscle force is, where your weight transfer is. We can even go down to the level of reading your heart rate by looking at micro-fluctuations of blood flow in the face," said Microsoft Studios GM Dave McCarthy. "So we combine that level of insight and feedback with Kinect and then add Xbox Live on top of that and say we're going to connect you with your friends and the community overall and we're going to use challenges and achievements to make workouts motivating as well as insightful."
That’s it for this edition of the Beijing Hour.
A quick recap of headlines before we go.
Super Typhoon Haiyan slams into the Philippines.
The Chinese Premiere highlights major economic policies ahead of this weekend’s plenary session.
And the US may partially lift economic sanctions on Tehran.
Business, France’s credit rating is cut from triple-A to double-A status.
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