China holds memorial for Nanjing Massacre victims
The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council held a memorial for Nanjing Massacre victims in Nanjing on Sunday.
Li Jianguo, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, attended the event at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.
People observed a minute's silence while sirens were sounded at 10:00am throughout the city.
The invading Japanese troops captured Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937 and started a bloodbath that lasted for more than 40 days. More than 300-thousand Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed and around 20-thousand women were raped.
China last year designated Dec. 13 National Memorial Day for Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Cold front moves east, smog lingers in north China
Forecasters are suggesting northern China should be given a reprieve from the smog in the next 24-hours.
A cold front is set to sweep across northern and central China starting this Sunday, which should help blow some of the pollution off.
The National Meteorlogical Center is also warning a cold snap could bring flurries to parts of Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi.
Some areas can expect to see temperatures drop by as much as 6-degrees in the next day or so.
Pangolin Smugger in Guangxi Jailed for 5 Years
A man in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for smuggling pangolins.
The man surnamed Tang from Dongxing City was also fined 50 thousand yuan, or over 7700 U.S. dollars.
Tang, hired by other smugglers, was accused of driving 26 smuggled pangolins in a commercial van from Vietnam to China.
He was arrested in Dongxing while driving his vehicle on an expressway leading to Guangdong Province.
Pangolins are under second-class state protection in China, and those illegally catching, killing or trading them could face over 10 years in prison plus fines.
23 Killed in Russia Psychiatric Hospital Fire
At least 23 people have been killed in a deadly blaze at a psychiatric hospital in southwestern Russia.
2 more bodies have been found in the debris after 19 were recovered at the site earlier.
Another 2 died in a local hospital.
Media outlets reported that all the deceased were bedridden patients or patients undergoing medical treatment.
Over 70 people were inside the hospital when the fire broke out late last night, and 51 of them were successfully evacuated while 21 with burns have been hospitalized.
The cause of the tragedy is still under investigation.
1 person shot in U.S. Walmart store in Pennsalvania
At least one person has been shot and wounded after a suspected armed man entered a Walmart store in the borough of East Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania.
Local media report that the suspect walked into the store late Saturday night with an assault-style weapon and several handguns.
The person shot was not identified.
Historic Paris agreement on climate change adopted without objection at COP21
A new agreement on climate change has been adopted.
The 196 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have adopted the pact after some 2-weeks of negotiations in Paris.
It has a stated goal of keeping average temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but with a target of keeping temperatures within 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial averages.
The new deal also includes a system to encourage individual countries to increase their own carbon emission programs.
A previous plan to provide 100-billion U.S. dollars a year to the developing world by 2020 is also part of the final agreement.
Libyan rival factions to meet in Rome on peace agreement
Representatives from China are among those sitting down later on this Sunday in Rome in an attempt to help broker a peace deal between the rival governments in Libya.
China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is among a group of countries being represented at talks designed to create a unified administration in Libya.
A Wednesday deadline has been set to reach a final peace agreement and form a national unity government.
The talks in Rome follow a series of intense talks this past week in Tunisia.
Libya has been in a political vacuum following the ouster of former leader Muammar Gadaffi in 2011, with an Islamist and secular administration both claiming control.
87 killed in attacks against Burundi's military sites: army spokesman
The International community is monitoring the situation in Burundi closely following the latest deadly clashes in the capital of the central African nation.
Unknown gunmen launched attacks at three military sites in the capital Bujumbura on Friday, leaving at least 87 dead in the country's worst outbreak of violence since May.
Gaspard Baratuza, spokesman of the Burundian army, said on Saturday that the operation to pursue those gunmen had ended.
Venezuelan president pledges new tack on economic woes
Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is promising to release a new set of policies this coming year to tackle the country's economic woes.
The pledge, made during a speech to the country's armed-forces, comes just days after his Socialist Party lost control of the country's legislature in a landslide election.
Maduro says his administration will generate new methods of governing, as well as new social and economic policies, which will run counter to the political opposition.
His own hold on power in Venezuela remains in-question, after the opposition won a "super majority," meaning it has the votes to roll back numerous programs initiated under both himself and predacessor Hugo Chavez.
The Socialist defeat in Venezuela has been blamed on widespread discontent with soaring prices and shortages of basic goods in Venezulea, with its economy battered by continued low oil prices, which are now at around 35-US dollars a barrel.