News Bulletin

China quality watchdog says more than 300 agencies "credible" for melamine testing 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 23:53:27      Print

China's quality watchdog has published a list of more than 300 testing agencies approved to conduct melamine testing. The list announced by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine includes the Beijing-based testing center under the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, as well as the testing center for animals, plants and food under the Tianjin Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. The administration said it would continue to update the list of "credible" agencies on its website so that both dairy producers and consumers could find among the list an appropriate agency for the melamine testing.

S China warned of heavy rain, wind as tropical storm Higos nears 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 21:47:49      Print

The National Meteorological Observatory has warned that tropical storm Higos, the 17th this year, will drop heavy rain on parts of south China's Guangdong and Hainan provinces over the next two days. Tourists in coastal cities of the island province of Hainan, such as Sanya and Bo'ao, have been advised to avoid offshore activities over the next three days. Higos was centered about 700 km southeast of Zhuhai, Guangdong,as of 5 p.m. on Thursday, and it was moving north-west at 20 km per hour. The storm is gaining momentum as it nears eastern Hainan and the mid-west regions of Guangdong.

China to start nationwide checks of mining dumps after deadly landslide  

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 23:43:23      Print

China will start a three-month safety checks of the country's mining dumps from this month. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) said they would identify the number of mining dumps across the country as well as the state of such dumps during the inspection. The move came after the Sept. 8 accident in which at least 267 people were killed in a landslide due to the burst of unlicensed iron ore tailings in Xiangfen County in Shanxi province.

Holiday week sees visitors surge 33% at China tourist sites 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 21:46:32      Print

Tourist destinations around the country had at least 4.05 million visitors, up 33.4 percent year-on-year, during the first four days of the week-long national holiday. An office in charge of ministry-level coordination on tourism during national holidays said tourism revenue jumped 37.5 percent year-on-year. Beijing had a visitor increase of more than 60 percent, with many tourists drawn to see the Olympics venues. In quake-hit Sichuan Province, about 107,000 people, an increase of 360 percent from last year, visited the ancient town of Huanglongxi near Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

Emergency rescue vessels for Shenzhou-7 spaceship return 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 22:58:28      Print

Three emergency rescue vessels for China's Shenzhou-7 manned space mission have returned to Shanghai after completing their mission in designated sea areas. The vessels, dispatched by the Ministry of Transport, went to the designated areas in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean on Sept. 16. The escape tower of the spaceship would fly to the areas in case of an emergency during the launch time. China successfully carried out its third manned space mission featuring a spacewalk.

Global

Bush urges House to approve bailout plan 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 04:18:30      Print

U.S. President George W. Bush has urged the House to approve the revised financial bailout plan late this week, saying the crisis in the financial markets "has gone way beyond New York and Wall Street." Bush told reporters that   "This is an issue that's affecting hardworking people. They're worried about their savings, they're worried about their jobs, they're worried about their houses, they're worried about their small businesses". Under the rescue bill, the federal government will be authorized to purchase these assets from banks and other financial institutions, which is expected to help free them to resume lending to businesses and consumers. The U.S. Senate has approved a revised 700-billion-dollar bailout plan.

U.S. VP debate centers on economy, diplomacy 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 09:09:37      Print

U.S. vice presidential (VP) candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin have centered their debate on economy and diplomacy. Biden and Palin started their debate with a discussion of the economy Thursday night at Washington University. Palin, a female Republican governor from Alaska, blamed some of the U.S. financial crisis on Wall Street. Biden blamed some of the crisis on deregulation policies that Republican presidential nominee John McCain believes in. Biden said the economic bailout bill is evidence that the United States has had the "worst economic policy we ever had." The two candidates also disagreed about the causes of climate change. Palin said she isn't one to "attribute every activity of man to the changes in the climate." Biden disagreed, saying, "I think it is manmade. It's clearly manmade." Anyway, it is still too early to tell if their performance in the debate improved their image.

Medvedev upbeat about Russian-German ties 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 23:45:57      Print

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes that relations between Russia and Germany are a factor of stability in the Euro-Atlantic region. Medvedev said at the Russian-German forum held in the northern Russian city of St. Petersburg that despite arising differences they understand each other's interests and take them into consideration. He said that the ability to listen to and hear the partner, to discuss differences and clear them through a dialogue is now needed more than ever. Medvedev told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that The regular round of the consultations confirms "the maturity of the Russian-German partnership".

Olmert undergoes 8th interrogation in corruption probe 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-02 21:41:03      Print

Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been put on the grill again by police over corruption allegations that eventually forced him to resign from the premiership last month. During the two-hour questioning session, investigators focused on the Investment Center case, in which he allegedly granted substantial state funds to a company represented by one of his close associates. The police also questioned him over the Cremieux apartment case, in which he is suspected of purchasing an apartment for a reduced price in exchange for speeding up sales in the building project. Other than the cases, the 63-year-old Olmert also faces at least another three probes. Olmert denies any wrongdoing in all the cases against him.

WHO to host public hearing to explore ways of reducing alcohol use 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 06:36:03      Print

The World Health Organization or WHO will organize a web-based public hearing to explore ways of reducing harmful use of alcohol. All parties with an interest are now invited to share their views in the public hearing, which will run between Oct. 3 and Oct.31. WHO official say that the harmful use of alcohol is a leading risk factor for premature death and disability in the world.  Every year at least 2.3 million people die from alcohol-related causes.

Sports News

Tickets for Vancouver Winter Olympics to go on sale 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 08:38:01      Print

Tickets for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have gone on sale. The organizing committee has said that most sales are taking place online over a five-week period. The price of tickets ranges from 25 to over 1,000 Canadian dollars (25 to over 1,000 U.S. dollars), not including service and delivery charges. Ticket packages are also available. The public can go on www.vancouver2010.com to order tickets. Organizers say the ticket ordering system has been vigorously tested and will be able to withstand the expected pressure of hundreds of people logging in to buy.

Doping row returns to haunt Armstrong again 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 10:48:47      Print

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has dismissed as irrelevant an offer by an anti-doping authority to test his urine samples from the 1999 race. France's national anti-doping agency on Wednesday offered Armstrong an analysis of his samples from the 1999 Tour "to prove his good faith". However, Armstrong, who is coming out of retirement to return to competitive cycling with Team Astana, believes any such test would be meaningless. The Astana team is hiring anti-doping expert Don Catlin to supervise a transparent biological monitoring of Armstrong that will be made available online throughout his training and racing.

U.S. Olympic Committee gets new chief 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 10:05:02      Print

Lawrence (Larry) F. Probst has been elected on Thursday as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). He is an internationally respected business leader known for his expertise in interactive media, entertainment and marketing, Probst, 58, was unanimously elected to the position for a four-year term. Probst said he was honored to have the opportunity to serve an organization and a movement that makes such a significant difference in the world today.

Madrid contacts int'l sports federations for Olympic bidding 

www.chinaview.cn  2008-10-03 09:51:56      Print

Madrid is to bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Madrid's mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said that the city had consulted with the international federations of different sports on the city's bidding. Madrid presented to the international federations of different sports a list of the possible sceneries for the competitions in order they approved or made proposal. In 2009, the IOC will decide the host city for the 31st Olympic Games. The voting will be held in Denmark. So far, Madrid, Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro have entered the final stage of the bidding.

Entertainment News

Pusan International Film Festival Opens

2008-10-03 09:20:35     CRIENGLISH.com

The thirteenth Pusan International Film Festival opened Thursday night in South Korea with more than a hundred top stars from South Korea and overseas in attendance. 315 films from 60 countries will be shown during the festival. The opening movie was Kazakh director Rustem Abdrashev's "The Gift to Stalin." The film festival was overshadowed by the death of South Korean actress Choi Jin-sil, who committed suicide earlier that day. The audience observed a brief moment of silence for the popular star at the end of the opening ceremony. Chinese actresses Li Xiaolu, Wang Luodan, actor Li Chen, and Taiwan actress Kelly Lin and actor Van Fan also attended the opening ceremony. The film festival will end on October 10 with the closing film "I Am Happy" by South Korean director Yoon Jon-chan. The Pusan International Film Festival, which began in 1996, has been one of the most important film festivals in Asia.

Choi Jin-sil Found Dead, Speculated Suicide

2008-10-02 13:05:01     CRIENGLISH.com

Forty-year-old South Korean actress Choi Jin-Sil was found dead in her home in Seoul on Thursday. police said Choi's body was found at 6:15 a.m. Her death is suspected to be a suicide, but all potential causes are still under investigation. Choi became popular among Chinese audiences for her role in "Wish Upon A Star" in 1997.

Hollywood Studios to Help Digitalize Movie Theaters in U.S., Canada

2008-10-03 06:22:46     Xinhua

In an effort to realize the business potentials of digital cinema, Disney and other Hollywood studios have agreed to join hands with exhibitors in a project to digitalize movie theaters in the United States and Canada. The project, with an initial investment of 525 million U.S. dollars, could eventually grow to more than 1 billion dollars. Under the deal, Hollywood studios will pay about 1,000 dollars per movie per screen at these digitalized theaters, to help offset the consortium's upgrading costs. Entertainment industry observers said that digital display systems are expected to lower studio costs to make celluloid film copies and enable theaters to charge moviegoers more for tickets to digital 3-D movies.

Leonardo DiCaprio's Marriage U-turn

2008-10-03 15:09:11     China Daily/Agencies

The 'Titanic' actor previously claimed he would never tie the knot, saying he "did not believe" in the institution. However, the 33-year-old star - who also claimed he didn't feel emotions and had never been in love - now admits his comments might have been a little hasty. Now, Leonardo said: "No, I don't agree with any of that, it sounds like the ignorance of youth to me. Hey, we grow up real fast. I want to get married and have children. In saying that, I realize I am contradicting everything I've said before. I absolutely believe in marriage." Leonardo always revealed his biggest worry is becoming cynical, as he believes it would hamper his lust for life.