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

Coming up on the program this evening...

Close to 400 bodies have now been retrieved from the cruise liner which capsized in the Yangtze River on Monday.

Final preparations are underway for this year's college entrance exams, which get underway across China tomorrow.

South Korean authorities are now dealing with 50 cases of MERS amid the continued spread of the deadly virus.

In the 2nd half of the hour... we'll bring you a recap of some of the important business stories in China this past week.

In Sports... the Cleveland Cavaliers have been dealt a significant blow to their chances to hoist this year's NBA championships.

In Entertainment.... entertainment programs across China are being cancelled to honor the memory of those lost in the Yangtze River disaster.

Top NewsEastern Star death toll reaches 396Anchor:

The grim task of recovering the bodies of those killed in Monday's deadly capsizing on the Yangtze River is still underway, with the official death toll standing at 396.

46 others remain missing.

CRI's Xie Cheng has more.

The Eastern Star was carrying 456 people on an 11-day trip up the river from Nanjing to Chongqing when it capsized near the small community of Jianli in Hubei.

The ship, said to have been hit by a tornado around 9 in the evening on Monday, took only around a minute to capsize.

Most of the passengers on the ship, elderly sight-seers from the Shanghai area, had already gone to bed when the storm hit.

Of the 456 people onboard at the time, only 14 people have been found alive so far.

Xiong Wei, professor and maritime salvage expert with Dalian Maritime University says rescue crews did exactly what they should have done when it came to the search for possible survivors.

"The first thing to do is drill holes into the bottom of the hull. The second is to send divers into the individual cabins to take people out who are trapped. The last step is to lift the ship out of the water. All of these steps have now been taken. This is the standard method used when it comes to accidents such as this."The Eastern Star was pulled from the water on Friday night after searchers determined they were not going to find any survivors by continuing to send divers into the submerged vessel.

Professor Xiong Wei says extracting the boat from the river was, in itself, a challenging task.

"For example, crews had to get a clear picture of the ships condition, such as how much damage was done to the upturned ship, what it was like at the bottom of the river, where should the cable go and how they could be attached. Things like that take quite a long time. In actual fact, the first divers on the scene would have been collecting information from their rescue dives to prepare for the entire salvage."Many of the over one-thousand relatives of the victims, who had gathered on the riverbank, broke down in tears as the ship emerged from the murky waters.

The Chinese Armed Police Force based in Hubei has been charged with collecting the remains of the victims.

Local CAPF Commander Zhou Xuguang says they are working to ensure the victim's bodies are properly cared for.

"We have created a special plan to wash the bodies, register their identities, and move them to the morgue. Our soldiers will first pay a silent tribute to the victims before carefully removing them from the scene. Six soldiers will accompany each body to a designated site off-scene."The Ministry of Transport said on Saturday that oil leaking from the capsized Eastern Star in the Yangtze River has been cleaned up.

Oil spilled from the cruise ship when it was hoisted from the water on Friday morning, and river authorities have moved quickly before serious pollution occurred.

The Eastern Star had been in service for nearly 20 years, and was authorized to carry up to 534 people.

A lawyer for the Chongqing Dongfang Shipping Company, which owns the Eastern Star, says the ship itself went through annual maintenance checks late last year, and was qualified to sail until next year.

The captain and chief engineer have been detained by the police for questioning.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is calling for a thorough investigation into the incident and has promised to make the findings public.

Meanwhile, some 500 grief councilors have been dispatched to Jianli to help the families of the victims through their ordeal.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

Preparations fully made across the country for the upcoming GaokaoAnchor:

Preparations are underway across China for this year's annual college entrance exam, or 'gaokao,' which gets underway tomorrow.

CRI's Wang Wei has more.

In Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, special transportation services are being provided to aid the exam participants.

Buses, taxis and metro lines in the city offer green channels for the students.

Wei Wei, an official with the local metro system, further explains.

"As the second day of this year's Gaokao is Monday and we'll see a traffic peak in the morning, so we will open a green channel for the students in the metro line one and line two to make their travels easier. Medical materials are being prepared to cope with emergencies. If any of the students lose their admission cards for the exam, our station staff will also help to search for them."In the capital city of Southern China's Guangdong Province, all the exam classrooms are outfitted with air-conditioning so that students won't be affected by the region's hot weather.

As many parents seek to provide quiet and convenient environment for their children in nearby hotels, special services are also offered for students there.

Ji Baowen is with a local hotel.

"We will offer milk for students every night so that they can have a good sleep, and we also offer morning call service so that the students won't miss the exams in the morning."Guangzhou authorities have also required construction work suspended in areas near exam sites during the two days.

The 'Gaokao' is seen as a make-or-break competition and offers students a bright future with higher education opportunities if they do well on the challenging exam.

To ensure fairness, the Ministry of Education launched a campaign this year to crack down on the sale of concealed wireless devices, frequently used for cheating.

However, as the clock ticks towards exam day, experts say it's necessary for students themselves to reduce pressure and stress.

Zhang Yue is a high school teacher from northeast China's Jilin province.

"If students lack confidence, they can try to give themselves positive self-suggestions, for instance, students can look back upon successful moments which make themselves proud. Because these achievements mean the students have the ability to handle the exam. With this confidence, students can bring their strengths into play."Moreover, experts suggest students to check the exam sites beforehand and to fully consider the transportation situation in order to avoid rush hour.

This year, over 9.4 million students are expected to sit the grueling test.

For CRI, this is Wang Wei.

Educational Experts on Gaokao ReformAnchor:

As part of this year's 'gaokao,' changes announced as part of the reform of the system will be kicking-in.

English is no longer mandatory.

At the same time, students are now required to take Chinese language and math exams.

However, they are now allowed to chose the other four subjects they wish to be tested on.

Those exams can be taken separately.

In addition, bonus marks for students with special skills in the arts and sports is being done away with.

For more on the changes to the system, CRI's Tu Yun spoke earlier with Professor Zhu Zhiyong with the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University.

Back anchor:

Professor Zhu Zhiyong with the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University, speaking with CRI's Tu Yun.

Beijing Sees Improved Air QualityAnchor:

Authorities in Beijing, as part of their drive to make the Chinese capital more liveable, are suggesting the city's notorious pollution problems have begun clearing up this year.

CRI's Luo Wen has more.

Reporter:

Latest stats from the city's Environmental Protection Bureau show the number of days with high air quality reached 57 in the first four months of 2015, up eight days from a year earlier.

During the period, the number of days with severe air pollution decreased 42 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the concentration of sulfur dioxide and fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter was reduced by about 43 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

The Chinese capital, along with its neighboring Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province, has suffered from severe air pollution for years, with excessive coal use and car emissions among the key culprits.

Amid the country's stepped-up campaign against pollution, the three areas have decided to join hands.

Li Lixin heads the air pollution control division of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

He says the concerted effort has led to a big drop in pollution from coal-fired plants.

"The coal consumption in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei has been cut by 19.8 million tons. Meanwhile, we have replaced 3.9 million tons of faulty coal with high-quality coal in the rural areas in those regions."In its latest step, Beijing dismantled four remaining largest coal-burning boilers in the urban area in this past week.

According to the city's blueprint, the Dongcheng District in the downtown area will be coal-free in the future, while coal-burning boilers in other urban areas will be replaced with less-polluting ones.

Meanwhile, the city has also seen a decrease in car emission, another key contributor to pollution.

Li Kunsheng is also from the Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau.

"Though car ownership in China has been increasing in recent years, vehicle emissions have actually decreased year on year."As part of its anti-pollution move, Beijing has enacted strict restrictions on car use in the country.

Under a lottery-style quota system, its residents have to compete for limited license plate numbers before buying a vehicle, while cars have to be kept off road for one weekday per week, depending on the final digit of their license plate.

In the next step, the city may adopt a plan that will require residents to have first secured a parking space before purchasing a vehicle.

To reinforce the car-limiting effort, Beijing has also reached an agreement with Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and Inner Mongolia to share car emission data and carry out cross-region law enforcement against drivers who breach emission limits but have their cars registered in other cities.

Beijing's authority has vowed to further step up its efforts to combat pollution in the wake of its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The city's urban center expects a 25 percent reduction in PM2.5 pollutants under a five-year plan that began two years ago.

By 2017, Beijing will have reduced the amount of coal burned in the city to 10 million tons from 23 million tons in 2013 and taken whole fleets of old, polluting vehicles off its roads.

The city's government has vowed to devote 48 billion yuan, or about 8 billion US dollars, to this effort.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.

S. Korea Reports Nine More Cases of MERSAnchor:

South Korean authorities are reporting 9 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, in the country, raising the total number of infections to 50.

But at the same time, 'patient zero,' the man who took MERS into South Korea, has now been discharged from hospital.

CRI's Qian Shanming has more.

Reporter:

South Korea's Ministry of Health says all nine of the new cases are directly tied to "patient zero."All of the new cases have occurred in people who have been under quarantine.

They are among nearly 17-hundred people in South Korea who have been isolated amid fears they may have been exposed to MERS.

The virus showed up in South Korea on May 20th in a 68-year old man who had just returned from a business trip to the Middle East.

It has since taken four lives.

However, Kwon Jun-wook with the South Korean Health Ministry says both 'patient zero' and his wife have now both been released from hospital.

"The patient, who was the second confirmed case, left the hospital on June 5 after her condition improved. The PCR, or Polymerase Chain Reaction, test was conducted twice and all test results were negative."Two more patients may also be released in the next few days following tests.

Kwon Jun-wook says they don't believe the virus has mutated from the original viral strain first identified in Saudi Arabia back in 2012.

"Gene sequencing of the MERS virus in South Korea is showing almost same as a virus in the Middle East region like Saudi Arabia. Thus, we confirmed there is no sign of genetic mutation in the virus."The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also completed sequencing the genome of the first case of imported MERS in the country.

Chinese authorities have also found no evidence to suggest the virus has mutated.

A virtual mutation can sometimes make strains more virulent and harder to treat with conventional medications.

By testing and comparing the genome sequence of different strains of MERS, scientists can potentially find ways to prevent the spread of the virus.

However, at this point, no vaccines are available.

MERS is a corona virus similar to SARS.

It has a mortality rate of around 40-percent.

Data from the World Health Organisation shows close to 12-hundred cases have been identified around the world, with close to 450 people dying from it.

The World Health Organization is dispatching a team into South Korea this coming week to help assess the risks of MERS, along with assisting authorities in helping contain the spread of the virus.

For CRI, I'm Qian Shanming.

Indian PM begins Bangladesh visitIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Bangladesh for a two-day visit.

Modi is due to meet with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

She's expected to issue a formal request from Modi for some 2-billion US dollars worth of loans from India for infrastructure projects.

Years of neglect and a lack of financing has left Bangladesh with crumbling infrastructure.

The two are also due to hold talks on a number of different areas, including border discussions.

Saudis destroy launcher facility suspected in Scud missile launch from YemenReports out of Saudi Arabia are suggesting the coalition currently targeting Shi'ite rebel forces in neighboring Yemen have destroyed a launch facility suspected of delivering an attempted Scud missile strike on the country.

The Scud was reportedly fired overnight last night from a location near the Yemeni city of Saada, which is the home-base for the Houthi rebel fighters.

Saudi media is reporting the Scud was shot down by a patriot missile strike.

No injuries have been reported.

The incident is being viewed by some as a major escalation in the months of fighting which has been taking place.

Saudi authorities, early on in the bombing campaign in March, said they believed they had knocked out all of the Scud missile launchers in Yemen as part of their bombing campaign.

Before the rebel insurgency began, Yemen's military is believed to have around 300 Scud missiles in its arsenal.

The incident comes as discussions continue to grow about the potential for UN-brokered peace talks.

A leading Houthi official is on-record saying his group is ready to travel to Geneva for peace talks, but says ousted President Ab-Raboo Mansour Hadi is derailing the process by putting out pre-conditions.

Hadi, who is in exile in Saudi Arabia, is demanding the rebels withdraw from all territory they've captured before peace talks can take place.

The Houthi rebels, originally from the north of Yemen, have swept across much of the country.

Observers have accused Iran and Saudi Arabia of engaging in a proxy war in Yemen, as Iran has been accused of backing the Shi'ite Houthis.

Iran has denied arming the fighters, but does say it has been providing humanitarian assistance to the group.

Greece PM insists to include debt relief in the bailout dealGreece Prime minister Alexis Tsipras is demanding his country's international creditors insert some form of debt relief needs to be part of any new financial restructuring package.

"We are telling you, we are negotiating really hard this time, in order to close your accounts and end the bailout programmes. There is no way that we accept a deal if it does not contain debt restructuring, in order to securely reach the markets. I want to address and reassure you and the Greek people that there is no time limit to the negotiations."Briefing the Greek parliament, Tsipras says his government is not willing to accept the latest proposal raised by the IMF, the European Central Bank and European Commission.

The Greek government has been negotiating a plan to make a lump-sum payment of four separate debt packages worth 1.5-billion euro due to be returned to the IMF this month.

Greece missed its first payment on Friday.

Negotiations over the last number of weeks with the country's international creditors have made little headway.

The current Greek government rose to power on a campaign pledge to end the austerity programs included in the country's 240-billion euro bailout.

UN Calls for Help to Ease Migrant Burden on GreeceThe United Nations is warning that Greece is in urgent need of international assistance, saying the debt-riddled country is struggling to cope with the massive influx of migrants this year.

Around 42-thousand migrants have arrived on Greek shores this year.

UNHCR spokesperson Carlotta Sami says this is 6-times the number of migrants who landed on Greece's smaller southern islands during the same period last year.

"We understand that the police is under very very strong pressure, and we have also to understand that these islands were not prepared for such high arrivals. It is a peak season, there are no reception centres, the local population is doing what they can also to help those refugees."Greece is already struggling to make payments on the international loans its received over the past few years to keep its economy from collapsing.

So far, nearly 90-thousand would-be refugees have travelled across the Mediterranean this year in an attempt to find a better life in Europe.

Nearly 19-hundred have died attempting to make the crossing.

Cold sore virus used to treat skin cancerAnchor:

Scientists have been working with a genetically-modified version of the herpes virus as a potential treatment for skin cancer.

CRI's Wang Mengzhen has more.

Reporter:

Tens-of-thousands of people around the world are diagnosed with a malignant form of skin cancer every year.

Lin Davies from the UK is currently one of thousands undergoing treatment after she discovered a lump on her.

Doctors later determined she was suffering from an aggressive, stage three melanoma.

She says the diagnosis came as a shock.

"To find yourself at stage three as a diagnosis - you're presented with stage three, no melanomas on the skin - was terrifying and as you can imagine finding there's so few treatments for it, it's really bad. I had no idea that melanoma skin cancer was as deadly as it is."However, new research is offering people like Lin Davies new hope.

Kevin Harrington with the Institute of Cancer Research in New York says they're now working with a genetically-modified version of the strain of herpes which gives people cold-sores.

"I think the future will be testing this in other types of cancer which might be very amenable to this kind of treatment. And we've already started combination studies where we're combining this particular virus with other therapies."A number of trials using the herpes virus to treat skin cancer are already underway in the UK, US, Canada and South Africa.

Professor Richard Marais from the Manchester Institute for Cancer Research in the UK says the new advancements using the herpes virus do show promise.

"It's clearly an advance, it's the demonstration that these sorts of technologies can work and clearly 40 percent of patients are responding - that's a breakthrough. The question really is can we convert those responses into long time responses and perhaps in some patients to cures?"In the UK, 436 people with inoperable melanoma are part of a trial using the genetically-modified herpes virus treatment.

Among them, around one-quarter have responded positively to the treatment, increasing survival rates by around 30-percent.

However, overall survival rates for those with inoperable skin cancer using the new advancements has been marginal at best.

Still, researchers say they do believe the advancements are a positive step forward, though more testing still needs to be done.

Around 9-thousand people die from skin cancer every year.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.

The 5th China-Japan Finance Dialogue held after two years' delayA new round of meetings between the Finance Ministers of China and Japan is underway in Beijing.

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei is holding discussions with Japanese Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso.

Lou Jiwei says the two have already discussed a number of key areas.

"China and Japan have pledged to further advance financial cooperation in East Asia and have discussed the direction for the future development of ASEAN+3 financial cooperation. Both sides have also agreed that these talks are important. Both sides are looking forward to the Sixth China-Japan Finance Dialogue in Tokyo in the coming year."The meetings are the first in some 2-years.

Economic discussions between China and Japan were put on-hold amid the political tensions between the two sides the past couple of years.

Observers are suggesting the re-establishment of economic discussions is a signal of easing tensions between the two sides.

WeatherBeijing will be overcast tonight with a chance of showers, low of 18 degrees.

Tomorrow will also see possible thundershowers with a high of 30.

Shanghai will be cloudy tonight with a low of 22, tomorrow also cloudy with a high of 27.

Chongqing will have slight rain tonight with a low of 21. Showers tomorrow with a high of 26.

Lhasa, clear with a low of 12, tomorrow will be cloudy with a high of 28.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad will be cloudy with a high of 39.

Kabul, cloudy, 27.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney will be sunny with a high of 20.

Brisbane, cloudy, 22.

Perth, also cloudy, 20.

And finally Auckland, New Zealand will have slight rain with a high of 15 degrees Celsius.

Headline newsEastern Star death toll reaches 396The grim task of recovering the bodies of those killed in Monday's deadly capsizing on the Yangtze River is still underway, with the official death toll standing at 396.

46 others remain missing.

The Eastern Star was carrying 456 people on an 11-day trip up the river from Nanjing to Chongqing when it capsized near the small community of Jianli in Hubei.

The ship, said to have been hit by a tornado around 9 in the evening on Monday, took only around a minute to capsize.

Of the 456 people onboard at the time, only 14 people have been found alive so far.

All cabins on the ship have now been sterilized to prevent any possible outbreak of disease.

Local authorities have put the waters where the ship sank under traffic control indefinitely.

9.42 mln Chinese to sit for college entrance examFinal preparations are being made for this year's college entrance exams in China, which get underway tomorrow.

The Ministry of Education estimates 9-million-420-thousand students will sit this year's 'Gaokao' across the country.

Police across the country have been told to put additional officers on-hand to help coordinate traffic in and around the locations where the testing sites are located.

The 'gaokao,' a standardized national test, weighs heavily on a student's ability to enter college in China.

Egyptian court annuls blacklisting Hamas as terror groupThe courts in Egypt have reportedly annulled a previous decree listing Palestinian group Hamas as a terror organization.

Egyptian state media is reporting the Court of Urgent Matters has cancelled the decree.

Hamas, a strong supporter of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, was declared a terrorist organization by new Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi last year.

The new administration has accused Hamas of organizing violent demonstrations in Egypt following Morsi's overthrow.

Hamas, an offshoot of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, currently controls the Gaza Strip, which shares a border with Egypt in the northern Sinai.

Death toll rises to 19 on Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu after quake: officialsSearchers say they've managed to recover all the victims from a series of landslides which hit Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu on Friday.

A total of 19 people have been killed on the mountain after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit the area.

Local search and rescue officials say all the missing climbers are accounted for.

The bodies of the victims are being helicoptered off the mountain.

At least 10 of the victims are believed to be middle-school children from an international school in Singapore who happened to be on a field-trip on the mountain when the earthquake hit.

Singaporian authorities have dispatched a military aircraft to transport the parents of the young victims to the scene.

Kinabalu, Malaysia's highest mountain, is a popular spot for hikers.

Weekly Biz RoundupAnchor:

It's time to check back with some of the headlines from the business world this past week in our Weekly Business Review.

Among the stories this week, China and South Korea have signed a long-awaited free trade agreement.

New home prices in China through May increase for the first time in four months.

Chinese train makers CSR and CNR have finished their merger.

And more and more Chinese companies head down the path toward going global.

CRI's Wenjie with your Weekly Business Review.

Reporter:

China and South Korea signed the free trade agreement on Monday this week.

Under the deal, tariffs on over 90 percent of the goods traded between the two countries will be removed in the next two decades.

It covers 17 areas including trade in goods, services and investment. It also covers e-commerce, government procurement and competitive policies.

It is also the first time for China to include finance, telecommunications and e-commerce industries in a free trade deal.

Jin Yisong, President of China Chamber of Commerce in Korea, says the FTA marks a breakthrough between the two economies.

"Both countries can make their respective advantages complementary to each other. It will have a positive impact in the upgrading of enterprises and optimization of industrial structure in both China and South Korea."Once the FTA takes effect, the bilateral trade volume is expected to reach 400 billion U.S. dollars in five years.

Following this, China has unveiled a blueprint for an industrial park in east China's Yantai city to facilitate investment by enterprises from the South Korea.

Starting from this Monday, import tariffs on clothing, cosmetics, and some other goods in China have been cut.

The Ministry of Finance said tariffs on selected goods would be slashed by an average of about 50 percent.

Taxes on sports shoes will roughly be cut in half to 12 percent, while tariffs on diapers will drop to 2 percent from 7.5 percent.

Meanwhile, international luxury brands are cutting prices in China to counter Chinese consumers' overseas shopping habits.

Gucci has halved the prices of many of its products after a 20-percent cut by Chanel in March.

A report by the China Index Academy shows new home prices in China increased in May for the first time in four months.

The average new home price in one-hundred major Chinese cities rose half of a percent last month to about 10-thousand five hundred yuan or nearly 17-hundered U.S. dollars per square meter.

Looking ahead, experts suggest that the property market overall will show a warming trend.

Gao Shang, analyst with Guantong Futures, says China's slower economic growth may actually have a positive effect on the real estate market in the future.

"As long as we could not see the economy gets better, there will be further easing policies like interest rate cut, lower reserve requirement and other loosen policies, this could bring more money into the real estate market."China's new housing prices had been falling since February.

China's central bank is now allowing financial institutions to issue certificates of deposit, giving banks more freedom when it comes to interest rates.

A certificate of deposit is essentially a savings bond which gives the purchaser a higher rate of return than ordinary deposits.

A minimum certificate of deposit is 300-thousand yuan for individual investors. Institutional investors have to spend a minimum 10-million yuan.

Interest rates on the certificates will be determined by the market.

Chinese train makers CSR and CNR have announced the completion of their merger and adopted CRRC as the company's new name.

The two companies halted trading on May 7 to proceed with creating the world's biggest rail conglomerate in terms of sales through a share swap merger.

An earlier statement said the swap was completed on May 28 and the companies exchanged business licenses on Monday.

The Chinese government has set a goal to cut the number of SOEs to 40 in its massive merger plan to push reform and structural upgrade in the economy.

George Ren, partner and vice president of the Roland Berger Enterprise Management, says the Chinese market need to see more mergers among big companies in the future.

"I think, with the size of the capital market in China, we should see more heavyweight mergers. Currently it is the government that is pushing for a lot of mergers. I hope that in the future, the market will play a more important role in these mergers, too"Currently, the central government owns over 110 conglomerates, including 277 public firms listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Chinese stocks continue their path to go global this weekOn Tuesday, US-based Vanguard Group has announced plans to include mainland-listed A-shares in its emerging market fund.

The mutual fund giant says its investors will have access to over 14-hundred mainland-listed shares.

Vanguard is poised to become the latest to add Chinese A-shares to its list of securities after FTSE included Chinese shares last week.

Morgan Stanley Capital International is set to make a decision on whether to include Chinese A-shares in its portfolio next week.

Meanwhile, new reports are suggesting the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has been granted approval to invest 1.5 billion US dollars in the Chinese A-share market.

The report has yet to be confirmed by Chinese authorities.

If true, it will be the largest investment approved by China's foreign exchange regulator under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor, or QFII, program.

This week, 23 different companies have been taking IPO subscriptions in the Chinese A-share market this week alone.

Among them, China National Nuclear Power Coporation aims to raise more than 13 billion yuan or nearly 2 billion U.S. dollars.

CRI's Financial Commentator Cao Can explains why a massive influx of Chinese companies moving to raise funds on the capital market.

"The main reason is that the Chinese stock market is doing very well, so it is profitable for companies to list their IPOs in China at this point, because the market cap is very attractive. So it is easier for new companies to recapitalize at a cheaper cost."This comes after an industry report suggests 48 different Chinese companies went public around the world last month. All but four of them listed on mainland exchanges.

This has created a record high.

Meanwhile, Chinese regulators have given the green-light for Chinese securities firm Guotai Junan to go public.

Guotai is expected to put forward the largest IPO on China's A-share market in some 5 years.

Beijing transport authorities have reiterated the illegality of unlicensed taxis after grilling executives of Uber-like taxi-hailing app Didi Dache.

Didi Dache services including "Didi Express" and "Didi Zhuanche" allow private car owners to accept fares for driving passengers.

These actions violate existing laws and regulations.

Authorities regulate that only cars officially designated as taxis may pick up paying passengers.

On the corporate front,Chinese billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Property has wrapped up its first day of trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.

It has gained over 4-Hong Kong Dollars in value after opening trading at 70-Hong Kong dollars.

This marks the completion of Li Ka-shing's reorganization of his corporate empire.

Li Ka-shing says he has a lot of confidence in local market, which is one of the most expensive in the world.

"It is difficult for the current property prices to fall because the construction costs and labor costs are on the rise. If you buy a flat for self-use not for speculation, you can afford it through installment payment."And that concludes this edition of the weekly business review; I'm wenjie, thank you for listening.

SportsNBA: Cleveland's Kyrie Irving Out of Finals With Fractured KneecapNews from the National Basketball Association:

Cleveland Cavaliers point-guard Kyrie Irving is out of the finals after an MRI revealed that he had a fracture in his left kneecap following Thursday's game-one loss in the NBA Finals to Golden State.

Irving dove for a ball with two minutes left in overtime and had to limp off the court. Golden State would go on to beat the Cavs 108-100.

Surgery for the injury will reportedly sideline Irving for at least three months, ending his run in the post-season.

Football: China v. Canada for Women's World Cup Opener, Barcelona v. Juventus for UEFA FinalIn upcoming football action:

The Women's World Cup in Canada, when the hosts face China in the tourney opener.

China is 14-5 against Canada since 1987, but only three of those have been with John Herdman of Canada and Hao Wei of China and the respective helms.

In all three matches, Canada beat China by one point.

That match kicks off at 6 a.m., Beijing time.

And in Europe:

La Liga and Kings cup winners Barcelona hit the pitch against Serie A giants Juventus for the UEFA Champions League final.

Barca defender Gerard Pique says that, while ball possession will be key for his side, Juventus' counter-attack must not be under-estimated.

"They have a lot of power up front with Morata, with Tevez. They have good midfielders like Vidal, Marchisio, Pogba. They are really strong, they can go box-to-box and definitely they will try to, to counter-attack us and we have to be really concentrate in the defending part and, and then through the possession of the ball try to create chances to score goals."That games starts at 2:45, Beijing time.

Rugby: Former All Blacks Flanker Jerry Collins, Wife Killed in Car CrashTragic news from the Rugby world:

Former All Blacks flanker Jerry Collins and his wife Alana Madill died after their car was struck by a bus on a highway outside the southern French town of Beziers on Friday.

Police said Madill was driving while 34-year-old Collins was in the back seats.

Highway police in Beziers said their baby daughter Ayla was gravely injured in the crash about a half-hour drive from Narbonne, where Collins had been playing since January for the town's second division club.

Local rugby club coach Coach Jean-Claude Lopez says the loss is a real shock.

"It is sad. For the club for the sport and for rugby. It happened so fast, that I have no words to describe it. The situation was totally crazy. For his family, his friends and everybody who love him. He was such a nice guy. I have no worlds to describe how I feel today."Collins made hsi debut with New Zealand in 2001, whinning 48 caps.

Tennis: Wawrinka into French Open Finals; Djokovic and Murray Semis Match Delayed by RainIn tennis action from Roland Garros,Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka defeated the last French hope, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 on Friday to reach his first ever French Open final.

The eighth-seeded player served 15 aces and hit 60 winners to progress to his second final at a Grand Slam tournament.

Wawrinka will face top-ranked Novak Djokovic or third-seeded Andy Murray in the final.

-------That semifinals match has yet to see a victor, after the match was suspended due to an impending storm.

Top-seeded Djokovic won the first two sets before dropping the third to Murray. The delay came when the two competitors were dead-even at 3-3 in the fourth set.

The match will resume at 1 a.m. on Sunday, Beijing time.

----------In women's doubles:

American-Czech pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova beat all-Czech duo Andrea Lavakova and Lucie Radecka 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

They will meet Aussie-Russian pair Casey Dellqcqua and Yaroslava Shvedova, who downed Russia's Etaterina Makarova and elena Vesnina in straight sets.

Indonesia Open RecapIn badminton action at the Indonesia Open:

China's Women's doubles pair Tang Jinhua and Tian Qing downed Compatriots Ma Jin and Tang Yuanting in two games.

In Mixed Doubles, Chinese duo Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei ousted Indonesia's Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir 16-21, 21-15, 21-18.

Golf RecapIn golf:

Sweden's having a big weekend on the green.

On the PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament:

Swede David Lingmerth recorded a round of seven-under 65 to take a one-shot lead going into a weekend that includes Tiger Woods.

Woods signed a 70 that left him at one under--11 strokes behind Lingmerth.

On the European Tour:

It's a tie for first at the Nordea Masters in Sweden, with host-country natives Marcus Knhult and Jens Dantorp tied at 9 under.

and in the LPGA:

Norway's Suzann Pettersen and Colombian Mariajo Uribe are even at 13 under at the end of the second at the Manulife Classic.

F1: Lewis Hamilton Sets Fastest Time, Crashes at Canada GP Practice DayIn racing:

World champion Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time and crashed his Mercedes on an eventful, rain-affected opening practice day at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Hamilton had got his time down to 1 minute 15.988 seconds and was fastest again, but he aquaplaned off the track into the barriers.

Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg were the only drivers to break 1 minute 17 seconds around the track in the morning session, with Hamilton's best time of 1 minute 16.212 seconds more than four-tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg.

EntertainmentEntertainment programs cancelled to mourn victims of Yangtze shipwreckChina's state and other major TV channels have suspended some programs from Saturday to mourn victims of the Yangtze shipwreck.

Jiangsu TV will halt all entertainment programs until Tuesday including hugely popular dating show 'If you are the One'.

China Central Television will suspend popular talent show 'Xing Guang Da Dao' known as Avenue of Stars.

Media reports said an evening gala and a dance contest scheduled for Saturday night will be replaced with charity related programs.

Programs or advertisements highlighting celebrations will also be withdrawn for the next three days.

Jackie Chan in negotiations to star in 'The Foreigner'

Jackie Chan is in final negotiations with STX Entertainment to star in action film 'The Foreigner'.

'The Foreigner' is based on the Stephen Leather novel 'The Chinaman' which was released in 1992 and focuses on a restaurant owner in London's Chinatown who is tracking down a group of terrorists responsible for the death of his daughter.

Nick Cassavetes who has worked on The Notebook and The Other Woman is in talks to direct.

Jackie Chan has starred in more than 150 films and is famous for his martial arts.

STX Entertainment was launched last year and aims to release 15 films annually by 2017. So far it has worked with actors including Matthew McConaughey and Julia Roberts. The film company also has financial backing from Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital along with film financing from China's Huayi Brothers.

Jurassic World director responds to clip criticismJurassic World's director Colin Trevorrow has responded to Avengers director Joss Whedon's criticism of a preview clip of the upcoming movie.

The clip features an exchange between Chris Pratt's character Owen Grady, a dinosaur researcher and Bryce Dallas Howard's character Claire Dearing, the operations manager of the park. Avengers director Joss Whedon took to Twitter to share his opinion of the clip declaring it as 70s era sexist.

The director later apologized for his comments admitting that it was a low blow to criticize another director's film. However Jurassic World's director Colin Trevorrow has said that he partly agrees with Whedon saying that without watching the entire movie, the clip could be misleading.

Jurassic World is a sequel to the original 1993 Jurassic Park movie which sees the dream of Isla Nublar become a reality. After ten years of operating, visitor numbers to the dinosaur theme park are in decline and a new attraction is built to bring in higher visitor numbers which backfires.

Jurassic World is released in China on June 10.

Enrique Iglesias may never regain full sensitivity in hand after injuryEnrique Iglesias may never regain full sensitivity in his hand after injuring it onstage in Mexico last weekend.

The singer cut open his hand during a concert in Tijuana, Mexico when he attempted to grab a camera drone while performing. Apparently the star was attempting to give the audience his point of view.

A statement was posted on Iglesias' website saying that the star's injuries were worse than originally thought leading him to undergo reconstructive surgery earlier on this week.

According to Billboard magazine, the singer will need minor rehab once his finger and skin graft has healed and he will have to wait to see if he will regain full sensitivity in his finger.

Video footage of the incident shows the singer grabbing the drone and then throwing it onto the stage with a bloodied hand. The singer completed the show despite his injuries.

One Direction deny reports of a break after world tourOne Direction have denied reports that they will be taking a break after their world tour finishes.

Several newspapers in the UK suggested that the group would be taking a break after the second leg of their On the Road Again tour and recording their fifth studio album.

The band have released a statement saying the reports are not based on any facts and the band are looking forward to their album release in November.

In March, Zayn Malik announced his departure from the group saying he wanted to be a normal 22 year old. He has since been photographed in the recording studio with British music producer Naughty Boy who hinted he was working with Malik on solo material.

YouTube shares viewing statisticsVideo sharing site YouTube has revealed its viewing statistics to show the most viewed artists in the world and where they have been viewed.

The records go back to September 2014 and show some interesting trends about some of the world's biggest stars.

For instance, Taylor Swift is twice as popular in Bangkok, Thailand than New York and One Direction are huge in Quezon City in the Philippines.

Swift averages around 15 million views a day on the site but on the 17th of May enjoyed a rise to around 30 million around the release of her Bad Blood video. In the US, Swift's videos have been viewed over 670 million times which is enough for everyone in the country to have watched two of her videos.

Justin Bieber averages around a surprisingly low 4 million views a day. In Buenos Aires, Argentina his videos have been viewed a total of 20 million times.

And Susan Boyle, the contestant from Britain's Got Talent in 2009 is still viewed 70,000 times a day.

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

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

Close to 400 bodies have now been retrieved from the cruise liner which capsized in the Yangtze River on Monday.

Final preparations are underway for this year's college entrance exams, which get underway across China tomorrow.

South Korean authorities are now dealing with 50 cases of MERS amid the continued spread of the deadly virus.

In Sports... the Cleveland Cavaliers have been dealt a significant blow to their chances to hoist this year's NBA championships.

In Entertainment.... entertainment programs across China are being cancelled to honor the memory of those lost in the Yangtze River disaster.

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