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China, U.S. hold new talks on investment treaty
A new round of negotiations over an investment treaty between China and the United States has begun in Beijing.
China's Ministry of Commerce says the two sides will step up discussions about "core issues" during the five-day negotiations, which started today.
The ministry has not given any other details.
Talks over the treaty began in 2008. The two sides held the last round of talks in Washington in March this year.
New Zone established to develop marine economy
The State Council of China has approved the establishment of a new zone in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao.
This move is linked to ocean exploration and development of maritime resources.
It is expected to contribute to China's maritime strategy of developing an efficient and environmentally-friendly seaside economy.
The State Council is urging departments to coordinate development efforts in the zone.
Located on the west coast of Jiaozhou Bay, the new zone covers 5,000 square km of offshore waters and nearly 2,100 square km of land.
Qingdao boasts a variety of resources and advantages for developing the marine economy, which will further serve the transformation of eastern coastal regions and build China into a marine powerhouse.
China's foreign trade recorded mild growth in May
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New figures show China's foreign trade grew by 1.5 percent in May year-on-year.
The General Administration of Customs attributes the mild growth to an improving global markets and helpful policies enacted by the government in Beijing.
Official data shows the country's exports rebounded from a 4.8 percent slump in the first four months of the year to 5.4 percent growth in May.
The customs data shows that China's imports and exports totaled 10.3 trillion yuan or about 1.7 trillion US dollars in the first five months of the year.
That represents a decline of 2.2 percent year on year.
For more on this, CRI's Paul James spoke earlier with Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor of China's University of Economics and Business.
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Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor of China's University of Economics and Business.
Mixed picture on Japan's economy
There are positive and negative economic signs emerging in Japan.
An updated government report shows the country has recorded GDP growth of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, but April's Current Account surplus has plunged 76 percent.
Japan revised its growth figures for the January-to-March period due to robust consumer spending and stronger growth in business investment.
However, weighed by the yen's depreciation and a surge in fossil fuel imports, Japan saw a serious drop in its current account surplus for April.
Despite a 6.2 percent growth in exports, its imports rose 6.6 percent, resulting in a 7.6 billion dollar trade deficit.
Bulgaria halts work on gas pipeline after US talks
Bulgaria is to halt work on its Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline following criticism from the EU and the US.
The Bulgarian Prime Minister has announced that he has "ordered all work to be stopped".
The Gazprom-financed pipeline would ship gas to western Europe via the Balkans, thus avoiding Ukraine.
The European Commission sent Bulgarian authorities a letter at the start of the month, asking them to suspend work on the project.
The EC claimed Bulgaria may have broken EU public procurement laws by choosing local and Russian bidders.
Meanwhile, Moscow, Kiev and Brussels will restart talks on Russian gas supplies later today to try to resolve a dispute over price.
Russia and Ukraine have been at odds over gas pricing following the ouster of former Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Russia has been demanding Ukraine pay in advance for new gas deliveries.
Ukraine is the delivery point for around one-third of Europe's natural gas supplies from Russia.
Microsoft sets up Xiaobing partnerships
Microsoft is relaunching its chatbots "Xiaobing" or little ice here in China, but this time with Netease's messaging app Yixin.
Microsoft announced that it set up strategic cooperation with Yixin over the weekend in an effort to bring back Microsoft's artificially intelligent chatbots.
Based on the cooperation, Yixin users can have intelligent chats with the chatbots, after following Xiaobing's account on Yixin.
The partnership came right after a similar agreement between Microsoft and Beijing-based Xiaomi Technology, owner of a SNS platform named Miliao, last Friday.
Both announcements are in response to the removal of Xiaobing by Tencent from its popular messaging app WeChat over alleged privacy concerns and claims of an emergence of fake Xiaobing on June 1.
Former top COSCO executive expelled from the CPC
A former COSCO executive has been expelled from the Communist Party of China for taking advantage of his position and claiming expenses for personal items.
Xu Minjie was an executive director at China's largest bulk shipping company until last November.
Xu was sacked last November as China intensifies its efforts to crack down on corruption.
The party says it has now referred the matter to the relevant judicial bodies.
Sony 'overtakes' rival Nintendo in console sales
Sony has overtaken Nintendo for the first time in eight years, based on the total number of game consoles sold.
Sony sold 18.7 million systems in the last financial year, compared to Nintendo's tally of 16.3 million video games machines.
Sony's PlayStation 4 has emerged as the bestselling "new-gen" console.
But demand for Nintendo's Wii U has lagged far behind the original Wii, which was the most popular hardware of the last generation.
