Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged society to create favorable conditions to support youth entrepreneurship.

The call was made in a letter sent by the president to congratulate the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Week in China on its opening in Shanghai. 

Presdient Xi has called on the youth to study hard and make full use of their intelligence to better serve society. 

He has also hailed the event as helpful for the youth to inspire their entrepreneurial ideas and start businesses. 

The Global Entrepreneurship Week has attracted the participation of 138 countries.

 

Vengeful man detained over deadly explosions

Chinese police have detained a 41-year-old ex-convict who "took revenge on society" by setting off deadly explosions in Taiyuan, capital city of north China's Shanxi Province, on Wednesday.

One person died and another eight were injured in the explosion. 

The suspect, Feng Zhijun, a local resident of Taiyuan, admitted to having intentionally committed the crime in order to "take revenge on society".

He also confessed all details of his crime.

Police are continuing investigation into the case.

 

China issues orange alert for typhoon Haiyan

China has issued an orange warning for high seas and monster waves in the next 24 hours which are likely to be generated by super typhoon Haiyan.

This year's strongest typhoon is now influencing the eastern part of the South China Sea, with 3 meter waves near Dongsha island. 

At least 4 people have been pronounced dead after super typhoon Haiyan battered the central Philippines Friday.

The super typhoon has forced millions of people to flee to safer ground, cutting power lines and blowing apart houses.

 

World's heavyweight FMs join Iran nuclear talks in Geneva

The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has held discussions with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Geneva during the intensive talks between world powers and Iran.

Fabius flew to Geneva Friday to join the talks between five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany and Iran over the latter's controversial nuclear program. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are also making unscheduled trips to Geneva to join the talks, which has raised the hope that an interim deal will be made after the negotiations.

 

South Korean president criticized "retroactive" attitude of Japanese gov't on history

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, who is visiting Brussels for the 7th South Korea-European Union (EU) summit, has criticized the "retroactive" attitude of the Japanese government on history.

She told reporters that Tokyo so far has not a correct attitude towards the issue of "comfort women" and aggression of neighboring Asian countries by Japan.

Historically, Tokyo has refused to apologize for the "past wrongdoings" during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of S. Korea, particularly the treatment of women forced to work as comfort women in Japan's wartime military brothels. 

Park said unless the Japanese leaders change their mindset on war-linked history, she would not meet them.

 

Palestinian officials: Arafat death not natural

Palestinian officials say scientific reports on the death of former leader Yasser Arafat show his death was unnatural.

At a news conference, they said their investigations into Arafat's death in a Paris hospital back in 2004 would continue.

A report issued earlier this week by Swiss scientists said Arafat's remains contained high levels of radioactive polonium.

Head of the Palestinian investigation committee, Tawfig Al-Tirawi, says Israel is the prime suspect in Arafat's death.

Israel has strongly rejected on the claims.

 

U.S. drone attack derails peace process: Pakistan PM

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says the U.S. drone attack on Nov. 1 that killed the Taliban chief derailed his plan to hold peace talks with the Taliban militants. 

After the attack, new chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Maulvi Fazalullah refused to hold talks with the government and threatened to launch revenge attacks. The Taliban threats have raised serious concerns over the possible backlash. 

Nawaz Sharif insisted his government still has a desire to resolve all issues with the Taliban through negotiations.

 

Hong Kong Legislature passes economic sanctions bill on Philippines

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong has passed a non-binding bill on economic sanctions against the Philippines.

At the same time, a revised bill on the temporary canceling of visa-free arrangements for Philippine passport holders was also passed.

This is the latest Hong Kong response to the Philippines' refusal to apologize for the Hong Kong tourists who were hijacked and murdered three years ago.

 

China's January-October foreign trade up 7.6 pct

Official data shows foreign trade volume here in China has increased 7.6 percent through the first 10 months this year.

The total volume of imports and exports has hit 21 trillion yuan, or almost 3 and a half trillion US dollars, with imports and exports both seeing increases.

Exports rose almost 8 percent annually while imports were up just over 7 percent.

Notably, private foreign trade companies have seen their transactions up more than 22 percent.