Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital...

Coming up on our program this evening...

Delegates have set an agenda and the annual meetings of China's National People's Congress are now underway...

Members of the national legislature are now debating China's first-ever law on domestic violence...

and a group of convicted drug dealers, including two Australians, have been moved to a prison in Indonesia where they are to be executed...

In Business: China's central government is set to assume full responsibility for export tax rebates...

In Sports: football action from the AFC Champions League...

In Entertainment: The Man from Macao II dominates the Chinese box office...

First, let's check in with what's happening with the weather...

 

 

Weather

 

 

Beijing will be clear tonight with a low of minus 5. It will be sunny tomorrow with a high of 8.

Shanghai will have a dose of snow and rain tonight with a low of 3. Tomorrow, sleet with a high of 7.

Chongqing will see rain and a low of 8. Tomorrow will have more rain with a high of 10.

Elsewhere in Asia

Islamabad, cloudy tomorrow with a high of 28.

Kabul, sleet, 7 degrees.

In Australia

Sydney, windy with a high of 26.

Canberra, sunny, 24.

Brisbane, sunny, 40.

Perth will be sunny with a high of 32 degrees Celsius.

 

 

Top News

 

 

China's legislative session sets agenda

 

Anchor:

An agenda has been adopted by delegates to lead off the meetings of the annual National People's Congress, China's national legislative body.

A presidium has been elected also. The group is responsible for taking charge of procedures at the annual meetings which are now underway.

The details from CRI's Wang Wei.

Reporter:

Fu Ying, spokesperson for the 3rd session of the 12th National People's Congress, says China will raise its defense budget by around 10 percent this year.

"China's defense budget rose by 12.2 percent last year. The specific number for this year is due to be known tomorrow. Now I can give you a rough idea. The recommended growth rate for national defense in the draft 2015 budget report is about 10 percent."

Fu points out that it is important to guarantee a safe environment so that Chinese people can live a peaceful life.

She also adds that China has successfully followed the road of peace and development and will continue to take that path.

Among the agenda items, Chinese legislators will review draft amendments to an overall "Legislation Law."

It regulates the process of creating national laws, government regulations, and local laws and defines legislative powers in the country

Fu Ying offered some details of the draft amendments.

"The powers delegated to localities mainly include making laws, rules and regulations on city management, city construction and environmental protection. The delegation of the law-making power will better motivate localities. In order to better protect human rights, there is an additional provision, which stimulates that in formulating any rules and regulations, the State Council departments and local governments shall not reduce or harm the rights of citizens and neither shall they add obligations to citizens without the legal basis at a next higher level."

It is the first time that draft revisions to the law have been discussed by NPC deputies at a full session of the national legislative body.

The spokeswoman also spoke about corruption, saying the country will continue to crack down on misconduct by officials.

"There is a saying that only by treating symptoms effectively can we wipe out the root cause completely. For the national legislators, what we need to do is to step up institutional legal mechanisms to fight corruption, trying to wipe out the root cause of corruption."

According to the spokeswoman, a total of 39 members of China's national legislature were stripped of their lawmaker status in the past two years.

Moreover, China has revised the Budget Law to better manage government revenues and spending so as to strengthen supervision on power.

China's annual NPC session is scheduled to open Thursday, where nearly 3-thouand national lawmakers will gather in Beijing.

For CRI, this is Wang Wei.

 

 

China Drafts First Domestic Violence Bill

 

China's first bill against domestic violence is likely to have its first reading in August.

Fu Ying, China's spokesperson with the national legislature, says a draft of this law has been published to solicit opinions from the public.

"If things go smoothly, we expect the law to take shape after two or three readings."

Traditionally, domestic violence is considered a private matter and even a taboo that should be kept within the family.

But Fu Ying says, even among family members, there should be no tolerance of violence, and the major challenge for the authorities is when to step in.

"It is difficult to reach a consensus on where to draw a line since Chinese society is still relatively conservative."

With increasing public awareness and media reports on a number of high-profile abuse scandals, the public have strongly demanded the legislation on this issue.

Chinese authorities issued a statement on Wednesday on the inclusion of acts to be considered as justifiable self-defense during domestic violence incidents.

The draft, published by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council last November, empowers social organizations and individuals to dissuade, bar, and report physical and psychological abuse from within victims' families.

It also requires police to intervene immediately once such reports are filed.

 

 

One NPC deputy on his duty performance

 

Anchor:

Every year in March, all eyes are on the gathering of around 3000 deputies to China's top legislative body, the National People's Congress, meeting in Beijing. Deputies from all walks of life submit motions and suggestions aiming at addressing people's concerns and needs.

But still, how these deputies perform their duties to serve the people during the rest of the year remains unfamiliar to many.

Our reporter Zhou Jingnan finds out more.

Reporter:

"The Residents at my constituency Maizidian came to me and complained about how their daily transportation was inconvenienced by the lack of a bus stop in the neighborhood. "

Li Dajin is a lawyer at Beijing's Tianda (天达) Law Firm. He is also a deputy to the twelfth National People's Congress. He talks about how he has worked to address constituents' dissatisfaction, citing an example from 2008.

"After learning about the residents' complaint, I looked into the matter carefully by carrying out an on-the-spot study and found their request for a bus stop was both legitimate and feasible."

So he brought the case to the municipal government of Beijing, which consented to the proposed plan after conducting its own assessment.

Thanks to Li Dajin's effort, within a few months, the people at his constituency saw the installation of the bus stop they had been requesting for years.

"Deputies are elected by the people, so they should represent the people's wills and interests."

Professor Xu Shenjian from Law School at China University of Political Science and Law explains what NPC deputies do while they are not convening for an annual session in Beijing.

"They need to forge closer ties with the people, often visit them, establish connections with them, and listen to their viewpoints and suggestions, so as to better serve them."

In order to make NPC deputies more approachable, new avenues for communication are being created. Among them are NPC deputy liaison offices.

Since around 2005, more and more such offices have been established across residential communities in China. They play the role of a bridge between the people and their NPC deputies.

"The common practice in Zhejiang province is that the whole year's schedule of the work of the deputy liaison offices will be available to the public. And different deputies will sit in the offices in turn on a set day every month."

The top presenter of Zhejiang Satellite TV, Xu Ting, is an NPC deputy.

She recalls one story about how she performed her duty when she was sitting in the deputy liaison office in a residential area in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province in East China.

 “That day quite a few people, including several residential community staff, community residents, and cleaners who are responsible for the disposal of garbage in the community, all came to see me in the office. And we sat down for a talk about their suggestion for the implementation of a real-name system on garbage sorting in that residential community."

Apart from group discussions, Xu Ting and some residents also visited several residential compounds that were already experimenting with the real-name system. She discovered that the system did help with the promotion of garbage classification.

"We even checked out the content of the garbage disposed, and found that at least, nobody disposed kitchen waste together with other kinds of garbage any more."

To Xu Ting and her constituents' satisfaction, several months after the final plan was submitted to Hangzhou's urban management department, the real-name system for garbage sorting was adopted by that particular community. It had also contributed to the newly released draft by the standing committee of Hangzhou People's Congress, which calls for the gradual implementation of the system throughout the whole city.

The annual session of the National People's Congress is an important occasion for deputies to China's top legislature, but the real challenge lies during the other 300 days of the year. Like Li Dajin and Xu Ting, NPC deputies in this country are also trying to live up to their commitment to their people even when they are not in the limelight.

For CRI, I'm Zhou Jingnan.

 

 

Australians drug traffickers moved to execution site in Indonesia

 

The ringleaders of the "Bali Nine" Australian drug gang have been transferred from Bali to another Indonesian island to be executed.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are among nine foreigners expected to face a firing squad in the coming days.

Australia has pressed Indonesia not to go ahead with the executions, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying he is "revolted."

"When I spoke to President Widodo last week, I made it absolutely crystal clear what Australia's position was, is and always will be. We abhor drug crime, but we abhor the death penalty. We think that these two Australians deserve to be punished but they certainly don't deserve to be executed and that is our position. I think right now millions of Australians are feeling sick in their guts at the prospect of execution for these two.

The pair were convicted in 2005 after being caught attempting to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia.

Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and ended a four-year moratorium on executions in 2013.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said he will show no mercy to convicted dealers.

Chan and Sukumaran have been transferred to Nusa-kam-bang-an, the prison island where the executions are due to take place.

It is not clear when the executions will take place, but a formal announcement will be made by authorities 72 hours before the two men are scheduled to die.

 

 

Obama dismisses Netanyahu speech criticizing nuclear talks with Iran

 

US President Barack Obama has dismissed a speech by the Israeli prime minister that criticized his policy towards Iran.

In a speech to the US Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu warned that a deal under discussion on Iran's nuclear program could "pave Iran's path to the bomb" rather than block it.

"The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS (Islamic State group) and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle but lose the war. We can't let that happen."

But Obama says the Israeli prime minister has not "offered any viable alternatives" to negotiating with Tehran.

"With the help of Congress and our international partners we constructed an extraordinarily effective sanctions regime that pressured Iran to come to the table to negotiate in a serious fashion. They have now been negotiating over the last year and during that period Iran has in fact frozen its program, rolled back some of its most dangerous highly enriched uranium and subjected itself to the kinds of verifications and inspections that we had not previously seen. The alternative that the prime minister offers is no deal in which case Iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its nuclear program, accelerate its nuclear program without us having any insight into what they're doing."

The Israeli leader's visit was controversial from the start, because the Republican speaker invited him without consulting the White House.

Netanyahu's visit comes just two weeks prior to a closely contested national election in Israel.

Meanwhile, talks on Iran's nuclear program are nearing a critical late-March deadline for an outline agreement to be reached.

 

 

Federal agents crackdown on 'birth tourism' in California

 

Federal agents in California have raided more than a dozen hotels that cater to pregnant foreigners who want their children to be born as US citizens.

The "birth tourism" hotels hosted mainly Chinese women who paid between $15,000 to $50,000 for the services.

The raids focused on hotels suspected of engaging in visa fraud.

Claude Arnold, Los Angeles special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement says raids have been carried out in Los Angeles, Orange county, and San Bernardino. No arrests have been made so far.

"It's not against the law to come to the United States to have your child born a US citizen, but it is against the law to lie about it during the visa application process and when you arrive in the United States and you're questioned by officers with Customs and Border Protection."

Some companies would allegedly coach women to falsify records and claims for their visa screening.

Agents were also concerned that the schemes defrauded hospitals.

The birth tourism operators paid local hospitals nothing or just a small fee as the women were admitted as uninsured, low-income patients.

It is estimated that anywhere between 40,000 of 300,000 children born to foreign citizens in the US each year are the product of birth tourism.

 

 

Kenyan President sets fire to 15 tonnes of ivory

 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has set fire to 15 tonnes of elephant ivory as part of the East African nation's efforts to curb poaching.

The ivory, with a black market value of about 30 million dollars is the largest consignment to be destroyed in Kenya.

The president lit the ivory pile that was set up at Nairobi National Park where Kenyatta said demand from emerging markets are once again threatening Africa elephants and rhinos.

"Twenty five years after this historic burning of ivory trade, new demand from emerging markets once again threaten Africa elephants and rhinos. African countries are concerned about the sale and rate of the new threat to our endangered wildlife species. We are committed to combating the menace robustly and persistently until we dismantle the entire evil economy."

A 2014 U.N. and Interpol report estimated that about 20-to-25- thousand elephants are killed in Africa every year.

Elephant ivory is often smuggled to Asia for use in ornaments and in traditional medicine.

China, last week, announced a one-year ban on importing carved ivory items.

 

 

Biz Reports

 

 

Anchor:

First, let's have a look at the numbers across the Asian markets on this Wednesday evening.

Joining me on the desk is Niu Honglin.

Reporter:

Chinese shares rallied as expectations ran high for new reform measures ahead of the annual parliamentary session slated to open on Thursday.

Premier Li Keqiang will reveal this year's GDP target while delivering the government work report tomorrow morning.

China's economy grew 7.4 percent last year, its slowest pace in 24 years.

At the closing bell,

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index moved up half a percent.

The Shenzhen Component Index advanced more than 1 percent.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index lost nearly 1 percent.

Activity in China's services sector grew modestly in February, just a few days after the central bank cut interest rates to stimulate economy.

Market Services Purchasing Managers' Index picked up to 52 last month from January's 51.8 and remained above the 50-point level that separates contraction from growth in activity on a monthly basis.

Elsewhere in Asia,

The Japanese Nikkei lost two thirds of a percent.

South Korea's KOSPI ended down by nearly one fifth of a percent.

Singapore's Straits Times index inched up one fifth of a percent.

In Australia, the ASX 200 continued a losing trend, down by more than half a percent.

 

 

Chinese state-owned enterprises "going out" proposal

 

Off-shore investment and fundraising procedures for Chinese state-owned enterprises are being simplified.

China's central bank has submitted a proposal to streamline "going out" procedures for Chinese firms to the State Council.

The People's Bank of China says the new policies will allow SOE's to bypass the current permission requirements to begin fundraising in foreign markets, on a case by case basis.

At the same time, state-run firms are also being allowed to freely choose whether to issue renminbi debt in whichever off-shore market they choose.

The State Council still has to approve the proposal.

For more on the "going out" proposal, CRI's Zhao Yang spoke with Einar Tangen, Former Chairman of the State of Wisconsin's International Trade Council.

 

 

Central gov't set to take over tax rebate process

 

The central government has assumed full responsibility for paying export tax rebates to companies.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the State Council said the change is retroactive to January 1st.

Previously, the central and local governments split the burden of export tax rebates. Local governments submitted their share, 7.5 percent of the rebates, to the central government, which then added the other 92.5 percent and reimbursed companies.

Some local governments had been reluctant to develop export-oriented companies due to the subsequent burden of rebates.

The new arrangement is the latest measure aiming to reverse a slump in exports by removing obstacles that discourage support efforts by local governments.

 

 

E-commerce purchase regulations modified

 

China's industry and commerce administrator released enhanced consumer protection regulations on Tuesday.

Under the new rules for e-commerce purchases, customers can return opened goods that were purchased online within seven days and get a full refund, without providing any reason for the return.

The rule is slated to come into effect on March 15, China's Consumer Rights day

Online retailers who refuse or delay processing of returns could be fined as much as 500 thousand yuan, roughly 80 thousand US dollars.

The current law, which was put into effect on March 15 last year, did not specify whether opened items could be returned.

Subsequently, most online retailers required returned items to have their packaging intact and remaining in original condition.

 

 

Alibaba's business move

 

Alibaba is launching a cloud computing hub in Silicon Valley today.

The new California data center marks the company's latest measured expansion onto American soil, and into a hotly contested U.S. market dominated by Amazon, Microsoft, and others.

Alibaba's Aliyun cloud division intends the new data center to cater initially to Chinese companies with operations in the United States, including retail, Internet, and gaming firms.

It will later target U.S. businesses seeking a presence in both countries.

Meanwhile, shares of the company were down more than 2.5% to trade below $82 for the first time since the company went public in September.

Since hitting an all-time high in early November, shares of the company are down more than 30%. But this doesn't stop Alibaba from expanding in the Chinese mainland.

The company announced hours ago that it invested 2.4 billion yuan into Enlight Media, a private entertainment and media group.

This makes Alibaba the second largest shareholder of Enlight Media.

 

 

Sahara's Grosvenor House hotel in London put up for sale

 

London's landmark Grosvenor House hotel has been put up for sale after Indian conglomerate Sahara was declared in default by Bank of China.

Sahara has been trying to raise $1.6 billion to free its jailed boss Subrata Roy by refinancing overseas hotels including Grosvenor House and New York's Plaza.

Media report says Bank of China appointed a new administrator of the hotel and has brought in Deloitte & Touche to conduct an audit.

The 500 rooms hotel will still be operated by the Marriott chain.

The sale is expected to fetch more than 700 million U.S. dollars when it is put up for sale.

 

 

More than 100 companies bid for Myanmar's stock exchange service provider licenses

 

More than 100 private security companies have so far bid for service provider licenses for establishing Myanmar's first ever stock exchange in Yangon.

The market is scheduled to start operation in a joint venture with two Japanese firms in October.

 

 

Headline News

 

 

China to raise defense budget by around 10 pct

 

A spokesperson from China's top legislature says China will raise its defense budget by around 10 percent this year, compared with 12.2 percent last year.

Speaking at a press conference a day ahead of the annual session of the National People's Congress, Fu Ying said the exact figure will be published in a budget report Thursday.

China's defense budget is riding a multi-year run of double-digit increases.

A growth rate of about 10 percent would be the lowest in five years.

Fu says as a big country, China needs an army that can safeguard its national security and people.

 

 

Agricultural trade center fire kills 9 in SW China

 

Nine people have been killed in a fire at an agricultural trade centre in southwest China.

Local fire officials in Yunnan province say the tragedy happened early this morning.

The fire spread through three two-story buildings in the center, located in the provincial capital, Kunming.

Three people who were injured in the fire were rushed to hospital, but officials say all of them have been released already.

The trade centre includes more than 200 stores.

 

 

Central gov't set to take over tax rebate process

 

The central government has assumed full responsibility for paying export tax rebates to companies.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the State Council said the change is retroactive to January 1st.

Previously, the central and local governments split the burden of export tax rebates. Local governments submitted their share, 7.5 percent of the rebates, to the central government, which then added the other 92.5 percent and reimbursed companies.

The new arrangement is the latest measure aiming to reverse a slump in exports.

 

 

People killed in coal mine explosion in E. Ukraine

 

An explosion has been reported at a mine in eastern Ukraine.

The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament says at least 32 people were killed, while the emergency ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic (DPR) says one person was killed and 14 others were injured.

Reports on the number of miners why may still be trapped underground are also conflicting.

The emergency ministry in Donetsk says over 70 miners are trapped inside and the explosion was a mixture of air and gas.

The Ukrainian Independent Union of Miners has said there were 207 people working underground at the time of the incident and 47 miners remain missing.

 

 

At least 10 dead as boat carrying migrants sinks off Italy

 

At least 10 people were killed as a boat carrying illegal migrants capsized off Sicily.

The Italian Coast Guard says around 500 migrants who were rescued were taken to the port of Augusta, and another 200 were being taken aboard a tanker to another Sicilian port.

The Coast Guard says the migrants claimed to be Syrians, Palestinians, Libyans, Tunisians or from sub-Saharan Africa.

 

 

Newspaper Picks

 

 

CHINA NEWS SERVICE

"Chinese buyer nabs Fiji heart-shaped island for 800,000 USD on Taobao"

A real estate firm based in Beijing has begun an auction for four islands located in Fiji, Canada, Greece and the UK.

The auction took place on Taobao.com, China's largest online shopping platform.

The starting price was 4 million yuan for the UK island, and just 1 yuan for the other three, which attracted many people online.

According to a media report, Fiji island was sold for 5 million yuan ($800,000), the Canadian island for 1.7 million yuan and the Greek island for 4.8 million yuan, while the auction for the UK island was aborted as buyers failed to meet the reserve price.

 

XINHUA

"Shaolin abbot responds to commercialization criticism"

The head of China's Shaolin Temple has distanced the Buddhist institution from media criticism claiming a planned Australian outpost of the temple will be over-commercialized.

Abbot Shi Yongxin said Shaolin will develop facilities for meditation, farming and the martial arts for which it is renowned at its "Australian culture center" in southeastern Shoalhaven City.

Australian media has reported that the center, to be built on 1,200 hectares of land bought by Shaolin, will include not only a temple and kungfu academy, but a hotel and a golf course, commercial activity apparently deviating from the spiritual essence of Buddhism.

Shaolin has established more than 40 culture centers around the world. Shi claimed his motivation for this expansion is "respecting religion, culture and lifestyle... promoting dialogue about culture and strengthening international understanding and cooperation".

 

GLOBAL POST

"Kangaroo study sheds light on human personality differences"

An Australian study into the social networks of kangaroos could provide insight into the evolution of human personality differences.

Researchers from The University of Queensland studied the friendships of female kangaroos over 18 months to understand why personalities differ and how differences could affect behaviour.

Results found that shy female kangaroos spent time in larger groups, but they had fewer friends.

Bolder female kangaroos seem more comfortable in smaller groups and will seek out their 'friends', while shyer females opt to remain in larger groups where there is less risk of predation.

An expert says the results increase our understanding of how aspects of personality affect each other, which will lead to better understanding of why such personality differences have evolved.

Humans show the same sorts of individual differences which are partly determined by genetics.

 

REUTERS

"Spider venom may hold chemical keys to new painkillers"

Scientists who analyzed countless chemicals in spider venom say they have identified seven compounds that block a key step in the body's ability to pass pain signals to the brain.

In research they said could one day lead to a new class of potent painkillers, the scientists focused on 206 species of spider and searched for molecules in the venom that block nerve activity, particular via so-called "Nav1.7 channels".

Experts estimate that as many as one in five people worldwide suffer from chronic pain and existing pain treatments often fail to give sufficient or long-term relief.

People sense pain in a part of their body when nerves from the affected area send signals to the brain through what is called the pain pathway, and it is this pathway scientists seek to disrupt when searching for potential new pain medicines.

 

 

Special Reports

 

 

China Deaf Restaurant

 

Anchor:

The World Health Organization's day for the hearing impared, March 3rd, is coming to an end in North America right now.

But here in China, one entrepereneur has been working for years to help people with hearing disabilities take their first steps forward in life.

CRI's Niu Honglin explains.

Reporter:

In this hotpot restaurant, all the wait-staff are deaf.

Zhao Ying is a manager at the restaurant. She's been working here for about half a year and has taught herself sign language.

"This restaurant was created because our boss is also disabled. He lost his left hand in a car accident. Before this, all the staff in his restaurant were able bodied. After running his business for 10 years, he built a new hotpot business in 2012, helping people with hearing and speech difficulties get a job."

The World Health Organisation estimates that about 5 percent of people suffer with disabling hearing loss in China.

Ordering in this restaurant involves pushing a button on one device which alerts the waiter via a special wrist watch. If there's any misunderstanding they can communicate via writing. But this doesn't always work.

Waitress Zhang Cai Hong has been working at the restaurant for over six months. Her colleague Zhao Ying interprets her sign language responses for her.

"She says (Zhang Cai Hong) if they don't know what the customers are saying, they can get help from able-hearing people. They especially need help with old people because sometimes they can't see what they write so it can be difficult serving them."

For those willing to give sign language a try, there are a few expressions on the wall.

Zhao Ying says even though ordering food from people that can't hear can be a little inconvenient, customers are very understanding: they put themselves in the shoes of the waiters and enjoy their meals. Most customers are tolerant.

Outside the restaurant it's not obvious the waiters are deaf. So for many customers, like Li Sheng who came with his family, it's a surprise.

"At first I thought it was going to be difficult because it's so different to other restaurants. I didn't know the waiters here can't hear or speak. Eventually I realised, although communication is not perfect, they're all very professional and they give us very good service so even though they can't speak i don't think there is any problem in communication at all"

After the lunchtime rush it's time for the staff to grab something to eat. They return in time for the daily team meeting, which includes a sign language song to boost morale.

Zhang Cai Hong says she has other friends with hearing problems that work in computers, manicure and painting. But even though she has a job, she doesn't want to be a waitress forever.

Zhang has big dreams in the dazzling lights of the big city, of opening her own clothing store.

But for now, it's the start of another evening's work.

For CRI, I'm niu Hongin

 

 

Sports

 

 

Football: Guangzhou R&F to take on Western Sydney

 

In asian football action:

Former champions Jeonbuk Motors maintained an unbeaten record in the AFC Champions League this season as second half goals from Han Kyo-won, Lee Jae-sung and Leonardo secured an eye-catching 4-1 away win over Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng yesterday.

Edu's audacious first half chip had handed 2006 winners Jeonbuk the lead after 21 minutes only for Shandong's Yang Xu to level the scores with his third goal in two games just before the hour mark.

But with Han, Lee and Leonardo netting inside the final 20 minutes, K-League champions Jeonbuk added to last week's goalless draw with Japan's Kashiwa Reysol in Group E.

Chinese FA Cup winners Shandong, meanwhile, were unable to add to their opening day 3-2 win over Vietnam champions Binh Duong, as goalscorer Yang was dismissed with just over 10 minutes remaining for the home side.

And today,

Guangzhou R&F took on Western Sydney today, and prevailed 3-2, despite goalkeeper Zeng Cheng being carried off the pitch mid game in a rather grusome injury.

 

 

EPL: Southampon over Crystal Palace 1-0

 

In English Premiere League football action:

Sadio Mane gave Southampton's top-four ambitions a timely shot in the arm, ending their 387-minute wait for a goal as they secured a late 1-0 win against Crystal Palace earlier today.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman:

"Yes, finally we score and we win at home. I can't say that we deserved the win today. Maybe after the first half, yes. But after the second half.... Crystal Palace did it well. Some good chances. A shot on the post. But football is strange. Sometimes you play better, much better than we played today. I think it's all about the confidence."

This performance was a far cry from the impressive, swashbuckling Saints who wowed onlookers and confounded the doubters earlier in the campaign.

They toiled once again as a run of one win in five matches looked set to be extended, yet Mane's late clipped effort saw Palace beaten 1-0 to halt their decline, moving Ronald Koeman's men to within a point of the top-four.

 

 

CBA Recap

 

In CBA action from last night:

Zhu Yanxi's buzzer-beater tip-in secured Beijing a 107-105 OT victory over Guangdong and a berth in the CBA finals in a nail-biter of a game yesterday.

The defending champion won the best-of-five semifinal series 3-1 and will play against Liaoning in their third final in four years.

Stephon Marbury scored a game-tying three-pointer with 6.6 seconds in the fourth quarter to force the game into overtime and scored nine of Beijing's 11 points in the additional time. He then made in two goals from downcourt to tie the score at 105-105.

Zhu Yanxi's game-winning tip-in was from one of Marbury's missing three-pointers. The veteran finished with a game-high 38 points.

Guangdong, trailed by as many as 14 points, lost their point guard Will Bynum in the first quarter as the foreign player got injured in his back side of the right thigh. He returned to court in the second quarter but played for only one minute and 17 second and then never came back.

Beijing will play in the best-of-seven finals against Liaoning, who swept Qingdao 3-0 to make into their first CBA final in seven years.

 

 

Cleveland over Boston 110-79 in NBA

 

In NBA action:

LeBron James scored 27 points to move into 21st place on the NBA's career scoring list as the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 110-79 victory over the Boston Celtics earlier today.

Moving down to the Empire state of the south:

Jeff Teague scored 25 points, Al Horford added 18, and the now NBA-leading Atlanta Hawks rallied from an 18-point deficit to win their fifth straight game 104-96 over the Houston Rockets.

Over to Denver,

Where Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 26 points, Kenneth Faried had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Denver beat the Milwaukee Bucks 106-95 on Tuesday night, hours after Brian Shaw was fired as coach.

And in Chicago:

Nikola Mirotic scored 23 points to lead the Bulls to a 97-92 win over the Washington Wizards. It came without former MVP Derrick Rose (right knee), all-star Jimmy Butler (left elbow), and trusted reserve Taj Gibson (left ankle), but the Bulls still managed to improve to 4-2 on their season-high seven-game homestand.

In other action:

The Utah Jazz took out the Memphis Grizzlies 93-82.

And it was Los Angeles downing the New York Knicks 124-86.

 

 

Badminton: Lin Dan looking for sixth title

 

Olympic badminton champion Lin Dan is returning to the All England championships after a two year break and is hoping to win his sixth title.

The current number six in the world was Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and has been world champion five times. However since winning Olympic gold again at the Olympics in London 2012 he has played infrequently.

Lin says despite this he's looking to become world champion for a sixth time.

"It really is my personal goal, but I realise that this dream is very difficult to achieve. I will try my best and give all that I can to achieve this."

The All England championships in Birmingham is the first of the 12 superseries competitions leading to the grand final in Dubai in December.

 

 

Entertainment

 

 

"The Man from Macao II" dominates Chinese Box Office

 

"The Man from Macao II", a family comedy starring Chow Yun-Fat, dominated the Chinese box office this week.

Since its release the movie has earned around 114 million U.S. dollars.

The fourth installment of the "God of Gamblers" film series hit the big screen for China's Spring Festival holiday, a bumper time for movie-going.

"Wolf Totem" took second place, debuting on the same day as "The Man from Macao II," its total box office stood at over 80 million U.S. dollars.

And third place went to costume action movie "Dragon Blade," starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody.

 

 

3D action movie "Wolf Warriors" postponed till April

 

The highly anticipated 3D action movie "Wolf Warriors" has postponed its release date from March to April.

The movie is directed by and also stars action star Wu Jing, who explained that the reason for the move was that he is still not satisfied with some of the details with the film.

Wu hopes to make some additional changes to ensure the film is the best possible.

When asked whether the move was an attempt to avoid a face-to-face challenge with other blockbusters, Wu explained that considering the booming nature of the Chinese film market, avoiding competition was next to impossible.

"Wolf Warriors" is Wu's first 3D film, its new release date will be April 2.

 

 

"Saturday Night Live" coming to China

 

NBC's "Saturday Night Live" is reportedly to be adapted for Chinese television.

Broadway Video Entertainment will help Sohu, a Chinese online entertainment service create the sketch show tailored to Chinese audiences, live from Beijing.

BVE president, Britta von Schoeler, said they will teach Sohu how to produce in the "Saturday Night Live" format for their own audience, creating characters and sketches specifically tailored for the Chinese community.

"Saturday Night Live" is a topical comedy program which addresses pop culture and news in the U.S. The Chinese version will be the same, by addressing topical comedic issues in China.

Recently, "Saturday Night Live" celebrated its 40th anniversary with an hour-long special.

 

 

Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios to close in December

 

Oprah Winfrey is closing Harpo Studios in Chicago, where she filmed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for more than 20 years.

The studios will shut this December, and transition production for her cable network to a studio in California.

The Oprah Winfrey Network recently moved into a new studio in West Hollywood, California, and work currently done at Harpo Studios in Chicago will now be done there.

Winfrey sold the Harpo Studios property in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood to a developer for 32 million U.S. dollars.

She said in a statement that Harpo Studios has been a "blessing" in her life and she's now "looking ahead" to inhabiting her California studio.

 

 

Lady Gaga & R. Kelly to Perform After Obama's Speech at Selma

 

Singers Lady Gaga and R. Kelly will perform after Obama's speech at Selma in the U.S. this weekend.

On Saturday, President Obama will give a speech to commemorate the anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march, marked each year by the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee.

Lady Gaga and R. Kelly will perform along with other stars including Young Breezy, We are Toonz, Bigg Robb and the Impressions.

U2's Bono, former president George W. Bush and members of the cast of Selma, are also expected to be at the event.

 

 

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris stripped of CBE

 

Disgraced former entertainer Rolf Harris has been stripped of his CBE.

Harris received the royal honor from Britain's Queen Elizabeth after he painted the monarch's portrait the previous year to mark her 80th birthday.

The official announcement states that the Queen has directed that the appointment of Rolf Harris's Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire shall be cancelled and annulled, and that his name shall be erased from the register.

Harris, 84, was jailed in July for five years and nine months for 12 indecent assaults on four girls aged from seven or eight to 19, between 1968 and 1986.

He has already lost a Bafta fellowship and accolades in his native Australia.