新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2015/01/06（打印版）

Leaders from Latin America and the Caribean will gather in Beijing later this week to discuss deeper cooperation with China...

Chinese authorities have lodged formal representations to North Korea over the deaths of four Chinese citizens...

And Chinese authorities express concerns over a flag-raising incident at Taiwan's Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, DC...

In business...China's quota system for rare earth minerals has been scrapped...

In Sports...Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympic bid will formally be submitted today...

In entertainment...a Chinese composer will present his works at an international theatre festival...

Beijing will be sunny today with a high of 4, clear tonight with a low of minus 6 degrees Celsius.

Shanghai will be rainy with a high of 18, turn to snow in the evening with a low of 5.

Twenty foreign ministers from member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States will be gathering in Beijing later this week to discuss elevating cooperation between China the region.

It's expected that the Sino-Latin American and Caribbean Cooperation Plan for the next five years proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year, will be approved at this week's meeting.

Zhu Qingqiao, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official, says elevating cooperation to a comprehensive level is the common wish of China and the Latin America and Caribbean region.

"We believe that development in our respective countries means opportunities for each other. Countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean have a strong will to deepen cooperation with China. Both sides are eager to have higher-level cooperation, and this has become our common wish and a shared strategic choice."

Zhu says discussions will be focused on exploring further cooperation in such areas as politics, diplomacy, trade, and economy, as well as people-to-people exchanges.

The presidents of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela and the prime minister of the Bahamas will be among the leaders present at the first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC forum.

The cooperation platform was established last July during Chinese President Xi Jinxing's visit to Latin America.

The UN economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Bank of America, and Development Bank of Latin America will also send representatives to the meeting on Thursday and Friday.

China says it has lodged representations to North Korea over the killing of four Chinese citizens by a runaway North Korean soldier.

It is reported that the soldier killed the four Chinese citizens during a robbery late last year after he crossed the border into China in search of food.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says China's public security department will handle the case in line with relevant laws.

Japanese PM announces plans for a new statement related to its aggression history

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced plans to put together a new statement in connection with Japan's aggression during the Second World War.

Abe made the announcement following a stop at a war memorial in western Japan.

"The Abe cabinet will uphold the general stance of history by successive prime ministers, including the Murayama statement."

The Murayama statement, issued under former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995, is viewed as Japan's main expression of remorse for its colonial past and actions during the war.

Animosity towards Japan's actions ahead of and during the Second World War has long been a stumbling block in the country's relationships with its neighbors in the region, including China.

Meanwhile China has issued a response to Abe's statement, urging the Japanese leader to remain consistent in words and actions

"Only by honestly facing up to the past can Japan have a real future. We hope the Japanese will match their words with actions, adopt a correct attitude towards history, keep all the promises they have made so far on the historic issues, deeply learn lessons from history, choose the direction of peaceful development and play a constructive role in regional stability."

Last week, Japanese Emperor Akihito said in his New Year statement that Japan should learn from its history. 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

China is urging the United States to be cautious in its approach to Taiwan-related issues.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was responding to a flag-raising ceremony held on New Year's Day by Taiwan's Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington.

She says China has lodged a protest with the US and urged Washington to respect the One-China policy.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says the flag-raising is "not consistent" with the policy of the Obama administration.

"We did not know about the January first flag-raising at Twin Oaks in advance. The ceremony is not consistent with U.S. policy. We remain fully committed to the U.S. One-China policy based on the three communiqués and the Taiwan Relations Act. No U.S. government personnel attended the event in any capacity."

Taiwan media says the ceremony in Washington marked the first time the Taiwan flag had been raised in the US in more than three decades.

The Chinese maritime search and rescue force has sent a rescue vessel to help search for the black boxes of crashed AirAsia flight 8501.

The rescue vessel, Nanhaijiu 101, meaning 'South Sea Rescue', is expected to reach crash area in the Java Sea off Indonesia within four days.

The Chinese vessel has echo-sounding apparatus and other necessary submersible devices for the search operation.

"The experts will mainly take charge of data analysis, providing rescue guidance, intellectual support and decision reference."

In the meantime, Nanhaijiu 115 is also standing by near Yongxing Island in the South China Sea to join the search and rescue work, if needed.

AirAsia flight 8501 went down during bad weather soon after taking off from Surabaya in Indonesia's East Java en route to Singapore with 162 people on board.

Meanwhile an Indonesian navy ship has found what could be the tail of a crashed AirAsia passenger jet, the section where the crucial flight data recorders are located.

The patrol boat's captain says there's a "high probability" the tail of the plane has been found.

The head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency says they are trying to confirm the finding.

Bad weather has persistently hampered efforts to recover bodies and find the plane's black boxes, data and voice recorders that should explain why the plane crashed into the sea.

Three have been confirmed dead and one injured in a landslide that near an expressway tunnel in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The three victims were found in a car that was crushed by debris in Zunyi City on Sunday afternoon.

The slide debris covered almost a 200-meter-long section of the expressway, blocking traffic.

Over 700 people have been aiding the search and rescue effort after the disaster.

French President Francois Hollande says economic sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis should be lifted if Moscow makes progress in restoring stability in the region.

Hollande brokered the first ice-breaking meeting between Ukrainian and Russian leaders last June.

Speaking to French radio, he says Russia has paid a price for its annexation of Crimea and its activities in eastern Ukraine with the falling ruble and a deteriorating economy.

"If Russia has a crisis, it is not necessarily good for Europe so I'm not for the politics of the worse. And I think that now the sanctions must be stopped, in the sense that they must be lifted if there is some progress. If there is no progress, the sanctions will stay in place."

Hollande also pledged to push ahead diplomatic efforts to promote dialogue and reach a lasting compromise to the crisis during the Astana gathering on Ukraine set for Jan. 15.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has invited the leaders of Russia, France and Germany to talks in the Kazakh capital in an attempt to restore peace to Kiev's eastern regions.

However, Germany has cast doubt on whether the summit will take place, saying it depends on real progress on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

Turkey and the United States are expected to sign a deal this month to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters as part of efforts to battle Islamic State militants in Syria.

The training and equipping program is expected to launch in March, and simultaneously in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The program aims to train a total of 15,000 Syrian opposition fighters over a three year period.

One third of them will be trained at a military base in the central Turkish city of Kirsehir.

A committee of Turkish and U.S. officials will decide on which Syrian opposition fighters to be trained.

Ankara and Washington have been in negotiation on how to respond to the crisis in Syria.

Turkey is reluctant to take robust measures and declined to be a fully-fledged part of the anti-IS coalition unless Washington agrees to adopt an "integrated strategy" that also targets the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Washington is also pressing Ankara for the use of an airbase in southern Turkey for operational needs of anti-IS coalition members.

Two US citizens have been charged in the United States over the recent failed coup attempt in Gambia.

Fifty-seven year old Cherno Njie and 46-year-old Papa Faal, who is also a citizen of Gambia, were arrested after returning to the US following the December 30th coup attempt.

US Attorney-General Eric Holder says the two are accused of conspiring to carry out the violent overthrow of a foreign government, in violation of US law.

The two suspects have been scheduled to appear separately in a federal court in Baltimore.

There are reports that Faal has admitted to investigators that he joined the coup attempt and that he has singled out Njie as a coup leader and main financier.

After the thwarted attack on Gambia's presidential palace, the country's leader accused unidentified foreign dissidents and "terrorists" of being behind the incident.

The trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev began with the start of jury selection in Boston.

Over the next three days, about 1,200 people will be summoned to federal court to be considered as potential jurors.

The first 200 were given initial instructions by U.S. District Judge George O'Toole, with Tsarnaev present at the front of the jury assembly room.

"If it's all over the news and everything I'm sure it's going to be a difficult moment for everyone."

"It's going to painful, of course, to relive something so traumatic but I think: who could handle it better than the citizens of Boston?"

The judge says testimony will begin on Jan. 26th and the trial is expected to last three to four months.

A Chinese spacecraft will return to the moon's orbit in mid-January to conduct additional tests ahead of the Chang'e-5 lunar mission in 2017.

The craft is the service module for a test lunar orbiter launched late last year which serves as the scout for the Chang'e-5 lunar mission.

The test lunar orbiter returned to earth on November 1 and the service module has stayed in space after their separation.

Zhao Wenbo is a vice director with the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

"We'll use the effective load of the service module to get high-definition images of the projected lunar-sampling region to ensure the success of the Chang'e-5 mission of landing on the Moon, gathering samples from the moon, and returning,"

China will launch the Chang'e-5 mission in 2017, which is expected to return to earth with lunar samples.

China's lunar orbiter program was the world's first mission to the moon and back in some 40 years, making China the third nation to complete a return mission to the moon after the Soviet Union and the United States.

Authorities in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have confirmed that a second giant panda has died after contracting a measle-like virus.

8-year-old panda Da Bao, who developed a twitch after being infected with canine distemper virus, died on Sunday afternoon from heart failure and lung edema.

The first panda, 8-year-old Cheng Cheng, died of the same disease in early December.

Another two pandas infected with distemper are still struggling to survive, with one in critical condition.

However, distemper can also attack an animals' brain or spinal cord, and the result of that is almost always fatal.

Jin Yipeng, associate professor from China Agricultural University, explains why female giant pandas seem more vulnerable to distemper.

"The reason why more female giant pandas were diagnosed with distemper in our center is probably that most giant pandas here are female. In the wild female giant pandas more frequently contract diseases or get hurt, so there is a high ratio of female giant pandas in the center."

18 of the healthy pandas at the research facility have been moved to different sites.

Around 30 specialists from around China are working at the zoo in Xi'an to try to help the pandas through their infections.

An official assessment report released shows the ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau is moving in a positive direction, despite the shrinking of glaciers in the region due to rising temperature in recent decades.

The assessment, which began in 2012, was jointly launched by the Tibet Autonomous Region government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Jiang Bai, director of the Environment Protection Bureau of Tibet, says this work is greatly helpful to the local ecology and environmental protection of the region.

"There are both macro- and micro-level assessments on the changing environment of the Tibetan plateau, which provides us with scientific guidelines and also makes our policies more scientific. For example, projects that may cause adverse impact on the environment will be banned. The government spends over 10 billion yuan each year in environmental protection and ecological construction."

The assessment covers 26 indexes including such metrics as temperature and rainfall

The report also says the temperature on the Tibetan plateau during the past 50 years has risen two times faster than most regions on earth. It predicts that glaciers in the region will shrink another 10 to 30 percent by 2050.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Monday with major indices dropping more than 1.5 percent. Energy shares lead the decline as global economic concerns were compounded by swooning oil prices.

The energy sector tumbled nearly 4 percent, with shares of energy giants Chevron Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation decreasing 4 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

U.S. crude for February delivery fell below 50 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time since April 2009 in the session.

Brent crude for February also dipped to its lowest price in more than five and a half years.

Shares posted a broad-based sell-off on Monday as investors meditated on falling oil prices and Greece's political uncertainty.

The Chinese government has scrapped its quota system on the export of rare earths.

This follows a World Trade Organization ruling which has determined the quota system gave an unfair advantage to domestic producers.

Rare earths are 17 different metals heavily used in the development of high-tech components, including cell phones and other microchip-based technology.

China accounts for over 90 percent of global rare earth production, despite only having a third of the world's deposits.

The government brought in the quota system as a way to limit the ecological damage caused by rare-earth mining.

China Southern Airlines says it has removed its chief financial officer and an executive vice president from their posts amid an ongoing probe by China's top anti-corruption body.

China's largest air carrier says the two are being investigated for "job-related crimes."

The move brings the total number of executives of the state-run Chinese airline under investigation to four.

The company said last week that it removed its chief operating officer as well as an executive vice president from their posts for similar reasons.

The removals come after a month-long on-site inspection by the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that started in late November.

Founder Group has announced on its website that four company executives are under investigation.

Meanwhile Li Guojun, President of PKU Healthcare is also reportedly under investigation.

The announcement from Founder Group has not revealed any details about the investigation.

However media reports have suggested that it might involve with allegedly insider trading of the PKU Healthcare.

According to the announcement, the company's board of directors has elected three new members to replace those who are under investigation.

China's central government is defending reforms to executive payment at centrally-administrated state-owned enterprises. The changes took effect at the start of the year.

Authorities say the reforms will trim certain salaries by as much as 70-percent.

In the pilot reform, around 200 executives from 72 different SOEs are going to see their salaries capped at 600-thousand yuan, or 100-thousand U.S. dollars, per year.

Part of their salaries is now being based on the long-term performance of their companies, with part of their salaries being calculated only at the end of the year, when the annual results of a company are known.

He says the new salary structure also takes into account the variations in being an executive at different state-run companies.

"Take the nature of companies for example: the profits made by companies in a highly competitive industry should be higher than the profits made by monopolies and non-profit organizations. From this perspective, the salaries of executives work for these companies will be adjusted accordingly, compared to those who manage SOE's with smaller capacity."

The massive salary gap between what SOE top executives have been making compared to the average worker at the same company has generated a lot of complaints over the years.

Senior managers had been earning as much as 30-times what an average employee was making.

Ye Tan, a financial commentator for CRI, says the salary reforms is meant to help make managers more accountable.

"Their expenses, apart from their salaries, have long been included in an SOE's operating costs. But now, we've changed the system so managers have to be more accountable for what they spend."

As part of the changes, the salaries of SOE executives are also going to be made public.

BMW has agreed to pay some 5 billion yuan or 820 million U.S. dollars to subsidize its dealers in China.

BMW's Chinese dealers have been pressuring the automaker to share the cost of overstocked showrooms in the country following a year of poor sales.

The China Automobile Dealers Association claims that around 70-percent of all BMW dealers in China suffered losses last year.

The Association also says average dealer inventories are running at 1.8 times what they're actually selling.

Other foreign automakers including Toyota are also negotiating with their dealers in China over the same issue.

Car sales growth in China was expected to halve to 7 percent last year, bringing demands for compensation from dealer groups which had bought vehicles on expectations of rapid growth.

Bank of China has been authorized to conduct RMB clearing business in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur.

RMB clearing business in overseas markets has become a major tool in promoting globalization of the Chinese currency.

Bank of China's cross-border RMB clearing transactions totaled close to 215 trillion yuan or 35 trillion U.S. dollars during the Jan.-Nov. period last year, up about 88 percent year on year.

Alibaba's financial affiliate has started an arbitration proceeding to claim its 51 percent stake in the fund firm Tianhong from Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy & Chemical Industry.

This comes after Junzheng refused to inject capital into Tianhong Asset Management and dilute its stake as agreed between the company and Alibaba.

Alibaba Ant Small & Micro Financial Services expected to own 51 percent of Tianhong after the completion of the deal, with Junzheng's stake decreasing from 36 to about 15 percent.

The deal has caught public attention since May last year when Chinese regulators approved Alibaba Ant Small & Micro Financial Services to take control of the fast-growing fund firm.

Officials in Germany say the country's annual inflation rate slumped to its lowest level in more than five years in December.

It's expected that the Sino-Latin American and Caribbean Cooperation Plan for the next five years proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year, will be approved at this week's meeting.

The presidents of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela and the prime minister of the Bahamas will be among the leaders present at the first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC forum.

The cooperation platform was established last July during Chinese President Xi Jinxing's visit to Latin America.

China says it has lodged representations to North Korea over the killing of four Chinese citizens by a runaway North Korean soldier.

It is reported that the soldier killed the four Chinese citizens during a robbery late last year after he crossed the border into China in search of food.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says China's public security department will handle the case in line with relevant laws.

Rescuers have pulled 14 people alive from a foundation cave-in at a construction site in Guangzhou City.

The city's fire authorities have confirmed the workers were buried on Monday night.

Two US citizens have been charged in the United States over the recent failed coup attempt in Gambia.

Fifty-seven year old Cherno Njie and 46-year-old Papa Faal, who is also a citizen of Gambia, were arrested after returning to the US following the December 30th coup attempt.

The two are accused of conspiring to carry out the violent overthrow of a foreign government, in violation of US law.

After the thwarted attack on Gambia's presidential palace, the country's leader accused unidentified foreign dissidents and "terrorists" of being behind the incident.

The trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev began with the start of jury selection in Boston.

Over the next three days, about 1,200 people will be summoned to federal court to be considered as potential jurors.

The judge says testimony will begin on Jan. 26th and the trial is expected to last three to four months.

Some supermarkets in Beijing canceled big sales events in the wake of the horrible stampede in Shanghai.

But markets and stores should take precautions a week before any promotion campaign.

A man got one year sentence in jail for running a factory which disposed pollutants into a nearby river in Changsha county, Hunan province.

This is the first criminal case in Hunan after new rules on environmental protection took effect at the beginning of this month.

Authorities in China have declared no construction permits will be given for projects where workers are not provided with injury insurance.

The ministry of Human Resources and Social Security says China's construction sector employs nearly 45 million, including about 36 million migrant workers who are vulnerable to rights violations.

Experts say another problem is subcontracting to agents who are not qualified, an illegal practice that must be stopped.

Shanghai was shrouded in dense fog, causing the cancelation of 30 flights, and lengthy delays on roads and public transportation.

The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau issued a yellow alert for fog early yesterday.

Seven international and four domestic flights were diverted to Hongqiao International Airport from Pudong airport, while more than 100 others were delayed due to the heavy fog.

A couple was rescued after spending 17 hours lost on a mountain in Fengdu county, Chongqing.

Stamps featuring the goat from the Chinese zodiac have been released in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, attracting hundreds of local residents to line up for them.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2015 is the Year of Goat, the eighth in order of the 12 zodiac animals.

The local postal authority also held an exhibition to display zodiac-themed stamps from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The exhibition will conclude on Jan 11th in Guangzhou, which is historically known as the city of the goat.

Tributes have been rolling in following the death of He Zhenliang, a former International Olympic Committee vice president from China who died on Sunday at the age of 85.

Nicknamed "China's Mr. Olympics", He Zhenliang was best known for helping Beijing secure the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.

He began working on the administrative side of sports way back in 1955 as a member of China's national sports administration.

"For all these past decades, I had always been thinking about China's bid for hosting the Olympics. I had been gathering materials and seeking to establish friendship with IOC members. All of these preparatory work I had done was useful for China's successful bid for hosting the Olympics."

He Zhenliang was elected to the IOC in 1981 and became its vice president in 1989, remaining in the position for four years.

During his almost 30 years at the IOC, He Zhenliang was also a strong advocate for adding diversity and dynamics to the international Olympic movement.

"Our responsibility is to safeguard the legitimate rights of developing nations in the international sports arena while challenging the traditional 'Europe-centric' views of the IOC. I stressed on the importance of cultural diversity, the spread of the Olympic movement and respect for different cultures on many occasions. I'm very happy that we have made some progress in these regards."

Cities in developed nations had almost exclusively been the choice of the IOC to host the Olympics before the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

But through the help of people like He Zhenliang, this trend seems to be changing, with the IOC awarding the 2016 Summer Olympics' to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

The death of He Zhenliang has created an outpouring of condolence on the internet, with many people taking time to remember his contribution to Chinese sports and the Olympic movement as a whole.

Current IOC President Thomas Bach has also praised He Zhenliang as a "true advocate of the social values of sport and of the Olympic Movement."

The IOC is flying the Olympic flag at half-staff for three days in tribute to He Zhenliang.

Beijing will formally submit its 2022 Winter Olympic Games bidding report to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland today.

Chinese Olympic Committee president Liu Peng and Beijing 2022 Bid Committee president and Beijing mayor Wang Anshun headed the team, whose presentation in Lausanne will weigh heavily in Beijing's bidding process.

The IOC will send an evaluation team to China in March before it elects the host city of the 2022 winter Games from either Beijing or Almaty, Kazakhstan, on July 31 in Kuala Lumpur.

Beijing would co-host the Games with Zhangjiakou, a Hebei province city some 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing, if it wins the 2022 bid.

Ice sports would be staged in Beijing, while snow events would be held in Zhangjiakou.

Chongqing is away to take on Zhejiang Chouzhou at the Yiwu Maeho Sports Center.

Zhejiang looks to avenge their 120-116 loss to Chongqing back in late November.

League leaders Golden State Warriors are looking for their third win this season in as many tries against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Eastern Conference leading Atlanta Hawks are westward-bound to face a strong LA Clippers team that is 15-4 at home.

But the Hawks are on fire, coming into the last leg of their road trip with seven straight wins against Western Conference teams; a win over the Clippers would be their eighth.

The Los Angeles Lakers hit the road to take a Portland Trailblazers team coming off a red-hot mid-season.

The Washington Wizards look to down the New Orleans Pelicans when they face off,

China's Zheng Saisai faces Slovanian Polona Hercog. Zheng is still in singles action after her compatriots Shuai Peng, Qiang Wang and Duan Ying-Ying were ousted in first-round action.

And fourth-seed Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas hits the court against Hungary's Timea Babos.

Women's singles action is set to kick off at 6 p.m. Beijing time when Third-seeded German Angelique Kerber takes on Russia's Daria Gavrilova

Second-seed Serb Ana Ivanovic goes head up against Slovakia's Jarmila Gajdosova,

And Seventh-seed Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro takes on Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni

A home-court battle will take place when Australian's Thanasi Kokkinakis and Bernard Tomic meet on the court later today.

Third-seed Czech Tomas Berdych hits the court against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

Two goals from captain Steven Gerrard saw Liverpool through 2-1 against AFC Wimbledon in the third round of the FA Cup on Monday

The 34-year-old Liverpool captain netted first with his head after 12 minutes.

AFC Wimbledon usually play in League 2 - the lowest rung of English league football.

But the strong striker Adebayo Akinfenwa put away a scrambled goal in the 36th minute.

Liverpool looked to be vulnerable, but Gerrard stepped up to take a free kick in the 62nd minute.

He curled his shot past goalkeeper James Shea to kick off Gerrard's final FA Cup campaign with a narrow 2-1 victory.

Chinese composer Tan Dun will be presenting his work at the International Theater Festival in Santiago.

Tan, an Academy Award-winner for his original scores in the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," will present "Martial Arts Trilogy" on Sunday 11th at the Constitution Square.

He will later present a new multimedia production called "Nv Shu: The Secret Songs of Women," which pays tribute to the unique lyrical traditions of the women of China's southeast Hunan Province, where the composer was born.

"Nv Shu" consists of 13 movements, each accompanied by short videos shot by Tan.

The festival will feature other works by Chinese composers and performance artists, including "Melodies of Spring" and "Gang of Butterfly Girls."

The cast of high flying Chinese movie "Triumph in the Skies" have begun promotions for the film, set to be premiered on the first day of China's Lunar New Year.

As the first film adaptation of the hit TV series with the same title, which began broadcasting in 2003, the movie follows the romantic struggles of three flight crew couples.

With the release of its screening date on Feb 19th this year, the producers expect the film will be a top earner in the Chinese box office during the holiday season.

The flight-theme production stars Sammi Cheng, Golden Horse best-actor winner Francis Ng, Julian Cheung, Charmaine Sheh and Amber Kuo.

At the promotion of the film, executive producer Tommy Leung predicted that the collection of top stars will create a big base of fans flocking to the cinemas.

"Birdman" and "Boyhood" two of the front runners for Hollywood's film honors this year have been nominated for the top Producers Guild Award.

Among the 10 films nominated for outstanding producer in a motion picture were "Nightcrawler" and the tale of a drummer's obsession in "Whiplash," both small independent films with Oscar chances.

The notable exclusions were two films that opened on Christmas day, Angelina Jolie's World War II survival story "Unbroken," and the civil rights drama "Selma."

Clint Eastwood's portrayal of an Iraq war hero in "American Sniper" made the list, as did two British biopics," The Imitation Game" and "The Theory of Everything."

Rounding out the nominations were "Gone Girl", "Foxcatcher" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel."

Twentieth Century Fox has shattered the global box office record, earning more than 5.5 billion US dollars in 2014.

Thanks to films "Gone Girl," "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" Fox has made an improvement of more than 350 million dollars, from the previous industry benchmark, which was set by Paramount in 2011.

Eight of the studio's films passed the 100 million US dollar mark Stateside and 13 trumped that figure overseas.

Leaders from Latin America and the Caribean will gather in Beijing later this week to discuss deeper cooperation with China...

Chinese authorities have lodged formal representations to North Korea over the deaths of four Chinese citizens...

And Chinese authorities express concerns over a flag-raising incident at Taiwan's Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, DC...

In business...China's quota system for rare earth minerals has been scrapped...

On behalf of the Beijing Hour staffers, this is Shane Bigham in Beijing hoping you'll join us for our next edition of the Beijing Hour to open a window to the world together.

新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2015/01/06（在线收听）