新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2015/01/12（打印版）

Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital.

More than 40 world leaders participated in a march in Paris, in a show of solidarity following days of deadly terrorist attacks...

The search for the black box from AirAsia flight 8501 continues, though a locator signal has been detected in the Java Sea...

Testing continues on a Chinese lunar orbiter ahead of the Chang-e 5 moon mission...

In business...the government steps in to help struggling Chinese dairy farmers...

In Sports...Team China wins its opener at the Asia Cup football tournament...

Beijing will be cloudy today with a high of 3, hazy tonight with a low of minus 4 degrees Celsius.

Shanghai will be cloudy with a high of 9, overcast tonight with a low of 6.

And Rio de Janeiro will be cloudy with a high of 33 degrees Celsius.

More than 40 world leaders have joined a massive rally in Paris in a show of solidarity and strength after 17 people were killed during three days of terror attacks.

Millions showed up at rallies across France while similar marches were also held in other parts of the world.

Officials say it was the largest demonstration in French history, with turnout across the country estimated to be at least 3.7 million, with nearly half of that total gathering in Paris.

French news media say more people showed up in the capital than those who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.

"We must remember this day in the future. It's encouraging to see the reaction of the French people after this violation of freedom, because it really is a violation of freedom."

"A gathering like this is historic and this must continue in order to uphold freedom of speech for the world and for all people."

Families of the victims, holding each other for support, marched in the front with journalists working for the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

Their arms linked, more than 40 world leaders headed the somber procession.

"I marched in one line with leaders of the world to unite against terrorism. I told them the fight against terror, all terror, must be a war to the bitter end."

Netanyahu marched with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas while Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were also among the leaders-- setting aside their differences for a demonstration that French President Francois Hollande said turned the city into "the capital of the world."

Other leaders included British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Similar rallies were also held in major cities around the world, including London, New York, Cairo, Sydney and Tokyo.

In Berlin, police say at least 18,000 people joined a solidarity march.

"I am really delighted to see the solidarity here in Berlin and I think that it's very important that we are here together."

The three days of terror began Wednesday when brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people including two police officers.

On Thursday, police said another gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, killed a policewoman and the next day he seized hostages at a kosher store in Paris while the Kouachi brothers were in a standoff with police at a printing plant near Charles de Gaulle airport.

It all ended at dusk Friday with raids that left all three gunmen dead. Four hostages at the market were also killed.

Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen said it directed the attack to avenge the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of Charlie Hebdo.

The violence has torn deep into France's sense of wellbeing in a way some compared to Sept. 11 in the United States.

German police say a Hamburg newspaper hit by arsonists may have been targeted for its reprinting of satirical cartoons from French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

An incendiary device was thrown into a building of the Hamburger Morgenpost Daily over the weekend, setting some documents on fire.

"We don't know anything about the motivations behind the attack. Many people are speculating about it, and it is quite obvious that there is a connection with the reporting of the events in France, perhaps this has something to do with it."

Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper had reprinted cartoons from Charlie Hebdo in a show of solidarity with the French weekly following the deadly attack at its Paris office last week.

The newspaper says there were no people in the building at the time of the attack, and investigators were checking for any connection with the cartoons.

A security alert in Hamburg has not been enforced, as police say the motivations behind the attack on Hamburger Morgenpost have not yet been determined.

But in Berlin, security was stepped up outside the offices of some of the most prominent newspapers in the country.

As with other west European countries, Germany is struggling to stop the radicalization of disaffected young Muslims, some of whom want to become jihadist insurgents in Syria or Iraq.

Authorities in Indonesia are hoping to find the black box of the crashed AirAsia plane today, after ping signals from the device were detected.

The search team detected signals 3.5 kilometres from where the aircraft's tail was discovered.

Bambang Soelistyo is the Head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency.

"We can confirm that we have detected ping signals from the black box, but the black box has not been found yet. I repeat, the black box has not been found yet."

A team of navy divers has also found a wing and debris from the engine at the bottom of the Java Sea.

In the meantime, the tail of the ill-fated plane has been brought ashore in Indonesia.

AirAsia Flight 8501 lost contact with air traffic control during a storm less than half-way into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

At least 59 people have been killed and four others injured when a passenger bus hit an oil tanker in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi.

Police say the accident was caused by the negligence of the oil tanker driver.

Overloading is also a reason for the heavy loss of life in the accident.

At least 52 people have been killed in Mozambique after drinking a contaminated traditional beverage during funeral ceremony.

51 others were admitted into hospitals in the northwestern province of Tete, after consuming "Pombe", which is made of either maize or millet flour.

Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, candidate from Croatia's largest opposition party, has become the country's first female president.

She secured just over 50 percent of the vote, compared to incumbent Ivo Josipovic's total which was just over 49 percent.

The victory by the former Croatian Foreign Minister is a sign that Croatia may be shifting to the right after the center-left coalition's failure to end an economic downturn that's lasted six years.

Iran's Foreign Minister is expressing hope that a direct dialogue with the United States can help push ahead nuclear negotiations with the world powers.

Mohammad-Javad Zarif said the purpose of the planned talk with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to give impetus to the negotiations.

"On Wednesday, I will negotiate with Mr. Kerry in Geneva over the nuclear issue; only the nuclear issue is on the agenda of these talks. We are going to see whether we can expedite the negotiations and push them forward."

Iran and the P5 group plus Germany are due to hold a fresh round of negotiation this coming weekend.

Both sides are hoping to agree on a framework by March and a final agreement by 30 June, deadlines set during the last meeting in December.

Iran's uranium enrichment abilities and the removal of sanctions against Iran remain sticky points of the negotiations.

Venezuelan President arrives in Riyadh for talks on cutting oil production

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is in the Saudi Capital Riyadh for talks on immediate measures to shore up declining oil prices, with a possible cut in production.

Riyadh is Maduro's latest stop that included a tour of several OPEC nations in an attempt to garner support to put the brake on falling oil prices.

Global oil prices dipped below $50 a barrel in the past week, with Brent and U.S. crude hitting the lowest point in the past five years on Friday. But Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies are showing no sign of considering cutting output to boost oil prices.

Maduro expressed concerns that many oil-dependent economies like Venezuela may sink if prices continue to nosedive.

"My tour is very important to continue strengthening our brotherhood, our relationship with our OPEC partners and Saudi Arabia. I'm thankful for this warm welcome that they are giving us today."

Venezuela is struggling with the world's highest inflation rate, a recession and a cash crunch worsened by the steep fall in the price of oil.

Earlier, Iran and Venezuela vowed to work together to stabilize falling global oil prices, when Maduro met his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani during his visit to Tehran.

The People's Liberation Army has ordered chief officers in charge of military and political work at the grassroots level to switch posts to strengthen the army.

A circular endorsed by President Xi Jinping, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, says the move is expected to help train quality grassroots officers who excel as military commanders and political chiefs.

The PLA Daily, the official military newspaper, says this is the first time the military has comprehensively undertaken work in this regard.

The PLA piloted a scheme allowing military and political chiefs at the battalion and company level to switch posts in 2014.

The PLA is mulling making this a routine practice in the armed forces.

China's lunar service module completes first braking as enters lunar orbit

The lunar service module of China's unmanned lunar orbiter has successfully completed its first braking which allows the module to enter its lunar orbit as scheduled.

Liu Junze, director of the Flight Management Department of the center, said the module is expected to carry out some scientific experiment when orbiting.

"The orbit has a new 43-degree angle of inclination orbit, which is different from those the Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 used. It will be possibly used by Chang'e-5 so we have to do some beforehand experimenting for the docking."

The module will enter a 127-minute round lunar orbit 12 minutes later after another two brakings occur today and tomorrow.

The service module left the Earth-Moon second Lagrange Point on January 4 and returned to the moon to prepare for the country's next lunar probe mission, Chang'e-5.

Chinese authorities are being urged to take vigorous measures against the surrogacy business.

An investigation by state broadcaster China Central Television has found illegal surrogacy agencies in Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou that help their clients find ova, surrogate mothers, and unlicensed clinics for the surgery.

Some ova providers are students from universities or even high schools.

China's health authority banned surrogacy and trade of sperm, ovum and embryos starting from 2001 but weak enforcement has undermined the effort.

Bioethicist Zhai Xiaomei urges joint action by government departments, as well as legislation.

"The regulations issued by the health authority are far from enough due to the limited enforcement power of the department. What we need is a comprehensive law to address the issue of assisted reproduction."

On the other hand, Liu Ping from Peking University Third Hospital calls for a flexible management.

"The regulation should be more flexible. Surrogacy should be an alternative way to have a child for a family, in which the wife can't get pregnant."

The investigation reveals a surrogate birth could bring in 400,000 yuan, or about 65,000 US dollars, in profit, while a surrogacy firm's revenue could exceed 10 million yuan.

Meanwhile, health experts also warn that fertility medications and ovum collection procedures could lead to irreversible damages to sexual organs.

Five-year-old Girl Contracted HIV due to Blood Transfusion: Official

The Health authority in Fujian province has confirmed that a five-year-old girl contracted HIV due to a blood transfusion during heart surgery four years ago.

Maomao tested positive for the virus during a physical examination in September 2014 after she suffered a fever that lasted 17 days.

Yang Minhong is an official from Fujian's health and family planning committee.

"Considering the fact that the patient's parents tested negative, experts from the investigation team agree that it is highly possible the little girl contracted HIV through blood donated by an HIV carrier who was in a window period."

A window period is the two to four weeks from infection before a test can detect the presence of the virus.

Expert says even the most advanced nucleic acid testing technology would fail to detect the virus during the window period.

Li Taisheng is a professor from Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

"Even by the nucleic acid testing, we cannot be 100-percent sure to avoid HIV contraction through blood transfusion. So back in 2010, the blood center in Fujian strictly followed the procedures to run the HIV tests, but due to the window period, the girl was infected with HIV. But the blood center did not violate any national regulations."

The investigation team tracked down eight blood donors back in 2010 and found one to be HIV positive.

The local health authority has ordered the Fujian Medical University Union Hospital and the blood center to provide humanitarian compensation to the child and her family.

First let's get a preview of what we can expect on the markets this week.

Today, China will report its December money supply, foreign exchange reserves and trade surplus.

On Tuesday, The World Bank will publish its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects.

The bank is likely to find that the recovery from the global financial crisis remains sluggish, and urge emerging markets to use low oil prices as a chance to build up fiscal buffers.

The U.S. Commerce Department is set to release the closely-watched December retail sales report on Wednesday.

On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department is expected to report that the consumer price index fell 0.4 percent in December after dropping 0.3 percent in November.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo will release quarterly results on Wednesday.

Major banks reporting their earnings this week include Bank Of America and Citigroup.

Intel is set to report fourth-quarter results on Thursday, as investors look for new signs of meaningful demand for personal computers to justify the chipmaker's strong stock gains over the past year.

Chinese Ministry to Help Dairy Farmers amid Milk Dumping, Cow Killing

China's Ministry of Agriculture is moving to help dairy farmers in northern China who have resorted to throwing out milk and culling herds because of a lack of sales.

The ministry is urging major dairy firms to purchase more milk, stabilize prices and safeguard the interests of dairy farmers.

It will also work together with other central government departments including the Ministry of Finance to map out more supportive policies for dairy farmers.

Milk prices in China have fallen for ten consecutive months starting in February last year.

Last March, foreign milk prices began to fall drastically due to overproduction.

Many dairy companies resorted to cheap overseas sources and limited purchases from domestic suppliers, causing dairy prices to dip to new lows.

China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) is finalizing a policy which will allow online sales of prescription drugs as early as this month.

The policy will open up a market to online pharmacy operators that's worth over 1 trillion yuan or some 160 billion U.S. dollars.

Hospitals currently account for around 70 percent of drugs sold to consumers in China.

Online pharmacies are restricted to selling over-the-counter medicines and health care products such as cough remedies and vitamin tablets.

Analysts say that drugs sold online may be up to 10 percent cheaper than those sold through traditional channels.

China's economic regulator is said to cut domestic retail fuel prices again later today.

The NDRC is expected to reduce retail fuel prices by approximately 350 yuan or about 56 U.S. dollars a metric ton.

The price is calculated based on China's retail oil pricing mechanism, which is linked to world oil price changes.

The price cut will set gasoline prices at about 5 yuan a liter in major markets, a level last seen six year ago during the global financial crisis.

Swedish automaker Volvo is planning to export a Chinese-made midsize sedan this year to the United States.

Volvo expects to ship roughly 1,500 made-in-China S60L cars to the United States this year.

The company is also starting to weigh the possibility of building a factory in the United States.

The moves are aimed at reviving Volvo's momentum in the U.S. market where volume last year fell 8 percent from 2013.

The U.S. market, which has long been Volvo's largest market, was replaced by China last year.

It is also said that Volvo's owner, Chinese carmaker Geely, could follow Volvo into the U.S. market with its own products.

Zhejiang-based Geely purchased Volvo from Ford Motors five years ago.

Exporting Chinese-produced passenger cars to the United States and other advanced markets has been a long-standing goal of China's indigenous automakers

For more this, we are now joined live by Mike Bastin, Director of The China Business Centre based in London.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in India's One97 Communications.

One97 runs Paytm, an e-commerce platform which consumers can access through mobile apps.

The investment will be used to expand Paytm services, with a view to dominate the online payment business that is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years in India.

Under the deal, Alibaba, together with one of its units, will hold between 30 and 40 percent of One97 after the investment .

It will be Alibaba's first significant investment in India's rapidly growing online business segment.

India has the world's third-largest Internet user base, but e-commerce is still relatively underdeveloped.

China Eastern Airlines will undertake a feasibility test on charter flights from China to the Bahamas.

The plan aims to bring more Chinese tourists and investors to the island country in the Caribbean.

With the visa-waiver policy, Chinese visitors can stay up to 30 days in the Bahamas.

The first direct flight between China and the Caribbean will begin this September.

Air China will launch its first direct air route, from Beijing to the Cuban capital of Havana by then end of September, marking a huge cut in travel time between China and the Caribbean.

The new store, which is located in Zhengzhou, increases the number of Apple stores on the Chinese mainland to 13.

It marks an important step for the layout of Apple's retail chains in China, as Zhengzhou is also home to Foxconn, an Apple production facility and Apple's main supplier.

An earlier report from investment banking firm UBS showed strong demand for Apple's latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus smartphones has helped the Chinese market outsell the United States for the first time.

More than 40 world leaders have joined a massive rally in Paris in a show of solidarity and strength after 17 people were killed during three days of terror attacks.

Officials say it was the largest demonstration in French history, with turnout across the country estimated to be at least 3.7 million.

The three days of terror began Wednesday when two brothers stormed the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12.

On Thursday, police said another gunman killed a policewoman and the next day seized hostages at a kosher store in Paris.