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

Coming up on our program this morning...

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arriving in Peru to kick off his official visit...

A key meeting ahead of the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank being held in Singapore...

And China calling on the United States to cease its provocative and illegal actions in the South China Sea...

In our weekly business review.... China's cabinet unveiling the first 10-year action plan designed to transform the country's manufacturing industry..

In Sports... the latest action from the Chinese Super League...

In Entertainment...Taiwan director Hou Hsiao-Hsien talking about casting decisions in his film "The Assassin.."All of that coming up in just a moment, but first, just a reminder there are several ways to reach out to us here on the Beijing Hour.

You can follow us on our weibo account at weibo.com/beijinghour, or email us directly at [email protected]. You can also visit english.cri.cn for the latest news and information from China Radio International.

Top NewsChinese premier arrives in Peru for official visitAnchor:

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has arrived in the Peruvian capital of Lima for an official visit.

Li Keqiang is due to meet with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala later on today, and to sit down with Chinese business people in the South American country.

CRI's Luo Bin has more.

Reporter:

The diversification of bilateral economic ties between the two countries will be high on the premier's agenda.

China's trade volume with Peru reached 14.32 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, with a bilateral free trade pact having been implemented for five years.

China's investment in Peru had also reached 14 billion dollars by the end of 2014.

Peruvian diplomat Juan Carlos Carpnoy says China and Peru complement each other's economies.

"As to the relationship between China and Peru, there are three important elements. First, the economies are complementary. The free-trade agreement between China and Peru makes China the most important trade partner of Peru ahead of Europe and America. Second is technological interactions. The agreements signed recently have proved this point. And finally, the political consensus between us. Both of us have joined APEC and other groups in the Asia-pacific region. "During the Premier's visit to Brazil, he and the Brazilian leader also agreed to begin studying the feasibility of a railway, which connects the Brazilian Atlantic coast with the Peruvian Pacific coast.

The project aims to improve regional connectivity, as well as to boost economic and trade cooperation between China and Latin America, including with Peru.

Huang Huimin, the Chinese ambassador to Peru, says that besides this, there's still huge potential for the two countries to cooperate in trade and economic development.

"Our friends show great interest in China's 'one belt and one road initiative'. As a pacific gateway, Peru has kept a close relationship with China and other countries around the Pacific Ocean. Hopefully we can build a community of interests and seek development for both sides through cooperation."During Premier Li Keqiang's stay in Peru, he is also due to attend cultural exchanges activities with Peruvian authorities.

Peru is the third leg of the Chinese premier's four-nation tour to Latin America after Brazil and Colombia. He will also visit Chile.

For CRI, I'm Luo Bin.

China and Colombia to improve economic tiesAnchor:

China and Colombia have agreed to seek cooperation in a host of areas including production capacity, equipment manufacturing and infrastructure construction to boost economic ties.

The agreement came during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Colombia.

CRI's Guo Yan reports.

Reporter:

Premier Li was welcomed by the Colombian President at the Narino Presidential Palace.

The visit marks the highest ranking visit by a Chinese authority to Colombia since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1980.

Li and Santos signed accords pledging cooperation regarding infrastructure, education and agriculture, among other areas.

Premier Li says that Colombia is in the process of promoting peace in the country and this creates favourable conditions for investing in new infrastructure.

"China has rich experience and advantageous production capacity in infrastructure construction and equipment manufacturing. We stand ready to set up plants in Colombia to produce iron and steel, construction materials and engineering equipment according to the needs of the Colombian side."Li added that bilateral cooperation is expected to lower the cost of production and provide jobs for local communities.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has exceeded 17 billion US dollars as China has become Colombia's second largest trading partner.　President Juan Manuel Santos stresses the feasibility of further improving the bilateral trade.

"Today, the trade volume between the two countries is fifteen times higher than that of a decade ago. The bilateral trade volume reached 17billion US dollars last year and there is still a huge potential for growth in terms of trade volume. So we initiated research on the feasibility of bilateral free trade agreement to see the possibility of strengthening economic ties between the two countries. "He says cooperation with China will be conducive to advancing the reconstruction and social-economic development of his once war-plagued country.

Premier Li says the announcement by Santos sends a positive signal to the business sector on both sides.

　"President Santos has announced that we're going to start negotiations on the feasibility of signing a free trade agreement between China and Colombia. I believe this can send a strong positive signal to the business sector from both countries. That is to say that we could experience great development in bilateral commercial trade."The two leaders also agreed to give 200 Colombians scholarships to study in China, among other plans to boost the bilateral relationship.

For CRI, I'm Guo Yan.

Literary circle has high expectation on Sino-Colombian Cultural ExchangesAnchor:

Before concluding his Colombian visit, the Chinese premier has also taken time to attend a seminar on people-to-people exchanges between China and Latin America, together with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Literary representatives at the seminar spoke highly of the role that literature has played in promoting bilateral cultural ties.

CRI's Sophie Williams reports.

Reporter:

Tie Ning is the chairperson of the China Writers Association.

She says as early as in the 1980s, many Chinese people, especially in literary circles, have learned about Latin American countries thanks to the popularity of Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez's works.

"Right after Gabriel Garcia Marquez was honored with a Nobel Prize in 1982, the translated work of his classic novel 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' flooded Chinese market. It exerted significant influence on both Chinese ordinary readers and Chinese writers. At a time when China was opening its doors to the outside world, Chinese literary circles and Chinese writers were eager to get the literary essence of other countries, including Latin America."Chinese writer Mo Yan, a Nobel literature laureate in 2012, says he was also one of those writers influenced by the magic realism of Marquez's works.

"As a writer, I'll talk about the inspirations I got from reading Latin American literature, and how these ideas influenced me in the creation of my own literature."Recent years have seen a growing number of Chinese literary works translated into many foreign languages, in addition to China's increasing influence in the literary field across the world.

Colombian writer Roberto Burgos Cantor says good literary works can go beyond borders.

"I've read Mo Yan's books. I have also read the selections of some young Chinese writers' works. I think they are blending well into the world literary circle. Influential works have fascinating plots. For example, many people might have not read Don Quijote or One Hundred Years of Solitude. But almost everyone in the world knows that one book has the story of a crazy old man fighting with a windmill and the other has the frequent appearance of yellow butterflies. "However, only a handful of Colombian writers say they know about Chinese literature.

Tie Ning says this is a reason why the two countries need to deepen literary exchanges:

"China's economic rise is catching the eyes of the world. I think its culture and literature should also be open to the outside world. But the Latin American literary circle knows little about Chinese literature. So the two sides need to further exchanges. Of course, there exist cultural differences. It is precisely these differences that call for exchanges."Besides the exchanges in literature, Chinese language learning programs are also expanding rapidly in Colombia and many young Colombians are studying Chinese in the country's Confucius Institutes.

For CRI, I'm Sophie Williams.

Chief negotiators' meeting on establishing AIIB concludes in SingaporeAnchor:

The founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have concluded another round of talks in Singapore.

The Articles of Agreement, which guideline the work of the bank, were finalized during the meeting and are expected to be signed in the coming month.

CRI's Min Rui reports.

Reporter:

This is the fifth round of the Chief negotiator's meeting since the signing of the memorandum on establishing the AIIB last October in Beijing.

57 prospective founding member countries attended the meeting.

After three days of negotiation, the Articles of Agreement were finalized.

China's vice minister of finance and permanent chair of the Chief Negotiators' Meeting Shi Yaobin says the agreement is expected to be signed by the end of June in Beijing.

"Under the construction plan and schedule of the AIIB, the Articles of Agreement of the bank are expected to be signed by all sides by the end of June in Beijing. After signing and approval, the bank will be founded by the end of this year and be operational as soon as possible."The chief negotiators at the meeting also discussed the draft Environmental and Social Framework and draft Procurement Policy framework.

According to Shi, GDP will be a key indicator in deciding upon the amount of capital contributed by the bank's founding members.

"We discussed the AIIB charter during the meeting. According to the charter, a planned authorized capital of AIIB is 100 billion dollars will be divided among the founding members, and the contribution ratio of the countries in the region will depend on the proportion of their GDP as compared with the whole of the region."The comments come on the heels of earlier media reports that say the AIIB will defer to the practice of the International Monetary Fund, that is, allocation will be based on GDP and capital.

Research done by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy shows that China will be the largest shareholder in the AIIB, with nearly 31 percent of the contribution ratio.

India is in second place with a 10 percent contribution ratio, followed by Indonesia 4 percent.

For CRI, I'm Min Rui.

China Warns US to Stop Provocative ActionsChina has warned the United States to stop its provocative actions or risk causing an incident after a US military plane flew over part of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei said on Friday that China is "strongly dissatisfied" with the US action, calling it a security threat to China's islands and reefs.

"Such action is likely to cause an accident; it is completely irresponsible and completely dangerous and detrimental to regional peace and stability. We express our strong dissatisfaction, we urge the US to strictly abide by international law and international rules and refrain from taking any risky and provocative actions."The spokesperson added that China will continue to closely monitor this area.

"China will continue to monitor the area and take the necessary and appropriate measures to prevent harm to the safety of China's islands and reefs as well as any sea and air accidents."The Chinese navy issued eight warnings to a US surveillance aircraft conducting a fly-over on Wednesday.

Mediterranean Sea Sino-Russian Navy Drill ConcludesChinese and Russian naval forces have concluded the planned joint drill on shipping safety in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Xia Ping is the political commissar of the Chinese navy fleet.

"For this Sino-Russian joint maritime drill, the command post has officers from both sides, and vessels and naval forces are also jointly marshaled. During the drill, the two sides conducted a good cooperation and coordination, with fluent communication and tacit cooperation. All the planned items have been successfully exercised and fulfilled. The joint drill has enhanced the abilities of the two navies in tackling threats at sea,"The "Joint Sea-2015" naval drills were launched in the southern Russian port city of Novorossiysk.

The drills involved six Russian and three Chinese ships and were staged in four phases, focusing on maritime defense, replenishment and escorting.

South China downpour claims 35 livesAt least 35 people have been killed in the rainstorms that hammered large swathes of southern China this week.

Another 13 are reported missing.

China's National Meteorological Center has said that the rainstorms lashing southern China for days have stopped in some areas, but will continue to hit the coastal regions until Sunday.

"This round of heavy rain stopped to batter areas from south China to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River on Thursday, but scattered and intermittent heavy to torrential rains will continue to hit the central and southern parts of southern China, especially those coastal regions. The rainstorms have not stopped completely."The southwestern province of Guizhou reported 11 deaths, the biggest toll so far, whereas in Fujian province, five people were killed by rain-triggered mudslides, and four others drowned.

In Jiangxi province, one person was killed by lightning strikes, two by mudslides and five by collapsed buildings. The rest of the deaths were reported in Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

Heavy rain and occasional thunderstorms have battered China's southern regions since last week.

Mainland, HK fund regulators announce mutual recognitionSecurities regulators in both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland on Friday announced a mutual recognition of each other's fund products.

The agreement will come into force on July 1.

It aims to open the mainland's fund products to global investors more easily.

Chairman of the Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission Carlson Tong says the agreement will speed up the merger and development of asset markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

"This is a major breakthrough for mainland funds' opening to overseas investors. On the one hand, the mutual recognition will further strengthen the connection and collaboration between the funds markets in the mainland and Hong Kong, and on the other hand, it will lay a groundwork for the regulators on both sides to establish the regulatory standards for fund investment."The agreement has been discussed by regulators on both sides since 2012.

Securities regulators also made their own guidelines to activate the mutual recognition, which will allow streamlined procedures for investors to trade each other's fund products.

Haicang accelerates cross-straits exchanges and cooperation through innovation and reform in FTZAnchor:

As a key part of the Fujian Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Haicang Area has been trying to attract investment from Taiwan through innovative reforms.

CRI's Wang Wei reports.

Reporter:

Lin Wei is a researcher from Xiamen's Haicang Free Trade Port Zone, one of China's most open and best-equipped special customs supervision areas.

He says they are pushing forward with a special project for cross-straits cooperation.

"Now, we are planning and building up a center for young people from each side to start their own businesses. Currently, our country is also encouraging innovation. So combining with the current situation of cross-straits' cooperation here, as far as I know in the last two years many young people from Taiwan have come to Xiamen to start companies. So we want to establish a center to facilitate this."In 1989, the State Council approved Haicang to be the first area on the mainland for Taiwan investment, and many businesses from the Island now operate in that special zone.

Xie Jine is the manager in charge of attracting investment to the Haicang Free Trade Port Zone.

"Most of the Taiwan companies in Haicang are with traditional industries, such as manufacturing and processing. With the establishment of the FTZ, Xiamen and these companies badly needed to upgrade and adjust industry structures. Our innovative programs will meet those companies' needs and can help them with the restructuring."According to Xie, there are many other programs to collaborate with Taiwan including ones involving Big Data, Mobile Internet, and e-commerce.

Also, the Port Zone is pushing for swift and smooth customs clearance and encouraging businesses related to import and export, bonded logistics, value-added processing and service outsourcing.

Lin Wei further pointed out Haicang's efforts go beyond economic and trade fields.

"As for my information, Haicang now is also focusing on social governance aspects, like people to people exchanges. The families of workers at Taiwan companies have the opportunity to play a role in community governance, marking an in-depth integration and cooperation. People from across the straits share the same historical background and have blood connections. Through these exchanges, they can feel a sense of belonging."Haicang was the first area in the country to establish a hospital with investment exclusively from Taiwan. In the near future, a cross-straits health cooperation plan will be set up to attract more investment.

For CRI, this is Wang Wei in Xiamen.

U.S.-Cuba talks end without deal, more talks to followThe United States and Cuba have concluded their two-day talks in Washington without a deal on reopening embassies.

The two sides have agreed to further meetings in the coming weeks.

Roberta Jacobson, the chief U.S. negotiator with Cuba, says the two countries are much closer to reestablishing relations and reopening embassies.

"This round of talks was highly productive. We will persist, inspired by the conviction that engagement and non-isolation are the keys to moving forward."Josefina Vidal, director of U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, says both delegations agreed to continue the exchange on aspects related to the functioning of diplomatic missions.

"During the talks the Cuban delegation ratified once diplomatic relations are re-established to address its willingness to address substantial matters on the bilateral agenda including the lifting of the embargo, among others, with which it would make it possible to move to the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States on the basis of respect, sovereign equality and reciprocity."The latest round of talks focused on logistical and other issues related to the embassies.

Particular points of interest were freer movement for diplomats and access to the U.S. embassy by Cuban citizens.

U.S. diplomats are not allowed to leave Cuba's capital of Havana without permission until now, while their Cuban counterparts are limited to Washington D.C. and New York.

Both sides have declined to discuss details about the lingering differences between them.

Cuba has indicated that it would wait until May 29 before making any announcement on embassy reopening.

Since the last round of talks in mid-March, The US has decided to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Meanwhile, Cuban diplomats have found a U.S. bank willing to open accounts for them.

Reopening embassies are the first major step in reestablishing full relations between the two countries following a bitter Cold-War era rivalry that lasted over half a century.

IS Claims Responsibility for Bomb AttackThe Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed at least 21 on Friday at a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia.

It is being reported that the bomb was planted inside the al-Saiah mosque before Friday prayers.

An eyewitness said there was a second bomb hidden nearby.

"They placed an explosive device that blew up during prayer time and thank God the casualties were minimal. After the first explosion, the people fled the mosque and we started searching and found a second explosive hidden in a shoe and the experts came and took it away."The explosion also left 66 Shiite worshipers injured.

An interior ministry spokesman said an investigation has been launched into the incident.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon has condemned the terrorist attack "in the strongest terms."Hillary Clinton's 296 emails publishedThe U.S. State Department has published 296 emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Those emails were sent and received in the aftermath of the attacks three years ago on an American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans.

Clinton had asked for an earlier release of those emails.

"In fact, the State Department has the vast majority of those anyway because they went to what are called .gov accounts. I'm aware that the FBI has asked that a portion of one email be held back. That happens in the process of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) responses. But that doesn't change the fact that all of the information in the emails was handled appropriately."The nearly 300 emails are part of the 30,000 that Clinton turned over to the State Department from her private account.

WeatherBeijing will be cloudy today with a high of 33 degrees Celsius.

Overnight it will be clear and temperatures will drop to 19.

Shanghai will be overcast with a high of 25 and cloudy tonight with a low of 19.

In Chongqing it will have shower in the daytime with a high of 22 and overnight it will be overcast with the lowest temperature of 20.

Elsewhere in the world, staying here in Asia,Islamabad will be cloudy today with a high of 38.

Kabul will be overcast with a high of 23.

Over to North America,New York will be sunny with a high of 16 degrees.

Washington, cloudy, high of 21.

Honolulu, overcast, 25.

Toronto, Canada, will be cloudy with a high of 17 degrees.

Finally, on to South America,Buenos Aires will have slight rain with a high of 22.

And Rio de Janeiro will be cloudy with a high of 26 degrees Celsius.

Headline newsChinese premier arrives in Peru for official visitChinese Premier Li Keqiang has arrived in the Peruvian capital of Lima for an official visit to the South American country.

Premier Li Keqiang is due to hold talks with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and to join a discussion with representatives from Chinese enterprises in Peru to learn about their experience in doing business here.

The two nations are expected to sign cooperation agreements on economy and trade, infrastructure, technology, aerospace and communication, as well as industrial capacity, agricultural products and human resources.

Peru is the third leg of Li's four-nation tour to Latin America after Brazil and Colombia. He will also visit Chile.

A 3,000-member Japanese tourism delegation visits ChinaA 3,000-member Japanese delegation is now in Beijing for a cultural exchange tour to China.

The delegation is led by Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's General Council Toshihiro Nikai.

It also includes heads of local governments and big enterprises.

This is the largest mission between the two countries in years, as observers hope will improve mutual understanding and trust.

Divided into 80 groups, the delegation will visit Beijing, Tianjin, and provinces of Hebei and Liaoning, among others, to attend cultural, tourism and trade events.

Mainland's Taiwan affairs chief to visit KinmenThe Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief will kick off a visit to Kinmen, a Taiwan-administered island lying just off the coast of southeastern Fujian Province later today.

Zhang Zhijun was invited by Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, Andrew Hsia for a two day visit to the island.

He is due to exchange views with Hsia on cross-Straits relations and issues concerning the livelihood of people in Kinmen.

This will be the first meeting between the two since Hsia took the position in FebruaryIt is also the first high-level talks between the mainland and Taiwan since the party leader of Kuomintang visited Beijing earlier this month.

U.S.-Cuba talks end without deal, more talks to followThe United States and Cuba have concluded their two-day talks in Washington without a deal on reopening embassies.

The two sides have agreed to further meetings in the coming weeks.

The latest round of talks focused on logistical and other issues related to the embassies.

Particular points of interest were freer movement for diplomats and access to the U.S. embassy by Cuban citizens.

Agreements on 2-bln-USD aid to Ukraine inked during Riga SummitThe European Union and Ukraine have signed agreements on the EU's two billion USD financial aid package for Ukraine.

This third macro-financial assistance program will be paid out in three installments. In return, Ukraine is expected to carry out reforms and strengthen its public administration.

The deal was signed during the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga on Friday.

Ukraine's economy contracted by nearly 18 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015.

Weekly Biz Roundup(Saturday)Anchor:

It's time to take a look back at some of the headlines from the business world this past week in our Weekly Business Review.

A raft of new business deals have been signed in Brazil as part of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the Latin American country. China's cabinet has unveiled the first 10-year action plan designed to transform the country's manufacturing industry. A new investment company has been established to help Chinese companies go global. And entertainment giant Disney has opened its biggest retail store in Shanghai.

Let's catch all of that and more with CRI's Wenjie.

Reporter:

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang started his four-nation Latin America tour on Monday.

During his stay in Brazil, the Chinese and Brazilian governments signed a total of 35 agreements.

The deals center around trade, finance, energy, mining, aviation and an upgrade of Brazil's dilapidated infrastructure.

They range from the purchase of passenger jets made by Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer to the lifting of an import ban on Brazilian beef.

One highlight is an agreement to start feasibility studies on a railroad,which would cross the Andes and link Brazil's Atlantic coast to Pacific ports in Peru.

As part of a China-Brazil business summit, Li Keqiang also announced the establishment of a 30-billion-U.S.-dollar fund for promoting China-Latin America cooperation in production capacity and equipment manufacturing.

Industrial capacity refers to the upgrading of existing industrial facilities and equipment to make them more efficient.

Xu Shicheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that Premier Li's visit will further promote the deepening of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

"China's economy is growing slower; the requirement for Latin America's iron ore and oil is dropping. They have to improve the added value on their primary products before exporting. We'll cooperate with the region through industrial capacity in order to improve their manufacturing production level."China's State Council on Tuesday unveiled a national plan, dubbed "Made in China 2025", focusing on promoting manufacturing.

The plan is based on a national research project jointly conducted by the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, that began in 2013.

Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology says the plan is designed to transform China from a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power.

"Industrialization and an emphasis on information in logistics will be deeply integrated to promote the development of the whole manufacturing industry, which was proposed at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. This will be a task we must fulfill in implementing the Made-in-China 2025 Plan. It is also a new highland that we must conquer."The plan defines ten key areas where breakthroughs should be made, including new information technology, digital controlled tools and robotics.

Miao Wei particularly stressed the importance of Internet technologies.

"The best and biggest opportunity lies in the application of Internet technology in manufacturing. It will become the biggest catalyst and engine to accelerate this round of development. It will promote the manufacturing from being electrification-based directly to being intelligence-based."China's top economic regulator on Monday approved the construction of 6 new railway projects worth some 250 billion yuan, or around 40-billion U.S. dollars.

The National Development and Reform Commission or NDRC says the projects include four new high-speed lines in Shandong and Jiangsu, and Liaoning.

Luo Guosan, deputy director of the NDRC's investment department, says the move is an addition to the central government's current infrastructure construction plan.

"We will continuously improve the infrastructure construction according to the actual needs and bring some qualified projects into the plan. NDRC has been working with relevant government departments, local authorities and enterprises recently."A pair of rail lines in the cities of Chengdu and Nanning are also part of the new plan.

On Wednesday, China's top economic regulator announced that the country will provide various kinds of financial support to help domestic companies go global.

Gu Dawei with the National Development and Reform Commission says there will be a breakthrough in financial support for companies looking to globalize.

"The guideline specifies that companies can mortgage offshore assets and ask for loans inside the country. It is a major breakthrough. All Chinese financial institutions should speed up their pace of globalization, setting up branches abroad, and providing financial services to facilitate Chinese companies going global."At the same time, the NDRC also announced that a new investment arm of the China Investment Corporation has been established.

The new subsidiary of China's sovereign wealth fund has been given a 5-billion US dollar seed.

It will focus on the automotive, rail and machinery sectors.

China vowed on Wednesday to invest hundreds of billions of yuan in the coming years to increase Internet speed and expand broadband access in rural regions.

The country plans to spend more than 430 billion yuan or some 70 billion U.S. dollars this year and more than 700 billion yuan total in 2016 and 2017 on Internet infrastructure.

China will also accelerate building of high-speed broadband networks and improve Internet access in more than 14,000 villages by the end of 2015.

By the end of 2017, the average cable broadband speed for users in major cities will be increased to 30 megabytes per second, more than triple the current speed, while that in smaller cities will be upgraded to 20 megabytes per second.

The State Council also vowed to expand the 4G network to cover the whole of the country by the end of 2017.

On the corporate front,Chinese train makers CSR and CNR started swapping stocks on Wednesday as the former had been delisted from both the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

It is a big step forward in their long-awaited merger.

The stock swap ratio has been set at one CNR share for 1.1 shares of the CSR.

After the stock swap, a new company called CRRC Corporation will be formed.

The combined company will inherit all assets, liabilities, business, staff, contracts, certificates and all other rights and obligations of the two companies.

The incorporated company will focus on overseas industrial distribution and management in an effort to build a promising global influence.

It will restart trading as soon as in June.

An international women' s conference organized by Alibaba Group opened on Wednesday in east China's Hangzhou City.

Some 800 female participants from around the world attended the event where they shared their entrepreneurial experience.

Alibaba' s founder Jack Ma said in the conference that the internet age has provided women with unprecedented opportunities in business.

He said his company would set up a fund to support female entrepreneurs.

Over 50 percent of the online shop owners registered on Alibaba's taobao.com are women.

Ma said female shop owners generally have better credibility than their male counterparts.

Alibaba is considering making the conference a regular event.

The Walt Disney Company opened its biggest ever retail store, in Shanghai on Wednesday.

The store in the heart of Shanghai is 860-square meters in size and has an outdoor space of some 5,000 square meters.

Paul Candland, president of Disney's Asia-Division, says the new store is somewhat exclusive to the Chinese market.

"Actually, I would be happy to walk you around the store, so you see some of our new exclusive China products. But there are many products here in the store that are exclusive to China, 90 percent of the merchandise here is only available in this store".

And that concludes this edition of the weekly business review. I'm Wenjie. Thank you for listening.

SportsChinese Super League: Guizhou Renhe upset leaders Shanghai SIPGSome Chinese Super League action to kick us off this morning,Second-last Guizhou Renhe delivered a shocker as they upset leaders Shanghai SIPG 2-0 at home.

Zhu Baojie picked out Hyuri Henrique de Costa who lobbed the ball over Shanghai goalkeeper Yan Junling into the net.

Guizhou went 1-0 at the 28th minute.

Ricardo Santos curled in a brilliant free kick to send the ball into the bottom right corner of the net five minutes into the second half.

It was Shanghai SIPG's first defeat of the season.

It put their lead at stake and a win for either Guangzhou Evergrande or Beijing Guo'an could see them drop in standings.

In the other game last night, it was a goalless draw between Shijiazhuang Ever Bright and Hangzhou Greentown.

French Open previewIn tennis,Top-seeded players attended a pre-tournament party at the Eifel Tower ahead of the French Open, where they looked ahead and spoke about their chances.

Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal is drawn against world number one Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

Djokovic said he anticipated the possibility of the match-up when Nadal slipped out of the top four.

"It is still a long way until the quarter-finals. We both need to win four matches. I could not ask for a better lead up. I won over 20 matches in a row both Monte Carlo and Rome that I play on clay so fully I can follow that up and carry that confidence into these two weeks."Djokovic begins his French Open against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen while Nadal's campaign starts with a match against Quentin Halys.

On the women's side,World number one Serena Williams believes she is ready to start her quest for a 20th grand slam title.

"I feel fine ahead of the tournament. Just excited to be here and happy to be in the event and hopefully I can play well and have fun. No matter what. I am here, I am here and I am going to do the best I can."Williams will take on a qualifier in the first round before a possible later encounter against Victoria Azarenka and her sister Venus.

NBA preview: Cleveland against Atlanta in Game 2In the NBA,The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals later this morning.

Cleveland are leading the series 1-0.

Cleveland is in a hard situation after Kyrie Irving sustained a injured knee in the last game to put him in question for Game 2.

The good news is LeBron James should be ready to play with his right ankle not much of a concern.

It looks better for Atlanta. DeMarre Carroll only has a sprained knee and there is no structural damage. He is a game-time decision and will be guarding James if he plays.

Game 2 starts soon at 8:30.

Lewis Hamilton fastest at Monaco practiceIn Formula One,Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two during practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Hamilton, fresh from signing a new three-year deal with Mercedes, set the quickest time at one minute, 17.192 seconds.

He only completed 12 laps on the narrow street circuit before rain interrupted the session.

Hamilton's teammate Nico Rosberg finished ten-seventh of a second slower in second place.

Mercedes motor sport head Toto Wolff said the fact that their drivers are pushing each other is good for them.

"The rivalry has always been intense on track and we've seen it from the start of the day. They were both out there in anger. Pretty competitive lap time straight from the beginning and it's good for the team because it pushes the team and it pushes the two to new levels competing against each other."Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third.

Seventeen-year-old rookie Max Verstappen made an impressive Formula One debut and lapped 0.149 second slower in the morning in his Toro Rosso.

Rory McIlroy misses cut at BMW PGA ChampionshipIn golf,Francesco Molinari is leading the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth as Rory McIlroy stumbled out with a six-over 78.

McIlroy made six bogeys and a double bogey on the par-four 11th to finish five-over 149, four strokes outside the cut-line.

Italy's Francesco Molinari is leading with a three-under 69 for a 10-under total of 134.

He shot five birdies and just two bogeys on his round to lead by two strokes.

China's Li Haotong shot a two-over 74 and is at 81st place.

Sacha Modolo wins Giro stage 13, Alberto Contador loses overall leadIn cycling,Lampre's Sacha Modolo sprinted to victory in stage 13 at the Giro d'Italia while Alberto Contador lost his overall lead.

Modolo finished the rain-sodden 147 kilometer stage in Jesolo in three hours, three minutes, eight seconds.

Just one day after Alberto Contador increased his lead over closest rival Fabio Aru, the Tinkoff-Saxo rider was brought down again in a pile-up just outside the three-kilometer mark and conceded 36 seconds to Aru.

Aru safely avoided the crash and took the leader's pink jersey for the first time in his career.

EntertainmentDirector Hou Hsiao-Hsien talks The AssassinDirector Hou Hsiao-Hsien says he started out not wanting to make the lead character female in his film The Assassin but had tailored the role to suit his lead actress, Shu Qi.

The veteran director's film in which Shu plays a ninth century assassin who never loses a fight, even against huge odds has vaulted into the ranks of top contenders for the coveted Palme d'Or prize on Sunday.

"To me this is not a movie to choose between actors or actresses, I never thought of making a female assassin as a movie. To me the choice of people is very important. When I look at the actor or actress I think what sort of movie would suit them and I try to make a movie which depicts their personality and this is how I make my decisions,"Hou said he was aware of the buzz surrounding his film since its premiere on Wednesday but he would not venture a prediction on what the prize jury would decide.

"There is no point thinking about winning the Palme d'Or or not. If you do that, you can't be a director. "The Cannes Film Festival closes on Sunday.

Cast of Tomorrowland in Shanghai for Chinese PremiereActor George Clooney and the cast of Tomorrowland were in Shanghai on Friday for the Chinese premiere of the Disney film.

Clooney made the time to greet fans and pose for pictures on the red carpet. Addressing the crowd, he thanked them for coming out to see the cast.

"Thank you for coming out. We couldn't be happier to be here with this film, and we couldn't be happier to be here with all of you tonight, and I think that between the three of us we've taken a picture with every single one of you."He also joked that having made two trips to Shanghai in the past year; he was well acquainted with the city's watering holes.

Tomorrowland is loosely based on the Disneyland ride of the same name and is focused around two characters, a former boy genius played by Clooney and a gifted teenager played by Britt Robertson who set out on a mission to unearth the secrets of Tomorrowland, an enigmatic location caught between time and space.

Eurovision song contest to take place in ViennaThe Eurovision Song Contest is due to take place in on Saturday in Vienna with Swedish heartthrob Mans Zelmerlow tipped to win the music extravaganza.

Other acts expected to do well include Russian diva Polina Gagarina and cheeky Italian pop opera trio II Volo along with former Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian who was given a special wild card entry for Eurovision's 60th year.

27 acts will compete in the final and the show is expected to be watched by some 200 million people worldwide.

Blair Martin, an Australian journalist covering Eurovision says the song contest is fun but still has a serious element.

"Part of what is Eurovision is that it has been pop, kitsch, superficial for a long time, but I think that since Lena in Oslo, Europe is looking to be a little bit more serious with the song contest and make good songs...good songs that can be played anywhere in the world on the radio."Ireland are overall Eurovision champions with seven victories, followed by the UK, Luxembourg, Sweden and France and Five.

Katy Perry to release new album by 2016Katy Perry's management has announced that she will be releasing a new album by 2016.

Speaking at a press conference at the All That Matters music and entertainment conference in Singapore, Perry's manager Steven Jensen said the singer plans to release her fifth album by 2016.

Perry will wrap up the final stint of her Prismatic tour in Peru on September 22. Her last album Prism was released in October 2013 and was the sixth bestselling album of that year.

It's been a busy year for Katy Perry, playing the half time show at the Super Bowl which was the most watched half time show in history and included guest performances from Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravitz.

Kiss bassist promises fans new album next yearKiss' Gene Simmons has promised fans of the band that a new rock album is on the way.

Simmons told a Dutch music site that the group would be going into the studio to record next year despite front man Paul Stanley's recent comments about releasing new music.

The bassist told the site that he has new music ready that needs to be released on a Kiss album. He says all four members of the group are behind the project with Stanley set to produce.

The band is currently touring until the end of the year and says they will go into the studio at the beginning of next year fully focused.

Oldest Runway of Beijing International Airport Goes Through renovationThe renovation of the oldest runway at Beijing Capital International Airport kicks off today.

The renovation of the 3-thousand-meter-long runway is expected to affect some 200 flights daily.

The airport has urged airlines to reduce or adjust flights to Beijing.

It has also diverged flights to nearby airports in Tianjin and Shijiazhuang.

Airport officials have advised passengers who will depart from or land at the airport to check their flights beforehand.

The overhaul lasts till next Thursday.

WeatherBeijing will be cloudy today with a high of 33 degrees Celsius.

Overnight it will be clear and temperatures will drop to 19.

Shanghai will be overcast with a high of 25 and cloudy tonight with a low of 19.

In Chongqing it will have shower in the daytime with a high of 22 and overnight it will be overcast with the lowest temperature of 20.

Elsewhere in the world, staying here in Asia,Islamabad will be cloudy today with a high of 38.

Kabul will be overcast with a high of 23.

Over to North America,New York will be sunny with a high of 16 degrees.

Washington, cloudy, high of 21.

Honolulu, overcast, 25.

Toronto, Canada, will be cloudy with a high of 17 degrees.

Finally, on to South America,Buenos Aires will have slight rain with a high of 22.

And Rio de Janeiro will be cloudy with a high of 26 degrees Celsius.

That’s it for this weekend edition of the Beijing Hour.

A quick look at the headlines before we go...

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arriving in Peru to kick off his official visit...

A key meeting ahead of the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank being held in Singapore...

And China calling on the United States to cease its provocative and illegal actions in the South China Sea...

In our weekly business review.... China's cabinet unveiling the first 10-year action plan designed to transform the country's manufacturing industry..

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