Five Chinese tourists have been killed in a bus crash in Indonesia.

A group of 13 Chinese tourists, all from Henan, were on a bus which went down a ravine while on their way to a temple in Bali.

The driver of the bus and their tour guide, both local Indonesians, have also been killed in the crash.

The status of the survivors remains unclear.

A local official in Bali says all the Chinese victims are men in their 50's.

It's unclear what caused the bus to plunge down the ravine.

 

Chinese mainland responds to Gambia cutting Taiwan ties

The Chinese government says it's been made aware of the change in diplomatic status between Gambia and Taiwan.

The Chinese foreign ministry says it continues to insist on developing its international ties on the basis of the one-China principle and the principles of peaceful coexistence across the Taiwan strait.

The statement comes after Gambia abruptly cut its diplomatic ties with Taiwan last week.

The government of the West African country has not explicitly said why it has made the move.

Any country which has official diplomatic ties with Taiwan can't have diplomatic relations with the mainland.

Mainland authorities say there are still no diplomatic ties with the mainland and Gambia.

Gambia was one of just a handful of countries in Africa which has maintained ties with Taiwan.

Now only Burkina Faso, Sao Tome and Principe and Swaziland have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

 

Hollande urges high mobilization to arrest media outlets shooter

French President Francois Hollande is calling on his interior minister to deploy all means necessary to track down a man who has been threatening French media outlets.

All media outlets in Paris are on high-alert after a gunman opened fire inside a French newspaper office on Monday, seriously injuring a photographer assistant before escaping.

The same man is also believed responsible for threatening jouralists at a French TV station just days before.

It's unclear at this point what the motivation for the attacks may be or who the suspect is.

 

Russia invites Syrian opposition to Moscow for talks: FM

The Russian government has invited Syrian opposition groups to Moscow for talks designed to try to bridge the gaps among the opposition factions in the hope of getting a new Geneva conference underway.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says the exiled Syrian National Coalition is "studying" the proposal.

The Russian side has been working to try to get a unified opposition voice to be present at a 2nd international conference to try to find a political solution to the fighting in Syria.

The opposition has so far refused to sign on to another international meeting, as factions within the opposition remain divided about attending.

 

UN Security Council extends mandate to fight Somali pirates

The UN Security Council has given the green light to another year of backing the international fight against Somali piracy.

In unanimosly adopting the resolution, the Security Council says it recognizes the on-going instability in Somalia is one of the underlying factors behind the piracy off the Horn of Africa.

A recently-released report suggests Somali pirates have managed to collect around 400-million US dollars worth of ransom since piracy became rampant in 2006.

The Chinese navy is among a coalition of UN-backed countries that have dispatched ships to the region to help protect ships traversing the Gulf of Aden, which is one of the busiest and most strategic waterways in the world.

 

U.S. launches spacecraft to explore Martian atmosphere

NASA has launched its newest Mars probe.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution craft, or Maven, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida Monday afternoon.

Maven will take around 10-months to arrive at Mars.

Once there, the space craft will begin taking samples of Mars' upper atmosphere to determine how the red planet lost its atmosphere to space.

NASA scientists are hoping to discover how this shaped the history of water on Mars.

NASA currently has two rovers on the Martian surface.

 

China to update national economy accounting system

The National Bureau of Statistics has announced plans to revise its current system of measuring the national economy.

The move is meant to bring its accounting practices more in-line with the latest international standards.

The NBS says the new system will reckon spending on research and development as a form of fixed capital and calculate it into the GDP.

Other changes include adjusting the method of setting value for self-owned housing for urban residents and counting the income made from transferring land-use rights into farmers' income.

The proposed revisions are in accordance with a 2008 version of the United Nations System of National Accounting 

The new system could be finalized around the end of next year.

 

Guangzhou announces new property curbs

The municipal government of Guangzhou has spelled out new rules to cool down the property market.

Guangzhou authorities are raising down payments for second-home purchasers to at least 60-percent.

The move follows similar rules brought in in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, where 2nd home buyers have to put down 70-percent of the value of the property up-front. 

Authorities in Guangzhou are also forcing people who move to the city to pay taxes for 3-years before they're allowed to buy a home.

Non-Guangzhou residents are also going to be limited to purchasing one home.

Property prices in the province of Guangdong jumped nearly 21-percent through October, the fastest growth rate nationwide.