The Beijing Hour
Evening Edition
Mark Griffiths with you this Wednesday, May 14th, 2014.
Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital.
Coming up on the programme this evening...
A huge rescue operation is underway after a coal mine explosion in Turkey left over 200 dead and dozens of others injured.
As Ukraine prepares to host round-table talks to find a settlement to the crisis in the country, Russia says it's extremely important to implement a roadmap designed to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
A new round of nuclear talks among Iran and the P5+1 grouping is set to get underway today in Vienna.
Experts call for more stimulus measures, as the latest figures released by China's National Bureau of Statistics prompt concerns that the country’s economic growth may continue to slow down.
The Chinese authorities accuse GlaxoSmithKline's former China chief executive of ordering staff to bribe hospital officials to use its products.
In sport, striker Carlos Tevez has been left out of Argentina's preliminary 30-man squad for football’s World Cup.
And in entertainment, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing says she’s confident about her role as Blink in X Men: Days of Future Past, even though she only got to speak two words in the movie.
Weather
Beijing will be clear tonight with a low of 10 degrees Celsius. Cloudy tomorrow with a high of 28 degrees.
Meanwhile Shanghai will be cloudy tonight, with a low of 19, sunny tomorrow, with a high of 27.
Chongqing will have showers tonight, 17 degrees the low, showers tomorrow with a high of 23.
Elsewhere in the world, staying in Asia
Islamabad, sunny with a high of 31.
Kabul, sunny, 23.
Over in Australia
Sydney, sunny, high of 20.
Canberra, sunny, 18.
Brisbane, light rain, 22.
And finally, Perth will be sunny with a high of 22.
Top News
Turkish mine explosion death toll reaches 205
At least 205 miners are now known to have died and dozens of others have been injured in a coal mine explosion and fire in western Turkey.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz says over 360 miners of the 787 who were working underground have been accounted for, including the deceased.
"Unfortunately with the latest figures, the death toll exceeded 200. Among the wounded, there were some people who are not miners, some are people who arrived afterwards."
An electrical fault triggered the explosion and a fire in the privately-owned mine in Manisa province.
A huge rescue operation is underway to reach hundreds more miners still trapped underground.
It's the worst mining accident in Turkey for more than two decades.
Turkey has declared three days of national mourning for victims of the coal mine explosion.
Russia urges implementation of OSCE roadmap to solve Ukraine crisis
ANCHOR:Russia says it's extremely important to implement as soon as possible a roadmap to solve the Ukraine crisis. It comes as Ukraine gears up preparations to host round-table talks to find settlement.
CRI's Xie Zhao has more.
REPORTER:
The roadmap was proposed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE.
It calls on all sides to refrain from violence and urges an amnesty for those involved in unrest.
The authorities in Kiev are suggesting that any talks need to include international players.
Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
"Our position was, is and will be not changed. We consider that an international format of negotiations must consist of four sides - Ukraine, the European Union, the United States and the Russian Federation."
Ukraine is set to host round-table talks in Kiev.
It's part of the OSCE roadmap.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has voiced her support.
"We believe that the possibility of round tables, under the leadership of the OSCE, marks a good opportunity. The more are represented at these round tables, the better. But it is also clear that only those can be represented who are ready and make credible that they will not pursue their goals with violence."
But Pro-Russia supporters have refused to take part in these talks, which will include politicians and civil leaders from the country's east.
In another development, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warns Russia will face more punitive measures if Moscow interferes in Ukraine's presidential election scheduled for later this month.
"If there are obstacles preventing the election from taking place, we shall react, and possibly with new sanction. New sanctions can be finance, can be energy, can be defense, so far as the French nation is concerned."
The EU on Monday added 13 persons to the list of those subject to sanctions for alleged actions "undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence".
The number of such people now reaches 61.
For CRI, I'm Xie Zhao.
International human rights group claim Syria used chemical weapons in April
An international human rights group says it has strong evidence that Syrian army helicopters dropped bombs carrying chlorine gas on three rebel-held towns last month.
Tom Porteous is Deputy Director of New York-based Human Rights Watch .
"The evidence is overwhelmingly that this was the government forces, for the simple reason that these (weapons) were dropped from the air by helicopters and the Syrian government is the only belligerent that has helicopters in this armed conflict."
The report adds to concerns that chemical weapons are still being used in Syria, eight months after a chemical attack killed hundreds of civilians in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus.
The Syrian government has not immediately commented on the HRW claims.
The organization has accused rebels of using chlorine gas in the past.
In another Syria-related story, the United Nations-Arab League's special envoy for Syria is set to step down.
Lakhdar Brahimi's resignation from his post will be effective at the end of this month.
But Brahimi says he still feels the situation can be resolved.
"I am sure the crisis will end. The question is only, and this everybody who has responsibility and an influence on the situation has to remember, that the question is: How many more dead, how much more destruction there is going to be before Syria becomes again the Syria we have known?"
Brahimi has been contemplating quitting the position for the past year, but had been staying on at the request of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
A replacement for Brahimi has not yet been announced.
Iran and world powers to begin a new round of nuclear talks
A new round of nuclear talks among Iran and the P5+1 grouping is set to get underway today in Vienna.
The negotiations are expected to focus on a final agreement to limit Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons before a July 20th deadline.
July 20th is when an interim agreement hammered out by the two sides late last year expires.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says his country is determined to reach a new agreement.
"Now we should start negotiating and drafting text of the final agreement. Well it is a difficult stage. At the beginning of the talks in Vienna we planned several meetings for this purpose. There are still three rounds of talks excluding this round, so I am hopeful. We have come here with unflinching determination to reach a result, to reach an agreement, while protecting the rights of the Iranian people."
Under the temporary deal in November, Tehran agreed to cap its nuclear activities in return for an easing of sanctions.
World powers have long-been concerned that Tehran's real aim is to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran has consistently denied the charge, insisting that its nuclear program is for civil use only.
The Iranian authorities recently agreed to give UN inspectors more access to their nuclear sites.
Borno State governor says girls in Boko Haram video are amongst those abducted in Chibok
The governor of Nigeria's Borno state has said that young girls shown in a video released by the Islamist group Boko Haram, are among those abducted at a school in Chibok last month.
Kashim Shettima is the governor of the north-eastern Borno State.
"When that video became public, this gentleman made copies of them and sent them to us in Maiduguri (region in Borno State) and we directed the local government chairman to really summon some of the parents and teachers to come and identify their wards. So they were brought to Maiduguri and so far it's an ongoing exercise, they were able to identify 54 students by name."
The governor says he has passed reports of sightings of the girls to the military.
Shettima adds that the focus is on getting back the girls alive.
The extremist group is demanding the release of their jailed fighters in return for the girls, who have been threatened with being sold into sexual slavery.
In the meantime, Nigerians have taken to the streets of the capital Abuja, calling for more to be done to secure the release of the abducted schoolgirls.
As part of the search, the US has confirmed it is using drones to try to locate the girls.
Other countries including China, the UK and France are also providing resources to help find the girls.
Interim Thai PM meets election body to fix poll date
Thailand's interim prime minister is meeting the Election Commission in the hope of fixing a date for elections.
The government sees the polls as the best way out of the country's protracted crisis but its opponents will probably reject.
Earlier, the caretaker cabinet and the Election Commission had tentatively agreed to hold the elections on July 20th.
Last week, a court removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and nine of her cabinet ministers from office for abuse of power.
But the remaining ministers selected a new premier and the caretaker government is hoping for a July 20 election that Yingluck's Puea Thai Party would probably win.
China, U.S. have more common interests than disputes: premier
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has told visiting US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew that there are far more common interests than disputes between China and the United States.
The premier stressed that a sound China-U.S. relationship is conducive to the global economic recovery and world peace and stability.
He urged the two sides to sincerely respect each other's core interests to make sure the bilateral relationship will advance in a healthy and stable way.
For his part, Lew said the US is willing to work together to ensure success of the forthcoming round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
More Stimulation Needed for Steady Growth
Anchor: The latest figures released by the China's National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, has prompted concerns that the Chinese economic growth may continue to slow down.
Experts are calling for more stimulus measures to ensure steady growth.
CRI's Li Dong explains.
Reporter:
Official data from the NBS show that China's property development climate index dropped 0.61 points from March to about 95 points in April.
But Pan Jiancheng, deputy director-general of the China Economic Monitoring Analysis Center at the NBS, says the total amount invested in the property sector is still huge.
"The decelerated growth-rate in property investment is partially due to the fluctuation in the property market. Another reason is that the base figure of last year, which is used to make comparison, is high. If you look at the rate by average figure, the investment in the real estate sector is still high. The growth rate is also steady."
In April alone, the country's industrial added value rose 8.7 percent from a year earlier, but the growth rate was 0.1 percentage points lower than in March.
Niu Li, an economist at the State Information Center, says that in general, the downturn pressure in China's economy is obvious.
"From the figures we can see that all the growth rates in investment, consumption and industrial sectors are much lower than expectations. First of all, the year-on-year industrial growth rate is still lingering below 9 percent. This is very low and reveals that the manufacturing industry is still facing severe overcapacity. The major driver in our economic growth, which is fixed asset investment, is cooling down. Plus, the nominal consumption growth rate is much slower than our expectations. This shows that the performance of consumption is not very good."
Wang Jun, deputy director of the Consulting Research Department at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, says policy adjustment is needed to stabilize the economy.
"Under the condition of not changing the basic policy environment, some minor policy adjustment is necessary, either in terms of financial or currency policy. For instance, in the second half of this year, I think lowering the benchmark interest rate on a large scale is also an option."
Wang Jun adds that some precautions are necessary to avoid big fluctuations in the property market.
Home prices in some 70 major Chinese cities grew at a slower pace in March.
On Tuesday, Chian's central bank issued a statement, urging commercial banks to improve their housing finance services and give priority to loans for first time homebuyers.
For CRI, I am Li Dong.
PIK ON CHINA BECOMING WORLD'S LARGEST ECONOMY
ANCHOR:
There's been a growing amount of discussion in acadmeic circles this year here in China about the World Bank's suggestion that the Chinese economy may surpass that of the United States this year when it comes to purchasing power parity.
The PPP ratio is akin to the so-called 'Big Mac Index,' as it measures how powerful a currency is when it comes to purchases within ones own country.
Some are using the World Bank analysis as a catalyst to suggest China's economy is poised to surpass that of the United States.
For more on this, our reporter Zheng Chenguang spoke with Franklin Allen, professor of Finance and Economics for the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Franklin Allen, professor of Finance and Economics for the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, speaking with our reporter Zheng Chenguang.
Biz Reports
Stocks
Stocks in Asia lacked any clear direction today.
Chinese shares closed mixed, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down a tenth of a percent.
The Shenzhen Component on the other hand gained a fraction of a percent.
Hong Kong shares hit a three-week high, as property and banking stocks continued to rise after China's central bank urged mainland lenders to speed up the granting of home loans.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose more than one percent.
Japan's Nikkei average slipped from a one-and-a-half-week high on profit-taking after big gains the previous day. The benchmark Nikkei ended a few points lower.
Australia's ASX also went down slightly.
But in South Korea, the Kospi added nearly one and a half percent.
And Singapore's Straits Times Index added 1 percent.
Chinese police charge British former GSK China head with bribery
The Chinese authorities have accused GlaxoSmithKline's former China chief executive of ordering staff to bribe hospital officials to use its products.
Chinese police say they have charged Mark Reilly and two Chinese colleagues with corruption, after a probe found the firm made billions of yuan by bribing doctors and hospitals.
Former Glaxosmithkline executive Zhao Hongyan is one of the suspects.
"Once in Beijing, Mark Reilly, myself and Liang Hong were having dinner, and we briefed Mark Reilly on our relationship building efforts with the Beijing Industry and Commerce Bureau. During dinner, Liang Hong mentioned that costs would be involved when building relations with the Beijing Industry and Commerce Bureau. Mark Reilly's response at that time, in English, was 'Go ahead'."
The Chinese authorities announced in July last year that they were investigating GSK, and had detained four Chinese GSK executives.
GSK, Britain's biggest drugmaker, said then that it was co-operating with the investigation and that it had zero tolerance for such behaviour.
Interaction:
Tianjin may allow residents to buy third home: Sources
Tianjin, the municipality neighboring Beijing, may ease property regulations and join other cities in heating up the cooling down real estate sector.
Beijing Business Today says Tianjin may lift restrictions on residents purchasing a third property, citing sources in the industry.
Local residents may be allowed to buy a third home measuring up to 144 square meters in six districts in the city and a home that's less than 90 square meters outside those districts.
Restrictions on third-home purchase for corporations registered in the city and on non-local residents could also be lifted.
The report also says that if the policy is implemented, it could encourage other second- and third- tier cities to ease property restrictions.
Q&A on China Mobile revises its 4G tariff policies
Anchor:
China Telecom is seeking private investment to help it develop new businesses, like online payment systems and social networking.
The third-largest carrier in China says joint ventures and acquisitions are both possible ways for it to cooperate with private firms.
Meanwhile, China Mobile is revising its 4G tariff policies in an attempt to try to attract more users.
Starting today, any data its 4G customers have left-over at the end of the month will be rolled-over into the next month.
China's three state-owned telecommunications carriers have been targeted to push ahead with new reform measures.
For more on the move, Paul James spoke with Benjamin Cavender, Principal of China Market Research in Shanghai.
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Benjamin Cavender, Principal of China Market Research in Shanghai.
Headline News
Coal mine explosion likely to be Turkey's deadliest ever: minister
Turkey's energy minister says the coal mine explosion and a fire in the western Manisa province is likely to be the country's deadliest mining disaster ever.
Taner Yildiz says the death toll has risen to 205, with hundreds still believed to be trapped underground.
An electrical fault triggered Tuesday's explosion and a fire in the privately-owned mine in Soma when 787 workers were in the mine.
A huge rescue operation is underway to reach those trapped.
Ukraine to hold talks to curb violence
Ukraine is due to host round-table talks in Kiev amid efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the crisis in the country's east.
The talks will include members of the interim government and regional leaders, but pro-Russian separatists have refused to take part.
The move is part of a "roadmap" drawn up by the Organization for Security and Co-operation and Europe.
On Tuesday, seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed in an ambush by rebels in the east.
It's the heaviest loss of life for government forces in a single clash since Kiev sent soldiers to put down a rebellion in the country's east.
Nigeria government 'ready' for Boko Haram talks
A Nigerian cabinet minister says the government is ready to talk to Islamist militants to negotiate the release of more than 200 abducted schoolgirls.
Tanimu Turaki was responding to the Boko Haram leader's proposal that captured girls who had not converted to Islam could be swapped for jailed fighters.
Turaki said that if the offer is sincere, he should send representatives for talks.
The girls were abducted last month from a boarding school in the north-east.
A video emerged on Monday showing about 130 of the girls wearing hijabs and reciting Koranic verses.
Russian navy ships depart for joint exercise with China
Six Russian navy ships have left Vladivostok for Shanghai to take part in a joint naval drill with the Chinese navy.
The ships, including guided missile cruiser Varyag, from the Russian Pacific Fleet would take part in the drill in the northern part of the East China Sea.
This will be the third such exercise after joint drills off the coast of Russia's Far East in July 2013 and the Yellow Sea in April 2012.
Police closes investigation on GSK China's bribery case
Chinese police have finished the investigation on the suspected bribery case of GlaxoSmithKline China and handed it over to prosecutors.
Police in central China's Changsha city say the ten-month investigation has found that William Mark Reilly, a British national and executive of GSK China, had ordered his subordinates to commit bribery.
Reilly allegedly pressed his sales teams to bribe hospitals, doctors and health institutions through various means and gained an illegal revenue worth of billions.
Newspaper Picks
Shanghai Daily
"Big drop in takers for entrance exam"
The number of Shanghai high school students applying to take the college entrance exam continued to slide this year.
Lu Jing, deputy director of the Shanghai Education Commission says 113,600 students sat the test in 2006, but this year the total will be just 1,000 fewer than last year.
The main reason for the decline is the low birth rate in the city in the 1990s.
The downward trend is set to continue until at least 2017.
Lu also said that a lot of high school students these days are choosing to study abroad or go straight into work, which is fueling the decline.
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Southern Metropolis Daily
"Mobile spyware exposes users to privacy leakage"
A kind of mobile spyware with an eavesdropping function has spread widely on Android-based smartphones in China.
The stealthy Trojan virus called "bugging robber" can monitor and copy phone conversations, text messages, phone numbers and phone records, and send all the private information back to an email account set up by hackers.
The virus is hard to remove, and reinstalling the phone's system is the only way to get rid of it.
A mobile security expert at the 360 company advised users to be cautious when clicking on attachments in multimedia messages or allowing others to use their phones.
Users are also advised to check their cell phones when abnormalities in network traffic appear.
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CTV News (Canada)
"Red wine offers no magic pill for health, says study"
U.S. researchers may have found a flaw with the notion that people who drink red wine can somehow avoid the pitfalls of a high-fat diet.
A new study found that resveratrol -- one of the highly touted antioxidants in red wine -- did not help people live longer.
The research is published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association.
The latest study was based on measures of resveratrol levels in the urine of nearly 800 people in two small villages in Tuscany, Italy.
During the nine-year study, 34 percent of the subjects died, and researchers could find no correlation between early death and resveratrol levels.
Nor could they find any significant links between resveratrol levels and the development of cancer or heart disease.
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The Japan Daily Press
"Ambitious Japan start-up creates organic carbon battery"
A Japanese start-up company has developed a new battery technology in partnership with scientists from Kyushu University.
The battery is unique on many levels: it is made with sustainable materials, with safety and reliability at very high levels.
Both the anode and cathode of the battery are made of carbon.
The new technology is inside the Ryden Dual Carbon battery, an energy storage module that will have one of the longest functional lifetimes known in batteries.
The Ryden battery will have 3,000 charge or discharge cycles and can be charged 20 times faster than today's standard lithium-ion batteries.
Special Reports
Wearable Tech to Change the World by Zhang Jin
Anchor:
Scientists, industry observers and wearable technology entrepreneurs gathered in Tel Aviv on Monday to discuss how the technology trend is changing the world. Our reporter He Fei has more.
Reporter:
Have you ever imagined manipulating 3D images in the air like "Iron Man"? "Space-glasses," a wearable computing device, is making such an experience a reality.
During Israel's first wearable tech conference, Steve Mann, the "father of wearable computing" and chief scientist behind the augmented-reality glasses, says users will be able to interact with virtual objects in the real world with the device.
"The digital eye glass helps people see better and also gives you computer-mediated reality, something I call natural user interfaces where you'll touch and gage the real world naturally."
The conference features Robert Scoble, an American technical evangelist and the author of new book "The Age of Context". Scoble says five technology trends are going to change the world, including wearable computing, big data and data computation, sensor data, social networking and location data, and devices featuring such technologies will make our lives easier.
"It's trying to get ahead of you. It's trying to know your context, what you are about to do. It's trying to assist you as you are living your life. That's really where the steps going. This is going to change everything. Glass or watch shows your tweets, your friends of Facebook, and on and on. If it knows your context better, it can serve you better."
The wearable technology has been applied to various fields, such as health and security sectors, and has a great market prospect.
Misfit Shine, a small metal disc that you can wear in a number of different places on your body, has now been sold in 32 countries and is especially popular in China. Sonny Vu is the CEO of the device's manufacturer.
"It tracks how much you walk, how much you swim and cycle, just about any sport. And it also tracks your sleeping, how long you slept, and how well you slept. It's something that you can really wear all of the time. And most importantly, it's beautiful. You can synchronize with you iPhone or your Android phone and it tells you all sorts of useful information and gives you insight into how you are living."
Another product, which has drawn the interests of Chinese entrepreneurs to the conference, is a kids' GPS watch. Daniel Ivesha, president of the producer, says it is designed to help guarantee the safety of children.
"Normally a kid's life is filled with routine, he sleeps in the same place every night, he goes to school every day the same place, and our application remembers all these locations and establishes a safe zone. So as a working parent, you can sit in your office and receive notification, your son has arrived at school, your son left school, your son is on his way home.... We also have a panic button that if something happens, he can alert the parents immediately."
Shen Haiyan, vice president of Qihoo 360, says China has a large market potential for such smart devices. The company is also developing its own smart devices for Chinese users.
"The prospect of smart devices will be great. It will make our cities smarter, make our home smarter, and make our personal management smarter, such as health, security, information and activity management--so it is very meaningful."
For CRI, I'm He Fei.
Sports
Excitement goes on in the NBA playoffs semifinals
In the NBA playoffs,
A big win for Washington Wizards on Tuesday. They beat the Poland Pacers 102-79, and pulled the total score to 2-3.
With a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, the Indiana Pacers looked to close out the Washington Wizards at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana on Tuesday night.
Gortat had 31 points and 16 rebounds in the contest, but failed to lead the team to another win.
But the Clippers still hold the edge in the series, as the Head Coach of the Indiana Pacers explained.
"Clearly we didn't match their desperation and their physicality throughout the game. And obviously it was costly. Gortat and John Wall played sensational basketball games. And give them all the credit. We're still up 3-2. It's one loss, whether you lose by 20-something, you lose by one, it's one loss. We got to go back and respond for game six."
Game 6 of the series is on Thursday in Washington.
Meanwhile, a crazy finish was enjoyed by Thunder fans in the Western Conference Semifinals series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers.
With 17 seconds remaining, the Clippers were holding a 104-102 lead and the ball, with an inside track to taking a 3-2 advantage in this very competitive series.
But then a very controversial call from the referee changed all that and in the end the Clippers lost to Thunder 105-104. They also lost their edge in the series.
Updates from the Italian open in Rome.
In tennis,
On Tuesday, the Italian Open has reached its second round.
In the men's competition, Novak Djokovic marked his return from a right wrist injury by beating Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 6-3, 7-5.
Meanwhile Italian hope Andreas Seppi complained about a decisive time violation in a loss to Tommy Haas.
In the women's events, Chinese player Zhang Shuai managed to beat fifth seed Petra Kvitova 7-6/5-7/6-3 with some surprising play.
And the second seed Li Na beat Casey Dellacqua from Australia 6-1/6-4, which was also her 500th win in her career.
The tournament is the last key clay-court warmup before the French Open, which starts in two weeks.
Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and women's title-holder Serena Williams will open play on Wednesday.
New York Rangers beat Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 for series win
In the NHL playoffs,
The New York Rangers harvested a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night and earned a spot in the Eastern Conference finals.
Henrik Lundqvist's performance was a highlight of the game, as he set an NHL record with his fifth straight Game 7 victory, making 35 saves.
He also stopped 102 of the final 105 shots he faced over the final three games as New York advanced to the conference finals for the second time in three years.
In the playoffs, everyone would like to contribute as much as Lundqvist, but sometimes it is hard in such fierce competition, as Sidney Crosby explained after the match.
"Well obviously I would have liked to have scored more and contribute more but it wasn't a lack of effort or competing, or anything like that. I'd have loved to tear it up every series but it's not always the case so it doesn't make it any easier I tell you that it's tough losing as it is, but when you're not able to contribute as much as you'd like it's even tougher."
New York will play the winner of the Bruins-Canadiens series in the conference finals. That series is tied 3-3 and Game 7 is on Wednesday night in Boston.
Australia revealed their 30 squad for World Cup
Australia's national football coach Ange Postecoglou has revealed a youthful 30-man Socceroos preliminary squad for the World Cup finals in Brazil.
Postecoglou succeeded former German coach Holger Osieck just six months ago and had earlier expressed his preference for younger players.
What he values most is fitness, as he told a news conference in Sydney.
"I said all along that if people had the form and fitness that regardless of age or experience, if that form and fitness was warranted they would be in the squad and I think we've managed to do that,"
Some players in their early 20s were included in the squad with two uncapped contenders given tickets to South America.
They are forward Ben Halloran and his fellow 21-year-old Bailey Wright.
Other mild surprises were the inclusion of A-League goalkeepers Eugene Galekovic and Mark Birighitti ahead of Liverpool reserve Brad Jones.
Baltimore Orioles lose 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers
In Major League Baseball,
The Detroit Tigers beat Baltimore Orioles 4-1 on Tuesday.
As the leading team of the American League East, Baltimore Orioles met with Ian Kinsler on Tuesday night at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland.
In the game, Cabrera hit a three-run homer off Tommy Hunter with two outs in the ninth inning to move the Tigers in front 3-1.
With two strikes on him, Cabrera hit a zero-1 curveball over the center-field wall for his sixth home run.
And Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer off Tommy Hunter with two outs in the ninth inning.
Entertainment
Fan Bingbing Says Her Role in 'X Men: Days of Future Past' Is Shining
Chinese actress Fan Bingbing says she is confident with her role as Blink in the Hollywood film "X Men: Days of Future Past", though she really only had a fleeting speaking part in the movie when she said, "Time's up."
"Sometimes it's not the lines that matter. It's the impression that the role leaves on the audience. There are only a few actresses in the film, including Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Ellen Page. And no more. So, I consider that the role of Blink I played is shining."
Fan sat down with a reporter from CRIENGLISH.com before the premiere of the superhero film on Tuesday.
She elaborated on her history of collaboration with Hollywood stars.
"The greatest thing for me was knowing so many great actors, stars. They even became my friends. I learned from the Hollywood spirit of team professionalism. "
Fan, together with Hugh Jackman and Peter Dindklage, have attended a series of promotional events for the film in Beijing.
The film will hit Chinese screens simultaneously with the U.S. on May 23.
Comedy "The Seagull" debuts in Beijing
The comedy "The Seagull" debuts here in Beijing today at the Poly Theatre.
The play is the latest work by Taiwan-based director Stan Sheng-chuan Lai.
It is an adaptation of a comedy of the same name written by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov.
Another new work by Stan Lai, "I Take Your Hand in Mine," is also set to make its debut, along with "The Seagull."
Lai is known for his award-winning play "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land".
He has been described by the BBC as "probably the best Chinese language playwright and director in the world."
Daniel Craig honored by Museum of Modern Art
British actor Daniel Craig has received honors at the Museum of Modern Art's Party in the Garden in New York.
Graig is recognized for his continued support of the New York museum and the arts in general.
He has recently made New York City his home, and says the venue is just another thing he loves about the American city.
"I've been lucky enough to live in London which is a great city and kind of moving here is - it's kind of like, it always feels a bit like a bit of a step up. I miss London a great deal, but the city's always got something to offer. Something special, it's always exciting. I get a really big kick out of living here."
Craig will return to his James Bond role later in the autumn and is currently working on the final touches.
Biber accused of attempted robbery
Justin Bieber is being investigated by police over an allegation of attempted robbery.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department says the alleged incident took place at around 10pm on Monday night, and was reported to police on Tuesday.
Officers are going to interview the woman who made the complaint, and then may question the singer later.
20 year old Bieber reportedly tried to take a woman's phone.
The woman says the incident happened when she spotted Bieber playing mini golf in a park.
A quick recap of headlines before we go.
At least 205 miners have been killed and dozens of others have been injured in a coal mine explosion and fire in western Turkey.
As Ukraine prepares to host round-table talks to find a settlement to the crisis in the country, Russia says it's extremely important to implement a roadmap designed to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
The latest figures released by China's National Bureau of Statistics prompt concerns that the country’s economic growth may continue to slow down.
The Chinese authorities accuse GlaxoSmithKline's former China chief executive Mark Reilly of ordering staff to bribe hospital officials to use its products.
In sport, striker Carlos Tevez has been left out of Argentina's preliminary 30-man squad for football’s World Cup.
And British actor Daniel Craig has received honors at the Museum of Modern Art's Party in the Garden in New York.
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