China Digest : 14th - 15th May 2015

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PUBLISHED : Thursday, 14 May, 2015, 9:41am
UPDATED : Thursday, 14 May, 2015, 4:04pm

May 14: Premier calls for lower telecoms charges; police arrest 10 over killing of panda

SCMP online

China has close to 1.3 billion mobile phone users as of the end of last year. Photo: EPA

Politics & policies

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reiterated that telecommunications companies should lower mobile data and roaming fees. (People.cn)

China's health ministry said in a report that families following the one-child policy were better off than those who did not. (People.cn)

China will ensure that all key public areas are covered by video surveillance cameras by 2020 to fight crime and ensure social stability, the government said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Security cameras are attached to pole in front of portrait of former Chinese Chairman Mao on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Photo: Reuters

Diplomacy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a three-day visit to China starting from today. He arrived in Xi'an, capital of in President Xi Jinping's ancestral home province of Shaanx this morning. (Xinhua)

Economy

Chinese banks issued 707.9 billion yuan (US$114 billion) worth of new yuan loans in April, down from 1.18 trillion yuan in March and below economists' expectations, data from the People's Bank of China showed. (MarketWatch)

Brazil’s top mortgage lender Caixa Econômica Federal, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), will create a US$50 billion fund for Brazilian infrastructure investments, said sources from both governments. (Reuters)

Model of Comac C919 passenger plane is displayed at China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in China's Zhuhai. Photo: Reuters

The maiden flight of China’s only homegrown commercial jet, the Comac C919, is behind schedule and delivery could be pushed back as much as two years, sources familiar with the programme said, dealing a blow to its push to challenge Airbus and Boeing. (Reuters)

Tech

Wanda Group's Wang Jianlin and an investment firm founded by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Jack Ma took part in a 800 million yuan ($129 million) funding round for a little-known sports entertainment company backed by local tech firm LeTV. (Reuters)

Dalian Wanda's Wang Jianlin (left) shakes hands with Jack Ma of Alibaba Group at a conference in Shenyang. Photo: Reuters

Asia’s second largest internet company Tencent’s revenue surged 40 per cent to 22.4 billion yuan (US$3.65 billion) in the first quarter ended March; The company said it might invest more to build up its WeChat messaging app mobile payment service should the opportunity arise. (Reuters)

A team from China's National Supercomputer Centre in Guangzhou has completed a simulation involving three trillion neutrinos and dark matter particles using the world's fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-2. (Xinhua)

Society

Part of the HK$28 million dollar ransom involved in the kidnapping case is exhibited at the press conference on Wednesday. Photo: qq.com

Guangdong provincial police have detained eight suspects in the kidnapping of Bossini heiress Queenie Rosita Law last month in Hong Kong and recovered part of the HK$28 million dollar ransom. The authorities said the case has been solved. Read full SCMP report

Ministry of Public Security said a probe has been launched into the fatal police shooting of an unarmed petitioner at a railway station in Heilongjiang province that has sparked public uproar. Read full SCMP report

Yunnan police arrest 10 residents suspected of killing a female panda and selling its flesh. (CCTV)

Police seized panda fur from the suspects in Yunnan over killing of a female panda. Photo: CCTV

 

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PUBLISHED : Friday, 15 May, 2015, 10:23am
UPDATED : Friday, 15 May, 2015, 10:23am

May 15: State Council moves to cut bureaucracy; man arrested over baby stealing rumours

SCMP online

Supporters of the Chinese plaintiffs for the injuries caused by dumped chemical weapons of the Japanese forces in China during WWII, march in front of the Tokyo High Court. Photo: AFP

Politics

China's state council cancels non-administrative review process to cut red tape. (Xinhua)

Diplomacy and defence

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged Japan to speed up destruction of the abandoned chemical weapons in China as they remain a health and environmental threat. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

China said it opposed Japan's bid to list 23 coal mines, shipyards and other early industrial zones, many of which used forced labour from China and Korea during the World War II, as world heritage sites. (Ministry of Foregin Affairs)

Five were injured on Thursday in China’s Yunnan province when a bomb from Myanmar fell on Chinese territory. (The Beijing News)

Economy

China's money supply grew at its slowest pace on record and investment growth sank to its lowest in nearly 15 years as April data showed the world's second-largest economy was still losing momentum. (Reuters)

China's fiscal spending jumped 33.2 percent in April from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Thursday, quickening sharply from the 4.4 percent rise seen in March and reflecting government efforts to support a slowing economy. (Reuters)

Society

Police in China's Hunan province dismissed a girl's claim that her father tried to poison her for insurance money, as a hospital examination showed she was in good health. (people.cn)

Shandong police detained a man for spreading rumours that a gang of 100 men were stealing babies to get human organs. (people.cn)