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

Coming up on the program this evening...

Economics, foreign investment, and climate change are expected to be leading topics during the Chinese president's State Visit in the UK next week...

Chinese authorities are taking steps to accelerate the country's urbanization drive...

and two reports on the Malaysia Airlines flight that crashed in Ukraine last year come to different conclusions...

In Business...a forecast for Chinese imports and exports in the fourth quarter...

In Sports...FIFA's ethics committee has suspended the president of Thailand's football association...

In entertainment...the French director of a Chinese film has strong words for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

TopXi Jinping to pay week-long state visit to the UKChinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United Kingdom next week, from Monday to Friday.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed the date in an announcement on Tuesday.

The visit is at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Chinese President's Visit to UK Expected to Greatly Strengthen Bilateral TiesAnchor:

A leading expert on international affairs says President Xi's upcoming state visit to the UK will greatly strengthen cooperation between the two countries, especially in economics, foreign investment, and climate change.

CRI's Li Jianhua has more.

Reporter:

Dr. Robin Niblett is the Director of Chatham House, a london-based international-affairs think tank.

He says Sino-British relations are currently in the best shape in history.

He attributes it largely to the booming bilateral trade.

"It is the economics that are driving the quality of the relationship right now. The United Kingdom is on a big push to increase its exports to emerging markets, and the biggest emerging market obviously is China. And the one country with which the UK has really increased its exports in the last five years has been with China, doubled from some seven billion pounds to about 15 billion pounds in this period. So the export relationship is very important."Dr. Niblett says the UK is seeking more direct investment from China into major UK infrastructure projects, covering areas such as energy, airports, and railways.

Besides economic cooperation, Dr. Robin says during the meetings of the two countries' leaders, the issue of climate change is also expected to top the agenda.

"I think we may see some bigger discussions about the climate change negotiations that will take place in Paris in December, where President Xi and President Obama had made some quite strong announcements. The British government is part of the EU, which is the other part of the triangle in a way on climate change. This could also be a big feature. "The most important goal, according to Dr. Niblett, is to keep the path of cooperation between the two governments while solving differences by dialogues.

"The message I want to give is that in this visit of Xi Jinping, we will see lots of golden opportunities, win-win economics, but we must remember that underneath it, are some areas of potential tension that could always pop up in the future. And that both governments, will need to work hard to make sure the win-win is the dominant part, and the negatives do not slip into it."President Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will be hosted at Buckingham Palace, the royal residence in London, during their stay in the UK.

This will mark the first UK state visit for a Chinese leader in a decade since President Hu Jintao visited Britain in 2005.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua.

China promotes new-type urbanization to boost economyAnchor:

Chinese authorities are speeding up the country's urbanization drive, accelerating experiments in 64 test cities as early results begin to show promise.

CRI's Wang Wei reports.

Reporter:

China's new-type urbanization has three "100-million-person" targets.

The country is working to facilitate 100 million farmers-turned-workers to settle down in cities, to renovate shanty towns housing 100 million people, and to guide the urbanization of 100 million people near their hometowns.

The National Development and Reform Commission says the cities involved in the experiments have reported some primary achievements in areas such as the urbanization of farmers, and within financing systems.

Some analysts say the urbanization also helps to boost the slowing down economic growth.

Hu Zucai, deputy director of the NDRC, has echoed the remarks, saying pushing forward with the urbanization is the most crucial force driving the economy at the moment.

"Urbanization is the only way to modernization. It is also an important way to solve the three agriculture-related problems, a firm support to pushing forward regional coordinated development and an important facilitator of expanding domestic demand and promoting industrial upgrades. Urbanization is the perfect match point among stabilizing economic growth, adjusting economic structure and promoting reforms."But to what extent can urbanization stimulate the economy?

Han Bing, deputy vice mayor of central China's Hefei city, shares his thoughts.

"To urbanize one farmer-turned-worker, an expenditure of 12-thousand yuan is generated. It is estimated that around 200-thousand people settle down in Hefei every year. Half of them are farmers-turned-workers, who bear great potential for consuming power. The urbanization of farmers-turned-workers also brings in massive investment demands. The urbanization process of a single worker requires 80-thousand in fixed investments. 100-thousand workers can produce 8 to 10 billion yuan."In order to attract investments to facilitate the urbanization, the city of Chongqing in southwestern China has created new funding channels.

Zhang Guozhi is a municipal official in Chongqing.

"For starters, the municipality has raised 2.5 billion yuan every year for five years in order to attract social capital to support the development of industry, agriculture, the modern service industry, and technologies. The city has set up 18 exclusive funds with a total scale of 18 billion yuan. Secondly, in the strategic emerging industries, we plan to raise 80 billion yuan based on a joint investment fund as well as social capital. And the third is the logistics industry. We will set up a 10 billion yuan modern logistics industry development fund to support the infrastructure construction in the west part of China."All the achievements were made during the 12th Five Year Development Plan, which is going to wraps up by the end of this year.

Despite the achievements, Hu Zucai with the NDRC says there are still many problems to be tackled, including the imbalance of the urbanization processes among the experimental cities, as well as the inadequate endeavors in certain cities.

Also, Chinese authorities will soon announce another batch of 50 cities to join in the urbanization drive, focusing on the central and western parts of the country.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.

China to hold 10th senior officials' meeting on Declaration on Conduct of Parties in South China SeaChinese authorities will hold a new round of discussion on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying gives more on what to be discussed.

"The participating parties will discuss the overall effective implementation of the DOC, and exchange views on how to push forward pragmatic cooperation in the South China Sea. They will also continue exploring the way to carry out negotiations on advancing a code of conduct in the South China Sea under the framework of the DOC."The discussion will be the 10th round involving senior officials from interested countries.

The 2-day meeting is scheduled for next Monday in the southwest city of Chengdu.

China, Singapore hold annual cooperation meetingsChinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli is now in Singapore to co-chair three annual meetings on bilateral cooperation.

The meetings include the 12th meeting of the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, a high-level group established in 2003 to oversee the entire range of bilateral cooperation.

The other two meetings will cover the Suzhou Industrial Park and the Tianjin Eco-city, respectively.

The latter two are flagship projects between the two governments for promoting cooperation in high-tech industries and sustainable development.

China is now Singapore's No.1 trading partner while Singapore is China's largest investment source.

PLA Navy Training Vessel Arrives in Hawaii for a Four-Day VisitThe Chinese navy's training vessel "Zhenghe" has kicked off a goodwill visit to the United States.

The vessel has arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

It carries 351 officers and sailors, including 171 students from military academies who are onboard for training.

The ship, named after the great Chinese navigator Zheng He, was warmly greeted by U.S. Navy officials, Chinese embassy staff, and Chinese expats.

Kevin Brand, commanding officer of the USS Chosin, says he hopes these exchanges can facilitate learning between the two navies.

"We do have some exchanges set up between the two ships from a planning stance. We are going to go through some search and rescue planning, show us how we do some planning to recover a man lost at sea, which is very important for any nations that operate maritime vessels. We're also going to be able to do a damage control exercise, go through, share some of our lessons learned, show the Chinese navy some of our equipment and how we do business. And hopefully learn from you as well."Ye Kaihua, captain of the Zhenghe, says only sound communication can secure a good relationship between the countries.

"Navy forces are an international nation which obviously needs good communication. We should enhance mutual understanding and trust and communication."The major intention of the visit is to nurture and train the new generation of seamen for the Chinese navy forces.

Over half of the more than 300 crew members on the vessel are from three Chinese military academies.

This is the second time 'Zhenghe' has visited Hawaii. Its first visit was in 1987.

After Pearl Harbor, it will head to South Korea.

Russia arm producer releases its own investigation report on MH17Meanwhile, the Russian manufacturer of the missile system, Almaz-Antei, has released its own investigation report.

The Russian missile manufacturer produces anti-aircraft missile systems including the model of BUK rocket launcher that is believed to have downed the doomed flight.

Almaz-Antei said it had blown up a missile beneath a decommissioned Boeing plane to prove that the newest Russian equipment was not involved, and would present the test results.

At Tuesday's press conference, company head Yan Novikov says evidence shows that if the plane was hit by a Buk missile, it was fired from the village of Zaroshenske, which Russia says was under Ukrainian government control at the time.

"The results of the experiment completely disprove the conclusions of the Dutch commission about the type of missile and the place of launching. Today we can definitely say and will show in presentation that if the Boeing 777 was shot down with the Buk air defense missile system, it was hit by missile 9M38 from the Zaroshenske settlement. After two experiments, the only unclear issue for us is the presence of sub-munitions of missile 9M38M1 with I-beams among evidence attached to this case."Novikov did not specify what was in the Dutch report and he did not say whether he had been given an advance look.

Mikhail Malyshevsky, is the adviser to the company's Chief Engineer.

"Based on the comprehensive analysis of the plane's damage, we made the conclusions that the most significant damage was in the pilot's cabin, mainly on it's left side, and the fuselage of the plane, mainly on the bends. That is very important as we paid special attention to the damage of the fuselage, because they show the order of the plane's destruction."Kiev accused militants in east Ukraine of downing the airliner with anti-aircraft equipment supplied by Russia.

The militants denied the accusations, saying they did not possess such missile systems capable of attacking the plane, and accused the Ukrainian military of shooting the plane down.

That accusation has been rejected by Ukraine.

Dutch Investigators to Reveal MH17 Final ReportInternational investigators of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash are expected to release a final report on the downing of the plane later on today.

The final report is set to reveal what caused the plane to disintegrate but will not say who was to blame.

A preliminary finding has said the Boeing 777 was hit by "high-energy objects from outside the aircraft."The Malaysia Airlines plane crashed in eastern Ukrainian region on July 17, last year, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

All 298 people onboard the plane, including 196 Dutch nationals, were killed.

The downing of the plane occurred during conflict between local militants and Ukrainian government forces.

2 mortar shells struck near Russian embassy in DamascusTwo mortar shells struck near the Russian embassy in the capital Damascus on Tuesday.

It's said that the attack took place when a group of Russian supporters were gathering around the compound to hail Moscow's airstrikes in Syria.

There's no casualty report yet.

It's unknown who fired the shells yet.

Russia ready to cooperate with patriotic opposition in Syria: FMRussia says it is ready to cooperate with all opposition groups in Syria that do not hold to terrorist ideology to speed up a political solution to the crisis in the war-torn country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the process should begin as soon as possible and should lead to a reconciliation of the Syrian people.

Lavrov also proposed a means to coordinate Russia's actions in Syria with the U.S.-led coalition.

"We are interested in establishing coordination between the coalition created by the United States which includes many countries of the Arab world including the Persian Gulf countries and our military men working in Syria now."However, the foreign minister said the coalition has so far declined to share intelligence with Russia.

Russia's Air Force has been launching strikes against the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups since Sept. 30.

But Moscow has ruled out the possibility of sending troops for ground operations in Syria.

New wave of violence in the JerusalemAn Israeli was killed and at least 22 others were injured in two attacks in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Police say two Palestinians used a gun and a knife during an attack on passengers on a bus.

A few minutes later, a vehicle driven by a Palestinian ran over civilians in central Jerusalem, wounding at least five.

Police say two assailants were shot and apparently killed.

Almost simultaneously, there was another stabbing attack at a bus stop in another part of the city that killed another person.

Micky Rosenfeld is the Israeli police spokesman.

"Heightened security is continuing in all public areas in cities across Israel with emphasis on Jerusalem."Two other stabbing attacks also took place in the central Israeli city of Raanana on Tuesday.

Ziv Reichart is a paramedic in Raanana.

"At about 8:50, we received a report about a stabbing incident at Ahuza 100 in Raanana. Immediately crews from the rescue service were sent to the area, when we reached the area the forces treated one wounded person in the scene for stab wounds, lightly wounded. He was brought to hospital. Afterwards MDA forces treated two people in shock who were evacuated from the scene and another person with moderate wounds to hospital."The attacks mark the most serious wave of incidents in a month-long wave of violence.

Iran parliament passes nuclear deal with world powersIran's parliament has passed a bill supporting the government in implementing a nuclear deal with world powers.

The deal was signed on July 14 in Vienna after extensive negotiations between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

It is aimed at ending sanctions against Iran and restricting the country's atomic activities.

Tuesday's vote removes a major obstacle to putting the agreement into practice.

However it insists that international inspections of military sites under the nuclear pact should be approved by a top Iranian security body.

New Nobel Economics Prize Winner Reacts to WinningThe newly crowned winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics has shared his reaction to the win, saying it was a little like being struck by lightning.

Angus Deaton also joked that he initially worried it was a prank.

"I always knew it was a possibility, well not always, but I've known for sometime that it was a possibility, I never thought it was a very likely event, especially not in any given year. So I was not lying in bed at 6 o'clock this morning thinking, ooh that phone call should come in the next however long."Deaton says the world has become a better place in the past 250 years, but noted that inequality is posing a serious threat to mankind.

"I'm hugely worried about inequality and I think inequality has gone past the point where it's helping us all get rich, which it can do. It's really becoming a serious threat. I think inequality makes the climate change thing enormously difficult to handle."Citing World Bank figures, Deaton said that poverty has fallen to around 10-percent of the world's population.

However, there is more to be done as 700-million people are still struggling with poverty.

Deaton says he is pleased that the committee has awarded research that concerns the world's poor.

Tianjin chemical factory violated rent regulations: investigationInvestigators in north China's port city of Tianjin have announced that the owners of a warehouse that blew up on Monday night had violated rent regulations.

The warehouse is owned by Tianjin Yong Sheng Fine Chemical Co.

The flames were put out around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

No casualties have been reported. Officials were concerned about the release of ammonia and other chemicals into the local environment but none have been detected so far.

An initial investigation found that the warehouse stored about 3,000 kilograms of alcohol, 1,000 kilograms of acetic aid, 800 kilograms of glycerin.

One local official says such a chemical warehouse should have been registered with the government, but that had not happened.

Chiefs of cross-Taiwan Straits affairs meet in GuangzhouThe minister in charge of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council is visiting Guangdong from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday.

According to the Council, Andrew Hsia Li-yan will hold talks with Zhang Zhijun, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

It is the second meeting between the two chiefs since Hsia took office in February.

Hsia is also scheduled to visit the Monument for Martyrs in the Guangzhou Uprising of 1895, the Sun Yat-sen Memorial and Sun Yat-sen University, and Taiwanese companies on Wednesday.

He will go to Dongguan City on Thursday, where he will make stops at a hospital and a school that each receive funding from Taiwan, and meet with more business leaders from Taiwan.

Construction on Longest, Tallest Glass-bottom Bridge in the World Ongoing in ChinaAnchor:

Construction on a second glass-bottom bridge is now underway in China.

This new span will be longer than the first one - and higher!

CRI's Xie Cheng with more.

Reporter:

The bridge will be suspended across Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon in scenic Zhangjiajie National Park in central China's Hunan Province.

When completed, project engineers say the bridge will be 300 metres above ground and 430 metres in length. The bridge itself will be six metres wide, with several glass observatories at various ends. Each glass panel of the walkway will be five centimetres thick.

So far, construction workers have completed the preliminary wire framework and foundations for the bridge.

The safety issue of glass bridges or walkways has raised public concerns after cracks were reported at a local glass-bottom walkaway in a park in central China's Henan Province during the National Holiday travel rush earlier this month.

The bridge's project manager Guo Kun says there's nothing to worry on the safety front.

"People, especially tourists, will worry a lot about safety since the bridge is all made of glass, but I want to tell everyone that there is no need to worry, because we have done numerous tests, including conducting precise calculation of its carrying capacity when building this glass bridge."He adds that once the bridge is completed, tourists will be allowed to enjoy the view on the bridge, or even go bungee jumping.

For his part the project's general engineer Ma Liang says the number of people on the bridge at one time will be limited due to ensure safety.

"In accordance with design requirements, we will have a limit on the number of tourists that can walk on the bridge, as we can only have 800 tourists on the bridge at the same time. We will control the number of tourists at the entrances to the site to ensure safety of the bridge."He adds that the bridge's designers aimed to create a bridge that would be harmonious with its surroundings.

"The glass parts will be transparent and glass-bottomed, so when people are walking on the bridge, they can enjoy the landscape of the canyon below. Meanwhile, the white steel structure also fits properly into the surrounding landscape and the mist in the canyon, which is one of the architect's design concepts."The construction project cost a total of around 250 million yuan, or about 39 million U.S. dollars.

The bridge should be completed at the end of this year, and will be officially open to tourists next January.

In late September this year, China's first glass-bottom bridge, suspended 180 meters above ground, opened in Hunan's Shiniuzhai National Geological Park.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

Beijing pollution fines surpass 100 mln yuanOfficials say the total fines collected for pollution infractions in Beijing through the first nine months of the year have doubled compared to the same period of last year.

Beijing's environmental bureau has announced that over 100 million yuan has been taken in so far - nearly 16 million US dollars.

From January through September, the bureau has launched investigations into nearly 2,500 cases, mostly concerning air and water pollution and construction projects failing to meet standards.

Fines increased after a stronger environmental protection law took effect on January the 1st.

The new rules allow fines to accumulate daily for companies that fail to correct problems, ending the practice of cheap one-off penalties.

The bureau says it will be targeting coal burning, open burning of waste, and dust from construction sites as winter approaches.

Police shoot bear in NE China middle schoolPolice have shot and killed a black bear in northeast China's Heilongjiang province after it was spotted on the grounds at a middle school.

Police in Raohe County received a call on Monday morning that a black bear was in the county's No.3 Middle School, potentially putting the lives of students at risk.

Police and firefighters soon evacuated students and residents who lived near the school, before shooting the bear.

Raohe County is on the Sino-Russian border where improvements to habitat in recent years have resulted in more sightings of tigers and bears.

A black bear, which caused a stir after it was spotted swimming across the border river in August, was captured and released into the wild.

WeatherBeijing is overcast tonight with a low of 11 degrees Celsius; it will have smog tomorrow with a high of 22.

Shanghai, clear tonight with a low of 16; sunny tomorrow with a high of 25.

Chongqing, clear tonight with a low of 18; sunny tomorrow with a high of 27.

Lhasa, cloudy tonight with a low of 3; overcast to cloudy tomorrow with a high of 17.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad, light rain tomorrow with a high of 31.

Kabul, light rain, 22.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney will have light rain with a high of 22.

Brisbane, light rain with a high of 23.

Perth, light rain, 20.

And finally Auckland, New Zealand will have light rain with a high of 18 degrees Celsius.

Headline newsXi Jinping to pay week-long state visit to the UKChinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United Kingdom next week, from Monday to Friday.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed the date in an announcement on Tuesday.

The visit is at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Russia says MH17 downed by missile shot from land controlled by Ukrainian militaryA Russian missile manufacturer says that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by the Ukrainian military.

Yan Novikov, the CEO of Almaz-Antei says MH17 was shot down by missile 9M38 launched by from a BUK-M1 air defense missile system from a village in southeastern Ukraine, which was under control of Ukrainian military forces rather than insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Novikov presented his company's findings at a press conference following two experiments done by specialists, which led to the conclusion that "completely contradict the results of the Dutch Safety Board on the type of missile and the launch location."The results were released on the same day that international investigators are expected to release a final report on the downing of the plane.

2 mortar shells struck near Russian embassy in DamascusTwo mortar shells struck near the Russian embassy in the capital Damascus on Tuesday.

It's said that the attack took place when a group of Russian supporters were gathering around the compound to hail Moscow's airstrikes in Syria.

There's no casualty report yet.

It's unknown who fired the shells yet.

New wave of violence in the JerusalemAn Israeli was killed and at least 22 others were injured in two attacks in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Police say two Palestinians used a gun and a knife during an attack on passengers on a bus.

Police say two assailants were shot and apparently killed.

Almost simultaneously, there was another stabbing attack at a bus stop in another part of the city that killed another person.

Two other stabbing attacks also took place in the central Israeli city of Raanana on Tuesday.

The attacks mark the most serious wave of incidents in a month-long wave of violence.

China-Nepal border port disrupted by quake reopensA major border crossing between China and Nepal at Jilung, a county in Tibet, has re-opened months after a devastating earthquake in Nepal forced it to close.

The road leading to the port was damaged by the deadly earthquake in late April.

After months of repair, the road reopened on Tuesday.

The head of the port's management committee predicts that it will be very busy after a huge fall in border trade following the quake.

Nepal has been Tibet's largest trade partner since 2006.

Biz ReportsClosing numbers across the Asian marketsAnchor:

Time now to check today's business news, starting with closing numbers across the Asian markets. Here's Min Rui.

Reporter:

Chinese shares continued winning streak on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up nearly 0.2 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.7 percent.

And the ChiNext Index of growth enterprises gained more than one percent.

Markets were boosted by the release of better than expected customs exports data for September, we'll have more on that in a minute.

Shares related to big data and Internet technology led the rise, while financial institutions, which performed the best on the previous day trading, were among the biggest losers.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 0.6 percent, with finance sub- index dropping the most and blue-chips were broadly lower.

Elsewhere in Asia,Japan's Nikkei fell more than one percent.

The South Korean KOSPI lost a fraction of a percent.

Singapore's Straits Times Index tumbled 1.6 percent.

And finally, Australia's ASX/200 was down by 0.6 percent.

China foreign trade decline narrows in SeptemberAnchor:

China's exports are expected to improve in the fourth quarter, while a decline in imports will moderate.

CRI's Niu Honglin has more.

Reporter:

The latest figure show China's foreign trade dropped 8.8 percent year on year to 2.2 trillion yuan or 350 billion U.S. dollars in September, with imports slumping nearly 18 percent.

During the first three quarters, foreign trade dropped nearly 8 percent year on year to 18 trillion yuan, nearly 3 trillion U.S. dollars.

The September figure was less severe than the 9.7-percent contraction in August.

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing, General Administration of Customs spokesperson Huang Songping attributed the drops to high costs and slumping commodity prices.

"Rising labor cost is the main cause that limits companies' capacity to expand manufacturing and exports."He says the sluggish global economy is also a problem.

China is currently transforming its economic model to a more sustainable one where domestic consumption replaces exports and state-led investment as the key driver of growth.

Huang says he is confident the number will improve in the fourth quarter.

"At present, the effects of policies are gradually being felt. According to our preliminary expectations, barring any significant political and economic emergencies worldwide, we expect overall imports and exports to be better in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter."China's foreign trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative hit 4.5 trillion yuan, about 25 percent of the total foreign trade in the first three quarters.

Stats in the first three quarters show the European Union has become China's largest trade partner, followed by the United States, and the ASEAN countries.

Exports to emerging markets have been on the rise.

For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.

China to draft antitrust guideline for auto sectorA draft of the first antitrust guideline for the automobile sector is expected to be finished later this month.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the guideline's aim is to crack a monopoly that's present in the Chinese auto market.

It will also cover price-fixing violations by car makers selling products online.

With the rise of online retailers such as Alibaba and JD.com, consumers are looking for better deals online, and cars are no exception.

This has caused controversy as it is unclear what sort of practices are considered fair play.

The draft will be reviewed by the Anti-Monopoly Commission under the State Council by June next year.

For more on this topic, CRI's Spencer Musick spoke with Gao Shang, analyst with Guantong Futures.

…Back Anchor:

That was Gao Shang, analyst with Guantong Futures speaking with CRI's Spencer Musick.

NDRC nods six railway projects involving over RMB270 bln investmentChina's National Development and Reform Commission has approved six new railway projects.

According to the authority's website, these projects involve over 270 billion yuan of investment, or 43 billion U.S. dollars.

The six programs including phase one of Guangzhou transit line 7, and phase one of line S3 in Wenzhou's urban rail transit plan.

Other projects include a rail line in the economic zone alongside the Yellow River in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the transit plan for the Wanjiang River area.

The NDRC has approved an estimated one trillion yuan in spending on rail projects since the start of the year.

RCEP negotiation to finish before end of 2015, likely to hedge TPP influenceRepresentatives from the nations participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership have concluded their latest negotiation in South Korea.

A Korean officer at the talks said that 16 nations will propose a tariff reduction list related to commodity and labor service, and hope to make every effort to reach an agreement before the end of this year.

The RCEP includes the 10 ASEAN nations plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

It covers over half of the global population, with an economic and trade scale accounting for 30 percent of the world total.

China may cut non-residential gas prices by over 20 pctMedia reports say China may announce a deep cut to the price of non-residential natural gas.

Securities Daily says China's National Development and Reform Commission is expected to announce the news at the end of this month.

Non-residential natural gas prices could drop by 20 percent to 30 percent and the price adjustment could take effect as early as November 1.

The government could also set ceiling prices beside benchmark natural gas prices.

Sources say the government could give greater play to market forces in this round of price adjustment and industry players could adjust prices based on supply and demand.

Dell to buy storage firm EMC in a dealComputer maker Dell has bought data storage company EMC Corporation in a 67-billion-US dollar deal to accelerate its move into the cloud and mobile market.

The acquisition can help Dell to beef up its firepower in storage and data management for businesses, and to take on industry giants IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

SportsPresident of Thailands Football Association SuspendedIn FIFA news:

FIFA's ethics committee has suspended the President of Thailand's Football Association from all football-related activities for 90 days.

A statement from the international governing body of football said that Worawi Makudi, who was a member of the FIFA Executive Committee until May this year, has been suspended "on the grounds that a breach of (FIFA's) code of ethics appears to have been committed."Worawi has been under investigation for his conduct during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.

England undefeated in qualifiers after LithuaniaIn football news:

England's football manager Roy Hodgson spoke after England cruised to a 3-0 win against Lithuania on Tuesday, completing a faultless European qualifying campaign.

England's straight-forward victory came while playing in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius.

Hodgson stated that he is pleased with how far his team has come.

"A lot of pleasure from what I see tonight. As I said the other day, we always believed in Oxlade, he is maturing after every game, after wearing the English shirt. The goal he scored was a very important one because it took us off the mark. So we were very pleased with him. It was also good because we played well and put ourselves in a quite comfortable position.

Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade scored either side of an own goal to take the last three of England's 30-point haul in Group EEngland became only the fifth national team in Euro qualifying history to achieve a one hundred per cent record.

Tsonga and Lopez record 1st round wins at Shanghai MastersIn tennis news:

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Feliciano Lopez record first round wins at the Shanghai Masters on Monday.

In a tight first set, Lopez seized the advantage when he broke his opponent in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead.

But Andrey Kuznetsov came back at him, and with the set poised at 6-6 a tiebreak ensued.

There Lopez's greater experience came to the fore, and he dominated to win it 7-3 and book his place in the second round.

And:

16th seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won a three set match against Tommy Robredo.

Tsonga won with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 and will move on to the second round.

Manny Pacquiao awarded "Game Changer of the Year"And in boxing news:

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao was honoured with the Asia Society's Asia Game Changer of the Year Award on Monday in New York City.

During the ceremony Pacquiao stated that his shoulder is 80-90 percent healed and he expects to resume training in November or December, with a return to the ring in March.

Pacquiao had surgery on his right shoulder four days after he lost by unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in boxing's richest fight ever in May.

Pacquiao stated that despite his injury, he wouldn't shy away from a rematch with Mayweather.

"If you ask me, of course I want a rematch but I heard he retired already. So if really retired then there is no rematch, but if not..."Pacquiao, a congressman in the Philippines, is running for the Philippines' 24-seat Senate, a national position that has been used as a springboard for vice president or president.

England Royalty welcomes the Rugby World CupIn rugby news:

Representatives of all 20 Rugby World Cup teams were at Buckingham Palace on Monday evening, for a reception hosted by the Queen.

Her Majesty was joined by her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in welcoming the players, officials and rugby supporters to the royal residence.

During the reception Prince Harry addressed the crowd, praising the success of the tournament so far.

"As honorary President of England 2015, it is a privilege to see this Rugby World Cup being enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people around the world. It has been one of the most competitive and entertaining World Cup's ever. Although only halfway through, we have witnessed some truly memorable moments and one or two upsets. Each nation has played with a level of commitment that has made this such a exciting"Wales face South Africa in the first of the quarter finals on Saturday with New Zealand taking on old foes France later that day.

And on Sunday, Ireland plays Argentina for a place in the final four, before the in-form Australia faces Scotland to complete that round of matches.

The tournament final will be on October 30th.

Rugby Player Byran Habana matches Jonah Lomu's try recordIn more Rugby news:

South African player Bryan Habana scored a hat-trick of tries in a 64-0 win against the USA last Wednesday to match Jonah Lomu's record of 15 Rugby World Cup tries.

When asked what this record break would mean to Habana, the rugby star stated that it would be a great personal achievement.

"Personal achievements are always great and like I say I don't think I can be classed in the same class as the great Jonah Lomu. I think Jonah really changed the game when it turned professional, I think the way he burst onto the scene and what he did for the game of rugby was unbelievable."Wales are the Springboks' quarter-final opponents at Twickenham on Saturday.

South Africa have an impressive record against the Welsh.

In their previous 30 contests, they've won 27, drawn once and lost twice.

EntertainmentAnnaud 'Stupefied' by Academy's Decision to Drop Wolf TotemAcclaimed film director and Oscar winner Jean-Jacques Annaud has denounced the Academy Award organizers after his Sino-French co-production "Wolf Totem" got dropped out of the running for being insufficiently Chinese.

Annaud made the announcement yesterday, saying that he was "stupefied" by the Academy's last-minute move and called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a "banana republic level of arbitrariness".

Wolf Totem, the story of a young man's triumph over wolves in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, was shot in both Mandarin and Mongolian in China with Chinese actors.

Earlier this month, Chinese media reported widely that the film could be China's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2016 Oscars.

But Annaud cited a letter from the Academy as telling him: "When we looked at the creative make-up of Wolf Totem and realised that the director, two of the three writers, one of the producers, the director of photography, the editor and the composer were not Chinese, we determined that the film could not qualify as a Chinese entry."Annaud then accused Hollywood of a "nearly protectionist" double standard where "American cinema can feed off foreign talent without reservation. But foreign cinema must remain tribal."Wolf Totem was replaced with "Go Away, Mr. Tumor", a domestic film about a cartoonist's optimistic and tear-jerking battle with cancer.

Steve Martino to Visit Beijing with New Snoopy "The Peanuts Movie"Director Steve Martino is set to visit Beijing on Wednesday to promote his new 3D animated film "Snoopy: The Peanuts Movie".

This will be the first feature film based on Charlie Brown and Snoopy in over 35 years.

The story follows Charlie Brown as he attempts to win the heart of a new girl in his neighborhood, with the help of his friend, Snoopy.

Meanwhile, Snoopy slips into his own fantasy world, where he battles his archenemy, the Red Baron.

The film will hit theaters on Nov. 6 in the United States and possibly China.

Carey Mulligan Walks 'Suffragette' Premiere in New YorkCarey Mulligan walked the red carpet in New York on Monday for her new film, "Suffragette."In "Suffragette," Mulligan plays Maud Watts, a London laundry woman who becomes an activist, fighting for women's right to vote.

The actress was excited to take on such an important role.

"I think it's one of the first times I made a film where I really feel it's a story that needs to be sold as opposed to the one that you want to. We all felt very excited to get to tell the story, largely because it's this huge part of our human rights history that no one has ever made a film about, which seems kind of amazing. So yeah, it was a massive deal for me to be a part of it."While the Suffragette movement took place over one hundred years ago, Mulligan feels a lot of that struggle is still relevant today and a lot more should be improved.

"In Switzerland women didn't get the vote until 1971, which is sort of astonishing. And Saudi Arabia is yet, but it's meant to be happening this year for women. So a lot of that is resonant today. But also issues around domestic violence and pay equality for women, and education is a huge factor."The actress has also taken this chance to reveal that the baby she recently gave birth to was a little girl and her name is Evelyn.

"Suffragette" hits U.S. theaters on October 23rd.

Talk Show Host Kelly Ripa Receives a Star on Hollywood Walk of FameSoap star-turned-TV personality Kelly Ripa received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday. The honor coincides with her 15th year as host on "Live with Kelly and Michael."The live host thanked her co-stars and mentors over the years for guiding her career.

"You have to surround yourself with people who are better than you and that's what I've managed to do in my career. I joined this incredible acting community at 'All My Children' and it was a brilliant ensemble cast. And then I got to sit next to Regis Philbin, who taught me how to be a storyteller. And then I got to work with Faith Ford and Ted McGinley, who taught me how to be funny and taught me about comic timing."Earlier this year, the talk show host and television producer has won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.

WeatherBeijing is overcast tonight with a low of 11 degrees Celsius; it will have smog tomorrow with a high of 22.

Shanghai, clear tonight with a low of 16; sunny tomorrow with a high of 25.

Chongqing, clear tonight with a low of 18; sunny tomorrow with a high of 27.

Lhasa, cloudy tonight with a low of 3; overcast to cloudy tomorrow with a high of 17.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad, light rain tomorrow with a high of 31.

Kabul, light rain, 22.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney will have light rain with a high of 22.

Brisbane, light rain with a high of 23.

Perth, light rain, 20.

And finally Auckland, New Zealand will have light rain with a high of 18 degrees Celsius.

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

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

Economics, foreign investment, and climate change are expected to be leading topics during the Chinese president's State Visit in the UK next week...

Chinese authorities are taking steps to accelerate the country's urbanization drive...

and two reports on the Malaysia Airlines flight that crashed in Ukraine last year come to different conclusions...

In Business...a forecast for Chinese imports and exports in the fourth quarter...