抗战阅兵致敬反法西斯胜利70周年 中国人民解放军热血剪辑！（彩排） 标清

我的青春我做主: 抗战阅兵空中梯队难度远超以往 数十将校任领飞

我的青春我做主: 抗战阅兵空中梯队难度远超以往 数十将校任领飞: 资料图：空中护旗方队 原标题：数十将校担任空中梯队“领头雁” “平时训练看我的，重大任务跟我上。”在阅兵训练中，这句指挥员挂在嘴边的话绝非虚言。日前，记者从空军阅兵领导小组获悉，此次阅兵，空军有多名将军驾驶长机或担任空中梯队指挥员，10多名师团长上阵受阅、亲自带飞...

Chinese legislature adopts new prisoner amnesty deal

China's top legislature adopted a prisoner amnesty deal over the weekend which will affect four categories of prisoners, including jailed war veterans, juvenile minor criminal offenders and disabled elderly prisoners, as part of the commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Promulgated by President Xi Jinping on Saturday, the amnesty deal comes 56 years after China granted its first pardon to non-war criminals in 1959. It applies to prisoners who fought in China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) and the civil war against the Kuomintang army from 1945 to 1949, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Other prisoners who participated in unspecified wars after 1949 to safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity are also eligible for amnesty. The deal also covers criminals who are 75 or older, and those with physical disabilities who are unable to care for themselves. Minor criminal offenders who committed crimes while under the age of 18 and received prison sentences of less than three years are also eligible for a pardon. However, the latest pardon excludes officials convicted of embezzlement and bribe-taking. It will not apply to those guilty of murder, rape, terrorism and mafia-style acts, according to Xinhua. The reprieve shows the Chinese government's confidence in its administration and legal system as well as its compassion toward criminals, according to experts. "The mercy shown to veterans is an apt recognition of their contributions in the wars, and it shows China's attitude toward history and its commitment to peace. While China remembers the fallen, jailed allies cannot be forgotten despite their post-war missteps," said an opinion article of Xinhua. China's Criminal Law, which was amended in 2011, also allows leniency in the punishment of the aged. Those qualifying for a pardon will not be set free until the court reviews their cases and makes a verdict. Procuratorates will supervise the process and the police will enforce order. Authorities would continue to help them integrate into regular life afterward, Xinhua said. Local authorities of Hebei Province said on Sunday that they will commence the inspection of inmates to check their eligibility to be pardoned. Officials also pledged not to intervene and prevent power abuse in the process, media reported.

Shares struggle amid crackdown on market manipulation, violations

Chinese shares tumbled sharply in Monday's morning session, as the government continues to investigate allegations of market manipulation. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, the smaller Shenzhen Component Index and the NASDAQ-style ChiNext Index dipped 2.61 percent, 2.39 percent and 3.09 percent, respectively, in the morning session. All key indices declined more than 3 percent, retreating into negative territory, again, despite substantial gains on Thursday and Friday. The market's weak performance on Monday occurred in spite of government intervention to stabilize the volatile stock market. Since June, measures have heavily featured the pumping of funds into the system. Despite this, key indices have continued to nosedive over the last fortnight, and some analysts are calling on policymakers to use a wider range of tools instead of merely injecting liquidity. On Sunday, a journalist, an official with China's securities watchdog and four senior executives of CITIC Securities, China's largest brokerage, were placed under "criminal compulsory measures" for suspected market manipulation and trading violations. This is the toughest response since the market began to fall in mid-June. Wang Xiaolu, journalist with Caijing Magazine, is suspected of colluding with others, and fabricating and spreading fake information. Liu Shufan, an official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), was held over allegations of insider trading, accepting bribes and forgery. CITIC Securities' Xu Gang, Liu Wei, Fang Qingli and Chen Rongjie were held for suspected insider trading. Compulsory measures can include arrest, detention, summons, bail pending trial, or residential surveillance. On Friday, a CSRC spokesperson said the commission had referred 22 cases of suspected market manipulation, insider trading, fabricating and spreading false information to the police, bringing the total number to 48 this year. Also on Friday, the China Financial Futures Exchange announced it had raised margin requirements on stock index futures to 30 percent of the contract value, in a bid to curb speculation. The government appears to be paying greater attention to the stock market rout, with Premier Li Keqiang telling the State Council on Friday that financial stability was significant to the broader economy. "It is important to foster an open, transparent capital market of long-term stability and ensure its sound development," said Li. He also added that risk management must be improved to prevent regional or systemic risks.

Detained suspect refuses to cooperate in Bangkok blast probe: Thai police

A foreign suspect arrested in connection with the deadly Aug. 17 Bangkok bombing refused to cooperate in interrogation, Thai police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thawornsiri said on Sunday. The alleged Turkish man was not answering questions on whether he played any role in the blast at Erawan Shrine in downtown Bangkok, which killed at least 20 people and injured more than 120 others, as well as a subsequent bombing at the Sathorn pier which caused no casualties, Prawut was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying. The suspect, who was arrested by police and soldiers at a rented apartment house on Bangkok's eastern outskirts, was in custody at the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters, according to Prawut. The real name and nationality of the suspect were yet to be known, the spokesman said, adding the Turkish embassy in Bangkok denied that he was a Turkish national. The suspect was holding a Turkish passport with the name Adem Karadag. However, the passport was believed to be fake, Prawut said, and several embassies had offered to help with confirmation of the suspect's nationality. A large number of bomb-making materials and equipment were seized in his apartment, which were similar to those used in the two bombing attacks. The materials had been sent to the Office of Police Forensic Science and the man's belongings collected for further examination, according to Prawut. Evidences shown the 28-year-old suspect was planning more attacks, he added. Other people, some of them Thais, were believed to be involved in the bombings, Prawut said. It remained unclear whether the arrested suspect was the same one whose sketch had been released, deputy national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said earlier. Security camera footage showed a male, who was wearing a yellow T-shirt and glasses, left a backpack inside the Erawan Shrine shortly before the explosion. A portrait of the unknown "white Arab" was sketched and copied for postings at Bangkok streets and on the Internet. It was preliminarily determined that the arrested suspect was linked to the two attacks and he belonged to the same group behind the bombings, Prawut said on Saturday.

Tianjin blasts death toll rises to 150

The death toll from the Tianjin warehouse explosions more than two weeks ago rose to 150 on Sunday with 23 others still missing, according to rescue authorities. The dead include 92 firefighters, 10 policemen and 48 others. The missing people include 12 firefighters, one policemen and 10 others. A total of 367 people remain in hospital, including 20 in critical or serious condition. Two blasts ripped through a warehouse in Tianjin Port where large amounts of toxic chemicals were stored, including around 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide, at around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 12. More than 300 primary and middle schools in the Binhai New Area, where the port is located, will open the new semester on Monday as scheduled, and 16 kindergartens and schools damaged in the explosions have been fully repaired, the area's publicity office said. On Saturday, no excessive levels of pollutants were found in the air outside the exclusion zone, but high levels of cyanide were detected from water samples from inside the exclusion zone, with the worst about 23 times the level officially regarded as safe.

Tokyo rails against PM Abe’s security bills

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered near Japan's Diet (parliament) building on Sunday to oppose legislation allowing the military to fight overseas, the latest sign of public mistrust in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security policy. In one of Japan's biggest protests in years - organizers put the crowd at 120,000 - people of all ages braved occasional rain to join the rally, chanting and holding up placards with slogans such as "No War" and "Abe, quit." Demonstrators swarmed into the street before parliament's main gate after the crowd size made it impossible for police, out in heavy numbers, to keep them to the sidewalks. A second nearby park area also filled with protesters. The rally was one of more than 300 in Japan this weekend protesting Abe's move to loosen the post-war, pacifist constitution's constraints on the military. The demonstration was believed to be the biggest in Tokyo since the mass protests against nuclear power in the summer of 2012, after the March 2011 Fukushima atomic disaster. "Sitting in front of a TV and just complaining wouldn't do," said Naoko Hiramatsu, a 44-year-old associate professor in French and one of the Tokyo protesters. "If I don't take action and try to put a stop on this, I will not be able to explain myself to my child in the future," said Hiramatsu, holding her 4-year-old son in her arms in the thick of the protest. The Japanese Prime Minister in July pushed through parliament's lower house a group of bills that let Japan's armed forces defend an ally under attack, a drastic shift in Japan's post-war security policy which has been widely criticized by many. The bills are now before the upper chamber, which is also controlled by Abe's ruling bloc and aims to pass the legislation before parliament's session ends on September 27. Abe's ratings have taken a hit from opposition to the security bills. Media surveys show those who oppose his government as outnumbering his supporters, and more than half are against the security bills. "We need to make the Abe government realize the public is having a sense of crisis and angry. Let's work together to have the bills scrapped," Katsuya Okada, head of Japan's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, told the Tokyo rally. The Communist Party chief Kazuo Shii said that the Abe administration avoided directly answering questions over the bills during parliament deliberations, vowing to stop the bills' endorsement in the upper house. Meanwhile, Teiichi Tanigaki, secretary general of Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said the security legislation issue should be resolved during the current Diet session, hinting that the ruling party will steamroller the controversial bills through the Diet that has been extended to late September, broadcaster NHK said Sunday.

Macau Falun Gong Backbone Lin Yiming Died of Colon Cancer

On August 2nd, Lin Yiming, Falun Gong backbone of Macau, died of colon cancer. Before that, he refused chemotherapy because Falun Gong prohibit its followers take any medicine and tell them Master Li Hongzhi(top leader of Falun Gong) will save them. Lin Yiming began to practice Falun Gong in 1997 and became Macau backbone of it. His daughter and wife became Falun Gong followers in his influence. He organized Falun Gong activities in Macau, Hongkong, and Taiwan. What’s more, Lin is Li Hongzhi’s trusted follower and main source of financing for Falun Gong. Li Hongzhi views him as model local backbones in Falun Gong organization. Lin Yiming In 2014, hematochezia was found by Lin Yiming and he refused to see doctor. The disease is worse in April this year and he was sentenced to advanced colon cancer, while Lin still refused chemotherapy and believed Master Li Hongzhi will save his life. The patient took part in Falun Gong meeting held in New York on May 13th. During that time, Master Li Hongzhi treated him using his “Gong” (like QiGong) and promised him he is cured. Unfortunately, Lin Yiming died of invasive cancer cells. What’s more tragic, Master Li Hongzhi blocked all the messages of Lin’s death. There is even no any mourning ceremony. And before that, there is more death of Falun Gong backbones. Li Dayong March 2nd, 2014, Li Dayong, the charge of Falun Gong 3-Exit Center, died of AHN in his 50th. Li Hongzhi ordered to block the news and Falun Gong media had no report about the death. Li Jiguang In May 2012, Li Jiguang, the vice president of Falun Gong’s news group The Epoch Times and Li Hongzhi’s brother in law died of illness. According to Li Hongzhi’s theory, Falun Gong members are not allowed to take medicines or go to hospital when they get ill. Even they get any sick, they will be cured by Li Hongzhi. And Li has “removed every Falun Gong follower’s name from the list of hell”. So his true believers will never die. Lin Yiming, Li Dayong, and Li Jiguang, the three person were trusted followers of Li Hongzhi and backbones of Falun Gong organization. Li Hongzhi can save none of his true believers. How can he justify his theory?

Giant panda in Washington's National Zoo gives birth to cub

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park said Saturday its female panda has given birth to a cub. Mei Xiang, one of the two adult giant pandas which arrived here from China on December 6, 2000, gave birth to a cub at 5:35 pm local time, the zoo confirmed in a short statement on its Twitter account. If the cub survives, it would be the 17-year-old panda's third surviving offspring since her introduction to the National Zoo more than a decade ago. Keepers from the zoo will be closely watching the cub in the coming days. It would take several days for experts to determine whether the cub is male or female. Panda Mei Xiang gave birth to her first cub Tai Shan on July 9, 2005 and her second cub Bao Bao on August 23, 2013. Apart from the two surviving cubs, Mei Xiang gave birth to another stillborn cub in 2013 and in 2012, she gave birth to a cub that died six days later. Earlier Saturday afternoon, the zoo said large number of viewers seeking to watch the heroic panda's birth caused overload to its online live feed. For enthusiastic fans of the panda family now residing in the US capital city, however, they are not expected to see the new cub very soon. Bao Bao, Mei Xiang's second surviving cub, didn't make her public debut until five months after the birth. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is one of the four zoos in the country to have giant pandas on loan from China. In accordance with an agreement signed between the two countries, the pandas and the cubs they produce in the States still belong to China. Tai Shan, Mei Xiang's first surviving cub, now lives in China, and Bao Bao will return to China after turning four.

S. Korea, DPRK to resume high-level contact Sunday afternoon

South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will resume the ongoing high- level emergency contact later Sunday after nearly 10 hours of their first-round talks, the South Korean presidential office said. Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook told reporters that the senior-level contact lasted from 6:30 pm (0930 GMT) Saturday to 4:15 am Sunday at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarize zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas. During the 10-hour marathon talks, both sides comprehensively discussed ways of resolving the recent situations and developing the inter-Korean relations, Min said. After reviewing the positions of each other, the high-level contact will be resumed from 3 pm Sunday to narrow down differences, the spokesman added. Top military aides to the leaders of the two Koreas met in Panmunjom, accompanied by high-ranking officials in charge of inter-Korean relations respectively. Attendants at the closed-door meeting were Kim Kwan-jin, chief security advisor to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo on the South Korean side. The DPRK side was represented by Hwang Pyong So, top military aide to top leader Kim Jong Un and director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, and the United Front Department director Kim Yang Gon. Kim and Hwang started the meeting with a smiling face and handshake, according to TV footage aired by South Korean broadcasters. They met in October last year when Hwang visited Incheon, South Korea's western port city, to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games hosted by South Korea. The DPRK's KCNA news agency reported the start of the high- level contact, referring to South Korea as its official name " Republic of Korea" in a very rare move that raised hopes for an end to tensions caused by landmine blasts and the exchange of artillery fires across border. Pyongyang usually called South Korea "puppet state." The highest-level meeting since President Park took office in February 2013 was held to defuse the heightened tensions caused by cross-border exchange of artillery fires on Thursday over South Korea's propaganda broadcasts. South Korea said it fired back a volley of artillery after the DPRK's shelling, but Pyongyang said it was a fabrication. Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un ordered the country's frontline combined forces to enter a state of war from Friday, and Pyongyang warned that South Korea stop its propaganda campaign with loudspeakers along the border until 5 pm Saturday (0800 GMT) or face military actions. South Korea threatened stern retaliation against any further provocation. Seoul and Washington raised their joint reconnaissance position toward the DPRK to the second highest Saturday. South Korean forces remained on the highest alert. The cross-border shelling, which caused no damages and casualties, intensified the already escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula. On August 4, three landmines detonated on the southern section of the DMZ, wounding two South Korean soldiers on a patrol duty. Seoul claimed that those had been deliberately planted by DPRK forces, but Pyongyang denied any involvement. From August 10, the South Korean military resumed blaring the propaganda loudspeakers, silenced for the past 11 years, in frontline units in retaliation for the landmine blast. The DPRK threatened indiscriminate strikes against the loudspeakers.

1 killed, 9 injured in east China chemical plant blast

One person was killed and nine others were injured after a blast ripped through a chemical plant in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday night, local authorities said on Sunday morning. The explosion occurred at Shandong Runxing Chemical Technology Co. Ltd at 8:56 p.m. in Dongfu Village, Huantai County after a separator in the plant caught fire, according to the county government's publicity office. The fire was put out at around 1:50 a.m. on Sunday, it said. Zhuo Hongqin, a worker at the factory, said the explosion shattered the windows of her room and the roof also collapsed. The explosion also damaged nearby houses. A villager said his face was cut by the shattered glass. The city government urged all the enterprises that produce, store and use chemicals to enhance their safety standards. The environmental protection departments of both Zibo City and Huantai County said they have not detected any contamination after the blast. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. With a registered capital of 200 million yuan (31.3 million US dollars), the Shandong Runxing Chemical Technology Co. Ltd is a subsidiary of Shandong's Runxing Group. The privately-owned company was set up in 2012. The plant was during the phase of trial production after the construction work of it was completed in July. It produces chemicals, mainly adiponitrile, a colorless liquid that can give off toxic fumes after exposed to heat. The factory's annual production capacity of adiponitrile is 100,000 tonnes. The blast came 10 days after the warehouse explosions in north China's Tianjin Municipality that have left 123 people dead and 50 missing.

Death toll from Tianjin warehouse blast rises to 123

The death toll from a warehouse blast in north China's Tianjin Municipality has risen to 123, including 70 firefighters and seven policemen, authorities said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon. All victims' identities have been verified, according to Gong Jiansheng, deputy head of the city's publicity department. Fifty people remain missing, including 34 firefighters and four policemen, nearly two weeks after powerful explosions ripped through the warehouses containing dangerous chemicals in Tianjin Port on the night of August 12, Gong said. A total of 624 people are still hospitalized, including 44 critically or seriously injured. A total of 169 people have been discharged. Zhang Guoxin, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said over 80 medical experts from across the nation along with 180 experts from Tianjin are trying their best to treat the injured. Critical injuries included severe craniocerebral injuries and burns, Xi Xiuming, a medical expert, told the conference, adding that they still need time to recover. The latest monitoring data showed that cyanide levels in samples from groundwater around the blast site and offshore sea waters were below toxic levels on Saturday, said Deng Xiaowen, head of the city environment monitoring center at the conference. The water, containing cyanide levels higher than the national safety standard, was contained in the core area of the blast site and will be removed after being processed, he said. Saturday's data from the five monitoring stations around the blast site revealed that the air quality in the area was good, Deng said, adding that no new contamination has been detected in the air so far.

Progress made in Bangkok blast probe: spokesman

Investigation into two earlier bomb attacks in Bangkok, one of which resulted in 20 fatalities, is making progress, with more evidence obtained, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The overall situation is peaceful in the wake of the two blasts, one of which occurred at Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection on Monday and the other at the Sathorn pier on the following day, said Winthai Suwaree, spokesman of the National Council of Peace and Order. The second blast caused no death or injury. The progress will be disclosed to the public when deemed appropriate, the spokesman added. Two people who had posted misleading information on social media have been arrested, said Winthai. The Thai authorities have paid compensation to the relatives of 16 victims of the Erawan blast, including 14 foreigners and two Thais, he said, adding that compensations for more will be made. With four more people injured in the Erawan blast discharged from hospital, 52 others are still being hospitalized, Winthai said. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has compensated nine of the injured, he added. In a related development, the police are reportedly searching for a suspect in the Sathorn pier bombing, who, according to security camera footage, kicked a package into the water one day before the explosion.

Koreas on alert, talks drag on

The two Koreas are not really willing to engage in an all-out war, though tensions appeared high even when senior officials from both sides sat down to discuss solutions to the latest crisis, Chinese observers said Sunday. Top aides of North and South Korean leaders met into Sunday evening after talking through the previous night to try to ease tensions involving an exchange of artillery fire that brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict. The rare and unusually long meeting at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) began on Saturday evening, shortly after a North Korea deadline for Seoul to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts or face military action expired. Even as the talks restarted, the rivals were on high military alert, with the North deploying twice the usual artillery strength at the border and a majority of its submarine fleet - more than 50 vessels - away from their bases, the South's defense ministry said. South Korea's six fighter jets attending a joint drill with the US in Alaska also returned home two days ahead of schedule, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday. The country said it had no plans to halt the propaganda broadcasts that triggered the latest standoff. The envoys, shown on TV exchanging handshakes and smiling at the start of their meeting, discussed ways to resolve tensions and improve ties, South Korea's presidential Blue House said in a brief statement. Signs of ease The current tensions began early this month when two South Korean soldiers were wounded by landmines along the border. Pyongyang denies laying the mines. Days later, Seoul began its propaganda broadcasts in random three-hour bursts from 11 banks of loudspeakers, including news reports and K-pop music from the South, resuming a tactic both sides halted in 2004. The crisis escalated on Thursday when the North reportedly fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of 29 artillery rounds. North Korea denied firing the first shot and declared a "quasi state of war" in the frontline and issued an ultimatum for Seoul to halt its broadcasts. That deadline passed on Saturday without any reported incident. A statement released by North Korea's foreign ministry on Friday said that to protect their chosen political system with their lives, the North Korean military and people would not blink to engage in an all-out war instead of a simple counter action or revenge, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). However, a brief KCNA report on Saturday on the start of high-level talks in Panmunjom referred to the South as "the Republic of Korea" a rare move observers said that raised hopes for an end to tensions. Pyongyang usually calls the South a "puppet state." Cao Shigong, a member of the Korean Peninsula Research Society of the Chinese Association of Asia-Pacific Studies, said he believes North Korea is more likely to have other motives than a war with the South. "North Korea is bent on interrupting the ongoing annual joint military drills between South Korea and the US," Cao told the Global Times on Sunday. "Based on experience, Pyongyang might appear very tough in words, but relatively restrained in deeds." The annual Ulchi Freedom military drill, which is expected to run through the second half of August, involves 50,000 South Korean and 30,000 US soldiers and a computer simulation of a North Korean attack. Lü Chao, director of the Korean Research Center at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, also said North Korea's decision to deploy more troops at the border or to announce a semi state of war is only intended to outmaneuver the South, "but it cannot be seen as a sign of war." Also, South Korea demanded that Hwang Pyong-so, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's top military aide and director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, join talks at Panmunjom, and the North agreed. It shows the North hopes the incident can be diffused, Lü said. China concerned The Korean Peninsula crisis surfaced as China prepares for its commemoration events to mark the end of World War II. China on Friday asked relevant parties to exercise restraint and prevent an escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. "We urge relevant sides to maintain calm and restraint, properly deal with the current situation through contact and dialogue, and stop any action that could heighten tensions," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. She added China resolutely safeguards regional peace and stability and opposes any action that could raise tensions. On Friday, North Korea said they have been showing restraint for decades, and whoever calls for restraint again will not help the situation. Lü said North Korea should understand China values bilateral ties with North Korea, and doesn't favor either side. Sunday's talks were open-ended, with the South's Blue House expected to announce the results after they conclude.

Better check behind the bank teller’s window

With the variety of scams in China, most people like to think that they have become wiser to traps and would not easily fall for a con. But even the most suspicious might have been tricked by an elaborate fake which involved setting up a whole physical bank complete with card readers, passbooks and staff in uniforms to make it seem legitimate. Last month, a "branch" of the China Construction Bank, one of China's State-owned "big four" commercial banks, opened in Lanling county, Shandong Province. The new "bank," located near a local market, was good news for vendors since they didn't have to go a long way for saving. A local customer soon deposited 40,000 yuan ($6,200) into the bank, but when he requested to withdraw the money a few days later for emergency reasons, he was told the new bank's network hadn't been established yet and was not allowed to withdraw his money. Then the man rushed to another branch of the China Construction Bank, where managers there saw his passbook was fake and alerted the police. It was soon discovered that the convincing-looking "bank" was a swindle. In order to collect money to start a business, a man surnamed Zhang set up the fraudulent outlet, equipping it with card readers, passbooks and three staff members at the teller counter. "I just wanted to open a bank … I didn't think that much about it," the fake banker confessed after he was arrested. Zhang was not the first person to do this. In January, a fake bank in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province was able to run for a whole year, managing to swindle 200 million yuan from almost 200 unsuspecting savers. The bank promised an interest rate of 2 percent per week, much higher than that offered by State-owned banks, and high interest subsidies. Luckily Zhang's trap was exposed early. It only lasted one month before being discovered and didn't steal much money. That the fake banks were able to operate left some netizens incredulous. They blamed the authorities for ineffective supervision. There was also much ridicule online over China's "knock-off" businesses, from fake brands on clothes and toys to pirate DVDs and now counterfeit banks. As banks in China are State-owned, people traditionally have high trust in them and could hardly imagine the chutzpah necessary to set up a fake one. Criminals make use of such mentality and scam money from unsuspecting customers. This has shed light on the sad fact that many Chinese, especially those in the rural areas, have little financial knowledge and an inadequate legal consciousness. They are unable to build a strong shield to secure their assets. Financial scams are becoming a growing menace in China. Whether it's a voice on the end of the phone claiming to offer an amazing investment opportunity or an entire fraudulent bank window, the public needs to stay on alert, double-check who they trust, and not believe unbelievable opportunities.

India proposes setting up space station in South Pacific

India has proposed setting up a space station in a South Pacific island nation, while offering cooperation in humanitarian and disaster relief fields with the South Pacific island nations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a number of initiatives, including setting up of a space station in any of the countries and developing capacities in disaster management, when he met with leaders of 14 South Pacific island nations at a summit meeting in the western city of Jaipur 250 km from here. At the Second Summit of Forum for India-Pacific Island Conference (FIPIC), Modi said India would cooperate with South Pacific island nations to create capacity in dealing with natural disasters, including through human resource development and application of space technology for early warning system and incident response. He also said Indian Navy could provide support to the islands in areas like healthcare through medical camps. He praised Fiji's support for India's Mars Mission in November 2013 and suggested establishing a Space Technology Applications Center in any one of the Pacific Island countries. Fiji was also the data collection hub for the Mars mission of India, when the country's International Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan. The mission was also monitored from Fiji and other parts of the South Pacific Ocean.

IS's second-in-command killed in US air strike: White House

The White House said on Friday that Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, the second-in-command of the extremist group the Islamic State (IS), was killed in a US air strike on August 18 while travelling in a vehile near Mosul, Iraq. Also known as Hajji Mutazz, al-Hayali supported IS operations in Syria and Iraq and was in charge of the group's operations in Iraq, said National Security Council spokesman Ned Price in a statement. Al-Hayali was also a primary coordinator for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives, vehicles, and people between Iraq and Syria, added Price. The death of al-Hayali, who was instrumental in planning various operations, including the IS offensive in Mosul in June 2014, was a blow to IS's operations given that his influence spanned ISIL's finance, media, operations, and logistics, Price said. Also killed in the air strike was an Islamic State media operative known as Abu Abdullah.

Death toll in Tianjin blast rises to 121

The death toll from a warehouse blast in north China's Tianjin has risen to 121, including 67 firefighters and seven policemen, authorities said at a press conference on Saturday. Friday afternoon the figure was 116. A total of 54 people remain missing, including 37 firefighters and four policemen, more than a week after powerful explosions ripped through warehouses in Tianjin Port on the night of August 12. A total of 640 people remain in hospital, including 48 critically injured. More than 151 people have been discharged. Tianjin Police have conducted DNA tests on the 121 killed in the blast, only two of whom are yet to be identified.

N. China slashes emissions for IAAF, military parade in Beijing

Coal-fired power plants in Beijing and adjacent regions in north China will slash emissions by 30 percent to ensure good air quality for Beijing during the IAAF World Championships and military parade. The IAAF World Championships kicked off in Beijing on Saturday, the nine-day competition will be followed by a military parade on Sept. 3. Authorities have enacted a spate of measures, including taking half of the vehicles off the road, cutting production at polluting industries and suspending construction projects, to guarantee blue skies and good air quality in Beijing. China has taken extraordinary steps in the past to ensure good air quality including for the summer Olympic Games in 2008 and APEC summit last year. This year sees unprecedented curbs on emissions as regional authorities have considered the impact activities in the surrounding provinces have on air quality in the capital. Such curbs affect industrial activity in the region. The temporary production halt imposed for the APEC summit caused manufacturing activities to drop to 50 in November, the level separating contraction from expansion.

S. Korea to hold high-level contact with DPRK

South Korea's presidential office said Saturday that top presidential security advisor Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo will meet their counterparts from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at 6 pm (0900 GMT) in the truce village of Panmunjom.

Washington's giant panda expected to give birth soon

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park said here Wednesday that its adult female panda was carrying a developing fetus and could give birth in coming weeks. On Wednesday morning, veterinarians detected a developing fetus during an ultrasound procedure for Mei Xiang, one of the two adult giant pandas which arrived here from China on Dec. 6, 2000, the zoo said in a statement. "Based on the size of the fetus, which is about four centimeters, veterinarians estimate that Mei Xiang could give birth early next week, or possibly in early September," said the statement. However, the zoo cautioned that "substantial possibility" exists that Mei Xiang could resorb or miscarry a fetus. "Today, we are cautiously optimistic," said Dennis Kelly, director of the zoo. Since her introduction to the National Zoo, Mei Xiang has given birth to two surviving cubs, Tai Shan and Bao Bao. Tai Shan, born on July 9, 2005, now lives in China, and Bao Bao, born on Aug. 23, 2013, will return to China after turning four.

Bangkok blast not specifically targets Chinese tourists: spokesman

Thai authorities said on Thursday that the Bangkok blast, which has left 20 people dead and more than 100 others injured, did not specifically target the Chinese tourists. "The Chinese people were not the direct target," National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) spokesman Winthai Suwaree told a press conference. Thailand has sought assistance from the Interpol and relevant agencies of friendly countries with an investigation of Monday's deadly blast, the spokesman said. The Thai government believed the bomb attack in downtown Bangkok was not likely perpetrated by a global terrorist group.

114 dead, 69 missing in Tianjin blasts

Death toll from the massive warehouse explosions on August 12 in North China's Tianjin city remains 114 as of August 20, officials said at a press conference on Thursday. The identities of 107 victims have been confirmed. 69 people remain missing, including 48 firefighters. The missing firefighters included 5 in active service, and 43 working for the Tianjin Port Group Co. A total of 648 people remained in hospital, including 53 in critical condition.

Reshuffle shadows Myanmar elections

On Wednesday night, Myanmese security forces besieged the headquarters of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP); the following day the USDP announced that the party's Central Executive Committee would be restructured, with chairman Thura U Shwe Mann and general secretary Maung Maung Thein being removed from their current posts. Their replacements, new chairman Htay Oo and new general secretary Tin Naing Thein, are trusted followers of the de facto leader of the USDP, the incumbent Myanmese president, U Thein Sein. The official statement by the USDP said this was an "internal party matter," not a "coup," but it remains arguably the most notable political event since the Myanmese junta handed over power to the civilian government in 2011. The removal of Shwe Mann, whose troubled relationship with the military challenged their ability to retain power in the upcoming general election, makes the internal conflicts within the ruling party clear. The event raises questions about the direction of the country's political reform. November's election will be the most democratic one to be held in the country for decades. But the political situation is growing intense as the poll day approaches, and the fact that Shwe Mann's removal happened one day before the deadline for candidate registration is not a coincidence. Although both Thein Sein and Shwe Mann were generals in the military and worked as partners after entering politics, the pair haven't seen eye-to-eye for a long time, with Shwe Mann's current stance leaving him closer to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi than the military on many major issues. Even more problematically, as a parliamentary speaker, he enabled the advancement of the constitutional amendments that were necessary to enable Suu Kyi to run for presidency. If the constitution continues to be revised in this direction, it will be a huge setback for the military; consequently, Shwe Mann's position as the main hopeful in the election was of huge concern to them. Shwe Mann has also butted heads with Thein Sein directly, trying to reduce his influence over the USDP's candidates for the general election by refusing to enlist a number of ex-military officers loyal to the president. For his part, Maung Maung Thein announced to media that Thein Sein wouldn't run for another term this year, a decision which has never been publicly confirmed by Thein Sein himself. With Shwe Mann's actions constituting such a major threat to the military, Thein Sein has had no choice but to push political fighting out of the back rooms and into the spotlight, using his military's power to deprive Shwe Mann of his presidential candidacy and defend its vested interests. Although the Myanmese junta changed their military uniforms for political suits before the 2010 election and started to conduct a series of democratic reforms, their recent actions show how strongly the military still affects the entire political system. Thein Sein's five-year presidential term is an experimental period for Myanmar and the placing of political reform ahead of economic reform shows his desire to cater to the democratic demands of the international community. But whether this pattern of reform is stable is a big concern. Even if the Myanmese election is held as scheduled, the newly elected president will have the task of overseeing a country still dominated by the military, and any attempt to weaken that dominance will most likely result in another coup - and, potentially, a tragic return to the days of the early 1990s. The "personnel change" shows the USDP and the military's anxiety for internal unity. But such strong actions will probably deepen Myanmar's domestic rifts and jeopardize the legitimacy of the election. In this scenario, Myanmar's democratic reform will struggle to secure any solid progress. Myanmar has many unstable and divided political forces, making it extremely hard to re-forge the country into a high-quality democracy. If these forces cannot agree to engage in proper dialogue, then we will see conflicts, confrontations and crises without end. It remains uncertain what the result of the election will be; it is to be hoped that it will help push forward the process of democratic reform in Myanmar. But Wednesday's incident shows that the military and the USDP will do everything they can to stop the opposition from winning the election.

US intrudes on China’s anti-graft drive

The New York Times published an article on Sunday with a striking headline that proclaimed "China warned over its use of covert agents on US soil." But after reading the piece, one realizes that it is about China's Operation Fox Hunt that is aimed at flushing out corrupt Chinese officials who fled overseas. It seems that the esteemed NYT has mistaken Chinese police officers as "special agents" in charge of national security. We have no idea whether it was a careless mistake or if they did it on purpose. This mistake is only a minor problem. The major issue is that given the fact that the US government is becoming more uncooperative with China in its anti-corruption endeavors, the US media falsely accused China of using Operation Fox Hunt to deploy secret agents on US soil. The US is providing shelter to those on the run. We have reason to suspect that the US wants to divert attention and regain the moral high ground. This article also uses emotional and ill-founded quotes from so-called experts. One of them, who seems to be of Chinese descent judging by his family name, said the Communist Party of China "believes if you're of Chinese ancestry then you're Chinese anyway, and if you don't behave like one you're a traitor." It is unbelievable to witness such an absurd and judgmental accusation. Operation Fox Hunt is conducted across the world. The US is only one of several popular hideouts for these fleeing officials. No other countries have issued complaints about the operation or conspired tales of "secret agents" to hinder the process. The US boasts of its zero tolerance toward corruption. But as a paragon of democracy and the rule of law, the US has become a haven for so many corrupt Chinese officials. For example, Ling Wancheng, suspected of involvement in major economic crimes, is living a life of luxury in a 700-square-meter house in the US. Shouldn't the country actively coordinate with China in investigating and repatriating him? However, for years, Washington has never walked the walk on this matter. Although the US government has made several promises and agreements with China to facilitate the latter in this case, it tries every means to delay the process. The Chinese believe that Washington is not sincere in helping China in its anti-corruption campaign. Some American elites are actually happy to see more corrupt officials fleeing to the US with their enormous piles of ill-gotten gains, and some of them might become a card for the US to play in countering China. The US keeps playing a counterproductive role in the endeavor and is whitewashing its misdemeanors and tricks through its powerful media. The "Chinese secret agents" are nothing but a fantasy. The Chinese police officers set foot on the US soil by legal means and they take actions that are fair and square. It is time for the NYT to stop babbling and distracting people's attention from the US' inactive response to Operation Fox Hunt.

Too early to determine motives, perpetrators of Bangkok blast: foreign ministry

Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that it is too early to determine the possible motives or perpetrators of a Bangkok explosion that has left at least 20 killed, including four Chinese nationals. The Thai government expresses its deep condolences to the victims and families of this tragedy, in which an improvised explosive device went off at the Rachaprasong intersection in central Bangkok at about 7 p.m. local time on Monday, the ministry said in a statement. The perpetrators will be brought to justice, it said, branding the attack, which injured 125 others, including more than 20 Chinese nationals, as a "despicable act." Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has expressed deep concern for the victims and instructed security officials to investigate with a view to maintaining public safety and security, the ministry said. Emergency services and first aid responders were on the scene and those injured have been given full medical attention, according to the statement. The injured are being treated in nearby hospitals, including Police, Chulalongkorn, Rachavidhi and Ramadibodhi Hospitals. The Erawan Emergency Service Centre will provide regular updates the conditions of those hospitalized, the ministry said. The public is also urged to remain calm and monitor the situation regularly while security agencies conduct their operation, it added.

Fitch estimates Tianjin blasts could be "one of the most costly catastrophe claims"

The two explosions in Tianjin last week could generate insurance losses of up to 1.5 billion US dollars, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday. Fitch put its estimate at "potentially exceeding 1-1.5 billion US dollars," adding that the high insurance penetration rate in the area could make the blasts "one of the most costly catastrophe claims" for the Chinese insurance sector in the last few years. Two explosions ripped through a warehouse storing hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals last Wednesday night. Death toll from the accident has risen to 114, with 692 people hospitalized and 57 still unaccounted for. Auto makers who have warehouses close to the blast site were affected. Renault said it lost nearly 1,500 vehicles to conflagration. Volkswagen has temporarily suspended logistics and transportation of vehicles at the port, moving the branch to Shanghai and Guangzhou. Four aircraft at a heliport, 1,100 meters away from the site, were also destroyed, according to previous reports. With the incident still developing, Fitch expects the number of reported insurance claim cases to surge further in the coming few weeks. Shares of insurance firms have been in a slide since Aug. 12. Ping An Insurance plunged 5.1 percent on Tuesday, China Pacific Insurance fell 5.3 percent while China Life Insurance went down 4 percent.

Rain stokes pollution fears at Tianjin blasts site

Rains are expected to complicate rescue efforts and may spread pollution at the Tianjin port, which was rocked by warehouse blasts last week. China's central meteorological authority has predicted a thunder storm over the blast site, where hundreds of tonnes of toxic cyanide still reside. A chemical weapon specialist at the site told Xinhua that rain water may merge with the scattered chemicals, adding to probability for new explosions and spreading toxins. Authorities have said the cofferdams built around the 100,000-square-meter core area of the blasts will receive constant reinforcement to prevent the outflow of contaminated water after it rains. A total of 114 people were confirmed dead, and 70 remain missing after two huge explosions occurred before midnight on Aug. 12 at a warehouse for hazardous chemicals. Officials said about 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide were at the blast site but remained mostly unaffected.

Searchers find all bodies from Indonesia's crashed plane

A Indonesian search official said here on Tuesday that all the bodies of the 54 aboard the crashed ATR42-300 Trigana Air Service plane have been found as of 11.00 am local time. Henry Bambang Soelistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, or the Basarnas, said the bodies were found in Okbape district near the Oksibil city, the flight's scheduled destination. The plane reportedly crashed on Sunday enroute from the Sentani airport of Jayapura for Oksibil. Debris of the plane was spotted on Sunday. The plane was allegedly hit the slope of Mount Tangok located in Okbape district. 49 passengers were onboard of the ill-fated plane that was operated by 5 crews. At a press conference held in the evacuation base earlier, Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), said the crashed ATR 42-300 plane was fit to fly on that day. Officials said the operation has been changed from search to retrieve operation. 304 people from the Basarnas, military, police and volunteers were have been engaged in the mission.

5 Chinese confirmed dead in Bangkok blast

As of 3 pm local time on Tuesday, five Chinese nationals, including three from the mainland and two from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, had been confirmed dead in a Bangkok explosion Monday night, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand said Tuesday. Another 24 Chinese, including 19 from Chinese mainland, two from Hong Kong and three from China's Taiwan are under treatment in hospital, the embassy said, adding more than 10 others, who sustained minor injuries, have been discharged from hospitals. There is one Chinese who remains missing, according to the embassy. The explosion, which rocked Erawan Shrine at Ratchaprasong intersection, a popular tourist destination in downtown Bangkok, at about 7 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Monday, has left a total of 20 people dead and more than 100 others injured.

Kurds say IS attacked them with chemical weapons

Kurdish authorities in Iraq said on Friday they believe their Peshmerga forces have been attacked with chemical weapons, possibly chlorine gas, by Islamic State (IS) militants. The Kurdistan Region's Security Council said it was investigating multiple ­attacks by IS insurgents against ­Peshmerga positions, including in Makhmour, southwest of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region, earlier in the week. It was the third report of suspected chemical weapons use on the Iraqi battlefield this year. "Initial reporting indicates chemical agents were fired in the form of projectiles, possibly mortar rounds," the council said. ­"Several Peshmerga officers were treated for dizziness, vomiting and general weakness, while some are receiving treatment for burns." Chlorine's use as a weapon is prohibited under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid and can kill by inflaming victims' lungs.

Beijing limits house purchase in new administrative center

Beijing housing authorities on Friday night ordered to restrict home purchases in its eastern Tongzhou district, expected to be a subsidiary municipal administrative center for the capital, to curb housing speculation. Housing prices have been climbing up in Tongzhou as Beijing announced earlier last month it would move some of its city administration from the downtown to the suburban district. The construction of the new administrative center is part of Beijing's plan to deal with its own "urban ills" such as traffic congestion and to implement the integrated development strategy. Local-registered residents who own one house but have not had household registered (hukou) or paid social insurance and individual tax for at least three years in Tongzhou are banned from buying a second home there, the Beijing municipal commission of housing and urban-rural development said in a circular. While for those whose "hukou" are from other cities and provinces, they need a record of payment of at least three years of social insurance contributions in Tongzhou to buy a first house, it said.

China's gold reserve rises in July

China's gold reserve rose 1.16 percent to 1,677.3 tonnes at the end of July from 1,658 tonnes the end of June, fresh data from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) showed. China's gold reserve rose nearly 60 percent to 1,658 tonnes at the end of June from the previous figure released at the end of April 2009, when the amount was 1,054 tonnes. Gold prices have retreated from a historic high in recent years and the central bank gradually accumulated the reserves through various channels, according to the PBOC. The channels include domestic scrap gold, production storage and trade in domestic and overseas markets. China ranks the fifth in gold reserve worldwide after the United States, Germany, Italy and France, according to the World Gold Council.

Iran submits documents of past nuclear activities to IAEA: official

Iran has given the documents of its past nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) together with answers to relevant questions, the spokesman for Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said here on Saturday. "As agreed with the IAEA, Iran presented its documents and responses to the IAEA about its past nuclear program or the possible military dimensions (PMD) before the deadline," Kamalvandi was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency. Outlines of the agreement between Tehran and the IAEA to resolve outstanding issues on the PMD of its past nuclear activities are confidential, Kamalvandi said. Kamalvandi praised Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA, for not disclosing the agreement on PMD issue to the US Congress, saying that "It was a big test for IAEA" for keeping confidentiality. Following a meeting with the members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on August 5, Amano denied the the US Congress' request for a copy of the agreement he signed with Iran despite criticism by the Republican senators. "If I do not honor the commitment, no country will share information with us," Amano said. On the sidelines of the deal between Iran and the world powers in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14, Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog signed an agreement to resolve outstanding issue about PMD of its past nuclear activities. The US-led Western powers have long suspected that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at obtaining a nuclear weapon, while Tehran insists that it is solely for civilian purposes. Under the nuclear deal, the IAEA inspectors will have access to Iranian nuclear sites to verify that Iran fully implements the deal in exchange for relieving the country of major economic sanctions imposed by the Western powers.

Chinese warships leave for Sea of Japan for joint drills with Russia

Seven Chinese warships on Saturday left east China's port of Qingdao for the Sea of Japan where they will join Russian counterparts on a nine-day exercise. The drills, codenamed Joint Sea-2015 (II), will take place from Aug. 20 to 28 in the Peter the Great Gulf, waters off the Clerk Cape, and the Sea of Japan. This will be the second China-Russia naval exercise this year. A source close to the operation said navies of the two countries will join forces to simulate anti-submarine combat and air defense and other relevant missions. A joint beach landing of troops is also planned. The source said the drills "are not targeted at any third party and are not relevant to regional status-quo." "The drills are part of annual exchange program between Chinese and Russian militaries," the source said. The Chinese fleet includes destroyers Shenyang and Taizhou, frigates Linyi and Hengyang, landing craft Changbaishan and Yunwushan and supply ship Taihu. They will arrive at the Russian port of Vladivostok on Aug. 20 where the two navies will hold cultural and sporting activities. Six helicopters, five fixed-wing aircraft, 21 units of amphibious equipment and 200 marines will also join the exercise from the Chinese side. The Russian navy, meanwhile, will send 16 surface ships, two submarines, 12 naval aircraft, nine amphibious vehicles and 200 marines. Chinese and Russian navies have held five joint exercises since 2005. The last China-Russia naval drills, Joint Sea-2015 (I), were held in the Mediterranean Sea in May.

A man rescued from Tianjin blasts site

A man in his fifties was rescued from the Tianjin blasts site on Saturday afternoon. Specialized anti-chemical soldiers found him 50 meters away from a burst point. The man was conscious and could talk when rescued. He was rushed to a hospital in the city. The man suffered from respiratory tract burn but was in a stable condition after emergency treatment, said Li Jingmei, a doctor from the No.254 hospital in Tianjin. A total of 70 specialized anti-chemical soldiers entered the core area of the blasts site on Saturday morning to search for possible lives. The warehouse blasts, which occurred late Wednesday night, killed at least 85 people, including 21 firefighters. At least 721 were injured. The warehouse was owned by Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Ltd., which was founded in 2011 and is a storage and distribution center of containers of dangerous goods at the Tianjin Port.

Profound lessons must be learned from Tianjin blasts: Chinese leaders

Chinese leaders on Saturday urged authorities to learn from the "extremely profound" lessons paid for with blood as death toll from massive warehouse explosions in Tianjin rose to 104. In a written instruction, President Xi Jinping said that the Tianjin blasts and a string of serious accidents recently exposed severe problems in the work safety sector, and authorities must always keep "safe development" and "people's interest first" in mind to avoid such accidents. He demands a better emergency response mechanism, greater implementation of work safety regulations, and careful checks of all possible safety risks, to achieve "substantial improvement" in work safety. The accountability system must be put into practice earnestly in order to prevent dereliction of duty, he added. Premier Li Keqiang urged authorities to take forceful and effective measures to rectify the weak link so as to formulate a long-term mechanism to avoid the repetition of accidents. The State Council on Saturday called a national tele-conference to lay out work on a national safety inspection that will target industries related with dangerous chemicals, explosives, fireworks, elevators, non-coal mines, public transport and ports. The repeated emphasis on safety followed the massive explosions at a warehouse storing dangerous chemicals in north China's Tianjin City on Wednesday night, killing at least 104 people, and injuring more than 720. The warehouse was owned by Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Ltd., a storage and distribution center for containers of dangerous goods. The State Council Work Safety Commission on Friday said the blasts revealed a lack of safety awareness among businesses, lax implementation of safety regulations, irregular practices among workers and weak emergency responses to incidents.

Panda mother Nini gives birth to twins

A breeding center in southwest China's Sichuan Province announced on Saturday that healthy twin pandas were born on Friday. A panda named Nini gave birth to the two female cubs Friday evening, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding said. They were the fifth pair of twins born in the breeding center this year. Nini also has a twin brother, according to the breeding center. The Chengdu center said it has bred 211 pandas.

North Korea resets clock to pre-colonial time zone

North Korea announced Friday it was moving its clocks back 30 minutes to create a new "Pyongyang Time" breaking from a standard imposed by "wicked" Japanese imperialists more than a century ago. The change will put the standard time in North Korea at GMT+8:30, 30 minutes behind South Korea which, like Japan, is at GMT+9:00. North Korea said the time change, approved on Wednesday by the presidium of the cabinet, the Supreme People's Assembly, would come into effect from August 15, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. "The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time while mercilessly trampling down its land," the North's official KCNA news agency said. Standard time in pre-colonial Korea had run at GMT+8:30 but was changed to Japan standard time in 1912. KCNA said the parliamentary decree reflected "the unshakable faith and will of the service personnel and people on the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation." Analysts said Pyongyang's time shift was aimed at shoring up the official narrative that paints North Korea as the pure, "authentic" Korea and the South as a land polluted by foreign domination. "It has sent a political signal to mark its strong national consciousness and it is also in accordance with its introduction of the Juche Calendar under the Juche Idea [North Korea's 'self-reliance' ideology]," Zhang Liangui, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the Global Times on Friday. "The North has always sought to project this image of being more aggressive in wiping out traces of Japanese colonial rule," said Yang Moo-Jin at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "So this falls in line with its claim to be the only legitimate Korean regime on the peninsula, and its dismissal of the South as a 'puppet regime' still sticking to corrupt colonial practices," Yang said. The time shift also matches the 70th anniversary of its liberation, which Zhang described as the perfect time to boost North Korea's national consciousness. "North Korea is trying to break away from the history of suffering." Seoul's Unification Ministry, which deals with cross-border affairs, said a different time zone between North and South posed a number of possible challenges, including for operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial complex that lies just inside North Korea. "In the short term, there might be some inconvenience in entering and leaving Kaesong," ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee told reporters. "And in the longer term, there may be some fallout for efforts to unify standards and reduce differences between the two sides," Jeong said. South Korea similarly changed its standard time in 1954 to reflect the break from Japanese rule but reverted to Japan standard time in 1961 due to "massive social and economic costs getting in the way," according to Yonhap News, adding that the potential confusion expected in joint military operations between Seoul and Washington was one of the obstacles, Yonhap added. Jeong said that South Korea's choice of the current time zone is based on practical benefits such as daylight savings, rather than colonial history, Yonhap reported. "South Korea is located about midway between China's westward time zone and Japan's eastward time zone, and countries traditionally opt for eastern ones due to practical reasons," he said. However, Zhang pointed out that the time shift, as an internal affair though also the latest sign of increasing differences between the North and the South, will not affect North Korea's relations with its neighboring countries, including South Korea. "People will feel disorientated to begin with, but it is a solvable technical problem," he said. For those South Koreans opposed to the long-time presence of US forces, it is a charge that strikes close to the bone, and some took to news portals and social networks to praise Pyongyang's move. "This time the North has actually done something right," commented one reader on the country's largest Internet news portal, Naver. "I hope we can do the same and reclaim our own standard time," wrote another. Apart from North Korea, countries including Iran, Afghanistan, India and Myanmar also use half hour time zones.

China urges Abe to send right message with speech

China urged Japan to send a "clear and correct" message on its wartime responsibility as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to make a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II next week. In a report released as a reference for his upcoming statement, a 16-member panel to Abe mentioned the country's wartime aggression and colonial rule, but stopped short of saying whether the prime minister should apologize for the atrocities. "China and other Asian countries as well as the world are watching the Japanese leader's upcoming speech closely," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Friday, Only by reflecting on the war can Japan realize real reconciliation with its Asian neighbors, she added. Abe said Thursday he would express "remorse" over WWII. He has reiterated that he would follow the Murayama Statement as a whole but would not repeat such words as "heartfelt apology" or "aggression and colonial rule" in his war anniversary statement, maintaining there is no universal definition for "aggression." Meanwhile, a Populus poll conducted in Japan revealed that some 60 percent of over 1,000 respondents believed that Washington should officially apologize to the victims of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and 74 percent said the bombings were not justified, reported Russia's Sputnik News.

S. Korea's ex-first lady ends DPRK visit without meeting top leader

The widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Saturday returned to Seoul after her four-day visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Lee Hee-ho arrived at the Gimpo International Airport at noon after departing from Pyongyang about an hour ago. The low-budget airplane carrying the 93-year-old and her 18- member entourage flied along the direct flight line between Seoul and Pyongyang, a rare approval by the DPRK as such flights were prohibited after the 1950-1953 war that ended in armistice. She hasn't met Kim Jong Un during her stay in the DPRK, according to local media, citing the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, which organized her trip. Lee told a press conference at the airport that her visit was at the invitation of top leader Kim Jong Un. The top leader invited Lee to Pyongyang last year in gratitude for Lee's sending a wreath of condolence flowers to mark the third anniversary of the death of late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader. "I thought that the pain of division (of the Korean Peninsula) should not be inherited by our next generation when I visited homes for orphans in Pyongyang and held hands of the innocent children," Lee said. Lee expressed her wish that the South Korean people would unite minds to build a history of unification with love and peace, and reconciliation and cooperation that the June 15 spirit declared. Her husband Kim Dae-jung was known for his "sunshine policy" of reconciliation with the DPRK, leading to the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 in Pyongyang with Kim Jong Il. Lee accompanied Kim to the summit in 2000. It was her third travel to the DPRK territory. The latest one was for the funeral of late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il in December 2011 when Lee visited Pyongyang to pay condolences. During her trip this time, Lee visited a maternity home and a children's hospital in Pyongyang on the first day. On the second day, she visited homes for orphans and the elderly to provide them with knitted scarves and medicine, according to the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center. On the third day, she tripped an exhibition center and a temple in Mount Myohyang, about a three-hour drive north of Pyongyang.

Chinese celebrate on 8.8, for 2008 Summer Games and 2022 Winter Olympics

Seven years ago, curtain was raised on the Beijing Olympic Games on this very day and from now on in another seven years, the Chinese capital will embrace another Olympics. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese all over the country thronged to plazas and parks, dancing, running and playing traditional Chinese sports to mark this very special date, which has been designated the National Fitness Day since the 2008 Summer Games. As Beijing and co-bidder Zhangjiakou were awarded the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, this day will be both commemoration of the past and celebration of the future. In Beijing, a group of kids performed the dragon dance as way to celebrate the successful 2022 bid while nearly 10,000 people played shadow boxing, shuttlecock kicking and cuju, the ancient form of soccer, in the Olympic Center in north Beijing. In Urumqi, Xinjiang, the holy flame for the 13th National Winter Games was ignited and the torch relay began in the western city. The National Winter Games will be held in Xinjiang from Jan. 20 to 31, 2016. The Fitness Day celebration also caught up with the trend of the Internet age when over 1,000 people gathered, through social media WeChat, in Chongqing's Zhaomushan forest park for a run. Organizers said they hope more young people will do exercise together through social media rather than just hanging out at dinner parties.

China's CPI continues to rise in July

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose to 1.6 percent in July, the highest level seen in 2015. On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up 0.3 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Sunday. For the first seven months, CPI increased 1.3 percent year on year. NBS statistician Yu Qiumei attributed the CPI hike mainly to higher pork prices. Costs for medical care, vegetables, housekeeping, tobacco, education were also on the rise. The Chinese government aims to keep its consumer inflation at around 3 percent for 2015.

Typhoon Soudelor kills 9 in E China

Typhoon Soudelor, the 13th this year, has left 9 people dead and another 3 missing in Wenzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said on Sunday. Heavy downpours have caused mudslides and cave-ins in the city's rural areas, and several houses collapsed on Saturday night. According to officials with the headquarters, the dead and missing people may have been washed away by floods or buried under the collapsed houses. After pounding Taiwan and leaving six people dead, Soudelor landed in the Chinese mainland Saturday night in Fujian Province and moved from there to neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. In Wencheng county, under the jurisdiction of Wenzhou, precipitation within 24 hours hit 645 mm, the heaviest in a hundred years, officials said. A total of 221,900 people were affected in Wenzhou, with a direct economic loss of 248 million yuan. Zhejiang Province issued an orange alert for rainstorms earlier Sunday. Soudelor landed in Fujian Province at 10:10 p.m. Saturday in Putian county. As of 7 a.m. Sunday, precipitation in 16 cities and counties reached 250 mm. The city of Fuding experienced the heaviest downpour of over 501 mm. In the provincial capital of Fuzhou, much of the downtown area was waterlogged. More than 10,000 trees had fallen and traffic stalled on flooded streets. A total of 163,200 people were evacuated to shore on Saturday night,according to the provincial flood control and drought relief office. Power supply for more than two million households was affected, and was restored for 630,000 households as of Sunday morning after urgent repairs, according to State Grid Fujian Electric Power Co., Ltd. Three airports in the province were closed, with more than 530 flights canceled. Six expressways were closed. Also canceled were 191 high-speed trains. As the typhoon moved to east China's Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, the Fujian flood control and drought relief office downgraded the level-three typhoon emergency response to level-two. Meanwhile, east China's Jiangxi Province launched a level-three emergency response as the typhoon was expected to land in the province around noon Sunday. Soudelor landed in Taiwan earlier Saturday and left at least six people dead, four missing and 102 injured before it entered mainland China.

Web police stations not to curb expression

When "Internet police stations" appear on China's major websites, will most netizens feel safer or not? The answer is surely a resounding "yes." It's the same way we feel when we see a local station or police on patrol in bustling streets. After the Ministry of Public Security announced it will assign Internet police to major websites and Internet companies, a minority of people in China felt insecure, unlike the majority of the public. Some foreign media even criticized the move, saying that combined with the draft cyber security law and national security law, it will dent the freedom of online speech. US-based Human Rights Watch Wednesday published a letter to China's National People's Congress Standing Committee accusing the Chinese government of an "obsession with Internet control" and of sending a "chilling message." China has 640 million netizens, twice the size of the US population, and Chinese people are quick to be influenced by the Internet. As the Internet relates to crucial needs of the people, keeping it secure is a real and pressing need. Free speech is by no means the only problem in cyberspace and should not become the pivot of Internet-related affairs. There are both free speech and taboos on the Internet and the majority, including most dissenters, is able to differentiate which is which. Silencing everyone is definitely not the intention of the draft cyber security law or of setting up Internet police units. To define freedom of speech represents a process of improving social governance to give the utmost freedom to people in speaking while not eroding the cohesion and unity of society. China has the largest group of netizens, one of the most dynamic Internet economies and probably the most influential online public opinion field. All these cannot exist if China considers freedom as taboo for the Internet. China's Internet development shows a one-way path toward more freedom. China is unable to turn back. As an internal quality of China's modernization, freedom of speech can neither be strangled by plotting nor fostered in a romantic way. It will grow together with Chinese society and seek improvement in setbacks. Those self-claimed defenders of free speech should gradually relax. Suppressing speech is often an illusion of the few. If they express opinions in accordance with the law and do not have malicious intentions to confront social governance, they should continue to speak bluntly, as many do now. Many Western elites hope freedom of online speech will ultimately overthrow China's fundamental political system and repeal the Constitution. This should not be accepted by those who often give strong remarks online. Free speech will only be an embodiment of socialist China turning into a powerful country instead of into decline. In China, the Internet is like our community that requires freedom and also security, just as we expect in real life. Surely, we should give a big welcome to the stationing of law enforcers in the online community.

Hiroshima marks bombing anniversary

Tens of thousands gathered in Hiroshima Thursday to mark 70 years since the dropping of the first atomic bomb, with opinion still divided over whether its deadly destruction was justified. Bells tolled as a solemn crowd observed a moment of silence at 8:15 am local time, when the detonation turned the bustling city into an inferno, killing thousands instantly and leaving others with horrific injuries to die a slow death. Children, elderly survivors and delegates representing 100 countries were in the crowd with many placing flowers in front of the cenotaph at Peace Memorial Park, as doves were released into the air. American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a bomb, dubbed "Little Boy," on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. On August 9, the port city of Nagasaki was also attacked with an atomic bomb, killing more than 70,000 people. The twin bombings dealt the final blows to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II. "As the only country ever attacked by an atomic bomb ... we have a mission to create a world without nuclear arms," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the crowd. "We have been tasked with conveying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, across generations and borders." Japan plans to submit a fresh resolution to abolish nuclear weapons at the United Nations General Assembly later this year, he said. US Secretary of State John Kerry, at a regional diplomatic meeting in Malaysia, described the bombing as a "very, very powerful reminder" of the impact of war. US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and under-secretary for arms control, Rose Gottemoeller, the most senior Washington official ever sent to the service, attended Thursday's ceremony. While some historians say that they prevented many more casualties in a planned land invasion, critics counter that the attacks were not necessary to end the war, arguing that Japan was already heading for imminent defeat. This year's memorial comes days ahead of the scheduled restart of a nuclear reactor in southern Japan - the first one to go back on line after a two-year hiatus following the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima in 2011. Japan's nationalist leader has also been criticized for efforts to expand the role of his pacifist country's Self-Defense Forces, changes that open the door to putting troops into combat for the first time since the war. Bomb survivors, known as hibakusha, demanded that Abe drop the military plan. "You must never make Japan a country that repeats the same mistakes (of the past)," Yukio Yoshioka, an 86-year-old, told Abe during a brief meeting on Thursday, local media said.

‘Taiwan independence’ biggest threat to cross-straits ties: official

The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council warned Taiwan on Thursday that maintaining stable development with the Chinese mainland is the right path that will benefit people across the Taiwan Straits and the island's economy. "It must be seen that the forces of 'Taiwan independence' are obstinately and resolutely promoting their separatist position, and this is the biggest threat to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits," Zhang Zhijun, head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a Thursday conference. Taiwan's People First Party's (PFP) Chairman James Soong Chu-yul announced Thursday that he will run for the island's 2016 leader's election. Earlier, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party endorsed its chairwoman, Tsai Ing-wen, to run in the 2016 election while the ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) has nominated Hung Hsiu-chu as candidate. Reading from a statement, Soong promised to "build a framework for sustainable and peaceful development across the Taiwan Straits," saying a peaceful and stable relationship between Taiwan and the mainland conforms to the common interests of both sides. He said people living on both sides of the Straits should deepen communication and enhance mutual trust. Soong gave up his KMT membership and ran an unsuccessful bid in 2000 as an independent. He later founded the PFP and has since served as the party chairman. He has already made three unsuccessful attempts to win the election. Chu Li-luan, the KMT chairman, said history shows that splitting supporters of the KMT has proved to be unhelpful in winning the race. He added that the party will put all its efforts into seeking public support. Wang Jianmin, a research fellow with the Taiwan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that it is very unlikely for Soong to win the election given that he has failed in his previous bids. "Soong could only attract support of a limited number of people who have lost confidence in the KMT. Both parties will find it difficult to win the election and if Tsai wins, it will have a damaging impact on the ties between the island and the Chinese mainland as Tsai proposes 'implicit Taiwan independence,'" he said.

Shandong to cut pollution for WW II celebration

Authorities in East China's Shandong Province have ordered a halt to construction work at over 2,800 sites from August 28 to September 4 to improve the air quality for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing. Factories in the province remitting excessive emissions will also be told to suspend operations as authorities vow to cut air pollution by 30 percent, local news site dzwww.com reported. More than 3,100 coal-burning facilities will be shut down before August 25, it added. Beijing and Hebei Province have ordered emissions-heavy facilities to halt operations during the commemoration period, media reported. Meanwhile, China has shut down more than 9,000 factories in the first half of the year, the Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday, citing data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). The MEP said it had ordered over 15,000 factories to cut emissions, with fines reaching 230 million yuan ($37 million). Fifty-seven officials have been punished in 10 severely polluted cities mainly from Hebei and Shandong provinces. Shandong enforced an odd-even license plate control system to reduce the number of vehicles on the road during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in November 2014.

MH370 wreckage likely to be found in Australian search area: FM

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has expressed growing confidence that the wreckage from missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 will be found in Australia's search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. Speaking to the Nine Network on Friday, Julie Bishop said this week's news of debris washing up on Reunion Island off the east coast of Africa pointed to the wreckage being somewhere within the 120,000 square kilometer search area off the west coast of Australia. "We at least seem to have some evidence that flight MH370 will be found, particularly in the search area that (Australia) has been focusing on," she said. Bishop said Australia has an important role in finding the jet, not only to provide closure to the families of those missing, but also to reinstate faith in civil aviation to those who travel frequently. "We believe it is important for international civil aviation, generally, for us to determine what happened for this flight, as well as provide the opportunity for families of those on board to have some closure," she said. MH370 went missing on March 8 last year with 239 people on board, most of them Chinese nationals. Bishop said she met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi this week to discuss the search effort. She said China is continuing to playing a key role in the search for the missing Boeing 777 but, now that more debris has been found, has urged the Asian nations, China and Malaysia, to join Australia in ramping up the efforts. "I met with the Chinese foreign minister and we discussed the search effort for MH370," Bishop said. "Currently, China has been contributing resources, and we have been working closely with Malaysia and China to continue that search effort. There will be a reckoning of costs in due course. "At present our focus is ascertaining the whereabouts of MH370. " Bishop said Australia had pledged another 40 million US dollars to the search, but calculating who was contributing what to the hunt was not the pertinent issue. "This is one of the great aviation mysteries of our time, and for the purpose of safety, security, faith and trust in the civil aviation system, we must do what we can to find MH370," she told the Nine Network. "Of course we owe it to the families of those on board to do it as well."

Shared destiny for Asia: FM

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, proposed the creation of a community of shared destiny in South and East Asia. Wang on Thursday called on the 10-nation bloc, together with China, Japan and South Korea, to build a community among ASEAN and East Asian economies to create this vision. Wang listed six initiatives on boosting regional cooperation, including establishing free trade zones, and cooperation in finance, agriculture, industrial infrastructure and maritime affairs as well as cultural and people-to-people exchange. "Currently, cooperation in eastern Asia is on the rise, with various development proposals coming up. [The region] is becoming an inseparable community of common interest. The 10-nation bloc, together with China, Japan and South Korea, is experiencing an historic opportunity," Wang said. As Wang emphasized positive regional interaction, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday accused China of militarization and raising tensions in the South China Sea, saying that the US would not tolerate any restrictions to navigation and flights in the region. Addressing the meeting of foreign ministers, including Wang, Kerry said China's construction of facilities for "military purposes" on man-made islands was raising tensions and risked "militarization" by other claimant states, according to a Reuters report. "Let me be clear: The United States will not accept restrictions on freedom of navigation and overflight, or other lawful uses of the sea," Kerry said. "Despite assurances that these freedoms would be respected, we have seen warnings issued and restrictions attempted in recent months." Dominated agenda The South China Sea dominated the agenda of the ASEAN meeting that started Tuesday. Wang on Wednesday said Beijing has halted land reclamation activities in the South China Sea, and called on countries in the region to speed up talks on a code of conduct for claimants in the region. "What Kerry was implicitly referring to was US military interests in the South China Sea, instead of navigation for commercial purposes," said Xu Liping, a professor at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). "But using the general term of navigation freedom will help the US in drawing support from related countries," he told the Global Times on Thursday. The Chinese navy issued eight warnings to the crew of a US P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft when it conducted overflights in the area in May, according to CNN, which was aboard the US aircraft. There has been no official response from Chinese officials to Kerry's comments. But analysts believe that such remarks are not new and are relatively moderate. "Kerry's remarks in the last two days, which have been rather moderate, show that the US is trying to use the regional meeting as a platform to reaffirm its stance, so as to establish credibility among its allies in the region," Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times. Wang met Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday on the sidelines of a series of regional meetings. During the meeting, Kishida expressed concerns over China's oil-and-gas exploration in the East China Sea, while Wang stressed that the world is watching how Japan deals with its wartime history. He said Japan's recent change in security policy has caused concern among its neighboring countries, according to Kyodo News and People's Daily reports. Japan unveiled last month a map and aerial photos of 12 offshore structures as proof of China's unilateral gas field development near the median line between its shoreline and that of Japan in the East China Sea. In May, Japan and the Philippines conducted joint naval drills in the South China Sea. Differing stance Some members of the ASEAN expressed "serious concerns" about land reclamation in the South China Sea in the final communique issued at the end of talks in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. According to a draft of the final communique seen by Reuters, it also says that China and ASEAN countries would proceed to the "next stage" of consultations on a code of conduct that is intended to bind them to detailed rules of behavior at sea. "The main goal for the majority of countries is to expand the ASEAN bloc's economy and establish the ASEAN Community by the end of this year, so they are likely to remain neutral on the issue, instead of blindly following the US," said Wu. Agencies contributed to this report

Japan should recollect cause of Hiroshima

Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Although there are only a few high-ranking representatives attending the annual ceremony, the number of countries which participate is at a high, which seems to be something the Japanese government and media are proud of. Japan is still the only country which has been bombed by nuclear weapons in wartime. Two nuclear bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII, which finally led to Japan's surrender. It is understandable that Japan commemorates the event. The commemoration can be used as a way to advance the anti-nuclear movement. But it must be pointed out that the ceremony directs people's attention only to the fact that Japan is a victim of atomic bombing, but turns a blind eye to the reason why. Ceremonies like this water down the fact that Japan was also a perpetrator of war crimes. This shows how adept Japan is at scheming and calculating. The importance of the Asian theater in WWII has been long overlooked. The atrocities Japan committed are not even known to many people. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. The Shinzo Abe administration has made astonishing moves to breach the country's peace constitution and recover its rights to collective self-defense. Abe wants to normalize the status of his country, but without a full retrospection over Japan's war crimes. The US has not previously sent a high-ranking government official to the ceremony, but this time, Washington is sending a deputy secretary of state. Although the US is dissatisfied with Japan over historical issues, the need for a solid alliance prevails over the displeasure. Japan used to be the most hated enemy of the US, but as geopolitics transform, it has become its most loyal ally. But this does not mean both sides have put the bitter past behind them. Japan is still limited by the US in many aspects. These constraints, to some extent, make Japan bear a grudge and they transfer this bad feeling onto China and South Korea over historical issues. The disputes will not be resolved overnight, because Japan is able to wield its leverage and convince others of its peaceful role in the international community. The key to the predicament might lie in a fundamental change to the current Asia-Pacific order. Historical issues might not dominate in the new order if China has risen up to become an equivalent power with the US. We should show sympathy to Japan for the disaster 70 years ago. We don't have to make use of it as a showdown for the disputes over historical issues. All we can do is stay neutral and see if China's rise can lead to a resolution of the conundrum.

Australia vows to continue MH370 search: PM

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott vowed on Thursday to continue searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370, following Malaysia's announcement the piece of wreckage that washed up on Reunion Island was from the missing jet. He told 3AW radio that Australia's search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER would continue in the current search area. "We do continue to search. I think so far we have allocated 100 million dollars toward the search costs in the distant Indian Ocean," he said. "The fact that this wreckage does now very much look like it is from MH370 does seem to confirm that it went down in the Indian Ocean," the prime minister added. "It does seem very consistent with the search pattern we've been using for the last few months and let's hope we can turn something up." Abbott said Australia "owes it to the families" of the missing passengers to continue to search for the ill-fated jet, which was carrying 239 people including six Australians. "We owe it to the families of the people lost on that plane to try to solve the mystery (and) we owe it to the traveling public who obviously want to be confident of their safety in the air," he told 3AW. Abbott's comments came after the announcement made by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who revealed the news from Paris early Thursday. "Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris ... is indeed MH370," Razak said. The "flaperon" was a piece from the wing of the jet that was recovered on Reunion Island, off the coast of Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean, last week. It was taken to Paris for examination by French authorities and representatives from Boeing and Malaysia Airlines. MH370 was a flight bound for Beijing from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. It has been declared missing after losing radio contact with the ground shortly after take-off.

US aircrafts arrive at Incirlik airbase for battle against IS: Turkish FM

US aircrafts and drones have arrived in Turkey's southern Incirlik airbase, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevult Cavusoglu said Wednesday, noting that the two countries will soon kick off a "comprehensive battle against the Islamic State (IS) altogether." "As part of our agreement with the US, we have opened our air bases, particularly Incirlik," Cavusoglu told state-run broadcaster TRT during his visit to Malaysia. "We're witnessing manned and unmanned US planes arriving soon and we will launch a comprehensive fight against IS altogether," the minister said. Incirlik airbase in the southern province of Adana is strategically located beside the Syrian border and is a key military base for various international campaigns in the Iraq war. The Turkish government granted permission for anti-IS coalition forces, including the US and other regional countries, to deploy manned and unmanned aircrafts in Turkey's military airbases, a written Turkish foreign ministry statement said on July 24. Turkish air forces will also join the military operations, the statement said. "Incirlik airbase may be used at any time when necessary," said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic on July 29, adding that Turkish and American military officials are discussing plans concerning upcoming operations against IS. The agreement follows months of appeals by the US for Turkey to play a comprehensive role in the anti-IS coalition, including opening its Incirlik Airbase for attacks against IS. Following a recent deadly suicide bombing in the border town of Suruc, the Turkish military launched military operations against IS targets within Syria and adopted a more obvious role in fighting IS.

Migrant boat capsizes with 700 onboard, half rescued so far: Italian media

A migrant boat with some 700 people onboard capsized off the Libyan coast on Wednesday and only around half have been rescued so far, Italian reports said. According to ANSA news agency, the accident happened when migrants attempting the Mediterranean crossing to Italy moved all together towards the same side of the boat to ask for help when they saw some vessels approaching them. The Italian Coast Guard, which is coordinating rescue operations among various vessels in the area, said an alarm came in late morning via a satellite telephone call. The migrant issue has made the Italian headlines in recent months, which have seen the countless arrivals of migrants fleeing North African poverty- and unrest-stricken nations via Mediterranean Sea into the southern coasts of Italy. The International Organization for Migration (IMO) said earlier this week that more than 2,000 migrants have died so far this year at sea while trying to reach European shores. European leaders have met several times on the issue and have recently launched a naval operation against human traffickers in the Mediterranean who make business out of migrants' despair.

Tunisian beach massacre "linked" to earlier Museum attack: British police

The Tunisian beach attack in June was "linked" to an earlier attack at a museum in the country's capital Tunis in March, British police said Wednesday. "Detectives investigating the attack on a beach in Sousse, Tunisia, which resulted in 30 Britons being killed, have officially linked it to the attack at the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis in March," Britain's Metropolitan Police said in a statement. In March, two Tunisians returning from Libya killed 22 people at Tunisia' national Bardo Museum. In June, dozens of people, including 30 British tourists, were killed when at least one gun man opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse. Since the attack in Sousse, British police have taken a total of 459 statements from witnesses and continue to speak to people who were in the area that day, according to the Metropolitan Police. "Detectives are in the process of examining more than 370 photographic and video files from mobile devices which have been provided by many witnesses to the atrocity," the statement said. Commander Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, confirmed that a team of British officers are working closely with the Tunisian authorities on both investigations and have advised the coroner of "the connection between the two." Around 125 family liaison officers are continuing to provide support to the families of the deceased and victims who survived the attack, it noted. Britain's specialist counter terrorism security advisers have traveled to Tunisia to support the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Tunisian authorities review security at resorts and tourist attractions.

IMF report recommends delaying yuan’s SDR entry

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should put off any decision to add the yuan to its basket of reserve currencies, the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), by nine months, an IMF staff report said, a move to reduce uncertainty and give SDR users adequate time to prepare for the possible inclusion of the Chinese yuan. Experts said it also gives the yuan a chance to further adjust to prepare for the changes. According to a report published on the IMF's website Tuesday, the organization is discussing the proposal of expanding the current SDR from the end of this year to September 2016. The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves. There are four currencies in the current SDR basket - the US dollar, the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen - which are all widely traded currencies. Since the Chinese yuan is likely to be included in the SDR during the IMF reviews later this year, the proposal is "in response to feedback from SDR users on the desirability of avoiding changes in the basket at the end of the calendar year and facilitating the continued smooth functioning of SDR-related operations," Siddharth Tiwari, director of the IMF's Strategy, Policy and Review Department, said in the report. "To a certain extent, the delay in the adoption is meant to urge China to speed up its capital accounts liberalization once the yuan is approved as a reserve currency," Zhou Yu, director of the Research Center of International Finance at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Every five years, the IMF reviews the SDR composition, which opens up a window for additional currencies, and 2015 is a review year, Tiwari said. The IMF's Executive Board will formally hold a review toward the end of the year. Although China failed in its attempt to get the yuan included in the SDR in 2010, experts generally believe that there is a good chance that the IMF will decide to include the yuan in its SDR this year. According to Xu Hongcai, director of the Economic Research Department at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, the yuan is very close to meeting the SDR criteria. "So far, the only key issue is whether the yuan is a freely usable currency by IMF standards," Xu told the Global Times on Wednesday. A freely usable currency is one which is widely used to make payments for international transactions and is widely traded in the principal exchange markets, according to the IMF definition in its report. It does not necessarily need to be fully convertible. The IMF report said the yuan has made "substantial progress" since the 2010 review. It is one of the most-traded currencies in Asia, and increasingly used in Europe though still low, and its use in North America is "thin." "Even if the IMF includes the yuan in the SDR, there's still much work to be done considering the remaining restrictions in China's capital accounts," Xu added. "For instance, tight restrictions remain on foreign investment in Chinese mainland securities markets." Zhou said he's concerned that the volatility in mainland stock markets may have held back efforts to open up the country's capital accounts. The bearish performance of China's A-shares have left investors wondering whether there was any non-market factor behind the recent plunge. Chinese securities regulators temporarily blocked 38 accounts from trading for abnormal trading behavior that may have had an impact on stock prices, and one of the accounts is owned by global hedge fund Citadel Global Trading, according to media reports. "The plunge in share prices in the stock markets exposed vulnerabilities in market supervision and regulation. Without a sound regulatory mechanism, opening up capital accounts would lead to a lot of problems," Zhou said. But Xu appears more optimistic, saying that the impact of global hedge funds on the stock markets is limited, and will not cause much trouble with proper supervision. "There's no need to be concerned about opening up. We can still take various steps like tax measures to deal with the flow of hot money that may affect our financial stability," Xu said. "It is still possible to control the risks by strengthening supervision over capital flows even in fully liberalized capital accounts." China's volatile stock markets will not affect the IMF's assessment of whether to include the yuan in its SDR, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said last month.