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

Coming up on the program this evening...

We'll hear what observers have been saying about Chinese President Xi Jinping's now-concluded trip to the UK this week.

A Chinese consular official and her husband accused of killing two other Chinese consular officials in the Philippines have been repatriated to China.

China and the United States sign off on new deals connected to energy saving in China.

The most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic has made landfall in southwestern Mexico.

The vice-President of the Maldives is under arrest for an alleged plot to assassinate the country's President.

In the 2nd half of the hour, we'll be bringing you an encore presentation of On The Record.

In sports... Novak Djokovic remains undefeated in China.

In entertainment... four different Chinese films are set to be screened at this year's Chicago Film Festival.

Top NewsExperts speak highly of Xi Jinping's British VisitAnchor:

President Xi Jinping is back in China after concluding his 5-day trip to the UK.

CRI's Poornima Weerasekara has more on what observers are saying about the trip.

Reporter:

Chinese authorities are suggesting Xi Jinping's time has set bilateral ties between China and the UK at "a global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century".

Elena Ananieva, an expert on British issues with the Russian Academy of Sciences, says its her belief the British side feels the same way.

"I believe we should notice that there is such a voice in Britain as the country is ready to do anything to enhance relations with China. It means that the will to develop bilateral relations is mutual. The United Kingdom will become the western country that can provide the best investment environment for China."As part of Xi Jinping's time in the UK, the Chinese President oversaw the signing of business deals worth some 46-billion US dollars.

Lord Sassoon, head of the China-Britain Business Council, says he believes UK companies will be given more opportunities to work with China in the future.

"The great thing is the visit has shown British-Chinese companies that although there's strongly growing trade investment between the two countries, there's still so much can be done under the 'new normal' and China manufacturing 2025. This gives the UK very big opportunities to work with China, gives China and sells China the creative hi-tech good that China wants."As part of discussions with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Xi Jinping put forward his vision for the UK's role in the "Belt and Road" initiative.

Christian Friis Bach, head of the UN's Economic Commission for Europe, says using the UK to facilitate Chinese trade with the rest of Europe makes sense for China.

"We see this as a very welcome road to take. We stand ready to support the standards, the conventions, the agreements that are needed to form a stronger cooperation, all the way from the trade facilitation, to the transport conventions, to supporting the investments."British Prime Minister David Cameron has gone on-record saying the UK will be China's "partner of choice" in the west.

Both governments have been describing the trip as the start of a "golden era" of bilateral relations between China and the UK.

For CRI, I'm Poornima Weerasekara.

Britain Vows to Help with Chinese FootballBritain’s Secretary of State for Sport is promising the UK will try its best to help Chinese football.

John Whittingdale has made the pledge on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping taking a tour of Manchester City's Football operations on Friday.

"We have the Premier League which is possibly the best known football league in the world. But we also have experience in coaching, in football administration, in stadium facilities, in all the things you need to create a really successful game. And one of the really encouraging things is the number of businesses here who are meeting their Chinese counterparts today. And I hope that this will result in a lot of future cooperation and working together."Chinese President Xi Jinping, a big fan of soccer, has hailed Britian as a leader of today's modern football.

He says China's sports sector can learn a lot from what the UK has done with its football program.

The English Premier League is widely considered the most competitive football league in the world.

China Pledges Continuous Participation in UN PeacekeepingThe Chinese government says it remains committed to its funding and expanded role in UN Peacekeeping missions.

The pledge comes as the United Nations marks the 70th anniversary of its founding this Saturday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying says China's commitment has been made fully-clear by a recent pledge to create a stand-alone Chinese rapid-response force for urgent UN missions.

"When attending the series of summits celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN, President Xi Jinping announced a series of major moves aimed at supporting peacekeeping missions. This has once again reflected the responsibility China's has taken to safeguard world peace."Chinese President Xi Jinping last month announced the creation of a standby force of some 8-thousand Chinese troops for the UN at last month's General Assembly in New York.

In addition to that, some 2-thousand additional soldiers are to be trained to take part in foreign peacekeeping operations over the next 5-years.

China is now the second largest contributor to the UN's peacekeeping budget, behind only the United States.

Women in China and in the WorldAnchor:

As part of his time at UN headquarters this past month, Xi Jinping also announced plans to help improve healthcare and education for women and children in poor countries.

It has included a donation of 10-million US dollars to UN Women, an organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women around the world.

For more on what China's been doing to help women, CRI's Wu You earlier spoke earlier Lakshmi Puri, the UN's assistant Secretary-General and head of UN Women.

Back anchor:

Lakshmi Puri, head of UN Women, speaking with CRI's Wu You.

Philippine authorities say Chinese consular official accused in shooting repatriatedPhilippine officials say a Chinese diplomatic official and her husband, who are accused of killing two other Chinese consular officials in the Philippines earlier this week, are now back in China.

The Philippine Foreign Ministry says the couple were flown back to China from the central Philippine city of Cebu on Friday night.

The unnamed couple are accused of opening fire in an upscale restaurant in Cebu on Wednesday, killing two consular officials and wounding the Chinese Consul-General to Cebu.

Philippine authorities say they're unclear what the motive for the attack may have been, but are suggesting it may have had something to do with a financial dispute.

The shooting took place while 9 people had gathered to celebrate the Consul-General's birthday.

Though shot in the neck in the incident, Song Ronghua is expected to make a full recovery.

The Chinese government says it is "deeply distressed" by the incident and is working with Philippine authorities to determine exactly what happened.

China, ASEAN issue declaration on security cooperationA ministerial meeting among China and ASEAN Nations has taken place here in Beijing connected to law enforcement.

The two sides say they hope to enhance their cooperation in this area.

The joint declaration also says China-ASEAN ministerial meetings on law enforcement will now be held every two years.

At the same time, a parallel meeting on security cooperation along the Mekong River has also taken place.

Police chiefs from China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have attended the session.

China, US Sign New Energy Cooperation DealsThe Chinese and US governments have signed a package of agreements connected to energy cooperation.

Robert Sandoli with the U.S. Department of Energy says the deals should help reduce coal consumption in China.

"We look for new opportunities where energy efficiency collaboration could make the most difference. I meant earlier one of our new area of opportunity space in reducing energy from data centers and also in industry boilers which consume 20 percent of China's coal. So these are the places where we see opportunities to work both on standards as well as technology that could be used to reduce energy use in these very energy-consuming sectors."The deals have been signed as part of an Energy Efficiency Forum hosted in Washington this year.

As part of the deals, the US side has also agreed to help the Chinese government with its plans to turn Tianjin into an ecological demonstration city.

The two sides have been holding regular meetings to discuss energy cooperation since 2010.

Bilateral trade between China, CAN tops 40 billion USD in 2014: reportNew analysis from a group of South American countries suggests the regional economic block has seen its trade with China increase by some 6.5-percent over the course of this past year.

The grouping, known as the Andean Community, is made up of Peru, Bolivia, Columbia and Ecuador.

It estimates its trade with China came in at just over 40-billion US dollars this past year.

Peru makes up the biggest chunk of trade heading to China, with just over 50-percent of the Andean Community's goods flowing out of that country.

The regional grouping mostly exports oil and copper to China.

Most of the goods arriving into the so-called CAN include mostly mobile phones and other telecommunications equipment, as well as heavy machinery.

The CAN's study has found Columbia is the largest importer from China among the Andean Community.

Outline of UN climate deal reached after fractious talks in BonnThe first draft of a global climate change agreement has been worked out following week-long negotiations in Germany.

However, financing still remains a key sticking point.

Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, says developing nations are demanding wealthy countries make firm financial commitments to help them fight and adapt to climate change.

"This is not as clear as it was at the beginning. It is perhaps, arguably, clear to those who have inserted text and have been working with this text for the whole week. But I would argue that it's probably not very clear to anybody walking down the street. So, I think that is the challenge that parties have now in front of them for Paris is to keep a party text that continues to be complete and continues to be balanced, but bring it down to a much more concise and clearer structure."Developed countries have already agreed to support developing nations to the tune of 100-billion US Dollars a year by 2020.

However, questions still remain about how these funds will be allocated.

China has already pledged over 3-billion US dollars to help developing countries tackle climate change.

December's climate talks in Paris are designed to get commitments on carbon emissions caps from the 150 countries attending the UN-backed meetings.

Hurricane Patricia downgraded to Category 4 as it weakens overlandA massive hurricane which plowed into southwestern Mexico earlier this morning is rapidly losing strength.

"Patricia" hit the Mexican state of Jalisco with winds of some 335-kilometers per hour.

So far there are no reports of fatalities.

Local authorities evacuated numerous areas in the storm's path ahead of it making landfall on Friday night, local time.

However, around 400-thousand people still remain in the area where the storm has hit.

The storm developed from a minor tropical depression just 30-hours before turning into one of the strongest tropical hurricanes ever recorded.

Forecasters are suggesting the El Nino effect helped spur the storms rapid intensity.

Mexican officials are still warning the storm has the potential to cause serious damage, even though forecasters are predicting it will quickly become a tropical depression as it rolls over the mountains in the region.

Grenades explosion kills one, injures scores in BangladeshAt least one person is dead and 70-others hurt following a bombing at a ceremony early this morning in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

Local police say three home-made bombs went off while members of Dhaka's Shiite Muslim community gathered to mark Ashura.

The bombs were set off outside a holy temple in the old part of Dhaka while thousands gathered to begin the annual procession to mark Ashura.

Bangladeshi authorities say they're unsure at this point who set the bombs off, or what the motivation may have been.

The country's Muslim population is predominantly Sunni.

Ashura is marked by both Shi'a and Sunni's, though fundamentalists on the Sunni side have known to use the event to attack Shiites.

In 2004, a series of bombings hit an Ashura procession heading to the city of Karbala in Iraq, which is the historical center of the Ashura festival, leaving hundreds dead and injured.

Maldivian Police arrest VP over alleged plot to assassinate presidentThe vice-President of the Maldives has been arrested for allegedly plotting to kill the country's President.

Ahmed Adheeb is facing charges of 'high treason' connected to an explosion which rocked the Presidential yacht last month.

Security has been beefed up in and around capital Male following his arrest.

Maldives President Abdullah Yameen wasn't hurt in the blast which ripped through his yacht at the end of September.

However, his wife and a couple of other officials were seriously hurt.

Authorities in the Maldives have not provided any details as to why they believe the vice-President may have been involved in the suspected assassination attempt.

Austrian gov't grants NGOs 15 mln euros to tackle migrant crisisThe Austrian government has transferred 16.5-million US dollars to the country's non-governmental organizations to offset their costs in dealing with the massive influx of migrants rolling through the country.

Austrian authorities say the money will be the first of a series of monthly payments.

The Red Cross in Austria is getting the vast majority of the additional funding.

Austria has become a corridor for migrants arriving in southeastern Europe hoping to make their way to Germany.

Many of those making their way into Austria are Syrians.

KC Royals advance to World SeriesIn Major League Baseball,The Kansas City Royals are through to the World Series.

The Royals held off the Toronto Blue Jays this morning 4-3 to win Game-6 of their American League Championship Series, taking the pennant 4-games-2.

KC is set to host the New York Mets in Game-1 of the World Series on Wednesday morning.

Weekly Business ReviewAnchor:

It's time for our weekly business review.

In this edition, we'll detail the business deals signed as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's time in the UK this week, as well as analysis of China's third quarter GDP.

Here's CRI's Wenjie.

Reporter:

China and Britain signed an array of business deals worth billions of dollars on Wednesday, as both sides agreed to raise their ties to a "global comprehensive strategic partnership" in the 21st century.

The deals totaled at almost 40 billion pounds or some 62 billion U.S. Dollars including the landmark agreement on building the Hinkley Point nuclear power station.

Martin Freer, Director of the Birmingham Centre of Nuclear Education and Research, says the deal will be a chance for the Chinese company to prove its ability to tap a global market for building nuclear power projects.

"This is an opportunity for china to understand the culture and the UK market. This is the window to the world, a shop window. So if China can bring Chinese nuclear plants to the UK, which is one of the most challenging places to get a reactor regulation system, so if you can do that in the UK, so you can sell your technology worldwide. So this is a great market opportunity for Chinese enterprises."Hinkley Point is the first of a number of nuclear power projects the British government is hoping to open.

The deal itself was secured during Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's visit to China last month.

Financial cooperation has led the way as the two countries get closer.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the UK, China's central bank launched its first offshore renminbi bonds in London.

Some 5 billion yuan worth of Chinese government bonds are going to be issued with an interest rate of 3.1 percent.

It's the first time renminbi bonds have been issued outside China.

At the same time, the PBoC has also extended an agreement on a currency swap with the UK's central bank.

The Chinese government is going to seed the Bank of England with 350 billion yuan, up from the current limit of 200-billion.

The previous agreement was signed in June 2013.

//////////////////Official data released on Monday showed China's third quarter GDP came in at 6.9 percent.

This is the first time the quarterly rate has dropped under 7 percent since the second quarter of 2009.

Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson of China's National Bureau of Statistics, explains why growth slowed in the third quarter:

"I think the main reason is that the international and domestic economic and financial situation showed new trends and new issues in the third quarter. From the international situation, the US adjusted its interest rate, causing international prices to go down, driving many nations to devalue their currencies. This has caused much pressure to China's export sector."Among the three pillar industries, the growth in agricultural and industrial sectors stood at 3.8 percent and 6 percent respectively.

While the service sector saw 8.4 percent growth in the first three quarter.

The spokesperson maintained that these numbers indicate that China's economy is still in a period of transition but will remain stable.

////////////////China on Wednesday published a revised government pricing catalog in order to further lift government control on the prices of commodities and services.

The catalog includes 20 pricing items in seven categories, covering natural gas, water, electricity, special drugs, transportation and mail services.

Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, Hu Zucai, says the new catalog narrows down the pricing scope and further improves the pricing procedure.

"In this way, the fruits of the reform are consolidated through institutionalization, and remaining pricing items are clearly listed to facilitate public supervision. The list is subject to dynamic adjustments and the items will be reduced as the reform pushes on."Meanwhile, Chinese local governments are also pushing forward with the revision of local pricing catalogs.

The new catalog will take effect on January 1.

///////////////The Chinese government is considering launching a pilot program to allow people in China to invest in overseas markets through the Shanghai free trade zone.

The suggestion was made at a State Council executive meeting on Wednesday.

Details of what would be required for Chinese nationals to become individual overseas investors has not been revealed.

However, its being reported qualified domestic investors would need to have at least a million yuan in assets and would be required to go through a vetting process to ensure they are knowledgeable enough to invest overseas.

Wang Xinkui, president of the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center, says allowing individuals from China to invest on their own would be a big step forward.

"A move like this would significantly help increase trade and investment opportunities. It will also allow Chinese companies to allocate more of their resources worldwide. But mostly, it will allow ordinary people more opportunities to invest."Meanwhile, Wednesday's meeting of the State Council has also approved a package of policies aimed at pressing ahead with financial reforms in the Shanghai FTZ.

These include making the renminbi more convertible in the Free Trade Zone, as well as the creation of more international trading platforms to process financial assets, such as foreign reserves and securities.

///////////////Official figures released on Thursday show a sharp increase in the sale of foreign currency by Chinese banks through September.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange is reporting Chinese banks sold some 232-billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currency to individuals and institutions, but at the same time, buying only 123-billion US dollars from them.

This has resulted in a net sale of just over 109-billion US dollars in foreign exchange through September.

It marks an over 50-percent increase in the full-year loss of foreign exchange in China this year through last month.

The forex deficit through the first 8-months of this year had sat at just over 192-billion US dollars before last month.

Wang Xiaoyi, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, says despite the sharp upturn in the forex deficit, they still don't believe this is a signal of capital flight out of China.

"The foreign exchange outflow is partly due to the fact that some companies have reduced their holdings of foreign debt and lowered their operating leverage. These are normal capital outflows, and not panic capital flight."///////////////On the corporate front,It was reported on Thursday that two Chinese nuclear power giants planned to build a joint venture to combine technologies on China's third-generation nuclear reactor design, known as the Hualong One.

China General Nuclear Power Group and China National Nuclear Corporation aim to establish a company to reduce competition in exporting Hualong One into overseas markets.

Hualong One is expected to be used in a Chinese-led and operated nuclear project at Bradwell in southern England.

The president of China National Nuclear Corporation says most distinctive advantage of the Hualong One design is its safety under active and passive circumstances.

It can activate a series of protective measures when the external power is cut off.

///////////////Yum Brands is going to separate the China arm of its business, which accounts for 57 percent of the company's revenue.

The owner of KFC and Pizza Hut announced on Tuesday that the business in China would become an independent publicly-traded company.

The company has believed that the independent China business will continue expanding its presence.

Up to now, Yum Brands has more than 40-thousand restaurants worldwide.

Over 90 percent of the restaurants are operated as franchisees.

Its annual revenue from markets outside China stands at more than 6 billion U.S. dollars.

And that concludes this edition of the weekly business review.

I'm Wenjie. Thank you for listening.

That's all the time we have for our abbreviated version of the Beijing Hour.

Stick around for an encore presentation of On The Record.

Recapping our top stories...

Observers speaking highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's now-concluded trip to the UKA recap of the major stories this week in the world of Science and Technology.

In sports... Novak Djokovic takes this year's Shanghai Masters.

In entertainment... four different Chinese films are set to be screened at this year's Chicago Film Festival.

Paul James with you. Stay with us here on the Beijing Hour.