新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2013/08/05（打印版）

Special reports take a look at Barcelona FC bringing a new football workshop to Palestine

Beijing will be cloudy today, with a high of 32 degree Celsius in the daytime, and it will see thundershowers tonight with a low of 23.

In Shanghai, it will see thundershowers today, 38 the high, and it will be clear tonight, the low of 30 degrees Celsius.

Lhasa will be cloudy in the daytime the temperature's at 22, and tonight will have slight rain with a low of 10 degree Celsius.

Chinese authorities have halted all imports of New Zealand milk powders from Australia and New Zealand.

It comes as China's top quality watchdog names importers of potentially tainted products from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra.

Those four importers include China's largest beverage producer Wahaha and children's nutrition company Dumex.

"You must ascertain the true situation, analyze the causes, and take swift measures to halt sales and recall all food that contains the contaminated material as soon as possible."

"The authorities in China, in my opinion absolutely appropriately, have stopped all imports of New Zealand milk powders from Australia and New Zealand. It's better to do blanket protection for your people and then wind it back when we, our authorities, are in a position to give them the confidence and advice that they need before doing that."

It comes amid reports whey protein produced by Fonterra in May 2012 was found to contain clostridium botulinum, which can cause highly toxic food poisoning.

Fonterra is New Zealand's biggest exporter, it sells over 370-thousand tons of infant formula each year to China.

For more on this we're joined live on the line with Mike Bastian, Visiting Professor at China's University of International Business and Economics.

1. Consumer confidence in domestic products took a hit after the milk scandal in 2008, with more Chinese parents switching to imported baby formula.

3. China is the largest importer of New Zealand dairy products and most of China's dairy imports also come from New Zealand.

Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor at China's University of International Business and Economics.

The United States has closed 21 of it's embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa, a day after US authorities warn of an al-Qaeda attack.

State department in Washington says US diplomatic missions in Algiers, Kabul and Baghdad are also closed.

It is also being reported heavy military is surrounding the US embassy in Yemen's capital of Sanaa following the closure of the US embassy there.

Meanwhile, U.S. state department has issued a global travel warning to US citizens about the threat of an attack.

US says the alert follows intercepted electronic communications among senior operatives of al-Qaeda.

"It is an al-Qaeda affiliated threat. Yes, it is of the al-Qaeda branch. The intent is to attack Western, not just US interests. It is more specific and we are taking it seriously, which I think you'd expect us to do. Yes, there is a significant threat stream and we're reacting to it."

The US says the potential for an attack is particularly acute in the Middle East and North Africa, with also possible threats on the Arabian Peninsula.

Britain, France and Germany have also announced they will close their offices in Yemen for at least two days.

New Iranian president Hasan Rouhani speaks of moderation and reconciliation with the West

"The respected people of Iran voted positively for moderation and distancing from extremism, the thinking and executing core of the government will be based on moderation and wisdom. Moderation means balance between aspirations and reality, and the preference of national interest above those of the party."

Rouhani, who is a moderate cleric won a landslide victory in the June 14th presidential elections, was endorsed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier on Saturday.

In his inauguration speech, Rouhani continued his call for dialogue with the West, while asking foreign powers to respect Iran in its negotiations.

The United States has said it can be a "willing partner" of Iran, if Rouhani seeks to resolve nuclear disagreements.

Iran is currently under United Nations sanctions, as well as unilateral Western oil and banking sanctions because of its nuclear programs.

Israel adds 9 West Bank settlements on national priority list as peace talks resumed only recently

The Israeli cabinet has approved 91 Jewish settlements onto a national priority funding list.

"Today we will pass a law, not a law, but a government decision for an updated national priority list of communities. In this list, we will determine which additional communities are entitled to receive a national priority."

The decision to put nine more West Bank settlements on the list may hinder recently-renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Peace talks between the two sides were halted in 2010 over Israel's settlement construction.

Israeli and Palestinians negotiators only resumed peace talks this past Tuesday, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry maneuvered for months to get the two sides back onto the negotiation table.

Earlier, both sides agreed the next round of talks would be held in Israel in the second week of August.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set the date for the country's national elections.

The election will take place just over two months after Rudd returned home as Prime Minister, after toppling Julia Gillard in a party-room vote late June.

"This afternoon I visited the Governor-General and her excellency has accepted my advice an election be held on Saturday the 7th of September. The time has come for the Australian people to decide on our nation's future because they are the ones who we in this parliament are elected to serve."

Rudd's Labor government currently holds 71 seats, the opposition 72, with one Green and six independent cross benchers.

With Julia Gillard as prime minister, the polls suggested an electoral wipe-out for Labor.

But the latest polls suggest that Rudd has lifted Labor's support to give the government a chance of victory.

Kirobo is now onboard an un-manned space cargo transporter heading to the ISS, while Mirata, stays on Earth.

The name Kirobo derives from the Japanese words "Hope" and "Robot," while Mirata comes from the word "Future."

While conventional robots in space have usually been tasked with maintenance or mechanical operations, Kirobo's mission is to be a companion to Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata onboard the International Space Station.

Tomotaka Takahashi is the robot creator at the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.

"Space is such a faraway and extreme environment - the most (challenging) part of it is to make a highly reliable robot, one that is stable."

The robonauts are capable of recognising human voices and speech, have pre-programmed responses and actions to questions, while they can also create verbal responses based on previous conversations.

Kirobo is also equipped with a facial recognition camera, as well as a camera that is capable of recording images.

The project's general manager at Toyota, Fuminori Kataoka, says the Japanese heart of conversation, of listening and responding occasionally with "uh-huh"s　and "ahem"s, are what makes a difference in making a conversation come to life.

"When you communicate with one another with the feeling of compassion, there will be a response, something comes back. I believe Mr. Wakata (Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut) strongly feels the same way too, and as someone who holds the trust of many people, I'm hopeful they will be able to communicate well."

Kirobo is awaiting the real astronuant Wakata's arrival at the International Space Station, this November.

Keeping an astronaut company for months will be no small task, but it will be a step forward in realizing Kirobo and Mirata's dream: "to create a future where humans and robots can be friends and live together."

A severe drought has affected China's southern provinces over recent weeks, causing drinking water shortages and damaging crops.

In the city of Hengyang, authorities say a total of 295 rivers have completely dried up, affecting over 200,000 hectares of farmland.

"The crops all look like they are ready to harvest and the color has turned golden. Actually, it is empty inside, without any rice."

Local fire departments are delivering water to remote mountainous areas which have been severely affected by the drought.

A number of cities and towns are also preparing to create artificial rain to ease the drought.

High temperatures and drought have also affected other provinces and regions in southern China including Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou.

The national meteorological bureau says the southern part of the country will continue to see high temperatures in the following days, with the highest temperatures of 41 degree Celsius to hit some areas.

Continuing global themes are likely to centre around US tapering talk in response to Friday's disappointing jobs data, recent Chinese slowdown and forward guidance in the eurozone.

In the U.S., the US ISM non-manufacturing PMI figure is due today. The figure is hoped to provide an understanding of the strength of the services sector.

In the Eurozone, the German factory orders figure will be released on Tuesday and the industrial production figure is expected on Wednesday.

In the UK, the week begins strongly with the release of the services PMI figure today. Later in the week, the main event comes in the format of the Bank of England inflation report on Wednesday.

The central bank is going to address the issue of forward guidance regarding interest rates and the alternate methods to boost the economy.

The Canadian jobs data is due out on Friday, with the employment change and unemployment rates likely to portray further stability in the region.

An interesting week in Asia given the release of the latest BoJ monetary policy decision and statement along with the Chinese trade balance figure on Thursday.

China has released July's figures for the country's non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index.

Analysts say the slight increase indicated a good start for China's economy in the second half of the year.

A robust service sector is being reported as the main driving force for non-manufacturing activity.

China's non-manufacturing PMI is based on a survey of about 1,200 companies across 27 industries.

Both domestic and international auction houses have held online auctions of artworks in recent weeks.

Christie's, the world's leading fine art auction house, launched two online auctions. The auctions sold Chinese works of art, including snuff bottles from a private New York Collection. When Christie's decided to hold an online auction in Asia, China's domestic auction giant, Poly International Auction Company, did the same, in the expectation of upgrading the current auction market.

But the question is, will buyers embrace online auctions? And how will the emergence of online auctions affect traditional auctions?

Art critic Zhu Xiaojun says that compared to traditional auctions, online auctions surpass the limitations of time and space. It enables people far away from the art to get to know and buy items more conveniently.

"It will become a trend in the art market because the Chinese economy now appreciates the transformation to e-commerce and e-branding; I believe its presence in the art market is inevitable."

In Beijing, some of the larger auction houses are already planning online auctions. Meanwhile, around one thousand artwork trading websites are entering this market.

However, that does not mean the online auction will totally replace the traditional auction, which maintains its own value that cannot be matched.

Li Dexin, a professional collector of inscriptions, has online bidding experience that spans almost ten years. About 30% of his collections are from online bids, with values ranging from hundreds of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan.

Li Dexin says that he is conservative regarding online bidding for artworks due to the current Auction Law of China, which states that if the auction broker and consignor declare that they cannot assure the genuineness or quality of the item prior to the auction, they shall not be liable for assurance against defects.

This is also the reason why online bidding markets are crowded with middle-and-low end items.

Insiders also believe that perhaps an ideal approach is to make use of both the online and traditional approaches for auction so that the exhibition of the products can take place at the same time as the online bidding. This may indeed be a more appropriate form of artwork auction to consider for the future.

Top Chinese officials are suggesting the risk element of local government funding vehicles is well under control.

Shang Fulin, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, made the comments in a recent televison interview.

Shang believes the risk exposure of lending to local governments is small because most loans are long-term and contained by effective regulations and controls.

But he also assures the commission will classify lending and take various measures to manage it.

These measures include controlling the total loan amount, increasing asset-backed financing and establishing a long-term mechanism to push forward the optimization of the credit structure of local governments.

By the end of June, outstanding loans via local government funding vehicles stood at 9.7 trillion yuan.

The precise amount of regional and local government-related debt outstanding is unknown.

The Ministry of Finance here in China is set to issue 23.8 billion yuan of five-year bonds on behalf of local governments.

The six local governments include Heilongjiang province, Xiamen city, Hunan province, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Tibet autonomous region and Qinghai province.

China is scheduled to sell local government bonds worth a combined total of 350 billion yuan in 2013.

British telecoms provider Vodafone Group, is suing Telecom Italia for abusing its dominant position in Italy.

Vodafone claims Telecom Italia committed a series of abuses from 2008 to 2013 "with the intention and effect of impeding growth in competition in the Italian fixed-line market".

Italy's competition authority fined Telecom Italia about 104 million euros for abusing its dominant market position back in May.

23 percent of Vodafone Italy is owned by the British firm's U.S. partner Verizon Communications.

The New York Times has reportedly agreed to sell The Boston Globe to the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team for $70 million in cash.

The sale also includes the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, as well as related digital properties of both papers, and a direct mail marketing company.

Newspapers across the U.S. have been hit by plunging advertising revenues and readers who increasingly prefer to get their news on smart phones and tablets.

New York Times has been selling off its business in TV and radio, regional papers, digital companies, and in sports ventures.