Microsoft’s Skype China business would be ran by Guangming

Microsoft’s Skype announced that its China business would be ran by Guangming Fangzheng, a joint venture established by state-owned online news service GMW.cn and electronics and software provider Founder (via SinaTech). Skype for China has ended partnership with Tom Online .

As foreign companies are not allowed to operate such an Internet service  in China, as reported, Microsoft still needs a third party to run Skype.

Guangming Fangzheng’s business focus is mobile media. Chen Jiandong, vice president of GMW.cn, said they’d use the brand of Skype to promote its online media business and will launch localized products.

Source: TechNode

China’s taxi-booking app race heats up between Alibaba and Tencent

Chinese taxi booking app Kuaide will acquire its Shanghai-based competitor, Dahuangfeng, according to a tweet from Kuaide on Sina Weibo . Technode reports Kuaide’s main backer, e-commerce giant Alibab, will increase its investment.

Kuaide already holds the largest market share of any taxi app in China with 41.8 percent, followed by Didi with 39.2 percent. Dahuangfeng holds 3.9 percent market share and focuses mainly on the Yangtze River delta area. Another player is Yaoyao with nine percent.

Update: Contrary to the Eguan report cited by Technode, Didi says it holds double the market share of Kuaide. Didi cites this report by iResearch Consulting Group.

Didi is backed by Chinese web titan Tencent , which means the battle for the country’s taxi apps will go down between two of its biggest web companies.

But Tencent isn’t the only ace up Didi’s sleeve. The Beijing government, in an attempt to regulate such services, approved four taxi apps  in August. All other taxi apps were declared illegal in the city. Didi and Yaoyao were among the four, but Kuaide didn’t make the cut, which gives Didi a rather unfair advantage in one of the country’s largest municipalities.

Nonetheless, Technode reports Kuaide has more than 20 million installs and 350,000 drivers covering 35 cities.

Source: TECHINASIA

Xiaomi is preparing to launch its budget smartphone in Taiwan

Chinese phone-maker Xiaomi is preparing to launch its budget smartphone in Taiwan. Xiaomi is now issuing reservation numbers for the quad-core Hongmi phone ahead of starting sales in Taiwan on December 9. The Hongmi was unveiled for mainland China buyers in July this year.

The Xiaomi Hongmi will cost just NT$3,999 in Taiwan, which is the same low $135 price that it costs in mainland China. It’s therefore cheaper than Motorola's Moto G – which costs $179 in the US – for similar specs. But the Hongmi has a larger screen than the Moto G (5-inch versus 4.5-inch), as well as a better camera (8MP vs 5MP). The only downside to the Hongmi might be its Mediatek quad-core chip, in contrast to the Moto G’s Snapdragon 400 processor.

As we noted inour review of the Xiaomi Hongmi , it’s a cheap, large smartphone that doesn’t feel too compromised by a few cheaper components here and there, such as a lack of back-lights in the three Android hardware buttons.

Xiaomi is using Facebook to drum up enthusiasm for the Hongmi launch. Only 10,000 early-bird reservation numbers are available for Taiwanese people to grab the Hongmi immediately upon its launch. We’ve contacted Xiaomi HQ in Beijing for further details such as Taiwan telco partnerships and we’ll update when we hear back.

TECHINASIA

Hövding airbag for cyclists now available to buy

The Hövding is an airbag for cyclists, bringing the now-standard technology found in cars to those who prefer to travel on two, rather than four, wheels. Worn like a collar, it remains deflated until you're involved in an accident, at which time it will inflate in under 0.1 seconds to protect your head.

It works by inflating with helium when it detects the abnormal movement that is associated with cycling accidents. A black box recorder is also embedded within the airbag collar to record the 10 seconds of data captured just prior to, and during, an accident.

Each Hövding airbag collar costs €399 (US$540), meaning it's a pricey alternative to more conventional helmets. That price gets you the combination of the collar and a shell; the latter being designed to mask the collar in a fashionable outer layer. 

Source: Gizmag

Genetic Circuit Supresses Appetite in response to blood-fat levels

Biotechnologists at ETH-Zurich have created a genetic helper that could one day put an end to the hunger pains.The new genetic slimming aid developed at ETH-Zurich can be implanted in a capsule. The capsule contains human cells that have been implanted with a complex regulatory circuit that was created by combining different human genes that produce proteins and reaction steps.

Unlike invasive tummy-tying approaches, such as laparoscopic adjustable gastric bands or stomach stapling, the new genetic slimming aid developed at ETH-Zurich can be implanted in a capsule. The capsule contains human cells that have been implanted with a complex regulatory circuit that was created by combining different human genes that produce proteins and reaction steps.

When released, the synthetic genetic circuit constantly monitors the levels of fat circulating in the blood and, when excessively high fat levels are detected, it produces a hormone that makes the body feel satiated, thus suppressing appetite. The researchers say the circuit can measure several types of fat, including several saturated and unsaturated animal and vegetable fats that are ingested at once.

The research group, headed by ETH-Zurich professor Martin Fussenegger, tested the genetic regulatory circuit on obese mice that had been fed a diet of fatty food. Capsules containing the circuit were implanted in the mice, which then stopped eating excessively and started to lose bodyweight. After their blood-fat levels returned to normal, the circuit stopped producing the satiety-signaling substance.

“The mice lost weight although we kept giving them as much high-calorie food as they could eat,” says Fussenegger, who added that mice fed a diet of normal animal feed with a five-percent fat content didn't reduce their food intake or lose weight.

Source: Gizmag

Coal's Decline Hits Hardest in the Mines of Kentucky

   According to a Wall Street Journal report,"unprecedented pressures on the U.S. coal industry and nearly two years of mine closures and layoffs are reshaping the heart of the Central Appalachian coalfields in ways that many experts believe could be permanent".

"Unprecedented pressures on the U.S. coal industry and nearly two years of mine closures and layoffs are reshaping the heart of the Central Appalachian coalfields in ways that many experts believe could be permanent.

While the coal industry overall is losing market share to abundant natural gas, mines in Central Appalachia have become increasingly uneconomical. Natural gas is cheaper, and so is coal mined in two other big coal basins centered in Wyoming and Illinois.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of Mine Safety and Health Administration data reveals that the picture is bleakest across a swath of 26 counties in Kentucky's eastern coalfields, where coal has been the lifeblood for more than a century.

The number of coal-mining and related jobs in the region remained fairly steady between 2000 through 2011, fluctuating from one quarter to the next by an average of about 400 jobs, but never dipping below 11,400. Since 2011, the area has seen an unrelenting decline that left eastern Kentucky with just 8,000 mining jobs in the second quarter of this year. State officials say there are now fewer miners working in Kentucky than any other time in records dating to the 1920s—a decline largely driven by the eastern slice of the state.

The state's eastern coalfields had 161 active mines in the second quarter of this year, down from an average of 256 active mines for the four quarters of 2011, according to the analysis of the federal data.

The stepped-up regulations have exacerbated a market depression brought about by new fracking technologies that have revolutionized natural gas drilling and made it possible to tap massive reservoirs of gas from deep shale layers.

"We're in a structural shift as a result of the regulatory environment," said Kevin Crutchfield, chief executive of Alpha Natural Resources Inc.  of Bristol, Va. "I don't think the scale would be nearly as great" without increased regulations.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency's "regulatory approach toward the power sector seeks to ensure a clear path forward for coal." The U.S. Energy Information Administration currently projects coal's share of electricity generation will continue to fall over the next few decades but remain the largest fuel source used by power plants.

Coal accounted for 39% of U.S. electricity generation through August of this year, compared to 27% for natural gas. In 2003, coal powered 51% of generation, compared to 17% for natural gas.

Utilities have frequently cited new emissions standards among reasons for closing aging coal-fired power plants. Roughly 9% of coal-fired capacity is slated for closure between 2013 and 2018, according to the EIA".

Today's Top Global Markets

Today's Markets: 
In Asia, Japan -0.4% to 15450. Hong Kong +0.5% to 23806. China+0.8% to 2201. India flat at 20420. 
In Europe, at midday, London +0.1%. Paris +0.2%. Frankfurt +0.2%. 
Futures at 6:20: Dow +0.1%. S&P +0.1%. Nasdaq +0.1%. Crude -0.4%to $93.29. Gold +0.8% to $1251.40. 
Ten-year Treasury Yield +1 bps at 2.73%.

Source: SeekingAlpha

California water woes hit hard in driest year on record

But the driest year on record has left the reservoirs so depleted - and the delta so fragile - that state water officials say they may be able to provide just 5 percent of the water he and others were expecting for next year.
Other sources of water, including resources from a federal project that also pumps from the delta, are also drying up, prompting cities to dip into reserves and forcing farmers to scramble.

This year is shaping up to be the driest on record in California, officials said, and urban areas are also feeling the pinch. The Metropolitan Water District, which serves about half of heavily populated Southern California, has been using reserves to meet residents' needs, and plans to do the same next year, said spokesman Bob Muir. If 2015 is also dry, rationing may be required, he said.

"We not only import water from Northern California, but we also get supplies from the Colorado River," Muir said. "They both face dry conditions."

Water has long been a contentious issue in California, where it has been diverted from mountain lakes and streams to irrigate farms and slake the thirst of metropolitan areas. Many of the state's efforts to deal with the problem are controversial, including a long-awaited plan, due out next month, to preserve access to water while protecting the Delta.

For many in the state's $44.7 billion agriculture business, water scarcity is a problem made worse by a recent switch to orchard-style crops such as almonds and olives. Unlike vegetables or cotton, which grow in fields that can be left fallow in dry years, the trees need water every year.

Source: Reuters

Iran seizes two Saudi fishing vessels in Gulf - Fars

  

The Iranian coast guard has seized two Saudi fishing  vessels after they entered Iran's territorial waters, a local coast guard official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"Yesterday, the coast guard deployed in the country's southern waters came to spot two vessels in Iran's protected waters," Qalandar Lashkari, commander of the Bushehr province coast guard, told the Fars news agency.

He said the two vessels were fishing illegally in Iranian waters under Saudi flags. The nine sailors of various nationalities on board were arrested, he said.

Relations are tense between Shi'ite Muslim power Iran and Sunni Muslim-led Saudi Arabia, and seizures of vessels accused of straying into one another's waters occur a few times a year.

Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of fomenting unrest among Shi'ites in its oil-rich Eastern Province, and Riyadh fears Tehran's nuclear work is a cover for an atomic weapons programme. Iran denies both charges.

Despite its mistrust of Iran, Saudi Arabia gave a qualified welcome on Monday to Tehran's interim deal with world powers over its disputed nuclear programme.

Fars did not give a location for the incident, but the province of Bushehr stretches down Iran's northern Gulf coast and is the site of the only nuclear power station in the region.

Source: Reuters

China likely to raise refined oil price

China may raise the price of refined oil on Thursday, which would mark the seventh such increase within a year, industry analysts predicted.

The upward adjustment of the refined oil price is predicted to be 100 yuan (16 U.S. dollars) per ton, analysts said.

"We expect the upward adjustment of the refined oil price to be 100 yuan per ton, which will raise the retail price of 93-octane gasoline by 0.1 yuan per liter, due to the high level of the moving average of a basket of crude oil prices," said Li Hong, an analyst.

The moving average of a basket of crude oil prices, to which China's refined oil prices are pegged, reached 2.4 percent as of Nov. 26, higher than the 2 percent benchmark, according to Xinhua's latest oil industry report.

Zhang Bin, an analyst at Zhuo Chuang Information, added that though international oil prices had slipped in recent days, the tight supply of diesel and the willingness to support the gasoline price by retail outlets led to the oil price rise in the domestic market.

Forecasts showed that the retail price of diesel and gasoline will also rise following the adjustment of refined oil prices.

The National Development and Reform Commission introduced a new oil price mechanism in March to promote market-oriented pricing for energy resources and help the country better use overseas resources to ensure domestic oil supply.

Under the mechanism, benchmark prices of gasoline and diesel will be adjusted every 10 working days except when the change is less than 50 yuan per ton.

Source: Xinhua

China's coastal areas lead regional e-commerce retail

China's coastal areas lead the Greater China region in cross-border e-commerce retail, ranking highest in both transaction volume and growth rate, according to a report by global online retail giant eBay on Wednesday.

From June 2012 to June 2013, the southern coastal province of Guangdong overtook Hong Kong to rank first in the Greater China region in cross-border e-commerce retail sales volume, with east China's Shanghai Municipality ranking third, data from the eBay report showed.

During the same period, exporters in the coastal provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu recorded the fastest year-on-year growth in cross-border e-commerce sales via eBay platforms, with total sales surging 76.1 percent, 56.1 percent and 52.0 percent, respectively.

E-commerce business in central China's Hubei, Hebei and Henan provinces has also been growing quickly, the report said.

For e-commerce retailers across the Greater China region, business targeting emerging markets, including Argentina, Israel and Brazil, has witnessed substantial growth, the report also noted.

More than 52 percent of sellers surveyed said they were optimistic about business prospects in the next 12 months, it added.0 China's Ministry of Commerce said last week that China will further boost its e-commerce business, providing policy and financial support for manufacturers and foreign enterprises conducting cross-border e-commerce.

The country will try to bring online retail sales up to 10 percent of total consumer goods retail sales by 2015.

A July report by PayPal, a payment platform under eBay, predicted that cross-border online retail demand in five major markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Brazil, would reach 70 billion U.S. dollars in 2013 and demand would double.

Source: Xinhua

HK stocks close up 0.53 %

Hong Kong stocks closed up 0.53 percent on Wednesday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index moved up 125.07 points to close at 23,806.35 points, after trading between a day high of 23,856.92 points and a day low of 23,649.8 points.

Turnover expanded to 69.03 billion HK dollars (8.91 billion U.S. dollars) from Tuesday's 67.44 billion HK dollars.

The H-Share Index moved up 99.93 points, or 0.88 percent, to end at 11,401.96 points.

Banking giant HSBC ended up 0.35 percent at 87 HK dollars. China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier ended up 1.59 percent at 82.95 HK dollars.

For Mainland lenders listed in Hong Kong, ICBC, China's largest bank by market value, edged up 0.73 percent to close at 5.55 HK dollars; CCB, the country's second largest lender by market capitalization, ended up 0.48 percent at 6.25 HK dollars; BOC, one of the "big four", ended up 1.08 percent at 3.74 HK dollars.

For local property developers, Sun Hung Kai, HK's largest property developer by market value, ended up 0.2 percent at 99.95 HK dollars; Cheung Kong properties, owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, edged flat at 122.7 HK dollars.

PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer ended down 0.04 percent at 9.19 HK dollars. Sinopec, China's top refiner, ended up 0.9 percent at 6.71 HK dollars.

Drive to speed up for new energy vehicles

Four ministries are throwing their collective weight behind alternative-fuel vehicles, with a new round of subsidies set for more than two dozen cities and urban clusters by 2015.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission on Monday jointly confirmed that 28 cities and areas had their applications approved to promote new-energy vehicles.

The cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao, Wuhu and major provincial capitals.

Also on the list are urban clusters in Hebei, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces.

The big cities on the list must have at least 10,000 new-energy vehicles in service by 2015, while smaller cities need at least 5,000.

Owners of pure electric passenger vehicles are eligible for subsidies of 35,000 yuan ($5,745) to 60,000 yuan. The subsidy for plug-in hybrids will be 35,000 yuan.

Subsidies for pure electric buses will range from 300,000 to 500,000 yuan, while those for hybrid buses will be 250,000 yuan.

Fuel cell vehicles will be the biggest beneficiaries, with subsidies of 500,000 yuan each.

The ministries urged local governments to use new-energy vehicles as official cars and in public transportation. The central government is requiring local governments to have at least 30 percent new-energy vehicles in their official fleets and mass transit systems.

To avoid regional protection, the government has told local governments to buy more than 30 percent of their new-energy vehicles from elsewhere in the country.

Last year, China set an ambitious annual target of producing and selling 500,000 energy-efficient and alternative-fuel vehicles by 2015, and 5 million green vehicles by 2020.

The blueprint is expected to help achieve an annual production capacity of 2 million pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2020, the plan said.

Last year, the government offered subsidies totaling 26.5 billion yuan to stimulate purchases of energy-efficient products, mainly automobiles and household appliances.

China has been a "frontier" for new-energy vehicles, as the country drew up many favorable policies in recent years to ease its heavy dependence on imported oil, cut emissions and speed the restructuring of the automobile sector.

Though the majority of the support policies will apply to domestic brands, the potential for market development has attracted foreign vehicle producers, especially leaders in the sector.

Germany-based luxury vehicle producer BMW AG made Beijing one of the three premiere cities in the world for its pure-electric i3 cars on July 29.

United States-based electric car producer Tesla Motors Inc this month opened its first showroom in China, taking pre-orders for its Model S four-door sportscars from customers at its Beijing location.

Mercedes-Benz last week became the first European manufacturer to import pure electric vehicles into China.

Source: ChinaDaily

Latin Trade: Five Sectors could substantially promote US GDP growth by 2020

"According to Game Changers: Five opportunities for US growth and renewal, a report published by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), growth in the United States over the next 10 years will come from five sectors: energy, trade, technology, infrastructure and talent. The latter two sectors will be important sources of growth until 2030. Latin America has enormous opportunities in some of the five catalysts identified by the global consultant, mainly in trade, infrastructure and energy, given that, in addition to favoring trade with the United States, the region could increase the investment of its multinationals by having a presence in these sectors there. To identify the catalysts, MGI looked for developments that are at the point of achieving scale, as well as areas with an immediate opportunity for action. The catalysts could have an effect on the demand from stimuli that the economy will receive in the short run and could also have longer-term effects which favor American competitiveness and productivity. If we are to take seriously the recommendations of the report, we would be close to a takeoff point for the American economy that Latin America could capitalize on".

Chinese stocks rebound on Wednesday

Chinese shares ended a four-day decline on Wednesday, led by media, aviation and financial sectors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index moved up 0.82 percent, or 18.00 points, to finish at 2,201.07. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.98 percent, or 82.11 points, to close at 8,447.46.

Combined turnover on the two bourses increased to 222.97 billion yuan (36.36 billion U.S. dollars) from 187.65 billion yuan the previous trading day.

A total of 26 stocks rose by their daily limit of 10 percent on Wednesday, and another 112 gained more than 5 percent. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, rose 2.91 percent to close at 1,329.48.

The media sector, with many major stocks listed on the ChiNext board, led Wednesday's rally by edging up 4.75 percent. Among the sector's profit makers, Huayi Brothers Media Corporation rose 10 percent to end at 30.32 yuan per share.

Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan on Tuesday said China should increase the qualification and quota for QDII and QFII investors to help them with their activities, as part of a broader financial reform.

The signal lifted performances of major securities companies, driving up the financial sector index by 2.52 percent.

The aviation and space sector, another big gainer, saw its sub-index up 3.77 percent at Wednesday's closing. Beijing-based China Spacesat Co., Ltd. closed 9.98 percent higher at 20.94 yuan per share.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese vice premier discusses trade with U.S. officials by phone

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang discussed trade issues on Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Trade Representative Michael Froman over the phone.

The two sides exchanged opinions on preparations for the 24th Session of China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) and other economic and trade issues of common concern.

The JCCT was launched in 1983 as a platform for China and the United States to promote trade relations and address issues of mutual concern.

During the 23rd session on Dec. 19 last year in Washington, the two sides reached consensus on promoting bilateral trade and business ties, and signed two documents -- a memorandum of understanding in support of 

China-U.S. trade cooperation and the second phase report on the statistical discrepancy of merchandise trade.

Source:  Xinhua

Pentagon Officials: Flight over East China Sea training exercise that had been planned for a long time

China's defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng on Wednesday said the country has observed U.S. B-52 bombers flying in the newly established air defense identification zone over East China Sea.

Geng said the U.S. aircraft flew south and north along the eastern border of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone from 11:00 a.m. to 1:22 p.m. Tuesday, about 200 km to the east of the Diaoyu Islands.

The Chinese army monitored the entire process, carried out identification in a timely manner, and ascertained the type of aircraft.

"We need to stress that China will identify every aircraft flying in the air defense identification zone according to the country's announcement of aircraft identification rules for the air defense identification zone," Geng said.

"China is capable of exercising effective control over this airspace," Geng added.

China announced the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone on Saturday. The U.S. State Department and certain officials expressed concern after the announcement.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said Tuesday that the U.S. conducted a China's defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng on Wednesday said the country has observed U.S. B-52 bombers flying in the newly established air defense identification zone over East China Sea.

Geng said the U.S. aircraft flew south and north along the eastern border of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone from 11:00 a.m. to 1:22 p.m. Tuesday, about 200 km to the east of the Diaoyu Islands.

The Chinese army monitored the entire process, carried out identification in a timely manner, and ascertained the type of aircraft.

"We need to stress that China will identify every aircraft flying in the air defense identification zone according to the country's announcement of aircraft identification rules for the air defense identification zone," Geng said.

"China is capable of exercising effective control over this airspace," Geng added.

China announced the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone on Saturday. The U.S. State Department and certain officials expressed concern after the announcement.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said Tuesday that the U.S. conducted a training exercise that had been planned for a long time. It involved two aircraft flying from Guam and returning to Guam. It involved two aircraft flying from Guam and returning to Guam.

China: Aircraft carrier's voyage normal training arrangement

A Chinese mainland spokeswoman on Wednesday reiterated that the Liaoning aircraft carrier's South China Sea trial is a normal arrangement in its scheduled training.

"We will continue to initiate new prospects in the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations," said Fan Liqing, of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.

Fan made the remarks when responding to a question about Taiwan authority's concern about the carrier's possible passage through the Taiwan Strait.

The Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, left its homeport of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province for the South China Sea on Tuesday on a scientific and training mission.

Source: Xinhua

China welcomes Geneva II conference on Syria

China welcomes the second Geneva conference on the Syrian crisis slated for Jan. 22 and hopes it can achieve results, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Tuesday.

The conference should be aimed to search for a political solution to the crisis and define the way of political transition, said Wang, who is accompanying Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on an official visit to Romania.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced Monday the date for the Geneva II meeting that will bring the Syrian government and opposition to the negotiating table for the first time since the outbreak of the country's internal conflict.

All sides in Syria should enhance communication, remove existing obstacles, build mutual trust and seek consensus, while the international community needs to keep showing their constructive support, said the Chinese top diplomat.

For the meeting to bear fruit, China is willing to continue making its contribution, Wang noted.

Beijing has been maintaining contact with all sides in Syria, encouraging them to commit themselves to a political solution to the protracted crisis and joining the Geneva II talks with a positive and constructive attitude, Wang said.

Given the complexity of the crisis, Wang said, the Geneva meeting will be a process, and the priority now is offering a negotiating platform for all sides involved.

China pays close attention to the humanitarian situation in Syria, and has provided Syrians in and outside the country with aid via different channels, Wang said, pledging Beijing's continuous effort in that regard.

China supports the UN's coordination of international efforts in offering humanitarian aid to Syrians. But such measures merely ease temporary pains, while the humanitarian situation in Syria improves at root only after a comprehensive and complete settlement of the crisis is reached, Wang said.

China, France vow new-type economic partnership

China and France on Tuesday pledged to develop a new type of comprehensive, mutually beneficial and sustainable economic and financial partnership.

The agreement came after the first China-France high-level economic and financial Dialogue, which was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai and French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici in Beijing.

Calling the dialogue mechanism "an important new platform for bilateral economic and financial cooperation," Ma said the two nations should fully implement the consensus reached previously by their two presidents.

He called on the two sides to strengthen macro-economic policy coordination and enhance cooperation under the framework of the G20.

Both sides should continue to deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as nuclear energy and aviation, and promote cooperation in new areas like modern agriculture, urbanization, new energy and the oceans, according to Ma.

The vice premier also urged China and France to attach high importance to International Monetary Fund governance and quota reform to enhance its credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness.

For his part, Moscovici said the dialogue mechanism showed the leaders' willingness to develop bilateral ties.

Calling China one of the most important partners of France, he said France welcomes Chinese companies' investment in France, adding that both sides should refrain from reacting to trade imbalances with protectionism.

The one-day dialogue covered issues of the macro economy and policy, global governance, fiscal and financial cooperation, as well as bilateral trade and investment.

China and France signed an agreement to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion and issued a joint statement after the dialogue.

Source: Xinhua

Latin America’s duty-free market evolves

With travelers from North America on the decline, duty-free retailers and suppliers in Latin America are vying for their attention, even as they ride a local wave of increased spending power among consumers who live within the region. To negotiate this tricky situation, businesses are introducing larger retail spaces, new marketing techniques and a wider array of products.

From one angle, sales trends are positive, according to Manuel Montico, the general manager for the Montevideo office of Grupo Wisa, the Panama-based travel retailer. “The global travel retail market in Latin America has been growing almost continuously over the past 10 years, except for a slight contraction experienced in the year 2008 due to, among other factors, the crisis created after the fall of Lehman in the United States ,” he said. “It shows signs of strength to continue growing for at least the next five years.”

Source: Latin Trade

China: "re-education through labour"

For 50-year-old Liu Hua, the horrors of the labour camp are still fresh. In the last seven years, she has been sent to the "re-education through labour" camps a total of three times for protesting against what she says was a government land grab in her home village.

But during her last stint, Ms Liu did something truly extraordinary: she wrote a secret diary documenting her experiences.

The mother of one worked 11-hour days making coats for the Chinese military. When the guards weren't looking, she stole pieces of coat lining to write the diary.

In her small Beijing apartment, she laid out what appeared to be a patchwork quilt on a small table in front me. But if you looked closely at the sections, which had been taped together, they were actually diary entries from a two-year period.

The extraordinary document reads like a roll call of abuse. One entry from 13 September 2011 talks about a fellow inmate being tortured by guards who used electric batons. "Her face was all purple after she was beaten," it said.

Earlier this month, Beijing announced that it would abolish its much hated re-education through labour camps - the country's equivalent of the Russian gulags. In the past, petty criminals, and often dissidents or people who protested, could be locked up for four years without a trial.

Following her experiences, Ms Liu is trying to return to normal life as best .

Sinopec, Apache in Talks to Invest in Canada LNG Project

     According to a report from the Wall Street Journal:

China's largest refiner is in early talks with U.S.-based oil-and-gas producer Apache Corp.  to buy a minority stake in a liquefied natural-gas project on Canada's Pacific coast, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The LNG project, known as Kitimat, is one of several LNG projects that China Petrochemical Corp. is looking at in the region, one of the people said. The management team of the Chinese company, known as Sinopec, has yet to authorize the investment, and it could select another Canadian LNG project to invest in, the person said.

Although the size and value of the stake hasn't been determined, Sinopec's investment would go toward paying for the cost of the project, one of the people said. Apache last year pegged the cost at $15 billion.

Apache Corp. in February upped its stake in Kitimat from 40% to 50%, which valued the project at $4.05 billion. The assets in Kitimat, a coastal town in British Columbia, include an LNG processing plant, pipelines and 644,000 acres of undeveloped shale resources. Apache will operate the upstream assets, while its partner--U.S.-based Chevron Corp., which own the other 50%--will operate the downstream assets.

The move comes as China looks to double the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 10% by 2020 from less than 5% now. Although China has ambitious plans for unconventional fuels such as shale gas, large-scale production is at least a decade away, creating opportunities for importers of LNG--the chilled and exportable form of natural gas. Sinopec is China's largest refiner by output.

Sinopec could also be a buyer of LNG produced by the project.

Canada Oil Sands: Some operations are actually not net energy generating—i.e., the energy injected via steam exceeds the recovered chemical energy in the retrieved bitumen.

U. Calgary analysis of energy balances and emissions of SAGD oil sands production finds need for improved processes; some operations not thermally efficient or net generators of energy

A team at the University of Calgary has assessed the thermal efficiencies, energy balances, and emissions of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)—both theoretically and as deployed at scale, using field data from the ERCB—for the production of bitumen from Athabasca oil sands reservoirs. In a paper in the journal Fuel, they report that current SAGD projects in Alberta show a very wide range of field performance.

Although optimized SAGD can yield “reasonably high” recovery factors, they found, the economic and environmental costs can be large given the amount of steam required. The data suggests that at the extreme, some operations are actually not net energy generating—i.e., the energy injected via steam exceeds the recovered chemical energy in the retrieved bitumen. The results suggest that in situ bitumen recovery processes need to advance well beyond current capabilities “if practical and sustainable energy balance and emissions scenarios are to be achieved,” they said.

For a successful in situ oil sands bitumen recovery process, two requirements must be met: first, it is necessary to raise the oil mobility (often done by lowering its viscosity which results from raising its temperature) until it can be moved by natural forces such as gravity, and secondly, it is necessary to move the mobilized oil to a production wellbore so it can be produced to the surface.

Currently, commercial steam-based in situ processess used to recover bitumen from oil sands reservoirs are either one of Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS), or Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD).

   The geology of the reservoir is a key factor, the two researchers explain. Production reservoirs are “completely different” from the homogeneous sandstones with uniform fluids envisaged by the engineers that developed SAGD.

 After accounting for the energy required (and the bitumen lost) during the upgrading process to convert the bitumen to synthetic oil, and then refining into transportation fuels, they found that the overall breakeven point was equal to a cSOR of about 6.5 m³/m³.

Based on the cSOR field data...many operations exceed this value and thus are not net energy generation processes yet may be “economic”! With disconnected price markets for natural gas and bitumen, it is possible for bitumen recovery under these conditions to be economically viable today even though it makes no sense to pursue such an energy inefficient process when cSOR values are high.

—Gates and Larter

Source:Green Car Congress 

China: TB Prize Selection Gets Caught in Politics

    According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,"there are few  awards in the field of tuberculosis treatment, where doctors can spend years trying to cure patients, only to watch many die. Tsetan Sadutshang appeared to be one of the chosen few when he was told in October by the organization that oversees the Kochon Prize, a prestigious honor for major contributions to the fight against TB, that the TB program he leads tentatively had been selected a winner".

"Based at a hospital in Dharamsala, India, at the foot of the Himalayas, the Tibetan Tuberculosis Control Program treats Tibetans in exile as well as Indian patients. Despite high rates of TB and drug-resistant TB in the community, the program says 93% of its patients in 2012 were either confirmed cured or were well after their treatment ended.

"We have one of the highest rates of TB in the world," said Dr. Sadutshang, chief medical officer of the Tibetan Delek Hospital and personal physician to the Dalai Lama. "One of the biggest health problems in the Tibetan community is TB."

Yet Dr. Sadutshang's program wasn't given the award, in a turn of events illustrating a collision of politics and public health.

While the Kochon Prize selection committee of TB experts chose the Tibetan program, according to people close to the selection process, the winner must be approved by the director-general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan. A WHO spokesman confirmed this and said the WHO administration, which advises the director-general, didn't approve the choice because the hospital has ties to the Tibetan government-in-exile. The Central Tibetan Administration, as that entity is known, isn't recognized by the United Nations. The WHO is the U.N.'s public-health agency."The WHO is not able to recognize any entity that is not in turn recognized as a legal authority by the UN," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl in response to a question. He said the prize committee's selection was reviewed by the WHO administration's legal department.

China also objected to the choice of winner, according to people familiar with the selection process, calling the TB program a political organization because it was linked to the government in exile, an entity China asserts threatens its sovereignty over Tibet". 

The $65,000 prize, which would have been shared with another winner, would have helped the Tibetan TB program fund treatment for patients and possibly apply for grants from larger funding agencies, said Kunchok Dorjee, who directed the program through September and now advises it while in graduate school. "It would have really helped us run our program and save a number of lives," he said.