介绍:
China considers repealing crime of sex with underage prostitutes
China's top legislature has debated repealing the crime of sex with underage prostitutes and reclassifying it as rape, which would face a tougher punishment.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee deliberated the draft amendment to the Criminal Law as its six-day bimonthly legislative session started on Monday.
Under the current law, people who have sex with prostitutes less than 14 years old face a maximum of 15 years in prison, while those convicted of raping a child may face death sentence.
Legal professionals have been questioning whether to scrap the crime of sex with underage prostitutes since it was written into the Criminal Law in 1997.
Meanwhile, another draft amendment to the Criminal Law filed at the legislative session stipulates that seriously corrupt figures that have been given two-year suspended death sentences will face life imprisonment after the two years.
The draft says the aim is to prevent "the most corrupt criminals serving shorter jail terms through commutation."
Prisoner-amnesty deal deliberated by lawmakers
In the spirit of the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II, some current prisoners could be granted amnesty.
Four categories of prisoners who are deemed to not pose a threat to society may be considered for an official pardon, according to a draft decision submitted to China's top legislature on Monday.
Those four special cases include criminals who fought in China's war of resistance against Japanese invasion and the civil war against the Kuomintang army; criminals who participated in wars to safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity after 1949; criminals who are 75 or above, disabled ones unable to care for themselves; and those who committed crimes while under the age of 18 and received a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
However, those found guilty of serious crimes are excluded.
Felons convicted of violent crimes such as homicide, rape, terrorism or narcotics will not qualify for the pardons.
Neighboring province to cut emissions for Beijing's V-Day parade
North China's Hebei Province has said that it will cut pollutant discharge from its heavy industries by 30 percent to ensure good air quality for the upcoming military parade in Beijing on September 3.
Hebei surrounds the Chinese capital and is home to many of China's large steel mills and other pollution-spewing heavy industries such as cement and glass.
Authorities say the province will implement the highest level anti-pollution response. Plants that fail to meet the emissions standard ahead of this Friday will be forced to shut down.
Tianjin Blast Death Toll Rises to 129
Rescue authorities have updated the death toll from the Tianjin warehouse explosions to 129, with 44 others missing.
All the dead have been identified, including 76 firefighters and seven policemen.
The missing people include 28 firefighters, four policemen and 12 others.
Meanwhile, 610 people remain hospitalized, 39 of them in serious condition.
Top UK, Iran officials meet in Tehran
Visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Teheran.
Also on Monday, Hammond met with Ali Shamkhani, head of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council.
The meeting came after Hammond reopened the British embassy in Tehran on Sunday nearly four years after its closure.
This is the first trip by a British Foreign Secretary to Tehran since 2003.
Bomb attack kills 2 Egyptian policemen, injures 24
Two have been killed and 24 others wounded following a bomb exploded on a bus carrying Egyptian policemen in the country's Delta province of Beheira.
The blast occurred on Monday in a town, some 150 km north of Cairo.
The bombing today was the latest in a string of similar attacks targetting security personnel that have left hundreds of police and servicemen dead or injured since the military ousted former president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.
Undetonated bomb has no connection with recent Bangkok blast: police
Thai police have denied that an un-detonated bomb found in downtown Bangkok is related to the recent bombing attack that left at least 20 people dead.
A Cambodian worker found a suspicious object on Monday while digging a hole at a construction site, which later turned out to be an unexploded hand grenade.
Local media quoted a police officer as saying that it is an old grenade and has no connection with the bomb blast in downtown Bangkok on Aug. 17.
CBI Upgrades UK Economy Forecast
The Confederation of British Industry, or CBI, has upgraded its forecasts on the UK economy for both this year and next.
The business lobby group now expects growth of 2.6 percent this year and 2.8 percent next year, up from its June forecast of 2.4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.
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