4G-LTE Networks Set To Double In Number By 2017 — When 1BN Of 8BN Total Mobile Connections Will Be 4G

The number of 4G-LTE networks in service globally is set to roughly double over the next four years, according to data byGSMAIntelligence , the research arm of the global mobile carrier association, the GSMA.  Some 465 LTE networks are forecast to be in service across 128 countries by 2017, which it says is roughly double the number of live LTE networks today.

4G-LTE offers a considerable speed bump over 3G mobile technologies, in the region of 10x, although theoretical peak speeds - of up to 80Mbps (or even more) - fall to less heady real-world averages in the hands of users, with speeds depending on the characteristics of individual networks. Download averages can be as much as 24-30Mbps, or considerably lower (circa 10-15Mbps), but still offer faster speeds than 3G mobile tech.

By 2017, the research report - called Global LTE network forecasts and assumptions, 2013-2017 – expects LTE will account for about one in eight of the more than eight billion total mobile connections forecast at that point - up from 176 million LTE connections expected at the end of this year.

Yesterday it emerged that China Mobile would be the first carrier in that country to offer LTE, kicking off on December 18, followed by the other two main Chinese carriers, China Unicom and China Telecom.

Meanwhile, in the U.K. the first network arrived about a year ago, with carrier EE refarming existing spectrum holdings so it could get a jump on rivals. It took until this summer for any other U.K. carriers to be in a position to switch on competing LTE offerings, with carriers O2 and Vodafone both starting off by focusing on a handful of cities. The U.K.'s smallest carrier, Threewill launch its LTE offering next month.

The first commercial 4G-LTE networks were launched in late 2009, so if the report's forecast holds out it will have taken around seven years for 4G-LTE to go from a standing start to passing one billion connections globally.

The study calculates that about a fifth (20%) of the global population is currently within LTE network coverage range. As carriers build out networks over the coming years, this proportion is predicted to rise to half of the world's population by 2017.

No surprise that there are huge disparities in 4G-LTE coverage globally. The U.S. leads with LTE networks already covering more than 90% of the population vs around half (47%) population coverage in Europe, and just 10% in Asia.

The U.S. also currently accounts for almost half (46%) of global LTE connections - factor in South Korea and Japan and those three nations combined account for 80% of the total. But the data suggests Asia is on the rise. The region is predicted to account for almost half (47%) of all LTE connections by 2017 - helped by China's carriers switching on 4g-LTE networks, and also rollouts in India, another major market.

The report describes South Korea as the most advanced LTE market worldwide, with half of its total mobile connections now running on LTE networks – compared to just a fifth (20%) in Japan and the U.S.

According to the research, LTE users in developed markets consume 1.5GB of data per month on average – almost twice the average amount consumed by non-LTE users in those markets.

Globally, LTE networks have been deployed in 12 different frequency bands to date, with four out of five live LTE networks deployed in one of four bands: either 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz or 2600MHz.

Source:techcrunch

India's July-Sept. GDP grows 4.8 pct

India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.8 percent in the three months through September, or the second quarter of 2013-14 fiscal year, said Central Statistical Office (CSO) on Friday.

This is in line with most economists' expectations. GDP for the first quarter of the fiscal year had been reported at 4.4 percent. The GDP growth for the April-September period now stands at 4.6 percent.

This is the fourth successive quarter of economic growth below 5 percent, far below the desired 8 percent Indian government need to revive the nation.

According to released data, the manufacturing sector of the economy grew merely at 1 percent, while the services sector grew at 5.9 percent.

The overall GDP growth was pulled up by a strong performance in agriculture at 4.6 percent, followed by good showing in construction at 4.3 percent. Financing, insurance, real estate and business services grew 10 percent.

Trade, hotels, transport and communication grew 4 percent during the quarter.

Policymakers are confident that the Indian economy will grow 5- 5.5 percent in the current fiscal year.

Source: Xinhua

France's October consumption down by 0.2 pct

 French household consumption of goods lost momentum last month compared to September due to low expenditure in energy products, the national statistics institute INSEE said on Friday.

A 4.9-percent drop in energy consumption pulled down consumers' total expenditure to 0.2 percent in October mainly following the "impact of above average temperatures on heating expenditure," INSEE noted.

Expenditure on cars grew by 1.5 percent "as households may have anticipated a reduction of incentive on the purchase of green cars in November and strenghtening of penalties on the purchase of polluting cars next January," it added.

Consumers also consumed 1.4 percent more food products, after a 0.2-percent fall in September.

Consumption of manufactured products accounted for 25 percent of France's total expenditure of processed goods and services.

Source: Xinhua

Japan's CPI hits 5-year high, signaling possible exit from deflation

Japan's consumer prices increased by 0.9 percent in October from a year earlier, marking the fastest growth in five years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a report on Friday.

According to the ministry, core consumer prices, which exclude volatile products, added 0.3 percent in the recording period, with the reading hitting the highest level since August 1998 in a sign that Japan may be lifting itself out of decades of deflation.

Japan's core consumer price index, excluding fresh foods, stood at 100.7 against the 2010 base of 100, in the recording period, marking the fifth straight month of increases, the ministry said, noting that energy prices accelerated 7 percent, comprised of a 7. 1 percent surge in gasoline prices and an 8.2 percent leap in electricity prices.

Economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari told a press briefing after the release of the statistics that Japan is now seeing the benefits of "Abenomics" and that further progress has been made to tackle deflation through the fiscal policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, such as aggressive monetary easing and large amounts of fiscal spending.

But while some leading economists remarked that the latest data may signify that the effects of "Abenomics" may be kicking in and Japan might be on the verge of exiting its decades-old deflationary period, others maintained that reaching the central bank's inflation target of 2 percent in as many years, still remains an uphill challenge due to the CPI forecast expected to hover at around the 1 percent mark in the near future.

Additional data revealed that the core CPI for Tokyo's 23 wards in November, a key economic indicator for Japan's future price moves, increased 0.6 percent to 99.6, marking the seventh straight month of gains.

Despite the positive direction of prices in Japan, separate data also released Friday showed that the unemployment situation here remains stagnant.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the unemployment rate in October was unchanged from the previous month at 4 percent, but noted that the availability of jobs had shown a preliminary uptick for the first time in two months.

According to the ministry, the number of those unemployed stood at 2.66 million in the recording period, rising 1.1 percent from a month earlier, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Those leaving their jobs of their own volition increased to 890,000 people, a rise of 3.5 percent the ministry said.

The job seeker to job availability ratio also showed signs of improvement, rising 0.98 percent in October from 0.95 percent a month earlier, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a separate report, with the figures meaning that for every 100 people seeking work there were 98 positions available.

Analysts said that the seemingly stable job market had been helped by an increase in corporate profits and companies feeling they can broaden their recruiting parameters, but some economists noted that a planned sales tax hike to 8 percent from the current 5 percent next April could inhibit some companies from hiring more staff and likely lead to cutbacks.

To this end, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura told a press briefing that the ministry was watching global economic events to see if a slowdown would affect the employment situation here, with a particular emphasis on emerging economies.

He added that additional stimulus measures may need to be implemented by the government to bolster the employment market, should it be dragged down by a global economic slowdown or the planned sales tax hike next spring.

Source: Xinhua

Twitter Streamlines Its ‘Age Gate’ Process To Make Ads More Attractive To Adult Brands

Twitter introduced ‘age gate' screening over a year ago in order to make the platform more legally sound for ‘adult' brands like liquor and beer vendors. Today, it's streamlined the process in its apps greatly in order to improve the follow rate and therefore the attractiveness of running an active account for those brands.

The previous method, which was instituted last June, involved following the brand, receiving a DM that took you to another page, asking for your age and then kicking you back and allowing you to follow. The new process creates an in-app flow that uses the standard iOS date picker to tap in your date of birth and then allows an immediate follow. 

In addition to the easier flow, Twitter says that it will remember your status as a ‘legal adult' (but will not store your date of birth). This makes it even easier to follow more adult brands once you've followed the first.

The obvious side-effect of this is to make it much more attractive for adult brands to inhabit their Twitter accounts and to improve the chances that those brands will feel it's worthwhile to advertise on Twitter. And Twitter gets to tout the fact that the brands are advertising directly to people that have ‘proven' they're in a viable customer group for the product they're trying to sell.

Source: techcrunch

S&P maintains China's credit rating at AA-

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Services affirmed on Friday its AA- rating on China's long-term sovereign debt, with a stable outlook.

S&P has also maintained an A-1+ rating on the country's short-term debt.

The agency said that the ratings reflected the strong growth potential of the Chinese economy and its strong external asset position as well as relatively healthy fiscal standing.

S&P forecasted the Chinese economy will continue a strong performance, with real per capita growth to average 6.7 percent from 2013 to 2016, which is nevertheless down from the 8.6-percent growth seen in the previous five years.

It said that economic and political developments over the next two to three years are likely to maintain China's current credit rating, as structural economic reforms may reduce risks in the financial sector.

However, S&P warned the rating could be downgraded if reform efforts falter.

Source: Xinhua

Vice premier vows support for logistics industry

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said on Friday that the country will continue its efforts to tackle high costs and low efficiency in the logistics industry.

Wang made the remarks at a briefing about the logistics situation in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu, noting that logistics is a basic and strategic industry supporting the country's economic and social development.

He said that the logistics sector's boom in recent years had made people's lives more convenient, but that it is still challenged by the problems of expense and difficulty in delivering.

Wang stressed that the ongoing reform in China provides enough space and stricter requirements for logistics, calling for closer administrative coordination and better integration of resources.

He demanded that the industry be facilitated through pushing standardization, building a credit system, improving information levels, easing enterprise burdens, boosting modernization and encouraging online business.

Source: Xinhua

Tokyo Shares Hit 6-Year High

      According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,encouraging U.S. economic data released overnight, including surprisingly strong weekly jobs figures, were key to the dollar's ascent through the ¥102 mark—its highest level since Japan stocks' prior peak in May.

A stronger dollar benefits exporters by making their goods cheaper to buy overseas and fattening profits converted back into yen.

The Nikkei ended up 1.8% at 15,727.12, almost 100 points ahead of its last high set on May 22.

"This move is a technical breakthrough, but may yet serve as a buy signal for investors—especially overseas buyers who feel left behind—and help to spark a bull run right through the calendar year-end," said Kenichi Hirano, a market analyst at Tachibana Securities.

For that to happen, however, more yen weakening is likely to be necessary, many traders say. The Japanese currency has lost about 3% against the dollar in the last two weeks.

The flip-side of yen selling is buying stock futures, a strategy employed by big players in the Japanese derivatives market.

"Hedge-fund accounts are buying Nikkei futures as they short the yen—as they have been doing for most of the past few weeks—making today's rally mostly derivative-based," says Investrust CEO Hiroyuki Fukunaga.

"Behind the numbers, the reality is that cash-market participation rates weren't very good, meaning that today's rally cannot be called a 'high quality' run-up. When traders return from the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday next week, we'll get a better idea if this surge has legs," Mr. Fukunaga said.

More stock-friendly currency levels have whetted foreigners' appetite for Japanese shares in recent weeks. A weaker yen was behind about ¥2 trillion (about $19.6 billion) of net stock purchases from Nov. 10 to Nov. 23—the most robust two weeks of buying by overseas residents since mid-April.

Revel Goes Big With Full Stadium Deployment Of iPad Point-Of-Sale System At ASU

iPad-based point-of-sale market leader Revel has just completed its biggest single deployment to date, outfitting the entire Alabama State University stadium with Revel POS equipment. The brand new stadium for the ASU Hornets now has Revel-powered iPads at all 30 concession stands throughout the facility, and progress and sales at each can be monitored in real-time by facility managers.

The stadium-specific retail installation has some neat tricks over other vendor offerings and traditional POS, because it doesn't require Internet connectivity to function. Revel says this has already proven its worth at the ASU facility, since during a power outage at a recent game the Revel-powered systems continued to operate so concessions could continue to make sales. Also, the San Francisco-based company says its POS software is about 14 percent faster per transaction than a traditional POS, which means it can process a higher volume of customers more quickly.

Since its founding in 2010, Revel has been steadily expanding its focus. The company initially started out serving the restaurant and fast food industry, and then later moved into retail businesses . Back in June, it raised $10M to help its business grow in markets beyond the U.S. , but this latest development shows it's still concerned with expanding its client base at home, too.

The arena food and goods market is one that resembles Revel's existing clients, but with the twist of scale. Concessions can serve thousands of customers per hour, and often see extremely high-volume busy periods at key lull points in the game. Revel says it has designed its system to be ideally suited to these kinds of hurry-up periods, increasing the rate of customers served and therefore increasing customer satisfaction and overall sales.

Revel is clearly angling for more sales in this arena . which could prove a lucrative opportunity not only among U.S. colleges and professional sports teams, but abroad as well. The biggest challenge in this market is that these organizations don't do mass retrofits all that often, but Revel has ease of onboarding as well as fairly cheap installation going for it to help overcome that perceived barrier.

Source: thecrunch

Amid Some Fistfights, Walmart Sells 1.4M Tablets On Thanksgiving, iPad Mini A Top Seller

Walmart is already crowing about Black Friday and we're only a couple of hours into the actual day itself. That's because depressingly, Black Friday has somehow subsumed Thanksgiving Thursday and become the Day That Spans Many Days. Oh well; at least they sold a huge boatload of tablets. Walmart puts its one day sales of those mobile computing devices at 1.4 million, and while it doesn't break down by brand or model, the company also cites the iPad mini as one of a short list of top-selling items.

Also included in that list are the generic categories of big screen TVs and laptops, so you can imagine that the iPad mini likely accounted for a significant portion of those 1.4 million slates to be called out by name. Other top-selling items included Microsoft's new Xbox One, and Sony's PlayStation 4, indicating that the home console market is still alive and kicking despite the rise of mobile game and sluggish sales for Nintendo's Wii U console, which made its debut last year.

Source: TECHCRUNCH

Stocks Higher Ahead of a Shortened Session

After breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday, the domestic equity markets are moving higher in early action ahead of an abbreviated session to close out the week, as all U.S. markets will close early today. Treasuries are moving modestly lower, with the domestic economic calendar void of any major releases today. Gold is higher, along with crude oil prices, while the U.S. dollar is trading modestly lower. Overseas, Asian stocks finished mixed in subdued action amid the holiday schedule in the U.S. and ahead of this weekend's Chinese manufacturing report. Finally, an unexpected dip in eurozone unemployment and a hotter-than-expected read on the region's consumer price inflation are helping buoy the European equity markets.

Source: Schwab

GDP, house prices frame China's future property policies

China's future property policies must strike a tough balance between the decelerated growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the rise in home prices, noted economist Ba Shusong has said.

In a lengthy article run by Shanghai Securities News on Thursday, Ba said there would be increasing difficulties for policymakers in the property industry and the effect of policy would be harder to predict.

Ba is a senior analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council, an influential government think-tank.

"The property industry is the supporting force for economic growth and economic structural reforms, and the fact has not changed," he said.

The "floor logic" in economic growth among policymakers means that property policies in the near future would still depend on economic growth rates, he said.

Months ago, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told provincial governors that policies must keep economic growth above a "floor," which Ba estimated at 7.5 percent for 2013.

The main purpose of maintaining growth is to provide enough jobs, which is vital for social stability in China.

According to Ba, if the growth rate were to fall below the growth floor, the government would probably respond with weaker enforcement of existing policies and a delay in rolling out new policies for the property industry.

The volume of home sales nationwide is still a leading indicator to signal the need for change in macro policies, Ba said, adding that the timing of the introduction of a real estate tax will also partly depend on economic growth.

According to Ba, the government-set house price targets and the system of accountability for local officials mean that there would be no quick exit for government intervention in the property market.

Ba maintained that the core problem of the Chinese property market has shifted from the shortage of houses to the imbalance of ownership.

He said China's long-term house supply system should consist of three parts. For low-income families and the floating population, a government-subsidized low-rent housing system should be put into place.

For middle-income families, or the so-called "sandwich class," the government should use the tools of tax and finance to help them buy their own homes.

As for high-income families, the government could employ a real estate tax to suppress their purchases and demand in an appropriate manner, Ba said.

Driven by rapid urbanization and huge demand, China's house prices have spun out of control in recent years and become a major headache for the authorities as more people are priced out of the market.

In October of this year, China's house prices continued to rise.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities, 65 saw month-on-month rises in new home prices in October, and 62 reported price gains in new and second-hand homes.

In response to growing public complaints, the central government and cities with heated property markets have tried to rein in prices by creating purchase restrictions and experimenting with property taxes, resulting in a short-lived cooling of the market. However, after a while, prices have rebounded to new highs.

   Source:  Xinhua

Backgrounder: Over 20 countries and regions have similar zones (AIDZ)

China's Air Defense Identification Zone is aimed at controlling and monitoring incoming aircraft, in the interest of national security. But China is definitely not alone.

Currently, more than 20 countries and regions have their own Air Defense Identification Zone.

The first was established by the US and Canada in 1950, when they jointly created a North American zone.

Japan’s air defense zone was set up by the US during its post-World War Two occupation of Japan. Since then, Japan has unilaterally expanded its zone twice, in 1972 and in 2010, pushing it further into the East China Sea. Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone is now five times bigger than its national territory, extending as close as 100 nautical miles from China’s coastline.

China says Japan’s air defense zone is illegal, as it covers the Diaoyu Islands.

South Korea’s Air Defense Identification Zone was established in 1951 during the Korean War, also with the help of the US.

China’s newly launched defense zone overlaps with South Korea’s, and covers the Suyan Island, known as Ieodo in South Korea, a submerged rock claimed by Seoul.

Source: Xinhua

China-Italy business exchanges boosted by "China Awards"

 A total of 32 companies, institutions and personalities were awarded in Italy's Milan on Thursday at the annual China Awards dinner aimed at enhancing cultural understanding and business exchanges between the two countries.

Among the awarded companies, both from Italy and China, there were markets leaders in a variety of sectors from food to mechanics, finance and green energies as well as smaller investors that have seized the opportunities offered by the two countries.

The European branch of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., Ltd., China's domestic rating agency, was awarded as "one of the players that have particularly distinguished themselves in promoting bilateral relations."

Established in Milan last year, Dagong Europe Credit Rating was the first Asian rating company operating in the European Union (EU) as the result of a Sino-Italian joint venture between Dagong Global Credit Rating and Mandarin Capital Partners, a private equity fund by institutional investors from Europe and China.

Italy's luxury car maker Ferrari was given a special price for enhancing the role of sports in the dialogue between Italy and China.

"I remember the first F1 China GP in 2004, when I took a call and I saw so many red flags waving around me, it was impressing," Ferrari's President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told the around 250 distinguished guests who attended the China Awards.

"If there is a country that can help Italy, it is China," Paolo Panerai, head of the Italian media group Class Editori, which organized the China Awards along with the Italy-China Foundation, said. "But what Italy needs is not much investments but rather China's positive energy," he added.

Panerai, who was the first Italian journalist to interview the architect of China's opening-up Deng Xiaoping and since then has strengthened his friendship with the country, also highlighted his group's partnership with Xinhua that he described as an international "news giant."

"When the China Awards was created eight years ago, China was considered in Italy more a menace than an opportunity," Cesare Romiti, president of Italy-China Foundation, noted.

"Today China has a very different image, and the success of so many companies that have built deep relations with China is the evidence," he said.

One of the Italian personalities who particularly succeeded in contributing to this change was actress and producer Maria Grazia Cucinotta, who was given a special "golden lion" price for her bridging role between the two countries.

Cucinotta's latest movie is a romantic comedy filmed in Italy and China. The film is a co-production between the two countries and is currently in post-production. 

"It is beautiful every time to bring something from Italy to China and bring back something else from China to Italy. I love cooking Chinese food, I can say that a part of me has become Chinese," she stressed.

Proceeds from the dinner were destined to the Lifeline Express project, a rainbow-colored hospital-train that provides free cataract operations to patients in rural China. While working on the eye-train, eye-doctors are trained to facilitate the future development.

Source: Xinhua

China rejects imported U.S. transgenic corn

China's quality watchdog said on Friday that China has recently rejected 60,000 tonnes of corn imports from the United States which contains unapproved transgenic content.

Local authorities in the southern port city of Shenzhen found MIR162, a type of insect-resistant transgenic corn, among a batch of over 60,000 tonnes of corn imported from the United States, said Chen Xitong, spokesman for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

MIR162 is not authorized by China's agricultural department, and the Shenzhen bureau returned the batch of imports according to China's regulations for genetically modified agricultural products, Chen said.

According to the spokesman, the AQSIQ has notified U.S. authorities of the event, hoping they will order the U.S. corn exporters concerned to strengthen inspection and quarantine of corn exports to China in conformity with Chinese law and regulations.

He added that Chinese and U.S. authorities have agreed to enhance technical exchanges concerning China's imports of U.S. beef from cattle aged 30 months or less.

Source: Xinhua

China Focus: Cities ink Silk Road economic belt agreement

Twenty-four cities from eight countries along the Silk Road have agreed on common efforts to establish a "Silk Road economic belt."

According to the Urumqi Consensus inked at the Silk Road Economic Belt Cities Cooperation and Development Forum, which concluded on Friday, signatories will work to set up the belt, a collaborative scheme aiming for greater cooperation, development and prosperity among the countries along the longstanding trade route.

The parties agreed in the consensus to enhance exchanges between governments of involved cities, initiate cooperative talks, establish friendly relations among each other, and learn from each other on urban construction and management. They also agreed to boost trade and economic exchanges and strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Almaty of Kazakhstan, Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan, Meshed of Iran, and the Chinese cities of Urumqi, Xi'an and Lianyungang were among those which reached the agreement at the two-day forum held in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

City or regional representatives from China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Georgia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan attended the event.

Apart from the consensus, representatives also signed five letters of intent on setting up liaison organs and establishing cooperation on traffic development, trade, technology, culture, education and health.

More than 150 officials, scholars and entrepreneurs from these countries discussed topics relating to policy exchange, road connections, trade talks and currency circulation.

"Through extensive communications here, we have found many creative thoughts on cooperation, and education and culture in particular may become new aspects for regional joint work," said Sophio Megrelidze, director of the foreign affairs office of Batumi in Georgia.

Developing an economic belt along the Silk Road has clearly become the common will for all countries of the region, she added.

The ancient Silk Road was a 7,000-km-long pathway created by camel-driving merchants who carried silk and porcelain to Western Europe and spices to the Far East 2,000 years ago. The road lost its significance as the age of sailing set in.

The land defined as the new Silk Road covers 18 Asian and European countries with a total area of 50 million square km and a population of 3 billion people. It also boasts rich energy, mining, tourism, cultural and agricultural resources.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the idea of the economic belt during his visit to Central Asia in September, eyeing the cultural revival of the Silk Road, which historically links China with Central Asia and Europe, as a way of developing political and economic ties. It was later hailed by other countries involved.

Du Dewen, of the Chinese consulate in Almaty, said Kazakhstan had spent billions of U.S. dollars in designing and building a road between west China and west Europe that is expected to become operational in 2015.

The 8,000-km-long highway, from China's Khorgos, an inland port in Xinjiang, to St. Petersburg of Russia through Kazakhstan, will become a new important trunk line connecting Asia and Europe.

The Silk Road economic belt, in combination with China's opening up of its western regions, will help economic restructuring and upgrading in central and western China, and become a new pole for the economic growth of the country, said Huo Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Source: Xinhua

China's grain output rises for 10th consecutive year

China's grain output rose 2.1 percent year on year to hit 601.94 million tonnes in 2013, marking the 10th consecutive year of growth, according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Source:Xinhua

China: Maritime shipping sails into agenda

Developing maritime shipping may become a national strategy in 2014, a senior government official said at a forum in Shanghai on Thursday.

Song Dexing, director of the water transport department of the Ministry of Transport, said the ministry has submitted a proposal for developing maritime shipping as a national strategy for review and approval to the State Council, China's cabinet.

The Ministry of Transport has been researching the development of port hubs, improving shipping systems for commodities and cooperation between railway transport and water transport, said Song.

"The proposal looks to provide long-term solutions to boost the sea shipping industry in China including restructuring shipping capacity, setting up a special capital fund for phasing out old ships as well as cutting taxes for shipping companies and their employees," said Song.

China's shipping industry has been suffering amid the global gloom for shipping companies since 2008.

Slow economic growth and the shifting trade strategies of various manufacturing industry owners have led to excessive supplies for international shipping by sea, said Zhang Ye, president of the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

"Amid the not-so-thriving times, the shipping industry may use multiple tools to hedge risks and seize opportunities to grow - and effective and fair top-level designs are extremely important for the healthy development of China's shipping industry," said Zhang.

Experts and market insiders are calling for innovative management and investment in the shipping sector to strengthen support for the real economy.

Since the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was launched on Sept 29, shipping companies and regulators in the city have been conducting research into solutions to improve shipping, said Yuan Jiarong, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Urban-Rural Development and Communications and deputy director of the Shanghai International Shipping Center Municipal Promotion Office.

Compared with its shipping hub competitors including Hong Kong and Singapore, Shanghai is yet to mature its shipping enterprise cluster, fleet development and high-end shipping services, said Yuan.

"The free trade zone program enables Shanghai to try out some pioneering systems including more open investment management and leaner administration processes," said Yuan.

Zhang, the president of the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, said the exchange is to introduce the trading of derivatives for the international ocean dry bulk shipping price index.

"In the future financial institutions will play increasingly important roles in financing shipping enterprises for business expansion. Also, investment in the e-commerce of the shipping sector, perhaps the only virgin territory within the e-commerce arena, will significantly increase information-sharing within the shipping sector in China," said Zhang.

Source: China Daily

China: Securities law must prioritize investor protection

Protecting investor interests is a priority when amending China's securities law, the head of the country's securities regulator has said.

Amending the existing securities law, which was last altered in 2005 and came into effect in 2006, is among the top priorities of the standing committee of China's top legislature - the National People's Congress, according to a plan released in October.

"In essence, securities law is a law on investor protection," Xiao Gang, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was cited by Friday's China Securities Journal as saying.

Protecting public investors should be the basic value of securities law as investors lack knowledge about invested companies, Xiao said.

The chairman suggested amendments consider ways to protect investors, such as a system of public interests litigation and forced securities buy-back in case of fraud during issuance or sales, as well as compulsory fulfillment of obligations.

He added that securities law should be able to stimulate the market's vitality and push for unified supervision on different types of securities markets.

Source:  Xinhua

PetroChina sued over pollution in NE China

A Chinese environmental group is suing PetroChina, the nation's largest oil and gas producer, for what they claim is severe pollution in northeastern Jilin Province.

The All-China Environment Federation said on Friday that it has filed suit in the Beijing Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court against the oil producer and its Jilin subsidiary for illegally discharging waste drilling water which poisoned local groundwater and farmland.

The nationwide organization are demanding that the company pay 60.75 million yuan (almost 10 million U.S. dollars) for environmental restoration.

PetroChina refused to comment on the lawsuit but a statement on Thursday said that an investigation team had been sent to Jilin. The company has promised to punish those responsible and repair the local environment.

Source: Xinhua

Xi calls for stronger strategic reserve forces

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to reinforce the party's leadership over the troops, enhance its war capabilities and strive to build a strong strategic reserve force.

Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspected the Jinan Military Area Command on Thursday, as part of his visits to Shandong Province in east China.

Xi witnessed the training of recruits at a training base. He congratulated the recruits on the remarkable progress they had made and urged them to train harder and become real soldiers as soon as possible.

While meeting with division commanders of the Jinan Military Area Command, Xi said military training is critical to beef up the PLA's war capacities and that trainings must focus on what is needed to fight a war and what it lacks most.

Training should include education of troops of their duty to the nation,be conducted in a base and under simulated war conditions, Xi said.

Xi urged the generals to learn and implement strategies on national defense and military reforms outlined in a key decision approved at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee earlier this month.

The decision promised to optimize the size and structure of the army, reform the leadership system, and reduce noncombat institutions and personnel.

Military leaders must precisely grasp the goal and tasks of the reforms and exert themselves to solve prominent problems hindering military development, Xi added.

Source: Xinhua

6,000 companies apply for Shanghai FTZ

About 6,000 companies have applied to register in Shanghai's free trade zone (FTZ) within two months of its launch, the administrative committee of the FTZ said on Thursday.

As of November 22, a total of 1,434 companies have already registered in the FTZ. Of this number, 38 are foreign-funded with an average registered capital of 15 million U.S. dollars, and 1,396 are domestically funded with an average registered capital of 25 million yuan (about 4.07 million U.S.dollars), according to the committee.

"The free trade zone has inspired people's enthusiasm for entrepreneurship," said Dai Haibo, deputy director of the administrative committee.

"The general quality of the registered companies is good, judging from their average registered capital," Dai said.

Regarding the fact that less than 3 percent of the registered companies are foreign funded, Ai Baojun, head of the administrative committee, dismissed the view that it had been a disappointing start.

Ai said foreign companies have shown great interest in the FTZ and he has received many visits from companies, including Goldman Sachs, who are interested in setting up office there.

"It's normal to have fewer foreign companies at the beginning, because they tend to do thorough research before making a final decision," according to the official.

Source:  Xinhua

China: PLA Air Force patrols air defense zone

Planes from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force conducted normal air patrols in China's recently established East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Thursday, according to a spokesman for the force.

Shen Jinke said that several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft carried out the patrol mission, which he described as "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices."

According to Shen, China's air force will remain on high alert and will take measures to deal with diverse air threats to firmly protect the security of the country's airspace.

On Saturday morning, the Chinese government issued a statement on establishing the ADIZ. It also announced aircraft identification rules and issued a diagram of the zone.

On the same day, the PLA Air Force conducted its first air patrol in the area.

Source:  Xinhua

Kiip Says Its Self-Serve Platform Is Now Open To All Advertisers

"Kiip just announced that it's opening the self-service version of its ad platform to all companies globally".

"Kiip, for those of you who don't remember, is pitching mobile rewards as a way for advertisers to reach consumers at moments when they're feeling particularly warm and fuzzy, say when they beat a level in a mobile game".

"The company actually went self-serve last year in terms of integrating with developers. It started testing out the same approach within invited advertisers    five months ago, and since then, it says it has worked with number companies that should be familiar to TechCrunch readers including Hulu, Hotels.com, Lyft, Beachmint, and Homejoy.

The company says it reaches 70 million users across a network of more than 1,500 games and apps. In those early tests, Kiip-powered rewards have apparently seen in-app engagement rates of 5 to 7 percent and led to email open rates of 30 percent.

Co-founder and CEO Brian Wong told me:

Large, advertising agency led brands like Pepsi and McDonald's continue to use our products focused on branding as well. Self-service clients are more conversion rated and have the online system for tracking and credits.

He added that prior to going self-serve, most of Kiip's ads were purchased through agencies, but the team realized that this new approach was “the best way to scale and to make our team more ial launch, and that will accept ads from businesses in any country.nternational.

The company says that this is a global launch, and that will accept ads from businesses in any country".

Source: techcrunch

EU chief attends China summit

On the eve of the 16th EU China summit, we were caught up with the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, to find out if the Eurozone is really on the path to recovery and how he hopes to strengthen relations between Europe and China.

"The EU China summits have become increasingly important over the years as a way of not only understanding, but encouraging what has become one of the world’s biggest trade relationships. What are you hoping to achieve at this year’s gathering?" Said Jack Barton.

"I think this summit is very important. It is the first summit where we meet the new leadership even if for instance I have met Premier Li several times before he was premier of China and it is the tenth anniversary of our comprehensive strategic partnership. This summit will be important also because of the general topic Green Growth in a Safer World’. But I see apart from that general topic six important issues we should address in Beijing. First of all to look on the past ten decades to see what will be our relationship and to have this vision in strategic terms. Second to launch the terms of an ambitious investment agreement, thirdly to launch this innovation dialogue , then it is important that we focus on energy security, then what is important as well is the exchange between researchers and students we also now have in the budget the possibility of more exchanges between China and Europe and last but not least what we can do in the international forum, for instance the G20 or the United Nations, for instance at the G20 there is a very good cooperation between the EU and China." Said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

"You mentioned investment. In the short to medium term is that one area that China and the EU should focus more constructively on because right now it certainly lags well behind trade?" Said Jack Barton.

"Yes it is true there is a huge potential in investment, but if there is progress we believe an ambitious agreement on investment, and agreement that can cover both investment protection and market access can be a very important contribution in this deepening relationship, that is what we are looking at the ambitious agreement and we launched negotiations." Said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

"We almost saw a trade war at the start of this year. Tension have eased enormously since then but does more need to be done to create perhaps a trade hotline or some sort of mechanism that can help avoid serious trade disputes before they reach boiling point?" Said Jack Barton.

"When the relationship is so intense as it is today and trade volume so high it’s only natural that here and there some problems can come. What I think is important is that when the problems come or we see the problems coming is that we have a mechanism of discussing issues in a cooperative manner giving the first priority our overall strategic partnership as we have done in recent cases and the fact that we were able through negotiations, through the spirit of compromise to solve some of these issues that are natural to happen sometimes is in fact creating a very good precedent for the future." Said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

Source: CCTV