I'm Bob Jones.

And I'm Paul James.

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

Coming up on the program this evening...

Mongolia's President wrapping up his current visit to China.

Billions of dollars worth of goods are being sold here in China today on this, the annual Single's Day shopping event.

The UK's Prime Minister sets out his priorities for the EU to meet if Britian is going to remain a member.

In business.... China retails sales are holding up.

In sports... Russian athletes poised to lose medals in the fallout from the current doping scandal.

In entertainment..... New York is crowned City of Angels for one night onlyAll of that is coming up in the next hour, but first, a reminder that there are several ways you can reach us here at the Beijing Hour.

You can follow our weibo account at weibo.com/beijinghour.

On WeChat: search "beijinghour"Email us directly at [email protected].

Visit crienglish.com for the latest news and information from China Radio International.

Top NewsChinese President Holds Talks with Mongolian PresidentAnchor:

Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is concluding his official state visit to China.

As part of his time in Beijing, Elbegdorj has sat down with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the two reaching consensus on linking up China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative with Mongolia's Steppe Road plan.

This is this Mongolian President's second trip to Beijing this year, after he attended September's ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Chinese War against Japanese Aggression.

For more on the Mongolian president's visit, CRI's Michael Butterworth spoke earlier James C. Hsiung, Professor of Politics & International Law, at New York University.

S.China Sea Issue Not Suitable for APECThe Chinese government has said the upcoming APEC meeting in Manila is not a proper occasion to discuss issues related to the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei says APEC should focus more on economic cooperation rather than other sensitive issues.

"It has been a concensus among APEC members not to discuss sensitive political and security issues at the organization's meetings. The Philippine government has said such matters won't be on the agenda of the coming session. We hope the APEC economic forum can only serve the regional development and cooperation."　　Chinese President Xi Jinping is to attend the APEC summit from Nov. 17 to 19.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said it is up to the Philippines to improve ties between Beijing and Manila, which had been strained over rival claims in the South China Sea.

Beijing deputy party chief under probeThe disciplinary watchdog of the Communist Party of China has announced that Lyu Xiwen, deputy Party chief of Beijing, is being investigated for suspected "severe disciplinary violations".

60-year-old Lyu is also the president of Beijing Administrative College and Beijing Administration Institute.

She has served as Beijing vice Party chief since 2013.

Meanwhile, it has also been announced that He Jiacheng, former executive vice president of Chinese Academy of Governance has been expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office.

He is accused of multiple offenses including accepting bribes and hindering an official investigation.

The Chinese Academy of Governance is an institution directly affiliated with the State Council, China's cabinet. It is an important body for training high- and mid-level officials and policy researchers.

China strengthens supervision over heavy smog in northeast ChinaChina's Ministry of Environmental Protection has dispatched inspection teams to investigate the causes of heavy smog in northeastern provinces.

The teams will keep a close eye on the contingency plans, early warning and countermeasures of the local governments.

Another focus for the inspections will be local government action to regulate pollutants from straw and coal burning, as well as high-emission vehicles.

The capital city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is said to be the most polluted.

Many vehicles are reportedly stuck on the highway in and out of the city due to low visibility.

Meabwhile, 20 flights have been cancelled at Harbin's Taiping International Airport.

The northeastern provinces of China have been troubled by widespread and heavy smog since last Friday due to poor meteorological conditions and emissions of pollutants.

Beijing to see polluted air in next few daysThe smog in Beijing is predicted to last for another four days, with air quality ranging from moderate to serious levels of pollution.

High humidity and slow wind speeds have contributed to the poor dispersion of pollutants.

In addition, coal burning will make the situation worse, as winter heating starts in mid November in Beijing.

Wang Bin is the head of emergency department of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

He says the rain on Friday may clear the skies over Beijing.

"It may rain on Nov. 13, which could relieve the pollution so that it might not linger. Thus, we are not considering issuing a high-level alert. But we are closely watching changes of air quality. We will issue relevant alerts at any time."The skies over China's notoriously smog-filled cities saw a marginal improvement last year, but pollution still remains far above national and international recommended levels.

Sales of Alibaba a record high in this year's double 11The online retailer Alibaba says it surpassed last years record breaking Singles Day sales level in the first twelve hours of trading today.

Within just 12 minutes 28 seconds of midnight, sales via Alibaba's Tmall hit a record high, with over 10 billion yuan, or 1.6 billion US dollars being spent by bargain hungry singletons.

72% of the sales were made via mobile platforms.

Duncan Clark, Chairman of Investment Advisory Strategy Consulting, was invited to address the Tmall TV gala in Beijing ahead of the festival.

"You know E-commerce is winning more and more customers in China. It could win things like groceries. So I think, you know, we don't need to validate E-commerce anymore. The question is how rapidly is it taking over."Meanwhile, JD.com, China's second largest online retailer, also reported that the number of its online orders reached 10 million in the first 10 hours of the shopping festival.

Alibaba initiated China's first annual online sale on Single's day 7 years ago. At that time only 27 online merchants took part.

For more on this year's double 11 shopping spree, CRI's Wang Mengzhen earlier spoke with Professor Liu Baocheng, from the University of International Business and Economics.

Shopping Festival Has More Global SellersAnchor:

This year's Single's Day event is stretching beyond just one day, and even beyond China's borders.

CRI's Luo Wen explains.

Reporter:

For this year's shopping extravaganza, Alibaba has added a new theme, imported goods.

Goods from around the world are being featured in Tmall ads, including the top 25 leading chain-store brands in the world.

That list includes Germany's Metro, the U.K.'s Sainsbury's and Costco from the United States, among others.

Exotic imported items available range from kiwi fruit and fresh lobsters to diapers and cosmetics.

Chu Jia with Alibaba's PR unit says the rise in the number of foreign sellers has made this year's Single's Day promotion more global than ever.

"The most notable change this year is globalization. More than 5-thousand brands from 25 different countries and regions are taking part in the sales promotions. The number of international vendors has reached a record high this year."Alibaba says the record of imported goods sales from last year's Single's Day was broken less than 2-minutes past midnight.

At the same time, Alibaba's rivals are also trying to rake in profits from Single's Day.

SFBest is subsiduary of Chinese express delivery giant SF Express.

It mainly sells imported foodstuffs.

Song Xin, SFBest's manager, says they have seen a sharp rise in daily sales since this year's promotions first began.

"Our promotion period lasts from Nov 3rd to the 12th, with priority given to raw and fresh food. Sales during the period are expected to rise by about 180 percent from the same period of last month, and double from the same period of last year."Observers are suggesting the growing sale of imported goods this year is partly the result of the massive tariff cuts the Chinese government has been brining in, which has significantly lowered prices on imported products.

Cao Lei with the China E-commerce Research Center says the growth in cross-border purchases is going to help the overall development of e-commerce in China.

"Sellers from around the world and cross-border trade has open the period of so-called mass consumption 3.0 in China. Consumption 1.0 featured customer-to-customer business on platforms like Taobao.com. Consumption 2.0 marked the rise in the popularity of business-to-customer sales through sites like Tmall and JD.com. Now, with the coming of international sellers, Consumption 3.0 has arrived."It's expected China is going to overtake the U.S. to become the world's biggest retail market in 2018, with retail volume growth expected to grow by nearly 9-percent a year in the next two years.

One survey is suggesting people using the Internet to make their purchases this Singles' Day are going to spend more than 17-hundred yuan each this year.

This would be a 22-percent increase compared to how much the average person spent last year while shopping online during Single's Day.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.

Customers should be cautious before making purchases on Double 11Anchor:

With this year's "Single's Day" shopping event set to draw to a close in a few hours time, debate continues to rage here in China about whether Chinese consumers are truly benefitting from the annual promotion.

CRI's Li Jianhua has more.

Reporter:

Single's Day itself developed here in China in the mid-1990's as a sort of an anti-Valentine's Day, with young single people using November 11th, or 1-1-1-1 on a digital calendar, to treat themselves to gifts.

But in 2009, Alibaba took the first step in turning it into, what has now become, the biggest shopping day of the year, not only in China, but the entire world.

This year, it's expected over 100-million people will have made purchases from the nearly 30-thousand retailers who are said to be taking part in this year's promotion.

Once the dust settles, it's expected over 10-billion US dollars worth of sales will be made this year, easily eclipsing sales made during "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" in the United States.

"I like 'Double Eleven'. Everything is cheap on this day. This year, I'm only buying clothes. They are much cheaper online than they are in shopping malls. But the thing is, you've got to be careful on this day. You need to compare the prices offered in different shops, because some shops will raise prices first before they lower it on Single's Day.""I sincerely have nothing to buy on 'Double Eleven.' For me, the most important thing is the practicality of the products I buy. I don't want to turn my home into a storeroom. For sure, some prices are very low, hence the appeal. But buying products because they're cheap won't do me any good if I don't use them."Last year, and estimated 9.3-billion US dollars worth of sales were generated through Single's Day.

The sheer volume of products being moved can sometimes prove overwhelming for retailers.

"We have to enlarge our inventory and get ready for the annual 'Double Eleven'. And on this day, we have to stay up very late or even work until the next day. The turnover a few days before 'Double Eleven' is actually very low because people would rather wait to spend on this day to save money. In these two days, people who work in logistics and sales are all tired out."One issue which tends to crop up every year is the availability of products people want to buy.

Zhao Ping with the Ministry of Commerce says they've found a growing number of retailers, particularly those selling products online, are simply using Single's Day as a way to promote their own site.

"The 'Double Eleven' shopping spree is more complicated than it seems. Many online shops are involved in the promotion. But their supplies often don't meet the demand. Many people have found that the low-price products they've set their sights on are gone almost instantly. Many businesses use this trick to attract customers to their online shops, benefiting only a very small number of their customers."The Commerce Ministry is also warning consumers to be wary of certain 'bargains,' noting many retailers will begin increasing the prices of their products in advance of Single's Day to try to fool shoppers into thinking they're getting a good deal with the Single's Day price-cut.

Despite the slowdown of the overall economy in China, some observers anticipate sales during this year's Single's Day promotion are likely to increase by around 15-percent compared with last year.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi Asks for Dialogue with Key Ruling FiguresMyanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a meeting with three ruling figures next week to engage in a dialogue.

In her separate letters to the President, the Parliamentary Speaker and the military chief, Suu Kyi urged the dialogue to be held on the basis of national reconciliation.

She said the dialogue would aim to calmly and peacefully satisfy the people's desires as expressed through Sunday's general election.

So far, her party, the National League for Democracy, has secured over 60% of the parliament seats.

According to the latest results announced earlier today, 394 candidates have been elected as representatives at three levels of parliament, with 245 of them from the NLD.

British PM sets out key demands for EU reformBritish Prime Minister David Cameron has launched his bid to renegotiate Britain's membership in the European Union.

He has set out four key demands for EU reform.

They include protecting the single market system for Britain and others outside the euro zone, exempting the UK from an "ever-closer union" and bolstering national parliaments, limiting the benefits for migrants from continental Europe in the UK and enhancing competitiveness in the EU.

Cameron says these are the main concerns of the British people.

"These proposals are substantial. I think you can see from what I've said, if we change ever closer unions, set the relationship properly between the euro ins and outs, deliver a really competitive Europe, solve the problem of the excessive levels of migration. These are the things that people, me included, are concerned about with Europe."Cameron's government has promised an "in or out" referendum on whether the UK should stay in the European Union by 2017.

Vault protects seeds from climate changeAnchor:

As world leaders prepared to gather in Paris for the UN's global climate change conference in around 3-weeks time, one of the key concerns to be addressed will be how climate change is impacting global food crops.

CRI's Victor Ning has more on what's being done right now to ensure crops will be available for future generations.

Reporter:

Located on the Svalbard Islands in the Arctic, the Global Seed Vault is home to millions of seeds.

The facility is surrounded by permafrost and is naturally cooled to around -3 degrees Celsius.

And the main vault is cooled even further to -18 degrees Celsius to guarantee that crops preserved here can survive for hundreds of years.

Michael Koch with the Global Crop Diversity Trust pays a rare visit to the facility.

"Here you have world agriculture in one room. 860,000 different types of accessions from more than 60 different institutions coming from virtually every country on earth."The labels on the hundreds of boxes give an indication of where they come from: the rice gene back in the Philippines, seeds from dry areas from ICARDA and maize from Mexico.

And new shipments are arriving all the time.

Cross-breeding allows scientists in gene banks to select specific traits and develop new climate-resilient crops as the need arises.

Koch says the vault plays a constructive role in cross-breeding so as to maintain crop diversity:

"You don't know what you're going need 20, 30, 50 years from now. Here you have the options for creating these better crops by using this diversity."Meanwhile, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization plays a key role in defending crop diversity and food security.

Shakeel Bhatti, FAO Secretary at the International Treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, says the genetic heritage preserved in the vault will help to diversify crops:

"To produce climate-smart food crops, we will need to draw upon the genetic variability and the genetic traits that are conserved in the genetic variations and diversity of seeds that are now presently stored in seed banks, but also increasingly now in the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard."Seeds preserved in the vault are duplicates. In other words, they are back-ups in case gene banks fail.

And the vault has already proven its worth.

In September, precious seeds that were originally bred in war-stricken Syria were dispatched to Morocco and Lebanon to be duplicated to reconstitute stocks.

For CRI, I'm Victor Ning.

WeatherBeijing will be overcast and smogy tonight with a low of 5, tomorrow will be cloudy and hazy with a high of 9.

Shanghai will be overcast tonight with a low of 13, tomorrow will have slight rain, high of 19.

Chongqing will be overcast with a low of 13, tomorrow will also be overcast, high of 15.

Lhasa will be cloudy with a low of 2, tomorrow will still be cloudy with a high of 14.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad will have slight rain with a high of 23.

Kabul, rainy, 7.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney, rainy, high of 24,Brisbane,also rainy,25,Perth, cloudy, 33,And finally Auckland, New Zealand will be rainy with a high of 18 degrees Celsius.

Headline newsBeijing deputy party chief under probeThe disciplinary watchdog of the Communist Party of China has announced that Lyu Xiwen, deputy Party chief of Beijing, is being investigated for suspected "severe disciplinary violations".

60-year-old Lyu is also the president of Beijing Administrative College and Beijing Administration Institute.

She has served as Beijing vice Party chief since 2013.

Meanwhile, it has also been announced that He Jiacheng, former executive vice president of Chinese Academy of Governance has been expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office.

He is accused of multiple offenses including accepting bribes and hindering an official investigation.

The Chinese Academy of Governance is an institution directly affiliated with the State Council, China's cabinet. It is an important body for training high- and mid-level officials and policy researchers.

Myanmar announces Aung San Suu Kyi winning electionMyanmar's Union Election Commission has announced that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won Sunday's general election.

Aung San Suu Kyi, representing her National League for Democracy, defeated a major rival candidate of the ruling party and secured a seat in the House of Representatives of the next parliament.

According to the results released by the election commission as of Tuesday night, so far the NLD has secured a total of 291 seats in three levels of the parliament while the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party held only 27 seats.

China kicks off online shopping festival with new recordAlibaba, China's largest online retailer, recorded sales of 10 billion yuan within 12 minutes and 28 seconds of midnight, smashing records again on this year's Singles' Day on Wednesday.

Last year, it took 38 minutes to hit the 10 billion yuan mark and the company is expected to easily break last year's one-day sales record of 57 billion yuan.

As of 8:30 a.m., the figure stood at 44 billion yuan, according to the company.

China's State Post Bureau estimates that the number of express deliveries will reach 760 million from November 11th to 16th, about 42 percent up on last year.

This year's Singles' Day shopping extravaganza came only days after China unveiled proposals for the next Five-year Plan, which said consumption should play a "fundamental role" in future economic growth.

7th annual World Chinese Economic Summit held in LondonThe seventh World Chinese Economic Summit has been held in London, and focused on strengthening ties between China, Southeast Asia and Europe.

The annual event brought together over 200 policy makers, entrepreneurs, researchers and leading thinkers to discuss topics around the theme " China and the World: Forging Euro-Asian Partnerships towards Shared Prosperity."The conference came just a few weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Britain.

Britain is currently the main investment destination for Chinese companies and China's direct investment in Britain has increased significantly in recent years.

Biz ReportsAnchor:

Time to check today's business news, starting with the closing numbers here in China.

As we mentioned in the first half of our program, this Wednesday China marks its annual "Singles Day", the world's biggest online shopping day.

E-commerce giant Alibaba said around 9 billion U.S. dollars was spent in the first 12 hours.

Markets on the mainland also ended the positive territory, registering gains for the sixth consecutive trading day despite the release of data showing a weak industrial sector and fixed-asset investment.

In an encouraging sign, retail sales expanded in October, continuing from the strong performance seen in recent months.

We will have more on those figures shortly.

At the close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen index added 1.4 percent.

The ChiNext Index of growth enterprises jumped 2.1 percent.

In Hong Kong, stocks closed lower with the benchmark Heng Seng Index shedding 0.2 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia,Tokyo shares closed higher as upbeat domestic corporate earnings and profit outlooks coupled with expectations for a rate hike in the U.S. bolstered investor confidence.

Gainers were led by mining, textiles and apparel and real estate-related stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei went up a fraction of a percent.

South Korea's KOSPI closed flat.

Singapore's Straights Times index declined half of a percent.

And finally,Australia's ASX/200 ticked up half of a percent.

China retail sales up 11 pct in OctoberNew stats suggest retail spending here in China is on the rise.

The National Bureau of Statistics is reporting retail spending for October has increased by 11-percent on an annualized basis.

This is up slightly from the 10.9-percent year-on-year increase registered in September.

Consumer spending has been earmarked by the government as a priority as authorities attempt to shift the Chinese economy away from an export-driven model.

China's auto sales surge in OctoberLatest stats show China's automobile sales surged year on year in October while production rebounded.

China's automobile sales grew nearly 12 percent to some 2.2 million vehicles in October.

While output ended previous drops by edging up 7.1 percent year on year to about 2.1 million.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers says sales growth in October was mainly due to the growth in demand for passenger cars and new energy vehicles.

More than 19 million vehicles were sold in the first ten months of this year, 1.5 percent more than in the same period last year.

Production was marginally higher on the same basis.

China's automobile market cooled in the early months of this year as a result of the economic slowdown, fierce competition and purchase limit policies in first-tier cities.

Tencent's Q3 Revenue Beats EstimatesChina's biggest social network and online entertainment company Tencent has reported better-than-expected revenue growth in the third quarter.

Third-quarter revenue rose 34 percent year on year, the fastest rate in five quarters, hitting some 26.5 billion yuan or about 4.1 billion U.S. dollars.

Revenue in the company's value-added services category grew 28 percent to about 20.5 billion yuan, boosted by new smartphone and personal computer games, as well as social network income.

The company's advertising revenue surged 102 percent to 4.9 billion yuan thanks to an enlarged advertiser base, with 65 percent of that revenue generated on mobile platforms.

Tencent's net quarterly income came in at some 7.4 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year jump of 39 percent.

Global monthly users of Tencent's messaging app WeChat reached 650 million at the end of September, a year-on-year growth of 39 percent.

China Mobile Internet Users hit 875 millionAnchor:

A new report by the China Center for Information Industry Development shows the number of people in China using mobile Internet has surpassed 875 million.

The same report also suggests mobile Internet in China is poised to be a 2.3-trillion yuan industry by the end of this year.

The China Center for Information Industry Development expects that figure to increase to 3-trillion by the end of next year.

The forecast growth comes despite a demand by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology earlier this year that Chinese telecoms lower their fees for using the internet, while at the same time, put in money to increase connection speeds across the country.

For more on the mobile internet in China, CRI's Shane Bigham earlier spoke to John Ross, senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University.

China's industrial output up 5.6 pct in OctoberOfficial data shows China's value-added industrial output expanded 5.6 percent year on year in October, slightly down from 5.7 percent in September.

Manufacturing output expanded 6.7 percent, the same growth rate as the previous month.

Mining output growth further slowed to 0.4 percent from 1.2 percent in September.

Meanwhile, the output of the electricity, heating, gas and water sectors fell by 0.3 percent, in comparison to a 0.7-percent growth in September.

The latest data also shows that industrial output in China's central regions rose 7.7 percent in October year on year.

While industrial output in northeastern areas extended losses by 4.6 percent from 1.8 percent in September.

Value-added industrial output is used to measure the final value of industrial production, or the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate inputs, such as raw materials and labor costs.

AB InBev, SABMiller Formalize $106 Billion DealThe World's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev has finalized the terms of a 106 billion U.S. dollar takeover of South Africa's SABMiller.

As part of the deal, AB InBev has agreed to sell SABMiller's 58 percent stake in MillerCoors to its partner Molson Coors for 12 billion U.S. dollars.

The two companies had twice extended the deadline for a formal offer implementing an agreement in principle announced in October.

The deal is said to be one of the largest mergers in corporate history.

SportsIOC to strip medals amid Russia doping scandalRussian officials are moving to distance themselves from allegations of wide-spread doping among the country's athletes.

The International Olympic Committee has convened an urgent meeting of its executive to consider what action to take in response to the corruption and doping crisis now engulfing track and field.

IOC President Thomas Bach says they are considering all their options, including stripping Russian athletes of their medals.

"I've made it clear that we will, once we get the relevant information from IAAF, withdraw and reallocate medals with regard to Russian athletes which may have been doped."In response, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says its their belief the IOC is offering a knee-jerk reaction to the reports.

"These are not the first accusations against Russia and Russian sport. Generally I would not say that they accuse the ministry or myself personally. The report by the commission itself and the conclusions by the commission do not say that. This seems to be an emotional statement by the chairman of the commission, his way of understanding the situation, not more than that. And the conclusions by the commission did not reveal any unexpected facts for Russia."The World Anti-Doping Agency is recommending track and field's governing body, the IAAF, suspend the Russian Federation from competition amid allegations Russian Sports Agencies routinely paid-off leading IAAF officials, including former President Lamine Diack, to cover-up positive drug tests among its athletes.

The IOC has decided to suspend Diack as an honorary IOC member after the 80-year old was charged with corruption by French authorities last week.

Diack retired as the President of the IAAF earlier this year after the World Championships in Beijing.

Basketball: Undefeated Xinjiang, Guangsha battle tonight in CBAIn basketball,Two of the 4 undefeated teams in the CBA are going head-to-head tonight.

The Guangsha Lions are at home to Xinjiang.

Both clubs are coming into tonight's game with 3-0 records.

--There are 8 other games on the docket tonight in the CBA.

It's Beijing Beikong at home to Shandong.

--It's the 'battle of the dragons,' with Shanxi at home to Jiangsu.

--Jilin is on the road in Guangdong to take on the Southern Tigers.

--Jiangsu Tongxi is at home to Tianjin.

--Winless Bayi entertains Foshan.

--Sichuan is at home to Qingdao.

--Liaoning is on the road in Shanghai to battle the Sharks.

--And the Beijing Ducks are in Zhejiang tonight to take on Chouzhou.

-----From the NBA earlier today,After starting out the season 5-0, the Toronto Raptors are coming back to earth.

The New York Knicks handed the Raptors their 3rd-straight loss, edging Toronto at home 111-109.

--Elsewhere,It was Oklahoma City hammering Washington 125-101.

--LeBron James had 31-points to help give Cleveland its 7th straight win, edging the Utah Jazz 118-114.

--Miami downed the LA Lakers 101-88.

--Boston has moved to .500 on the season with a 99-83 road victory in Milwaukee.

--New Orleans finally got into the win column with a 120-105 victory at home this morning over Dallas.

--And Jeremy Lin had 19-points to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a 104-95 win over Minnesota.

AFC Champions League Fans Face High Ticket PricesIn football,The next round of the Asian 2018 World Cup qualifiers are set to get underway tomorrow.

China is set to take on Bhutan.

China hammered Bhutan 6-nil in their first meeting.

China currently sits third in Group C with 7 points, behind Qatar and Hong Kong.

In other action,Singapore will meet Japan in a Group E qualifier.

Singapore head Coach Bernd Stange.

"For players, for fans, it's party time. And we are prepared and we are looking forward to see a great match tomorrow. It would be nice to have enthusiastic fans for the great challenge from Singapore in red and from Japan in blue. Hopefully, we have a balance from supporting our team and the Japanese team."40 teams are competing in the qualifying round in 8 groups.

The top teams of each group will be assured a spot in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and will advance to the final round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

--------------------In off-pitch football news,Tickets for the second leg of the AFC Champions League final are now available.

Prices are ranging from 600-yuan to 39-thousand for the November 21st match.

The 39-thousand kuai tickets, 10 in total, sold out within 10-minutes of going on-sale this morning.

It's expected Evergrande is going to reap ticket proceeds in excess of 120-million yuan for the match.

Evergrande is looking for its 2nd AFC Champions League title in 3-years two-Saturday's from now when they play host to UAE side Al Ahli in the 2nd leg of the home-and-home final.

Guangzhou held Al Ahli to a scoreless draw this past weekend in Dubai.

Hockey: Marleau reportedly set to drop no-trade clauseIn the National Hockey League,Reports out of San Jose are suggesting franchise stalwart Patrick Marleau is willing to waive his no-trade clause in his contract.

Media reports are suggesting the 36-year old, who has been with San Jose since being drafted 2nd overall in 1997 and is the team's all-time leading scorer, would be willing to allow himself to be traded to three different teams.

They include the New York Rangers, the Anaheim Ducks or the LA Kings.

Marleau, who has 4 goals and 5-helpers so far this season, is in the 2nd year of a 3-year, 19-million US dollar contract.

Marleau was held off the scoreboard this afternoon as his Sharks went down to the New York Islanders 4-2.

---------------------In other action,Norwegian Andreas Martinson has made his NHL debut, recording a couple of shots on goal and clocking a 2-minute minor for Roughing in Colorado's 4-0 shut-out over Philadelphia earlier today.

"I mean it's, obviously I was a little nervous coming into the game but I mean it's only, I'm just out there and I'm just trying to play my game and play simple and enjoy my time out there. It's awesome."The 25-year old left winger was signed by Colorado in the off-season.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound forward had 18-goals and 23-assists while playing with Dusseldorf last season in the German League, and also played for Norway during the last World Cup.

---------In other NHL action,It was the New York Rangers blanking Carolina 3-0.

--Jake Allen earned his 2nd-straight shutout in leading St. Louis to a 2-0 victory over New Jersey.

--Vancouver snapped a 3-game losing skid with a 5-3 win over Columbus.

--It was Buffalo surprising Tampa Bay at home, 4-1.

--Florida managed to hold off the visiting Calgary Flames 4-3.

--Detroit blanked Washington at home 1-0.

--Nashville scored 3-unanswered goals in the 3rd to down the Ottawa Senators 7-5.

Craig Anderson allowing 7-goals on 38-shots.

--Minnesota beat Winnipeg 5-3.

--The Toronto Maple Leafs earned just their 3rd win of the year, on the road no-less, against the top team in the West, downing the Dallas Stars 3-2.

--And it was Arizona getting past the LA Kings at Staples Center 3-2.

NY Islanders marks 10th year in helping Chinese hockeyIn off-ice hockey news,A ceremony has been held in Heilongjiang's capital Harbin to commemorate 10-years of help the owner of the New York Islanders has provided to try to foster hockey development in China.

Charles Wang, the owner of the NHL franchise, set up his Ice Hockey Hope project in China in 2005.

Since then, the computer mogul has donated around 6-million U.S. dollars in cash and equipment to try to raise the level of hockey in China.

Over 30 hockey schools have been set up in 6 different provinces and municipalities.

The Ice Hockey Hope project has also sponsored around 600 Chinese players in their travel to the US, Canada and Russia to play hockey.

71-year-old Charles Wang Jialian, was born in Shanghai and moved to the US with his parents when he was 8-years old.

He co-founded Computer Associates International, what is now known as CA Technologies, and eventually purchased the New York Islanders in 2000.

EntertainmentKevin Spacey reprises House of Cards role for Alibaba in ChinaThe Netflix political drama "House of Cards" is big in China.

No wonder then that its star Kevin Spacey managed to muscle his way onto a four hour Chinese TV extravaganza celebrating Singles Day, China's annual online 11/11 shopping spree.

In his presidential persona from the series, Spacey made a video taped address as the power hungry and amoral President Frank Underwood.

In the two minute video, Spacey says in Underwood's Southern drawl that he envies people in China who can shop online during the Singles Day sale.

"Here at the White House, there's so many firewalls blocking me from shopping online that not even the President will be able to take advantage of those amazing deals you'll see online during this holiday."The Alibaba hosted variety show was held at Beijing's Water Cube, built as part of the 2008 Olympics.

It featured a 'who's who' of Asian pop stars such as Eason Chen as well as some Western names including Daniel Craig and Adam Lambert.

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2015 heldRight now, New York City is abuzz with angels – Victoria's Secret Angels, that is.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year, is taking place in New York City with dozens of models sashaying down the runway for the 20th annual event.

No fewer than 47 models are gracing the catwalk. Among them are VS Angels like Adriana Lima, Alessandria Ambrosio, and Behati Prinsloo.

This year's show also features the performance of Chinese models He Sui and Xi Mengyao.

The Brit pop sensation Ellie Goulding replaces Rihanna, and joins Selena Gomez and The Weekend as Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Performers.

Attracting a lot of attention, the 2015 Fireworks Fantasy Bra was designed exclusively by the world-renowned luxury jeweler Mouawad.

It took more than 685 hours to create and is adorned with 6,808 gems. It will be worn by Aldridge. The bra also comes with a matching belt.

The show is set to air on CBS on December 8.

'Spectre' Sets Guinness World Record for Largest Movie Explosion Ever"Spectre" may not be the biggest James Bond film ever, but it has set a new world record.

The Guinness Book of World Records has announced that one of the scenes in the sequel to "Skyfall" includes the largest film stunt explosion of all time.

The massive explosion, which lasts for more than 7.5 seconds, was filmed in Morocco.

It takes place mid way through the film. Bond and Madeleine Swann are in the middle of a desert and witness a massive criminal facility blown to pieces.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the explosion needed 8,418 litres of kerosene along with 33 kilograms of powdered explosives.

Released on November 6, "Spectre" nabbed the second biggest Bond debut of all time, grossing 70.4 million US dollars at the domestic box office.

It surpassed "Quantum of Solace" and came just behind "Skyfall", which reached 88.4 US million dollars in 2012.

'Monkey King: Hero is Back' to Screen in over 60 Countries OverseasChinese animation film 'Monkey King: Hero is Back' is set to be screened in over 60 countries, setting a new record for foreign sales of a Chinese-made 3D animation.

The film has pulled in some 956 million yuan, or over 150 million US dollars, grabbing the title of the highest grossing animation in Chinese film history.

Taking 8 years to complete, the animation has been adapted from the famous legend of the Monkey King but tells a completely different story, hoping to appeal to Chinese audiences of all ages.

As the enthusiasm for the project spread across the world, the makers have sold the distribution rights worth roughly four million US dollars to over 60 countries.

It also featured on the covers of 'SCREEN' and 'Animation Magazine' earlier this month.

The film's producers have said they plan to hire an American team to dub the voices for the characters, in order to appeal to foreign audiences.

The overseas release dates of 'Monkey King: Hero is Back' have not yet been unveiled.

WeatherBeijing will be overcast and smogy tonight with a low of 5, tomorrow will be cloudy and hazy with a high of 9.

Shanghai will be overcast tonight with a low of 13, tomorrow will have slight rain, high of 19.

Chongqing will be overcast with a low of 13, tomorrow will also be overcast, high of 15.

Lhasa will be cloudy with a low of 2, tomorrow will still be cloudy with a high of 14.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad will have slight rain with a high of 23.

Kabul, rainy, 7.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sydney, rainy, high of 24,Brisbane,also rainy,25,Perth, cloudy, 33,And finally Auckland, New Zealand will be rainy with a high of 18 degrees Celsius.

That's it for this edition of the Beijing Hour...

A quick look at the headlines before we go...

Mongolia's President wrapping up an official visit to China.

Sales records are set to be broken once-again during this year's Single's Day, the busiest shopping day of the year in the world.

The UK's Prime Minister sets out his demands to allow Britian to remain in the European Union.

New stats show retail spending in China continues to increase.

On behalf of co-host Bob Jones and the rest of the Beijing Hour staffers, this is Paul James in Beijing hoping you'll join us for the next edition of the Beijing Hour to open a window to the world together...