Just links again today, have some relatives visiting:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Signs That a Financial Overhaul May Be in the Works – NYTimes.com This week’s Dealbook column, I didnt pick the headline. Column also discusses Alibaba // Signs of preparations for more slowing are evident though, as a Xinhua article on Sunday said that growth below 7 percent would “not be tolerated,” while other Chinese new reports held out the possibility of targeted stimulus measures if the country’s G.D.P. growth weakens.

Related: 李克强托底“稳增长” 发改委上报方案 – 经济观察网 － 专业财经新闻网站 Economic Observer says NDRC has given Li Keqiang a plan to ensure steady growth, now awaiting Politburo approval before rolling out…not the blunt stimulus of past but targeted support, apparently // 稳增长的相关政策已成型。国家发改委的官员对经济观察报说，下半年政策将整体保持与此前的连贯性，支持的重点集中在环保、节能、新技术、中小企业以及农村基础设施投资上来，采取信贷和财税政策相结合的措施来稳定经济增长。 据悉，国家发改委7月17日上报给李克强的稳增长方案，待政治局讨论通过后开始逐步出台。此外，商务部新闻发言人沈丹阳7月17日称，将很快出台稳定外贸的支持措施…据透露，国家发改委在向李克强汇报的方案中提出，在保证既定货币规模情况下，进一步引导信贷支持实体。对不同行业有保有压，区别对待。其中先进制造业、节能环保、高科技产业为代表的新兴产业、以及吸引就业较大的服务业将获得更充裕的货币和相关政策支持。值得注意的是，李克强在7月16日的座谈会上，邀请了中国节能集团董事长王小康参加。王小康建议，激活节能环保产业市场，增强财政投入有效性。// would not be surprised to see more than the market perhaps expects for clean energy and environmental cleanup

Related: 贷款松绑破题利率市场化改革 新华社——经济参考网 接受《经济参考报》记者采访的国内多位专家称，“央行这项政策的信号意义十分明显，银行利率市场化又迈出实质性一步。央行之所以选择放开贷款利率而非存款，正是因为现阶段是利率市场化改革的一个合适时间窗，放开贷款利率对金融机构和市场的影响最为平稳。至于说未来对实体企业的融资成本下降，究竟有多大促进作用，还有待观察。”

Rare appearance as ex-president Jiang Zemin meets Henry Kissinger | South China Morning Post Former president Jiang Zemin, in a departure from the usual practice of ex-holders of the position, met former US state secretary Henry Kissenger on July 3, Xinhua news agency and the Chinese foreign ministry’s website reported on Monday. //Jiang’s comments a sign of strength for Xi, that he has Jiang’s full support for the Third Plenum and his current policies? Or a sign of weakness, that he needs public signals from Jiang to shore up his position? Or Jiang making clear that he is still important? Or using Jiang and Kissinger to send a signal to Obama about desire for positive relations with the US? Or some or all of the above?

Related: 江泽民会见美国前国务卿基辛格 The official MoFA statemement on the Jiang-Kissinger dinner..was it also a last hurrah meeting for the two? // 2013年7月3日，正在上海的中国前国家主席江泽民在西郊宾馆会见并宴请了美国前国务卿基辛格及家人。江泽民夫人王冶平，基辛格夫人南希·基辛格、儿媳罗克韦尔、孙女索菲亚·基辛格、孙子威廉·基辛格参加了会见和宴请。知情人士认为，江泽民和基辛格携家人举行家庭式、“庄园式”相会，谈得“很轻松、很真诚”，谈话涉及内容“很重要”。知情人士透露了这次会见的情况。…江泽民说，不久前我与习近平主席通电话，他委托我向你及家人表示亲切问候。你知道，像中国这样一个拥有13亿人口的大国，需要有一位强有力的领导人。去年中国共产党第十八次全国代表大会选举习近平为中共中央总书记，今年3月的十二届全国人大一次会议又选举他为国家主席，完成了中国领导班子的新老交替。习近平是一位非常能干、有智慧的国家领导人。中国这么大的国家毫无疑问会存在一些这样或那样的问题。出了问题并不可怕，关键是要果断处理。最近，中国新疆发生了暴力恐怖袭击事件，习近平果断决策，迅速控制了局势。上个月，习近平在美国加州安纳伯格庄园同奥巴马举行了会晤，他们进行了长时间的友好交流，非常坦诚地就两国关系中的许多重要问题以及国际和地区问题交换了看法，这对中美关系发展非常有益。

Related: 借宴请基辛格全家 江泽民罕见露面挺习_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei on the meeting//  对于基辛格提到的目前习近平面临的改革困难，江泽民表达了对习近平的绝对信心，他表示，“虽然我们目前还有很多困难需要克服，但我对新一届领导班子充满信心，相信他们能够解决这些问题。”基辛格也承认，“习近平主席在处理外交问题时所表现出的勇气和智慧令我印象深刻。”有分析人士表示，尽管此次会晤是家庭式的会面，但中国外交部以官方形式发布足见其重视程度。同时，文中的“谈话内容涉及‘很重要’”的措辞也让人颇为注意。而江泽民借与基辛格的会面力挺新任领导人习近平，也让人期待并观望中共改革和中美关系接下来的走向。而且，中国外交部的这篇“知情人士”爆料的文章，释放政治信号也颇为明显。有评论家认为，在四川多名与周有关高官落马的微妙局势下，对外界在薄熙来事件后有所猜疑的江习关系做澄清，延续在习时代的政治影响力。

Related: Ex-leader Jiang says nothing to fear from disputes with U.S. – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun “After 1989 Sino-U.S. relations certainly went through a difficult period, and then with the hard work of both sides, myself and President Clinton were able to visit each other,” Jiang said during the meeting on July 3, according to a statement issued on July 22 by China’s Foreign Ministry. “My personal understanding is that although at present there are certain contradictions which exist between China and the United States, as long as our leaders have a frank exchange of views many problems can be resolved.”

Observing Japan: Abe’s underwhelming victory the pro-revision parties fell short of a supermajority. The pro-constitution revision parties needed to win at least 162 seats to be in a position to pass constitutional amendments in the HOC. Given that the pro-revision parties don’t even share the same vision for the constitution, the road to revision is no less steep today than it was before the HOC election.

Related: ELECTION ANALYSIS/ Masaru Sato: ‘Reality-based thinking’ needed to improve relations with Asian neighbors – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Abe’s overseas travel schedule doesn’t include visits to China or South Korea even though Japan’s relations with these Asian neighbors, deeply poisoned due to bilateral disputes concerning territorial and history issues, are in need of urgent repair. How can the Abe administration achieve the diplomatic breakthrough needed to start mending Japan’s strained ties with these countries? In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Masaru Sato, a former Foreign Ministry intelligence analyst and writer, discussed this and other related issues.

Xi hints at just minor reform down on the farm | South China Morning Post Li Guoxiang, a research fellow with the Rural Development Research Institute under China’s Academy of Social Science, said the comments “indicate that China will soon push forwards with plans to reform its land system”. “Judging from what Xi said, China will adhere to the current collective rural land ownership system, while at the same time trying to amend loopholes in the system,” Li said. “There will not be any big changes to the current system.

Related: 习近平：好好研究土地流转问题 – 高层动态 – 新华网 新华网北京7月22日电 据新华社新华视点微博报道，习近平来到武汉农村综合产权交易所，了解涉农产权交易尤其是土地流转交易情况。他说，这是有益探索。如何在坚持农村土地集体所有性质的前提下完善联产承包责任制，既保障基本农田和粮食安全，又通过合乎规范的流转增加农民收入？一系列问题在下一步改革中要好好研究。

Related: 习近平：建设美丽乡村不要“涂脂抹粉”_新浪房产_新浪网 Xi’s comments about urbanization and the countryside may indicate an approach that will not please those still hoping that some massive urbanization plan will be a huge growth and commodities stimulus // 习近平还来到进行城乡一体化试点的鄂州市长港镇峒山村。他说，实现城乡一体化，建设美丽乡村，是要给乡亲们造福，不要把钱花在不必要的事情上，比如说“涂脂抹粉”，房子外面刷层白灰，一白遮百丑。不能大拆大建，特别是古村落要保护好。 习近平说，即使将来城镇化达到70%以上，还有四五亿人在农村。农村绝不能成为荒芜的农村、留守的农村、记忆中的故园。城镇化要发展，农业现代化和新农村建设也要发展，同步发展才能相得益彰，要推进城乡一体化发展。

Why a Reporter Feels Sympathy for an Airport Bomber – Caixin Siding with a man who commits a terrifying act is normal when you hear so many stories of people so wronged they lack the will to live

债袭区县：“四万亿”惯性催动“饮鸩止渴”？ |_21世纪网 very long 21st Century Herald story investigating local debt, says there is a chance it has been overstated… // 核心提示：中国的地方性政府债务余额到底是多少？审计署、财政部、银监会都在监测统计，对其统计口径不尽相同，公布周期也差别很大，彰显出地方债务的复杂性。财政系统人士甚至担忧，地方债务问题被过度放大，成为做空中国经济的一项工具。

GSK says senior executives appear to have broken Chinese law | Reuters “Certain senior executives of GSK China, who know our systems well, appear to have acted outside of our processes and controls which breaches Chinese law,” the firm’s head of emerging markets, Abbas Hussain, said in a statement. Hussain, sent to China last week to lead GSK’s response to the crisis, held a meeting with the Ministry of Public Security at which he also promised to review GSK’s business model. “Savings made as a result of proposed changes to our operational model will be passed on in the form of price reductions, ensuring our medicines are more affordable to Chinese patients,” Hussain added. // so a win for consumers?

Related: Files Suggest a Graft Case in China May Expand – NYTimes.com documents obtained by The New York Times show that in the last three years at least six other global pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Novartis, Roche and Sanofi, used the same travel agency to make arrangements for events and conferences. The records included invoices for hotel bookings, travel visas and airline tickets to Chinese cities, and to Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea and the United States. One of the drug companies appears to have used the travel agency to make a $2,500 grant to the Cancer Foundation of China.

Related: China Travel Agency in Glaxo Probe Used by Sanofi, Roche – Bloomberg Sanofi, based in Paris, and Roche and Novartis of Basel, Switzerland, stopped using the travel agency, called Shanghai Linjiang, once the allegations of wrongdoing surfaced, the three drugmakers said yesterday. Merck also has stopped doing business with the agency, a spokeswoman said. Separately, AstraZeneca Plc said yesterday that police had visited its offices in Shanghai related to “a local police matter focused on a sales representative” and there is no reason to believe the case is related to any other probes.

Related: How GlaxoSmithKline missed red flags in China | Reuters Still, other auditing experts are asking why and whether GSK auditors failed to comb through the Chinese unit’s marketing expenses. They say that one red flag was the number of checks being written to travel agencies for sending doctors to medical conferences, although this may have been blurred by the fact that CME accounts for a huge part of drug industry marketing. Nonetheless, it was an obvious area for suspicion, according Paul Gillis, author of the China Accounting Blog and also a former PwC partner. “Travel agencies are used like ATMs in China to distribute out illegal payments. Any company that does not have their internal audit department all over travel agency spending is negligent,” he said. //Possible that senior foreign management did not know what was going on?

Michael Hayden reveals true scale of US-China intelligence competition-Lowy Interpreter That does not mean we need to agree with or vouch for every word Hayden has said. But it is very much to be welcomed that such a senior, experienced and credible figure from the US intelligence community has spoken openly about the global intelligence competition between China and the US and what it means for countries like Australia. His on-the-record remarks are an important data point in understanding the risks and uncertainties of Australia’s changing security environment. //Increasingly hopeless for Huawei in Western markets, must be tough to be a foreign employee of the firm given the rhetoric. Hope it pays well

Related: Hayden’s revelations applauded by security experts–Australian Financial Review– Rory Medcalf, a former intelligence analyst who is a now program director at the Lowy Institute, said: “General Hayden is the most authoritative voice yet to lift the veil on the global intelligence competition between China and the US and what it means for us. “In January, the government warned of cyber espionage and foreign inter­ference but declined to name countries of concern,” Mr Medcalf said. “General Hayden is much more forthright and we have to take seriously his assertion that the intelligence ­contest between China and America is more pervasive than anything in the Cold War.”

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

China Stresses “Stablizing Growth” amid Economic Slowdown-Caijing China’s GDP growth slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter from a 7.7 percent increase in the previous quarter, putting the economy at the risks of missing its official target of 7.5 percent, government data showed. Policies in investment and consumption would be eased somewhat, reported by the China Business News, citing government sources. Railway investment, reconstruction of shanty towns and investment in city infrastructure are at the center of future policy stimulus, the officials said…. The party-run Xinhua News Agency took the point a step further, saying on Monday in an online commentary that the “bottom target” for this year’s economic growth is at 7.5 percent, and a growth below 7.0 percent will not be tolerated. The analysis cited the job market as the most important factor in setting such targets. Calculations by authorities showed only an economic growth at/above 7.2 percent could ensure that the unemployment rate-a potential for social instability- would not slip to below 5 percent, it said.

China PBOC Advisor: No Deposit Rate Reform In Near Term: Press | MNI The ceiling on Chinese deposit rates isn’t likely to be changed in the near term, despite the scrapping of the floor on lending rates, an advisor to the People’s Bank of China said in comments published Monday. Song Guoqing, an academic member of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, said in the official Shanghai Securities News that Friday’s announcement granting lenders the freedom to price loans was made with an eye on the economic slowdown. But Song, an economist with Peking University, said the government needs to handle deposit rate reform “very carefully,” moving in small steps.

China Banks Sell Net CNY41.2 Bln In June, Suggesting Outflows | MNI Chinese banks sold a net CNY41.2 bln in foreign exchange in June, indicating the first net outflow of capital since last year. The sale compares with the average CNY315.2 billion in net purchases by banks, including the People’s Bank of China, during the first five months of 2013. The PBOC’s foreign exchange position data is used as a proxy to measure capital flows in and out of China. June marked the first net sale since last November’s CNY73.6 billion.

The China disconnect: analysts lose plot on financial stocks | Reuters Experts said the recommendation gap for China was wide for other reasons. One is that big Chinese firms tend to be connected to the ruling Communist Party, and few analysts want to put their institution into an awkward position with the government. Another reason, cited by industry insiders, is that China’s banks and insurers might raise money in the next year to recapitalise, and no bank wants to miss out on what could be huge offerings and big fees.

China Bank Shares Fall as Beijing Loosens Grip on Interest Rates – MoneyBeat – WSJ Lending accounts for the vast majority of Chinese banks’ profits. Assuming a 10% decline in net-interest income — or the difference between what banks charge on loans and pay on deposits — and a 15% increase in assets, Chinese banks would have to raise between $50 billion and $100 billion in the next two years to maintain their current capital-adequacy levels, according to an analysis by ChinaScope Financial, a Shanghai-based research and data firm partly owned by Moody’s Corp.

Beijing Lending Shift May Force Banks to Raise Capital – WSJ.comIn a sign of investors’ belief that more stress is ahead for Chinese banks, many hedge funds and other alternative funds are sticking to heavy bets against Chinese banks listed in Hong Kong, even as a cash crunch that gripped China’s financial system has eased significantly. Just three of China’s nine largest banks by assets are trading above book value, or what the assets on their balance sheet are worth, according to FactSet Research.

A Tale of Three Cities – Economic Observer Online – A look at how the cities of Ordos, Yulin and Tieling are dealing with slowing fiscal revenue growth following the recent drop in coal prices.

KFC Ice Cubes Found Dirtier than Toilet Water-Caijing CCTV said test results of samples from stores of KFC, McDonalds and the Chinese brand the Kung Fu at the same location found excessive levels bacteria colonies in their ice.

Value of Wealth Management Products Reaches ‘9.85 Tln Yuan in June’ -Caixin The total value of wealth management products offered by banks was 9.85 trillion yuan at the end of June, a banking official says. Wang Yanxiu, the head of the financial innovation department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), said at a forum on July 18 that regulators encouraged banks to come up with new ideas, but stressed innovation should be closely scrutinized.

China Shipyards Hurt by Low Down Payments Amid Credit Crunch – Bloomberg During the 2007 shipping boom, China’s shipyards charged down payments of as much as 60 percent of a vessel’s value. Now, shipbuilders are cutting those payments to as little as 2 percent, giving an advantage to state-owned companies that can tap the government’s cash.

华润董事长被举报牵出张新明：神秘中间人牵线收购|华润|宋林|张新明_新浪财经_新浪网 The China Resources Power corruption case gets more interesting // 华润董事长宋林被实名举报后，隐藏在这宗收购案背后的另一主角——金业集团董事长、前山西能源首富张新明再次浮出水面。“张新明是山西煤老板中的一种典型。”山西多位熟悉煤炭行业的人士这样告诉《每日经济新闻》记者。

自力更生，推进现代化的法宝–钟 声 《 人民日报 》 Zhong Sheng takes up Xi Jinping’s call for self-reliance // 未来可预见的一段时间内，对中国这样一个崛起中的大国而言，对外关系中的竞争一面只会进一步加大。当前，一些国家更是力图借重新制定国际贸易与投资标准重获竞争优势。中国要继续发展，有更大的作为，必须有足够的战略清醒和战略定力。自力更生、艰苦奋斗，鼓足改革动力，坚定发展追求，为实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦提供强大的精神支撑。

夏斌：加快结构调整是当前经济工作首要考虑_证券时报网 more from the DRC’s Xia Bin // 带 着这些问题，证券时报记者近日专访国务院参事、南开大学国家经济研究院院长（财苑）夏斌、中国政法大学资本研究中心主任刘纪鹏（财苑）、国务院发展研究中心资源与环境政策 研究所副所长李佐军、广东金融学院院长陆磊以及汇丰银行大中华区首席经济学家屈宏斌（财苑）等专家学者。即日起，我们将在“经济筑底股市突围”系列报道中刊发各位 专家精彩观点，敬请留意。

Aluminium; parallel universe or the same one? Andy Home | Reuters AZ China estimates that about five million tonnes of new capacity is going to come on line in China this year, although it will not necessarily translate into that amount of metal because big smelters need time to build up to full-capacity run-rates. But even as those newer, lower-cost smelters come on stream, many older higher-cost plants in China’s central and eastern provinces continue to defy cost-curve economics. They can do so largely because of a helping hand from local governments, which don’t want to see major contributors to GDP and taxes disappear into oblivion.

A list of China bear repellents | FT Alphaville Deutsche Banks’ China economics analysts are pondering why their forecast for 8.5 per cent growth next year is well above consensus (and even well above the IMF’s 7.7 per cent and the World Bank’s 8 per cent). They have come up with a list of reasons why everyone else might be overlooking some positive possibilities for future economic growth. We’re not sure if we agree, but bear with us (haha) anyway.

China sees no major forex withdrawal: regulator – Xinhua | English.news.cn Bank-to-client foreign exchange transactions are a major source of fluctuation in China’s foreign exchange reserves. The administration denied any signs of a major forex withdrawal and said the country’s forex is expected to stabilize amid fluctuations in the second half of the year. Foreign exchange inflows to China have been slowing since May due to a variety of factors, a SAFE official said

张立群：中国经济不会硬着陆（上）–国研视点–中国经济新闻网 ——访国务院发展研究中心宏观经济研究部研究员张立群

What’s in a Number? In China, Not Much – Bloomberg – Michael Pettis OpEd As the debate in Beijing intensifies over the quality and sustainability of China’s economic growth, a shift in thinking is taking place. China’s most thoughtful economists are increasingly skeptical about the need for high gross domestic product growth rates.

Hotlines spring up for China VIPs to buy luxury goods amid anti-graft drive | South China Morning Post One of my friends in Shanghai’s retail business said many of those luxury shops’ hotlines have grown busier since Xi took office earlier this year and quickly launched a nationwide campaign to fight corruption on all levels. That explains why, although the shops may be empty, business is not be as bad as you’d think.// nice anecdote, too bad no numbers on size of this

POLITICS AND LAW

Security in full swing in Beidaihe as resort awaits VIPs | South China Morning PostIdentification must be shown along the only two roads leading into the resort area. Once inside Beidaihe, there is a noticeable police presence everywhere. Officers stand at 50-metre intervals guarding the length of Dongjing Road, the main road through the town. A police officer who declined to be named said he had been assigned from Qinhuangdao city’s Haigang district at the start of the month and might have to stay until the end of August.

舆论场：“人奶”盛宴_中国_多维新闻网 言辞凿凿，亮点不断。亲共港媒大公网21日先以《新华社记者举报正部级官员接受情色贿赂喝人奶》为题报道，并在官方认证微博中贴出短文。随后，凤凰网、《华商报》等官微纷纷转引，将舆情热度进一步推高。因为牵扯正部级高官，所以消息很快被封杀和屏蔽——大公网相关文章链接失效，点击后提示“您浏览的页面暂时不能显示”；凤凰网、《华商报》等官微的转引，只能以截屏方式存活。爆料人周方本人的微博更是难觅踪影。

Party propagandists impose ‘China Dream’ on skeptical public-USA Today–After months of pushing the China Dream in state-run media, the nation’s vast propaganda machinery now spins in full motion, holding speaker sessions, galas and competitions nationwide, setting up publicity “walls” and preparing an online and cellphone barrage.

揭开中国干部培训三大系统神秘面纱-时政频道-新华网 中国干部培训体系，主要由各级党校、行政学院、干部学院三大系统构成。这三大系统源源不断地将素养更深、水平更高、眼界更广、本领更强的党员干部，输送到各个工作岗位上。本网编辑将带你走进中国干部培训的三大系统，揭开干部培训的神秘面纱。

成都高投集团副总徐亮被调查 或涉国腾何燕案|成都高投集团|何燕案_21世纪网 another Chengdu magnate goes down// 知情人士透露，徐亮被纪检部门调查一事，与何燕案有着密切联系。而徐亮和何燕交叉点或源于一桩土地使用性质的改变。

俞正声:幻想另外去傍什么别的主义注定无前途_网易新闻中心 俞正声指出，坚持什么主义，走什么道路，是历史的选择、人民的选择。中国特色社会主义作为党和人民90多年奋斗、创造、积累的根本成就，作为改革开放30多年实践的科学总结，作为凝聚中国力量的伟大旗帜，是最值得珍惜、最需要坚持和发展的宝贵财富，全面建成小康社会、实现中华民族伟大复兴不能偏离这个根本方向。

A Reformist Chinese Leader? Stop Fooling Yourself | TIME.com When I read the news on China, I think not just about how far the country has moved since Deng’s time but also since Chiang’s. And yet, while China is radically different in so many ways than it was in the Nationalist period (1927–49) or earlier in the current post-Mao era, Xu’s detention and increased doubts about Xi’s potential to move China forward politically remind me not only of things I’ve been reading in the press since the late 1970s, but also things I’ve encountered in the archives from three-quarters of a century ago.

 

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Xi urges closer officer-soldier ties in military campaign – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for unswerving efforts to strengthen relations between military officers and common soldiers through a campaign inside the military. The campaign, which was initiated in April, requires senior officers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the armed police to live and train as common soldiers for at least 15 days in grassroots units every one to five years, depending on their rank. Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the campaign will help promote military traditions, improve its work style, strengthen ties between officers and soldiers and reinforce the construction of grassroots military units.

习近平就当兵蹲连作出重要指示 总政治部下发通知要求认真抓好指示精神贯彻落实 – 高层动态 – 新华网   新华网北京7月22日电　日前，中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平作出重要指示：“全军和武警部队团以上领导和机关干部下连当兵、蹲连住班，对于弘扬我军光荣传统、改进工作作风、密切官兵关系、加强基层建设都起到了重要促进作用。要认真研究新形势下当兵蹲连的特点规律，总结推广好的经验和做法，坚持不懈地抓好这项工作，确保深入持久、扎实有效。”习主席的重要指示，深刻阐明了领导和机关干部当兵蹲连的重大意义，明确提出了深入推进这项工作的基本要求，为进一步抓好当兵蹲连工作指明了方向。总政专门发出通知，要求各级认真贯彻落实习主席重要指示精神，以更高的标准、更大的力度把当兵蹲连工作抓得更加富有成效。

国务院令：中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理条例-时政频道-新华网 full text of new visa regulations

美军行动罔顾环境受质疑–为减轻负载竟将废弹投向世界自然遗产大堡礁–人民日报 People’s Daily makes a big deal of the US planes ditching ordnance on the great barrier reef //

 

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Taiwan Debates Medical Parole for Ex-Leader – NYTimes.com Always divisive in office, Chen Shui-bian is now a center of controversy in prison, as an emotional debate unfolds on this self-governing island over whether he should be granted medical parole. It is a question that provokes sharp reactions, reflecting lingering divisions over Mr. Chen’s tarnished legacy as the activist lawyer who was jailed by Taiwan’s old authoritarian government — and then went on in 2000 to unseat the Nationalist Party that had governed the island since the end of World War II.

 

TECH AND MEDIA

First Major WeChat Outage Unleashes Flood of Sad Emoticons – China Real Time Report – WSJTencent said on a verified account on Sina Corp. SINA -0.73%’s Weibo microblogging platform that WeChat and some other Tencent services went down beginning around 8 a.m. Monday morning due to a malfunction with two optical cables in a server room.

MIIT Releases Real-Name Network Access Regulations | Marbridge Consulting  China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released real-name registration regulations requiring that new fixed-line and mobile users (including internet data card users) provide real-name identification when signing up for such services, starting from September 1.

Huawei Favors New Construction Rather than Upgrade for TD-LTE | Marbridge Consulting Ding Yun, CEO of Chinese telecom equipment and terminal manufacturer Huawei’s Carrier Network Business Group, revealed in a recent interview that Huawei believes construction of a new TD-LTE network, as opposed to upgrading existing operator 3G networks, is the best option for China Mobile’s (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) TD-LTE network moving forward. Huawei has previously expressed support for both new network construction and network upgrade methods of TD-LTE deployment, but has now joined the ranks of European telecom equipment providers Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent in supporting new TD-LTE network construction. Chinese rival ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ), the world’s leading supplier of TD-SCDMA equipment, is pushing China Mobile for a network upgrade-based strategy.

Salesforce.com Accelerates Salesforce Marketing Cloud Industry Leadership, Announces New Radian6 Social Listening Coverage in China and Russia – salesforce.com global brands will be able to comprehensively listen to conversations and engage with people on the most popular and widely adopted social networks in these countries, including Sina Weibo and VKontakte (VK.com). With the new social listening coverage, marketers will be empowered to identify sales leads, discover advocates, uncover social influence, track sentiment and more through Radian6

 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

气功“大师”王林恐吓记者：年纪轻轻不得好死_新闻_腾讯网 Qigong master Wang Lin threatens the journalist who wrote an expose of him // 【“大师”王林恐吓记者“不得好死”】“你年纪轻轻不得好死。”22日，“大师”王林电话新京报记者张寒，斥责其“收钱报道”。记者解释是客观报道，未收钱，也未受任何人委托，为报社所派。他截住话头说“我告诉你，你不得好死，你们全家都不得好死”。该日，新京报刊文《隐秘“大师”王林的金钱王国》。

Mixed-blood model shines at Nanning Auto Show – Xinhua | English.news.cn at least they didn’t call her a muggle?

电影披露60年代大饥荒 百姓吃树叶令周恩来愧疚_网易新闻中心 this new film on Zhou Enlai sounds very interesting, includes “realistic” scenes from the Great Leap Forward // 真实的历史构成了影片故事的坚实依据：“大跃进”、苏联逼债、自然灾害、国民经济濒临崩溃，上世纪50年代末60年代初的中国处在天灾人祸的大饥荒中。在这个真实的历史背景下，周总理来到伯延公社。总理要倾听老百姓真实的心里话，要知道老百姓吃得饱不饱？日子好过不好过？影片将民生大计集中在“公社食堂办不办”，来描写周总理四天四夜的调研生活。银幕上第一次用艺术形象正面揭开了中央政策失误造成的后果，形象地再现历史真相。这是何等的勇气，何等的历史唯物主义精神！导演睿智地采用摄影师跟随总理拍照贯穿全片，他是历史的见证者，这个巧妙的视点，有力地还原了历史的真实性。独特的艺术构思，把历史真实与艺术虚构恰当完美地统一起来，将重大革命历史题材影片创作推上一个新台阶

Behind China’s Hindu temples, a forgotten history – The Hindu In and around Quanzhou, a bustling industrial city, there are shrines that historians believe may have been part of a network of more than a dozen Hindu temples and shrines

 

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

习近平赴格林美考察废弃物绿色回收利用_宏观_中证网 Xi Jinping visited the Wuhan branch of electronics recyclying firm GEM, stock closed limit up 10% Monday

China to implement stricter air quality controls |Society |chinadaily.com.cn what about forcing the petro SOEs to refine cleaner gasoline? // Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian announced at an international forum that China will issue a series of tough measures by the end of July to curb air pollution. The measures will enhance controls over PM2.5, or dangerous airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter, in populated regions and metropolises, said Zhou, who added that curbing air pollution is a “protracted battle.”

75 dead, 14 missing after Gansu quake – Xinhua The death toll has climbed to 75, with 14 others still unaccounted for, after an earthquake hit northwest China’s Gansu Province on Monday morning, local authorities said. As of 6 p.m. on Monday, 73 people in the city of Dingxi and two in the neighboring city of Longnan had been confirmed killed in a 6.6-magnitude quake that jolted the border of Minxian and Zhangxian counties at 7:45 a.m., the Dingxi municipal government said

A Perfect Storm: Kunming’s downtown floods after record rainfall, killing two | East by Southeast 48 hours of continuously hard rain pounded Kunming’s downtown area late last week dropping more than 40 cm of water and flooding the city’s north and central business districts.  Two city residents were killed and one still remains missing.  Tens of thousands of Kunmingers woke up on Friday morning to find their cars submerged, and the inventories of hundreds of downtown shops were ruined.  Four kilometers of Beijing Road, the city’s main north-south artery were shut down, crippling city traffic through Sunday.// lots of photos

 

BEIJING

Beijing knife attack leaves one dead – Xinhua The suspect, a Beijing resident surnamed Wang and born in 1963, had a history of mental illness. He was admitted to a local psychiatric hospital for treatment on Sept. 5, 2012, and left the hospital in January this year, the statement said.