Extremely hot weather continues heating up large swathes of southern China.

In Shanghai, it's now the fourth consecutive day in which the city's temperatures are expected to climb above 40 degrees Celsius.

This year marks Shanghai's hottest recorded summer in 140 years. 

Also the meteorological observatory of Wuhan has issued its first red alert this year for high temperatures. 

Meanwhile, seven provinces and municipalities including Chongqing, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian are forecast to see tempratures as high as 42 degrees Celsius within the next three days.

 

Muslims celebrate Eid festival

Muslims here in China and across the world are marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

In Beijing, thousands of Muslims have gathered in the city's largest mosque to mark the Eid ceremony with prayers.

The public holiday has been extended to five days in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, to allow Muslims to have more time to attend religious rituals and visit relatives.

The festival is also celebrated by the 150-thousand Muslims in Minxian and Zhangxian counties of Gansu Province which were hit by a major earthquake last month.

China has 20 million Muslims, about half of which are from the Hui ethnic group.

Over in Egypt, rival political camps have each held large gatherings to celebrate Eid.

While Muslims in Yemen pray for peace and safety as the government has just foiled an al-Qaeda plot to take over key cities in the south.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has issued a new call for the Taliban to lay down its arms.

The statement comes after a bomb attack killing at least 14 women and 2 children in a cemetery in the east.

 

Chinese exports and imports rise more than expected

New stats show trade here in China has rebounded more than expected through July.

The General Administration of Customs is reporting exports have increased 5.1-pecent through this past month to just under 186-billion US dollars.

Most analysts had only been expecting a rise of around 3-percent.

This follows a 2-percent decline in exports in June.

At the same time, imports are up almost 11-percent.

 

China confirms Diaoyu Islands coast guard patrol

Chinese government confirms a fleet from the China Coast Guard has recently been patrolling waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei says the patrols are designed to "exercise China's inherent sovereignty" over the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets.

Hong Lei also says the fleet spotted a Japanese vessel which is believed to belong to a right-wing Japanese politician illegally sailing in the region.

The China Coast Guard was unveiled last month.

It merges China's maritime law enforcement functions of four agencies responsible for fisheries administration, maritime surveillance, customs enforcement and border control.

 

Taiwan to lift sanctions against the Philippines

Taiwan authorities are planning to cancel the sanctions they had been applying against the Philippines.

The announcement comes after Philippine investigators recommended homicide charges be laid against 8 coast guard officers involved in the fatal shooting of a fisherman from Taiwan in May.

The Philippine investigation has determined the coast guard personnel were not in enough danger to justify firing on the fisherman's boat.

Those to face homicide charges include the coast guard patrol's commanding officer and seven of his crew.

Authorities on Taiwan have been imposing sanctions on the Philippines to rebuff the Philippines' initial response to the killing.

As part of the sanctions, authorities froze the hiring of Filipino workers and discouraged travel to the Philippines.

 

31 died and 55 injuried in suicide attack in Southwest Pakistan

31 people have died and over 50 others injured following a suicide bomb attack at a police officer's funeral in southwestern Pakistan.

The bombing happened when local policemen gathered to mourn an officier shot dead earlier that day in front of his children.

The funeral was being held in an open field outside a mosque in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

Most of the casualties are said to be policemen.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The province of Balochistan is home to separatists who have been waging a low-level insurgency against the governments for decades.

 

Colombia's coca crop cultivation falls a quarter in 2012

A United Nation's report is now saying Colombia's coca cultivation has fallen by a quarter in the last year.

Coca is the plant which the drug cocaine is derived from.

The UN report says the drop is due to manual eradication and the spraying of the plant from the air.

It also suggests a large number of coca farmers have moved onto to other illegal acitivities such as mining.

Colombian Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon says the government plans to slash coca production even further this year.