介绍:
China should step up GM tech development: official
A senior Chinese official says it's time for the country to become a world leader in the research of genetically modified biotechnology.
This comes after the recently released NO.1 Central document says the country will strengthen the technical study and safety management of GM technology, while also raising better public awareness of the issue.
Though there is no evidence that GM crops harm human health or the environment, most Chinese seem to regard the technology with great suspicion.
2015 Spring Festival travel rush starts on Wednesday
This year's Spring Festival travel rush is due to start on Wednesday, with an estimated 2.8 billion trips to be made over the 40-day period.
295-million trips are expected to be made by rail, an increase of 10 percent compared with last year.
It is reported that around one-thousand temporary passenger trains have been added to the system nationwide preparing for the coming travel rush.
Safety and security efforts across the country have been enhanced to help ensure that everyone has a safe trip.
The Spring Festival travel rush will run until March 15th.
Italy extradites economic crime suspect to China
For the first time, an economic fugitive has been extradited from Europe back to China.
Authorities say the fraud suspect, surnamed Zhang, was returned today after spending more than nine years on the run in Italy.
The former securities company staffer in Hebei province is accused of stealing more than 1.4 million yuan, which is nearly a quarter of a million US dollars.
Authorities say she took the money from her clients between January of 2000 and January of 2005, and then fled to Italy in October of 2005.
Italian police arrested Zhang in October of last year and authorities there officially agreed to the woman's extradition last month.
UN court: Serbs 'did not conduct genocide' against Croats
The International Court of Justice in The Hague has ruled that Serbia did not commit genocide in Croatia during the Balkan Wars.
It's still issuing its ruling on a counter claim of genocide from the Serbian side.
The Croatian government had alleged that Serbia committed genocide in the town of Vukovar and elsewhere in 1991.
Serbia later filed a counter claim over the expulsion of more than 200,000 Serbs from Croatia.
About 20,000 people died during the 1991-1995 war, when Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia.
Iran's missile program "not included" in nuclear talks: negotiator
Iran's senior nuclear negotiator says the missile program of the Islamic republic will not be allowed to be included in the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers.
Abbas Araqchi made the comment in reaction to the remarks by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who said Iran's missile program continues to pose a dangerous threat to the region.
Psaki also notes Iran's ballistic missile with potential nuclear warhead capabilities will be included in ongoing negotiations between Iran and the P5 plus one group of nations.
This development comes after Iran launched its fourth satellite into orbit on Monday.
Iran has said that its missile program is for deterrent purposes and poses no threats to other states.
US justice department drops News Corp probe
Rupert Murdoch's media companies will not face prosecution in the United States over allegations of phone-hacking and payments to public officials in Britain.
The US Department of Justice had been investigating both News Corp and 21st Century Fox.
But it's decided not to pursue charges after completing its probe.
A senior executive representing both companies has expressed gratefulness to the decision.
The News of the World newspaper closed as a result of phone-hacking and a number of its former journalists have since been convicted following the scandal.
China's online population hits 649 mln
China's online community ballooned to nearly 650-million members last year, the largest in the world.
A report from the China Internet Network Information Centre says smartphones continue to be a major driver of increasing the number of Chinese people accessing the Internet.
As of the end of last year, 557 million users were using phones to access the web, representing more than 85 percent of all Chinese "netizens" and an increase from 500-million at the end of 2013.
More than 30 million new internet users were added last year, down from the 53 million added in 2013.
Last year, the average user spent a little more than 26 hours a week online.
Lenovo profit beats forecasts boosted by smartphone sales
The world's leading PC maker, Lenovo, has reported a better-than-expected profit after sales in its smartphone division more than doubled.
The company says its fourth-quarter revenue rose some 30 percent to 14 billion U.S. dollars, beating investor expectations.
Its net profit during the period was over 250 million dollars, compared to analyst forecasts of 200 million.
The company bought Motorola and IBM's low-end server unit last year in a bid to diversify beyond the PC business.
