News » Society » Death toll from China's building fire rises to 3

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• Death toll from China's building fire rises to 3
• Judges decide to pass on gay marriage case
• A court in Taiwan has shrunk away from ruling on a gay couple's wish to have their marriage registered, saying it is passing on the controversial case to the island's top judicial body.
• VIDEO: North-south route for China train
• Diggers Pile Up Unsold After Caterpillar Adds Capacity
• Yum Brands Says It’s Cooperating With China’s Review of Chicken
• Hollywood Cashes in on China
• L’Oreal runs beauty academy in Shanghai
• Have You Heard…
• China bans alcohol in military banquets to curb graft
• Getting up to speed with Guangzhou-Beijing bullet train
• Poultry goods ban
• Lhasa project
• 2 dead, 20 injured in high-rise fire
• Coldest days since 1985 for Beijing
• Online information bill to be deliberated
• Penguin eats her chick
• Workers shape snow sculpture in Jilin
• Fire rages through NW China office building, one missing
• Fire rages through NW China office building, one missing

Death toll from China's building fire rises to 3 Posted: 22 Dec 2012 07:13 PM PST THE death toll from a commercial building fire in northwest China has risen to three after a security guard's body was found, a local fire-fighting officer said today. The security guard went missing when he helped evacuate people in the the 14-story World Trade Building in downtown Yan'an in Shaanxi Province yesterday. The identities of two others were yet to be identified, said Jia Xueqi, an officer of Yan'an fire department. The fire broke out at about 4:30am yesterday, injuring 20 people aged from 7 to 51. Jia said that authorities will collect more evidence today to determine the cause of the accident.

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VIDEO: North-south route for China train Posted: 22 Dec 2012 04:35 PM PST The world's longest high-speed train route will start operating in China on Wednesday, between Beijing and Guangzhou, after the completion of final tests.

Diggers Pile Up Unsold After Caterpillar Adds Capacity Posted: 22 Dec 2012 10:39 AM PST Source: Bloomberg News By Shruti Date SinghCaterpillar Inc. (CAT), Komatsu Ltd. (6301) and other construction-equipment makers have built enough capacity in China to satisfy global demand twice over while sales in the country are falling, according to a research company. Manufacturing capacity in China is almost 600,000 excavators a year while the worldwide market is about 300,000, according to London-based Off-Highway Research. Inventories of crawler excavators in China are about 100,000, almost equal to projected 2012 domestic sales, the research firm's Managing Director David C.A. Phillips said. The supply glut is a blow to Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar and its competitors who built factories and bought local companies to grab a share of the biggest construction equipment market. Now, with government property controls slowing construction, those companies are cutting output and trying to export unsold equipment. "It's all very scary," Phillips, who visited China in November, said in an Dec. 12 interview. Demand growth in China was as high as 25 percent for some types of equipment in the decade through mid-2011, according to Phillips. That also spurred investment from Sweden's Volvo AB and domestic manufacturers such as Sany Heavy Industry Co. (600031) and XCMG Construction Machinery Co. (000425) The industry assumed that pace would persist and kept assembly lines going even after the slowdown began last year, said Karen Ubelhart, a Bloomberg Industries analyst in New York. Phillips sees annual demand growth in China slowing to as little as 5 percent for the next 3 to 5 years. 'Difficult Period' Chinese excavator unit sales fell 25 percent in November, a 19th straight monthly drop, according to China Construction Machinery Business Online. As competition intensifies, Chinese companies are offering customers "wildly crazy, very attractive financing," said Phillips, who has been with Off-Highway for more than 30 years. The industry "is in a very difficult period," Chinese manufacturer Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co. said in an e-mailed statement. It will take another year to stabilize, Zeng Guang'An, vice chairman and president of China's Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Co. Ltd. (000528) said last month, according to a Nov. 29 JPMorgan Chase & Co. report. Calls to XCMG went unanswered. China's new leaders have vowed to target "sustained and healthy development" and focus on urbanization. Despite that, even accelerating economic growth in 2013 might not be enough to help the machinery makers. If they proceed with their planned expansions in China, total capacity would exceed demand by 175,000 units, even with 15 percent growth through 2022, according to Off-Highway. Komatsu Plants Still, the worst may be over. Komatsu's sales "hit the bottom" in September,'' the Japanese company's Chief Executive Officer Kunio Noji said. Komatsu, the second-largest construction equipment maker, may boost its operating rate in China to 70 percent from February through April, from 30 percent currently, he told reporters Dec. 18. Komatsu slipped 0.9 percent to 2,076 yen in Tokyo, trimming its gain for the year to 15 percent. Caterpillar fell 1.8 percent to $87.90 in New York. While orders are still lower from a year ago, sequential sales in October and November were up and the "best scenario" for Chinese demand may be for an increase of 20 percent in the year starting April 1, Noji said. Industry Consolidation? Sany, China's biggest machinery maker by market value, is seeing sales that are better than the industry average, it said an e-mailed statement. "China is showing some signs of life," Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Dec. 6. "I'm convinced we are going to see positive changes in the next few months." Caterpillar and its dealers in China have cut inventory this year and the manufacturer has implemented temporary shutdowns and shorter work weeks to lower production, Jim Dugan, a company spokesman, said yesterday. "The current slowdown in our industry in China has not changed our strategy or long-term view of the China market," Dugan said in an e-mail. The company is investing in the country with a time horizon of 30 to 40 years, he said. Struggling manufacturers in China may fail or be bought by larger domestic competitors, Phillips and Zoomlion said. Pat Olney, head of Volvo AB (VOLVB)'s construction-equipment unit, said last month that the Chinese market is "ripe" for consolidation and his company will monitor the situation "in an opportunistic fashion." "There's going to have to be a number of mergers and acquisitions, or very probably a number are going to have to exit the industry," Phillips said.

Yum Brands Says It’s Cooperating With China’s Review of Chicken Posted: 22 Dec 2012 10:36 AM PST Source: Bloomberg News By Leslie Patton Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM), owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut chains, said it's cooperating with the Chinese government's review of its chicken suppliers and doesn't anticipate a shortage of product. "We're cooperating fully with the Chinese government's review of two poultry suppliers who provided chicken with unapproved levels of antibiotics to KFC," the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "These suppliers represent an extremely small percentage of product to KFC. As such, we do not anticipate a shortage of product supply." Yum is undergoing investigations by the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration, which said tests conducted by a third-party agency from 2010 to 2011 found eight batches of chicken supplied by Liuhe Group Co. had levels of antibiotics that didn't meet prescribed standards. Yum, which got 44 percent of its revenue from China last year, was made aware of these results, the agency said on its website yesterday. The agency has said it plans to investigate if Yum properly dealt with the test results. Yum stopped buying from Liuhe in August, it said in its KFC microblog. Yum fell 3.9 percent to $63.88 at the close in New York. The shares have gained 8.3 percent this year. The fast-food company also said in the filing that recent publicity has had a "moderate sales impact the past few days." Yum, which also owns Taco Bell, has more than 4,900 locations in China.

Hollywood Cashes in on China Posted: 22 Dec 2012 10:33 AM PST Source: Global Times via Chinese Films Hollywood is cashing in on China's movie addition. And even though the exact numbers may be difficult to verify, it is clear that the growth trend has been significant in recent years, leading movie professionals in both continents to find ways to boost their bottom lines. It has been widely reported that between 2010 and 2011, movie theater construction across the nation was roaring along at a pace of nearly 300 screens per month. Helping developers to fill those seats, a new revenue-sharing deal to increase the number of Hollywood films screened in the country was signed between China and the US. The agreement took effect in February this year and raised the total number of imports from 20 to 34 – as long as those additional films are in the 3D or IMAX format. Despite the resulting carnage experienced by domestic films, the box office totals are still setting annual records, with this year's estimated total revenue soaring above 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), according to Xinhua. In the first half of this year, domestic films made only one third what the foreign imports brought in, and there is no reason to believe results of the second half won't rewrite the same sad tale. As Chinese directors are left scratching their heads trying to get more screen time at the multiplex, Hollywood producers are salivating as they vie for a bigger piece of the Chinese pie. Exponential growth According to a study conducted by the Legal Mirror from 2006 to 2011 (covering the 5-year period before the new agreement), China's contribution to Hollywood's overseas earnings rose from 1.63 percent to 7.9 percent. Now that the trend is well established and the new revenue-sharing deal is proving lucrative, Hollywood is thinking about China even during the planning stages of many films. Some pictures may only contain a sprinkling of Chinese cultural elements, while others develop entire China-related subplots (Shanghai scenes in Looper). But what makes domestic industry insiders truly proud is that on one hand, Chinese movie stars are being awarded more important roles to attract audiences (Li Bingbing in Resident Evil 5), while on the other, some scripts are being rewritten to avoid offending Chinese moviegoers. An example of that latter strategy comes from MGM's 2008 remake of Red Dawn in which the enemy army was switched from Chinese to North Korean. The 1984 version starring Patrick Swayze depicted a Soviet invasion of the United States. For the remake, the invading force was originally changed from Soviet to Chinese. But by the time the film had been completed, the Chinese troops had been replaced with North Koreans – an obvious bow to the Chinese market. In a 2011 report, The Los Angeles Times summarized the move this way: "Without Beijing even uttering a critical word, MGM is changing the villains in its 'Red Dawn' remake from Chinese to North Korean. It's all about maintaining access to the Asian superpower's lucrative box office." Be not proud Although many Chinese are happy to see that domestic audience preferences can influence the movie moguls in Hollywood, some insiders are more realistic. "We can only say that the Chinese market is likely to be increasingly important to Hollywood," said Teng Jingshu, vice general manager of Chinese Entertainment Shanghai. Teng's opinion is supported by movie critic Bi Chenggong. Bi told the Global Times, the overseas market for Hollywood is well established with the UK, France, Germany and Japan as the former biggest markets. "In the recent five years or so, several new markets have emerged: Russia, China, South Korea, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Spain, which have developed pretty much to the same degree as the previous ones," Bi said. "Yet, among all these countries, no one is developing as fast as China. And the rate of annual increase in China is even higher than the sum of all the other countries' rate." Even so, it will take years for China's total box office revenue to equal what Hollywood achieves at home. According to a report from the Legal Mirror, the box office of China in 2011 was around $2 billion. In North America (the US and Canada), it was $10 billion. According to Bi, it will take nine or 10 years to catch up: "Only then will the Chinese market be regarded as important as the UK and France." This is because, as Bi analyzed, the box office spilt ratio in China, at 30 percent, is currently much lower than the international standard. So, even if a movie makes $10 million in China, what Hollywood gets from that is lower than if it made 42 percent of $9 million somewhere else. Bi and Teng agree that under the current situation, with all the new cinemas and screens going up, Hollywood producers consider the spilt ratio as more important than the box office. US looks outward Compared with the Chinese market, both US and Chinese media are saying that North America is experiencing a downward trend. In a report on Foreign Policy magazine's official website, Stephen Galloway, executive editor of The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that this year's theater revenue in North America from early May to early September had a downturn of 3 percent compared with last year, and "fewer people went to the movies this past summer than at any comparable time in 20 years." He went on to thank foreigners in general for coming to the industry's rescue. As for whether the US market will keep going down, Teng thinks not. "It's the rule of the market that sometimes there will be a blockbuster that ushers in a technical revolution, like Avatar, and sometimes there will be more artistic or political works that may not gross as much at the box office," she said. By the end of this year, recent blockbusters like Skyfall and The Hobbit will have pushed Hollywood's yearly global box office total back into record territory. The good news for China is that insiders on both sides of the Pacific clearly understand one important point – good things come to those who cooperate.

L’Oreal runs beauty academy in Shanghai Posted: 22 Dec 2012 10:31 AM PST Source: Sina L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics maker, today unveiled the L'Oreal Academy in Xuhui District to train staff, sales assistants and hair stylists. "The majority growth of our China sales comes from our existing brands and we will continue to launch tailor-made and local-developed products to meet consumers' needs," said Alexis Perakis-Valat, chief executive officer of L'Oreal China. The training center will serve as an integrated training and education center for sales staff, management team members as well as beauty assistants and stylists. Its make-up sector and men's skin care products are the major growth drivers in 2012, Perakis-Valat said in an interview today, without giving the figures. L'Oreal currently owns 21 brands in China. Perakis-Valat said the company is expected to deliver a "solid growth" this year and will accelerate its growth in 2013. The overall cosmetics market slowed down a bit this year but remained resilient against an unfavorable macro economy, he noted. Last year, L'Oreal's sales rose 18 percent to 10.7 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion).

Have You Heard… Posted: 22 Dec 2012 10:29 AM PST Have You Heard…

China bans alcohol in military banquets to curb graft Posted: 22 Dec 2012 10:48 AM PST Source: Reuters | Photo: BBC(Reuters) – China has banned senior military officers from holding alcohol- fuelled banquets or from staying in luxury hotels when on work trips in the latest move by Communist Party chief Xi Jinping to fight corruption, state media reported on Saturday. Receptions will also no longer feature welcome banners, red carpets, flowers, honor guards, performances or souvenirs, the powerful Central Military Commission, which Xi oversees, has decreed, major newspapers reported. Officers will have to cut back on both the number and length of inspection tours, overseas visits, meetings and reports, according to the new rules. Speakers at meetings should avoid "empty talk", while the use of vehicles equipped with sirens will be "rigorously controlled during official visits in order to prevent public disturbances". "Additionally, commission officials are required to discipline their spouses, children and subordinates and make sure they do not take bribes." The rules echo similar demands made of party officials by Xi earlier this month. The party, which has shown no sign of giving up its tight grip on power, has struggled to contain public anger at a seemingly endless stream of corruption scandals, particularly when officials are seen as abusing their posts to amass wealth. China intensified a crackdown on rampant corruption in the military in the late 1990s, banning the People's Liberation Army from engaging in business. But it has crept back in recent years due to a lack of transparency, checks and balances and moral decay. A senior officer, Lieutenant General Gu Junshan, was sacked earlier this year in what Hong Kong media have said would be the biggest military corruption scandal since the Communists swept to power in 1949, though details have not been officially announced. Xi, who takes over as president from Hu Jintao at the annual meeting of parliament in March, warned shortly after becoming party boss that the country risked unrest if graft is not tackled.

Getting up to speed with Guangzhou-Beijing bullet train Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:32 AM PST The express train arrives in Beijing after traveling 2,000 kilometers in eight hours - a journey that previously took 20 hours - from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Poultry goods ban Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:21 AM PST HONG Kong has suspended imports of poultry products from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the city's government announced yesterday. A spokesman said this followed notification of an outbreak of avian influenza H5 on a Schleswig-Holstein farm.

Lhasa project Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:20 AM PST THE government of Tibet's capital city has begun a seven-month, 1.2 billion yuan (US$196 million) project to help preserve Lhasa's ancient heart. China Tibetan News, citing the city government, said the project will update the Barkhor area's infrastructure.

2 dead, 20 injured in high-rise fire Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:20 AM PST TWO people were killed and 20 injured when fire engulfed a commercial buildling in Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, yesterday. As of 9pm, two bodies had been retrieved by firefighters. The fire broke out in an 14-story office and hotel building at 4:30am. The injured suffered burns or minor carbon monoxide poisoning, said the city authorities.

Coldest days since 1985 for Beijing Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:20 AM PST TEMPERATURES in Beijing could plunge to their lowest in almost three decades during this weekend, weather forecasters said yesterday. They were expected to drop to minus 15 degrees Celsius in urban areas. Beijingers started to feel the freezing weather yesterday. This is caused by a cold spell from Siberia that arrived on Friday night, Wang Hua, chief forecaster of Beijing Meteorological Observatory said. Chen Dagang, a meteorological forecaster at the observatory, said the capital's lowest temperature in recent decades was minus 15.2 degrees Celsius, recorded in 1985. Wang said in Beijing's mountainous northern suburbs temperatures today could drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius. However, he said they would rise again in the capital on Monday. Yesterday, fewer people were on Beijing's streets, with Tian'anmen Square, usually a tourist hot spot, quiet. "Your hands go numb in just a few minutes. Cameras also work slowly due to the cold," said a woman surnamed Zhou, who works on the square. Most parts of the country, except the central and southwestern regions, will see temperatures fall by six to eight degrees over the next couple of days. Some parts of north and northeast China will witness a drop of 10 to 14 degrees Celsius, said the observatory. Yesterday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) kept its blue alert for cold weather, the least severe in a four level disaster alerts scale. Yesterday morning, temperatures in parts of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Fujian and Guangxi dropped by six to 10 degrees Celsius, while they tumbled by up to 16 degrees Celsius in parts of Liaoning and Jilin. The NMC also forecast snow for parts of Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Hebei while heavy snow for Shandong Province. Parts of south China and Guizhou Province will see sleet, while freezing rain will fall on west and central Guizhou, said forecasters.

Online information bill to be deliberated Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:05 AM PST A DRAFT bill on strengthening Internet information protection will formally be tabled for deliberation at a bimonthly session of China's legislature set to open tomorrow. Widely hailed by Internet and telecom experts and online commentators, the long-awaited move comes amid China's efforts to secure citizens' personal information from becoming prey to illegality. Behind China's surging online scam, fraud and identity theft in recent years has been a rapidly growing Internet sector and a lagged-behind law system for personal information protection, according to analysts. A public security ministry statement gave real cases as examples of how Internet information can be abused. On April 7, an Internet user surnamed Sun in east China's Wuxi City was shocked to discover that 47,000 yuan (US$7,537) was transferred out of his Internet bank account. The money all went to an unverified personal account with a popular online payment service. He spent the sum in buying Internet virtual currency in order to launder the money he illicitly obtained. It took time for police to ascertain the real identity of the suspect because no real name was provided in the online payment account registration. The suspect was finally apprehended in northeast China's Liaoning Province. "The lack of a sound law system to protect personal information in China is a serious problem," said Li Yuxiao, an expert in Internet management and law studies with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He said the country should quicken legislation moves to toughen the fight on infringement upon privacy.

Penguin eats her chick Posted: 22 Dec 2012 05:46 AM PST TO China, where the penguin mother is eating her chick. Why? Well, would you want your kids growing up in captivity..? Spotter

Workers shape snow sculpture in Jilin Posted: 22 Dec 2012 12:57 AM PST Workers shape a snow sculpture at Jingyuetan National Forest Park in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, today. Workers keep on working despite a bitterly cold day today. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Fire rages through NW China office building, one missing Posted: 22 Dec 2012 12:02 AM PST FIRE raged through an office building in northwest China for a number of hours today, leaving at least one security guard trapped and 16 others hospitalized. The government of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, reported that the fire broke out in the 16-storey World Trade Building in the city's downtown at about 4:30 am. About 50 people staying at a hotel on the upper floors of the building were evacuated. One of the security guards who helped in the evacuation is missing, local officials said. Sixteen people were taken to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhalation of smoke, but no one was in a life-threatening danger, officials said. More than 460 firemen and police brought the incident under control after noon, officials added. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Fire rages through NW China office building, one missing Posted: 22 Dec 2012 12:02 AM PST FIRE raged through an office building in northwest China for a number of hours today, leaving at least one security guard trapped and 16 others hospitalized. The government of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, reported that the fire broke out in the 16-storey World Trade Building in the city's downtown at about 4:30 am. About 50 people staying at a hotel on the upper floors of the building were evacuated. One of the security guards who helped in the evacuation is missing, local officials said. Sixteen people were taken to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhalation of smoke, but no one was in a life-threatening danger, officials said. More than 460 firemen and police brought the incident under control after noon, officials added. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

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