And I'm Paul James, Welcome to the Beijing Hour, live from the Chinese capital... Coming up on the program this evening...

China unveils more development relationships in central and eastern Europe.

Trade and Investment pledges ahead of a crucial China Africa summit.

Russia conducts airstrikes close to the Turkey Syria border.

In business... CITIC Securities makes multi billion mistake in derivatives reporting.

In sports... Evergrande's capitan has been nominated for another MVP award from the AFC.

In entertainment... Matt Damon's 'The Martian' finally lands in China.

All of that is coming up in the next hour, but first, a reminder, there are several ways you can reach us at the Beijing Hour.

You can follow our weibo account at weibo.com/beijinghour.

On WeChat: search "beijinghour"Email us directly at [email protected].

Visit crienglish.com for the latest news and information from China Radio International.

Top NewsXi Vows to Reform MilitaryChinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to continue the reform of the country's military.

Xi Jinping, also Chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the pledge at a top military leadership meeting drawing to close Thursday in Beijing.

He said the reform should be aimed at a breakthrough in the military command system.

The President urged the reform to be completed before the year of 2020.

He also reiterated the leadership of the communist party of China over the military.

China announced a 300-thousand cut to its military when it marked the 70th anniversary of world war two in September.

China, Albania to enhance infrastructure cooperationChinese Premier Li Keqiang has met with more European leaders who have attended a high-level economic and trade forum between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

In a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Li Keqiang says China and Albania have an opportunity to expand cooperation in financing, mining and agriculture.

He's also calling on the Albanian side to make Chinese investment and tourism to the southeastern European country more convenient.

For his part, Edi Rama says Albania is willing to streamline visa access for Chinese travelers.

Li Keqiang has also met with officials from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegonvina to discuss cooperation.

Czech PM expresses hope to forge close ties with ChinaAnchor:

Following the conclusion of a summit among China and Central and Eastern European countries, the Prime Minister of Czech Republic is pressing for stronger ties between his country and China.

CRI's Wang Mengzhen has more.

Report:

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is leading a delegation of politicians and business leaders to China this week.

Sobotka says the Czech Repubic is now actively promoting the "16+1" mechanism among China and the 16 countries which make up central and eastern Europe, saying the mechanism has a lot of potential for the development of future cooperation.

"In the past three years, the "16+1" cooperation meachnism has been proven to be workable and fruitful, and it has attracted more and more European countries to collaborate with China. For the first time, Austria and Greece have also joined this year's summit as observers, while many other EU member stats have showed their interest to the mechanism."Beyond the usual pledges of broad-based cooperation at these types of meetings, high-speed rail construction has been put forward as a specific area where China can help Central and Eastern Europe develop.

The final touches on an agreement have been made to create a rail link connecting Hungary's capital Budapest with the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

At the same time, the Chinese side has also put forward a plan to give Central and Eastern European countries more access to infrastructure financing, including China becoming part of a European development bank, while at the same time, giving the 16-countries in the CCE grouping preferential access to capital from Chinese banks.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says this should help create closer ties with China's financial system.

"Right now, the Bank of China has set up a branch in the capital city Prague. Now we are looking for more Chinese financial institutions to have their offices in Czech. Yesterday, I have visited the well-known Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and the bank is also considering to expand its overseas business to Czech. As such, we will continue our effort to make Prague a financial hub linking China and Central, Eastern Europe."Beyond traditional cooperation, which has almost exclusively focused on infrastructure, the Czech Prime Minister says his government needs to foster closer contact with China on an educational level.

"We welcome more Chinese students to study in the Czech Republic. In fact, our country is in need of more Chinese interpreters. Since business contacts have been extended, and more and more Czech cities are establishing partnership with China, there is a high demand for people who can speak both Czech and Chinese."The Chinese and Czech governments are also looking into setting up a joint science and research institute.

As part of his time in China, Sobotka has also given a lecture at Peking University.

He is also sitting down with Chinese President Xi Jinping before wrapping up his week-long visit to China.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.

China to enhance cooperation with Africa for win-win results: Chinese FMAnchor:

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says President Xi Jinping is going to outline a series of new ideas for increasing ties with Africa at next week Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in South Africa next week in Johannesburg.

CRI's Tu Yun has more.

Reporter:

Wang Yi has pledged that China will continuously help African countries with their economic development and enhance cooperation for what he called 'win-win' results.

He said President Xi Jinping will expound China's new concepts for developing China-Africa relations in his speech to the summit.

"President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech to the whole of Africa at the opening session of the summit, to expound China's new concepts, new policies and new ideas for developing the relations with Africa and introduce a series of key measures in handling China-Africa relations in the future."The minister made the remarks at the 15th Lanting Forum held in Beijing on Thursday.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of the Forum on China-Africa CooperationWang Yi said the FOCAC forum will be upgraded from the ministerial level to a summit of leaders.

He said the upgrading meets expectations from African nations and also meets the needs of the development of China-Africa relations.

He also said the summit will review and adopt two documents, outlining cooperation plans between the two sides over the coming three years.

"We will focus on helping African countries build three systems - industrialization, food safety and public health, and disease prevention as a way to resolve the three issues of employment, food and health."Wang Yi added that anti-terrorism will also be among topics at the summit.

"As China continues to promote pragmatic cooperation between China and Africa, we will strengthen bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism and the fight against extremism. No matter what difficulties we encounter, the Chinese people will stand firmly together with the African people, because we are good friends, good partners, and close brothers, hand in hand."Last week, Militants attacked a hotel in Malian capital of Bamako last week, killing 22 people, including three Chinese.

FOCAC was established in 2000, aimed at promoting cooperation between China and Africa through dialogue.

This year's session is scheduled to open on December 4th in Johannesburg.

Trade between China and Africa exceeded 220 billion US dollars last year.

For CRI, this is Tu Yun.

China, Djibouti Negotiates over Military BaseThe Chinese government has confirmed its started negotiations with Djibouti's government for the construction of a new military base there.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says the base will be used to provide supplies for Chinese warships on escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.

It will be China's first military installation in Africa.

More than 60 Chinese naval vesselshave sent to the waters off Somalia since it joined the international escort missions in the area 7-years ago.

Djibouti is located in the Horn of Africa, bordering Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.

It also faces the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east.

The Chinese military used a port in Djibouti three years ago when it withdrew its citizens from Yemen during the start of that country's internal conflict.

China's new-generation Beidou navigation satellite completes in-orbit testA new round of testing has been conducted on the Beidou Satellite Navigational system toward allowing the Chinese system to begin offering real-time navigation and positioning services.

The tests have involved the high-tech atomic clocks on the satellites.

Beidou Chief Engineer Xie Jun says their testing will eventually give the Beidou system the ability to transmit real-time navigational information to its users.

"As we've seen from the testing results, the high-speed transmissions are working well. The advantage of high-speed transmission lies in the timely transmission of data from the satellite. The original low-speed transmissions delay the flow of data."The latest edition to the Beidou Satellite Navigation System went into orbit at the end of September, giving the system 20 active satellites.

This now allows Beidou to cover most of the Asia-Pacific region.

When the system is fully-operational, it will cover the entire globe, and will be an alterative to the United States' GPS system, which is controlled by the US military.

Experts on China's Latest Hukou ReformAnchor:

In the latest step to reform its Hukou system, China is considering extending the household registration to 13 million unregistered citizens.

But experts say the plan needs comprehensive preparation before being carried out.

CRI's Luo Wen reports.

Reporter:

According to the National Population Census in 2010, there are 13 million unregistered people in China, accounting for 1 percent of its population.

The Public Security Ministry declared last week that it would help these citizens obtain proper recognition.

Wan Haiyuan, from the country's top economic planner, the NDRC, says without hukou, the lives of these people are largely tough.

"The figure of 13 million outnumbers the entire populations of some foreign countries. Without Hukou, it's difficult for them to find a job or lead a smooth life."Without a hukou, a person in China is denied access to welfare benefits like public education and reimbursement for healthcare costs.

Wan Haiyuan led a survey last year, covering 15 provinces and autonomous regions in the country.

It found more than 60 percent of those unregistered are from families violating the old family planning policy.

Other unregistered people include abandoned children, children born out of wedlock and those whose documents are missing.

Wan Haiyuan warns a new social problem is looming and it needs effective policies to address it.

"These people don't have registration records and neither do their spouses or children. Without efficient measures introduced, a new social stratum will be solidified and it may affect social stability."Wan agrees on the hukou-granting move, but suggests the government do more before it puts the plan into practice.

"The management of Hukou in China involves more than 10 government departments, so the first and most important thing is to make them work in a coordinated way. Then, the government also has to think about how to enhance the current social security system to cover such a great number of newly registered people."But Zhang Yi with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences advocates it's more important now to build legal grounds for the move.

"The family planning law should be repealed or revised, making the violation of the one-child policy unneccessary for household registration."Zhang Yi believes the capacity of the country's public service system is enough to serve all of the newly registered.

"It won't bring a big problem since the 13 million people are scattered throughout the country. A single province or autonomous region accommodates no more than 1 million, with which the current public service system is able to deal."China officially promulgated the family register system back in 1958 to control the movement of people between urban and rural areas amid a severe supply shortage.

Since the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2013, the top leadership has issued several documents on hukou reform, signaling a determination to reform the system.

In late 2013, the government first relaxed the family planning policy, allowing couples to have a second child if one spouse was an only child.

This October, it introduced an overall two-child policy, reducing the possibility of people remaining unregistered due to a violation of the country's laws.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.

Beijing on track to shift administrative functions to Tongzhou by 2017Construction work to move all or part of Beijing's administrative functions to Tongzhou district in the East of the city by 2017 is well underway.

Some buildings in the core region of the new administrative office district have already been finished.

Jin Shudong, director general of the Beijing Water Authority, says the main task has been dealing with sewage, as Tongzhou is situated at the end of Beijing's drainage system.

"A total of 16 rivers from the city center converge in Tongzhou, so our first task is to collect and dispose of the sewage from these 16 rivers in order to reach the fourth standard for surface water. Then we can ensure the water flowing into the river is clean."Meanwhile, large ecotones - or transitional areas - will be built on the border between Tongzhou district and Hebei Province to avoid a sudden change from urban to rural areas.

The new Tongzhou office district will deal primarily with administration, cultural tourism and some commercial activities.

China conducts first mother-daughter womb transplantChina has managed to conduct its first human womb transplant after a Chinese woman successfully received a womb donated by her mother.

38 surgeons, with the assistance of a robot, took part in the operation, which lasted about 14 hours.

Now the donor and the recipient are said to be in good condition.

Chen Biliang, director of the gynecology and obstetrics department of the hospital, gave more details of the operation.

"There are two tough calls in an operation like this. One is that the uterus is not open to be seen during surgery like any other organ. The other one is that its blood vessels are entwined, and the deeper you go, the thinner the vascular walls are. If accidentally the blood vessel wall is broken, it could lead to thrombosis, and there will be a high possibility that the surgery would fail."After the daughter recovers, doctors will transfer frozen fertilized embryos, which were created through in-vitro fertilization, into the new womb, allowing her to carry her own biological child.

Uterus transplants are not new. In the 1960s, Britain and the United States began to experiment with uterus transplants on animals.

In 2011, doctors successfully performed a uterus transplant on a woman in Turkey.

Two years later, nine women in Sweden had successfully received transplanted wombs donated by relatives.

But public opinion on such operations remains very much divided.

Russia conducts airstrikes near Turkish borders with SyriaRussia carried out 33 air strikes late Wednesday on militant positions in northern Syria near the Turkish borders.

The strikes targeted rebels in the region, while guided missiles were used on militant positions in several areas north of Aleppo.

A weapons shipment from the Turkish borders to Syrian opposition forces was also struck. At least 7 people were killed, 10 injured.

The intensified strikes came a day after a Russian warplane was downed by the Turkish air force.

Turkey claims the Russian jet was shot down after ignoring repeated warnings for penetrating into Turkish airspace.

Russia says the pilots heard no warnings and that the aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace. Moscow described the Turkish move as a "planned provocation."S.Korea holds state funeral for former PresidentA state funeral has taken place in South Korea for former President Kim Young-sam.

The procession cut across downtown Seoul this Thursday afternoon to the National Assembly, where a funeral ceremony was held for the one-term President.

Conspicuously absent from the funeral was current President Park Geun-hye.

It's being reported Park did make a trip to the hospital to pay tribute to Kim Young-sam and meet with his family earlier in the day.

However, she was not at the ceremony at the National Assembly, with her office claiming she was suffereing from a severe cold.

Kim Young-sam is credited with helping bring an end to the military dictatorship of Park's father, Park Chung-hee.

Park was assassinated in 1979 during the upheaval in South Korea at the time which began as protests launched by Kim's democratic reform movement.

Over the past 4-days, more than 160-thousand people in South Korea have paid tribute to the democracy icon at memorial altars across the country.

Kim Young-sam served one term as President from 1993 to 1998, and is widely respected in South Korea for his staunch anti-corruption campaign to clean up South Korea's notoriously dirty politics of the day.

He passed away earlier this week in hospital from heart failure.

Kim Young-sam was 87.

Argentina's new cabinet members namedMarcos Pena, the future cabinet chief for the administration of president-elect Mauricio Macri, has announced the new leader's cabinet, which is packed with U.S.-educated economists and business executives.

"President elect Mauricio Macri asked me to communicate to you today the designations that he has decided on his cabinet that will assume it's position on the 10th of December. I will read to you the names: Cabinet chief, speaking, Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio, Treasury Minister Adolfo Prat Gay."Macri has said he plans to push through economic reforms to buy him time for "tough negotiations" with U.S. hedge funds currently suing the country over unpaid government debt.

In addition, he has also vowed to get the stalled economy moving again, but for that to happen he needs to settle a decade-long legal battle with so-called 'holdout' creditors, before he can return to global credit markets.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the outgoing President, will end her two-term mandate on 10 December, when Mauricio Macri is sworn in as the country's new leader.

2015 will be the warmest year on recordWith the forthcoming UN climate change conference in Paris just a few days away, many experts have cautioned just how high the stakes are in the coming fight against global warming.

The World Meteorological Organization says the earth's wild weather this year is breaking annual temperature records due to man-made global warming, and this has been further compounded by a stronger than usual El Nino wind system.

International leaders have set a goal of keeping global warming within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), of pre-industrial times.

A report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment last year pointed out that if greater efforts weren't made, global warming may result in severe and irreversible consequences in large areas of the world by the end of this century.

For more on this, CRI's Michael Butterworth earlier spoke to Dr. Jake Schmidt, Director of the International Programme at the Natural Resources Defence Council based in the U.S.

That was Dr. Jake Schmidt, Director of the International Programme at the Natural Resources Defence Council, speaking with CRI's Michael Butterworth.

UN Calls for Ending Violence against WomenUN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has taken time to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The UN chief says ending gender-specific violence is a top priority for the United Nations.

"This year I am especially concerned about the impact of violent extremism on women and girls. We know the problems facing women. I want to show how women themselves hold the key to solutions."This year the UN launched a program called "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence" which will last until Human Rights Day on December 10th.

The UN estimates one-in-three women around the world have experienced either physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partner or a stranger.

Obama Pardons Thanksgiving TurkeyUS President Barack Obama has pardoned the national turkey.

In a 68 year old tradition, he declared the freedom of a turkey named Abe.

"Abe is now a free bird. He is TOTUS, the turkey of the United States. America is, after all a nation of second chances, and Abe has earned a second chance to live out the rest of his life comfortably on 1,000 acres of open land, complete with a barn called, "The White House on Turkey Hill," which actually sounds pretty good."The pardoning of a turkey is supposed to symbolize that it also has the right to life.

Turkeys are traditionally eaten on Thanksgiving Day, the fourth Thursday in November in the US, held as a festival to express gratitude for the blessing of the harvest and the year just passed.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in America in 1621.

WeatherBeijing will be cloudy tonight with a low of minus 8, tomorrow will be cloudy with a high of 0.

Shanghai will be cloudy tonight with a low of 0, sunny tomorrow, high of 7.

Chongqing will be cloudy with a low of 10, tomorrow will be overcast, high of 13.

Lhasa will be cloudy with a low of minus 1, tomorrow will be overcast with a high of 14.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad will be sunny with a high of 23.

Kabul, sunny, 13.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney, cloudy, high of 23,Brisbane,slight rain,32,Perth, sunny, 34,And finally Auckland, New Zealand will have slight rain with a high of 21 degrees Celsius.

Headline newsChina, Albania to enhance infrastructure cooperationChinese Premier Li Keqiang has met with more European leaders who have attended a high-level economic and trade forum between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

In a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Li Keqiang says China and Albania have an opportunity to expand cooperation in financing, mining and agriculture.

He's also calling on the Albanian side to make Chinese investment and tourism to the southeastern European country more convenient.

For his part, Edi Rama says Albania is willing to streamline visa access for Chinese travelers.

Li Keqiang has also met with officials from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegonvina to discuss cooperation.

China to increase investment in AfricaThe Chinese government has announced a new plan to increase investment in Africa.

Among them, the Chinese side is promising to purchase more non-resource based products from countries on the continent.

At the same time, the Chinese side is promising African countries more low-interest loans and more financing cooperation.

China's main import from Africa is primary commodities, particularly natural resources.

China's vice-Minister of Commerce, in announcing the new plan, says Chinese authorities have been debating for around a year what's going to be in their "package of cooperation proposals" to be put forward at the forthcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in South Africa next week.

President Xi Jinping is set to travel to Johannesburg to chair the forum.

China, Djibouti Negotiates over Military BaseThe Chinese government has confirmed it has started negotiations with Djibouti's government for the construction of a military base there.

The Chinese foreign ministry says the base will be used to provide supplies for Chinese warships on escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.

It will be China's first military facility in Africa.

More than 60 Chinese naval vessels have been on patrols the waters off Somalia since it joined the international escort missions there 7-years ago.

Djibouti is located in the Horn of Africa, bordering Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Russia conducts airstrikes near Turkish borders with SyriaRussian authorities say its airforce has carried out nearly 3-dozen air strikes since late Wednesday on militant positions in northern Syria near the Turkish borders.

The strikes targeted several areas north of Aleppo.

Russian authorities say an alleged weapons shipment from the Turkish border to the Syrian opposition was also struck.

The intensified strikes came a day after a Russian warplane was downed by the Turkish air force.

Turkey claims the Russian jet was shot down after ignoring repeated warnings for penetrating into Turkish airspace.

Russia says the pilots heard no warnings and that the aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace. Moscow described the Turkish move as a "planned provocation."15 killed in Mi-8 helicopter crash in Russia's Krasnoyarsk regionA helicopter crash in Russia has left at least 15-people dead.

The helicopter, with 25 people on-board, went down in a remote region inside the Arctic Circle in the central Krasnoyarsk region of Russia.

The 10 survivors have been hospitalized with unspecified injuries.

The helicopter went down next to a riverbank just after taking off from a regional airport.

It's believed the helicopter was transporting workers to an oil field when it went down.

So far it's not clear what caused the helicopter to go down.

Biz ReportsAsian StocksAnchor:

Time to check today's business news, starting with the closing numbers in China.

Mainland markets ended a rally on Thursday as investors took profits after two days that brought the major index to a two-week high.

The market opened higher in the morning and dived quickly in the afternoon as profit taking set in before the resumption of IPOs next week, which are expected to attract capital of around one trillion yuan.

Environmental protection, medical equipment and electronic devices led the slump.

While companies in nonferrous smelting and coal mining saw their prices go up.

At the close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.3 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen index lost one percent.

The ChiNext Index of growth enterprises dropped 2.2 percent.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Heng Seng Index closed flat.

Elsewhere in Asia,Tokyo shares ended higher as investors' sentiment was boosted by buoyant performances in the overnight European markets.

The benchmark Nikkei edged up half of a percent.

South Korea's KOSPI climed 1.1 percent.

Singapore's Straights Times index inched down 0.2 percent.

And finally,Australia's ASX/200 edged up 0.3 percent.

CITIC Securities makes US$156 billion mistake in derivatives reportingThe Securities Association of China says CITIC Securities has overstated some of its financial derivatives by more than 1 trillion yuan or about 156 billion U.S. dollars in monthly reports from April to September.

CITIC is said to have reported inaccurate numbers in statistical reports on over-the-counter equity swap deals partly carried out during the summer's stock market rout.

The association, which is supervised by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, says it is investigating the matter, but has not accused CITIC Securities of any wrongdoing.

In response, CITIC securities says the incorrect numbers were caused by a system upgrade and they were not included in its quarterly financial filings.

CITIC has also pointed out that it amended the figures at the beginning of this month.

China Three Gorges wins bid to operate 2 Brazilian hydropower plantsA Chinese company has won the rights to operate two major hydroelectric operations in Brazil.

The China Three Gorges Corporation has won the rights to operate the two largest power plants the Brazilian government is moving to privatize.

Brazilian government has auctioned off 29 hydroelectric power plants whose concession contracts were about to expire.

The Three Gorges Corporation is paying 3.7 billion U.S. dollars to take over the operations.

Three Gorges is expected to pay 65-percent of its investment before the end of the year.

The sale of the hydroelectric plants in Brazil is part of the government's broader plans to lower the public deficit by year end amid the current economic downturn in the country.

Foreign central banks allowed on China's forex marketChina's central bank has announced the first batch of overseas central banks and similar institutions which have been allowed to enter China's inter-bank foreign exchange market.

The seven institutions have completed registration with the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

They are the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Reserve Bank of Australia, Hungarian National Bank, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Development Association, World Bank Group Trust Funds, and GIC Private Limited.

This group covers three categories of institutions - foreign central banks, international financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds.

They can directly participate in the inter-bank forex market as foreign members, use existing inter-bank forex market members as their agents, or entrust the PBOC as their agent.

They will also be allowed to conduct Renminbi and foreign exchange trading of one or more traded forex products, including spots, forwards, swaps and options.

58.com to spin off secondhand car-trading platform Guazi.com58.com has announced plans to spin off its secondhand car-trading subsidiary Guazi.com.

The company is set to divest a controlling ownership stake in Guazi to Co-CEO of 58.com, Yang Haoyong, in exchange for an unspecific amount of cash injection into Guazi from Yang.

Following the injection, 58.com will retain about a 46 percent stake in Guazi.

Yang Haoyong will serve as Chairman and CEO of Guazi after resigning from his position as the Co-CEO of 58.com.

Guazi.com is a consumer-to-consumer used car trading platform which allows car buyers and sellers to directly transact through the platform.

It also offers one-stop services ranging from car financing and insurance to maintenance.

China's teapot oil refineries to export fuel for the first time: ReutersAnchor:

It's being reported that China is set to allow independent refineries to export refined fuel next year for the first time.

Reuters reports that the move will allow independent refineries, also known as "teapots," to enter the lucrative international market for the first time.

The report also says that this could free up 20 percent of China's refining capacity for sales abroad.

Currently only state-owned refiners, Sinopec Corp and PetroChina and some smaller state oil firms are allowed to sell abroad.

If the move goes ahead, traders estimate an additional 3 to 5 million tons or about 24 to 40 million barrels of products will be sold abroad next year.

For more on this, CRI's Spencer Musick earlier spoke with Cao Can, CRI's financial commentator.

Cao Can, CRI's financial commentator, speaking with CRI's Spencer Musick.

PetroChina to integrate Kunlun Gas, Kunlun EnergyChina's top oil and gas producer PetroChina says it has agreed to shift its wholly-owned unit PetroChina Kunlun Gas Company into Kunlun Energy Company.

The valuation of the integration has not been provided.

PetroChina added that the integration could be carried out through acquisition of equity interests or assets of PetroChina Kunlun Gas by Kunlun Energy or other forms of integration.

PetroChina and its parent company the China National Petroleum Corporation now held about 58 percent and 41 percent shares of Kunlun Energy respectively.

It's been suggested that the integration will help Kunlun Energy, which focuses on LNG distribution, expand its business into city-gas sales and compete with private rivals including China Gas Holdings and ENN Energy Holdings.

Kunlun Energy is PetroChina's main commercial gas supplier in China.

While Kunlun Gas distributes fuel to households in over one hundred Chinese cities.

SportsZheng Zhi Nominated to Be 2015 AFC Player of the Year AwardIn off-field football news,Zheng Zhi, captain of both Guangzhou Evergrande and China's national team has been nominated for this year's AFC Player of the Year award.

The 35-year-old has been nominated alongside a pair of players from the UAE for the award.

Zheng Zhi won the AFC Player of the Year honors in 2013.

----------Gao Hong, head coach of China's Under-16 Girls team, has also been nominated for the AFC women's Coach of the Year.

----------This year's AFC Annual Awards are set to be held in India's capital, New Delhi this Sunday.

Juventus beat Manchester City 1-0In football,Juventus has secured its spot in the European Champions League last-16 following a 1-0 win over Manchester City.

The win leap-frogs Juventus over City into the top position in their pool.

City head coach Coach Manuel Pellegrini says he's not overly concerned.

"First of all it was a good game from both teams, both played well, we were unlucky to lose this game, I think the minimum we deserved was a draw, they scored a goal I think there was a foul before it, the referee didn't whistle, but after that we had chances to draw and we missed those chances."Man City had already been assured a spot in the Champions League last-16In other action,Manchester United has been held to a scoreless draw by PSV at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils must now win their next match against Wolfsburg to ensure they make last 16 of the tournament.

Manchester United head coach Louis van Gaal.

"So then you know at the end it is 0-0, but that's disappointing because we have to win in Wolfsburg and that's also a difficult game. Now our efforts in away games is much better than last year so we have to do it in Wolfsburg."PSV Eindhoven still has a shot at overtaking Man-U in the final match of the round-robin if they can beat CSKA Moscow and United falls to Wolfsburg.

----------Elsewhere,It was Paris St. Germain assuring its move into the knock-out stages with a 5-nil drubbing of Malmo.

However, Real Madrid stay ahead of PSG in the group with a 4-3 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.

And both Atletico Madrid and Benfica have locked in the confirmed spots in the Champions League knockout stages in Group D.

Madrid blanked Galtasary 2-nil, while Benfica drew 2-2 with Astana, giving both of them 10-points, but with Atletico still in the top position heading to the last match on goal differential.

NFL: Thanksgiving Day matinee includes 2 gamesIn the National Football League,A pair of Thursday matinee games are on the schedule for this morning, as it's the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

The early game, which gets underway at 1:30am Beijing time, has the 4-6 Philadelphia on the road in Detroit to take on the 3-7 Lions.

Despite Philly's weak record, the team still remains in playoff contention in a weak NFC East.

The other Thanksgiving matchup has the Carolina Panthers putting their perfect 10-0 record on the line on the road against the 3-7 Dallas Cowboys.

China's Deng Wei Clinches Three Golds at the World Weightlifting ChampionshipsIn weightlifting,Chinese lifters have taken four golds at the World Weightlifting Championships in Houston, Texas, with three of them going to Deng Wei.

The 22-year-old opened the women's 63kg final with a snatch lift of 113 kilos, then followed with a world record clean and jerk lift of 146 kilos for a winning total of 259.

"I'm very happy to win this title. Because I didn't have a lot of training before this competition. I was also not that confident, as I haven't completely recovered from some injuries is suffered several weeks before. But I gave it my all, and ended up breaking the world record. This is far beyond my expectations."Deng Wei broke the previous clean and jerk mark of 145-kilos set by a lifter from Taiwan last year.

Basketball: Xinjiang looking for 10th straight win tomorrowA pair of impressive winning streaks are once-again on-the-line both in the United States and here in China.

Here in China, it's a travel day in the CBA after a full-slate of games last night.

Tomorrow, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers will try to move to 10-0 on the season as they entertain Jilin, in one of another full-slate of games on the schedule.

Xinjiang stretched its winning streak to open the CBA season to 9 last night with a 115-104 win over Liaoning.

Xinjiang head coach Li Qiuping.

"On the whole, we didn't do well rebounding in the first half of the game. Liaoning's shooting accuracy wasn't very high, but they did a good work in terms of second-chance points. In the second half, we did a lot better. Overall, Liaoning played pretty well. So next time we're going to have to pay special attention to defence and rebounds against Liaoning."--------In other action,The Beijing Ducks has clinched their third consecutive home win after dumping Jiangsu 105-90 last night.

Stephon Marbury contributed with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in the victory.

The 38-year-old is now ranked 10th in CBA history in assists with 1308.

This is Marbury's 7th season in CBA and 5th with the Beijing Ducks.

-------Other winners on the night last night in the CBA include Shandong, Shanghai, Shanxi, Shenzhen, Jiangsu Tongxi, Guangsha, Sichuan and Guangdong Southern, with Yi Jianlian knocking down 44-points for the Tigers in their win over Zhejiang Chouzhou.

---And across the Pacific, the Golden State Warriors take their record-breaking 16-0 season-opening winning streak into Phoenix to take on the 7-8 Suns.

The Warriors are looking to extend the longest season-opening streak in NBA history, which they set yesterday by hammering the LA Lakers.

--In NBA action from earlier today,The Philadelphia 76ers are now just one loss away from setting a new professional record in US professional sports for futility.

Philly has tied the record the club currently owns with its 26th straight loss dating back to last season, blowing a 5-point lead late in the 4th quarter to go down to Boston 84-80 this morning.

The 76ers squad in the 2013-14 NBA campaign lost 26-straight games, the same as the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucaneers team in the 1976 and 1977 seasons.

Perhaps Philly's best shot at ending its futility streak may come tomorrow as they're in Houston to take on the struggling Rockets, who are just 5-10 to start the season.

Hockey: Canadiens down Rangers, may lose Price againIn action from the National Hockey League,The Montreal Canadiens seem to have the New York Rangers number so far this season.

The Habs beat up the Rangers 5-1 earlier today, but may have lost star goaltender Carey Price to injury again.

Price left the game after the 2nd period with back problems, an injury which sidelined the reigning league MVP for 8-games earlier this season.

Of the only 4 regular season losses the New York Rangers have so far this regular season, 2 have come at the hands of Montreal.

In other action,It was Columbus over New Jersey 2-1.

--Carolina thumped Edmonton 4-1.

--Nashville edged Buffalo 3-2.

--Pittsburgh got past St. Louis 4-3 in overtime.

--It was Vancouver earning a rare win on the road, getting past Minnesota 3-2.

--In their ownly meeting of the season, it was the Washington Capitals over Winnipeg 5-3.

--Boston edged Detroit 3-2 in overtime.

--It was Tampa over LA 2-1 in a shootout.

--The Islanders dumped Philly 3-1.

--Antoine Vermette with 2-goals, only his 1st and 2nd on the season, as Arizona doubled up on Anaheim 4-2.

--Ottawa beat up Colorado 5-3.

--And Chicago thumped San Jose 5-2.

EntertainmentMatt Damon's 'The Martian' Released in ChinaAmerican science fiction film 'The Martian' has finally reached China's cinemas.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the film stars Matt Damon and Sebastian Stan.

Promoting the film in China, Hollywood superstar Matt Damon said he hoped Chinese audiences would enjoy the film.

Based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel of the same name, 'The Martian' portrays an astronaut who is presumed dead after he is left behind on Mars by his crew who are forced to evacuate a manned mission to the planet because of a violent storm.

The film has gained huge success at the box office since its release, pulling in over 487 million US dollars worldwide.

It becomes director Ridley Scott's highest-grossing film to date, and has received critical acclaim.

'The Martian' premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11th.

'Tokyo Story' star Setsuko Hara dies at 95The death the Japanese actress Setsuko Hara, star of "Tokyo Story" and a host of other classic films, has been announced. She was 95, and died on September 5th after two weeks in hospital, although the news has only now been released.

The news is dominating front pages in Japan, with headlines lauding her as a "legendary" performer and the "Eternal Madonna".

Hara, whose real name was Masae Aida, made her debut in the 1930s, but rose to prominence after World War II working with famed director Yasujiro Ozu, most notably on his acclaimed "Tokyo Story".

In the 1953 film, considered a masterpiece of global cinema, she played a woman widowed by the war who treats the ageing parents of her late husband kindly during their visit to Tokyo, in contrast to their own children, who are too busy.

A poll of noted regional filmmakers and international critics published last month at the Busan International Film Festival rated the drama as the best Asian film of all time.

MTV announces list of Brand New artists to watch for 2016MTV has named the top 10 artists that it believes will have an impact in 2016.

The public will now get to vote on who they think is the one to watch for next year.

The list was selected by MTV officials and contains key music-influencers and industry representatives. The shortlist includes some of the most exciting new UK music talent.

The results of the public vote will be unveiled in February.

Jack Garratt appears in the MTV top ten. He also appears on the Brits Critics Choice Award shortlist.

The list also contains the likes of the Blossoms, Ratboy, Nimmo, and Bonkas.

DJ Sigala, who already has a number one single under his belt with his track Easy Love, completes the lineup.

Last year, the MOBO nominated act 'Krept and Konan' were named winners.

All of the 2016 nominations will be unveiled at a special event next week which will be hosted by Ella Eyre.

Johnny Depp and George Clooney among biggest 2015 film flopsFilms starring Bradley Cooper, Johnny Depp, Chris Hemsworth and George Clooney have been listed among the biggest film flops of 2015.

Rock the Kasbah starring Bill Murray is number one on the list produced by Forbes.

The film sees Murray as a washed up music manager stranded in Afghanistan - it also starred Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson and Zooey Deschanel.

Forbes estimated it only made 2.87 million US dollars at the box-office but cost 15 million US dollars to make.

In second place is hitman drama 'The Gunman' starring and co-written by Sean Penn.

WeatherBeijing will be cloudy tonight with a low of minus 8, tomorrow will be cloudy with a high of 0.

Shanghai will be cloudy tonight with a low of 0, sunny tomorrow, high of 7.

Chongqing will be cloudy with a low of 10, tomorrow will be overcast, high of 13.

Lhasa will be cloudy with a low of minus 1, tomorrow will be overcast with a high of 14.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad will be sunny with a high of 23.

Kabul, sunny, 13.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney, cloudy, high of 23,Brisbane,slight rain,32,Perth, sunny, 34,And finally Auckland, New Zealand will have slight rain with a high of 21 degrees Celsius.

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

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

China unveils more development relationships in central and eastern Europe.

Trade and Investment pledges ahead of a crucial China Africa summit.

On behalf of co-host Paul James and rest of the Beijing Hour team, this is Bob Jones in Beijing, hoping you'll join us for the next edition of the Beijing Hour, to open a window to the world together...