新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 20:00 2013/09/12

The Beijing Hour
 
Evening Edition
 
 
Paul James with you on this Thursday, September 12th, 2013.
Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital.
Coming up on our program this evening.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met with the new President of Iran ahead of the start of this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
Business leaders attending the Summer Davos in Dalian are calling for a safe environment to help create a consumer-based economy here in China.
A new report says the US government has finally begun sending arms to Syria's rebels.
In Business, South Korean financial authorities have left their benchmark interest rates unchanged again.
In sports, this year's National Games in Liaoning has come to a conclusion.
In entertainment, a film about slavery is wowing audiences at this year's Toronto Film Festival.
 
 
Weather
 
 
Beijing will have thundershowers tonight with a low of 19 degrees Celsius.　Tomorrow overcast with a high temperature of 28.
Meanwhile Shanghai will be cloudy tonight, with a low of 26,　thundershowers tomorrow, with a high of 34.
Lhasa will be cloudy tonight, 6 degrees the low, also cloudy tomorrow with a high of 20.
Elsewhere in the world, staying in Asia
Islamabad, thundershowers, with a high of 32.
Kabul, sunny, 31.
Over in Australia
Sydney, overcast, highs of 19.
Canberra, overcast, 14.
Brisbane, overcast, 26.
And finally, Perth will have thundershowers with a high of 19.
 
 
Top News
 
 
Chinese, Iranian presidents meet on ties
 
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as part of his time in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
The two leaders talked about their bilateral ties and issues of common concern.
Rouhani is in Bishkek for this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which is set to be held tomorrow.
Iran became an SCO observer state in 2005.
 
 
The Future Path for the SCO
 
For more on this year's SCO meeting, CRI's Zheng Chenguang spoke earlier with professor Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council.
…
Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, speaking with CRI's Zheng Chenguang.
 
 
Transition to consumption country
 
Anchor:
Business leaders and professionals attending this year's Summer Davos in Dalian are calling for the development of a safe business environment to help transform this country's economy into a more consumption-based model.
CRI's Liu Min has more.
Reporter:
At the 2013 Annual Meeting of New Champions in Dalian, more than 1500 participants from 90 countries are conducting discussions over numerous issues. One of the focuses is how China should transit to a consumption country and its impact to the world economy.
Zhang Weiying, economist from Peking University says China needs to have innovative thinking about how to boost domestic consumption.
"Our government is managing a large proportion of GDP, and it can make decisions on investment and consumption. Thus, the money in people's hands is quite limited. I think what a government needs to do is only to provide basic public products and services, but should not interfere the market too much such as boosting consumption by using too many administrative measures. The government needs to return the consumption right back to citizens and entrepreneurs, and let them to work hard and spend the money they want for a better life."
Zhang Weiying believes Chinese economy should not only focus on GDP growth. Currently, the concept of reaching an economic development goal only by looking at GDP rate has changed in China. Premier Li Keqiang emphasized at the opening ceremony on Wednesday that Chinese government will not eye on a high growth rate, but to maintain a sustainable economic development, which will bring long-term benefit to the Chinese and global economy.
At the same time, experts from different areas also say that problems in food safety, medical services, and education system and finance services have become major curbs against consumption growth in China. CEO Lin Yu from Beijing Wang Qin Technology says safety protection system is also critical to companies, especially for those who want to be innovative in development.
"I am an entrepreneur who doesn't have the feeling of safety. My question is that are we protected enough by the law enforcement on our Intellectual Property Rights? Can a starting business and a giant company have equal competition environment? The vicious competitions in China happen a lot, and many Chinese entrepreneurs and companies have suffered from such pains. We do need to cultivate a system which supports innovation to boost consumption."
Other suggestions to boost domestic consumption from the economists and business leaders include increasing disposable income for the public and improving the social welfare system. Entrepreneurs' calls for a fairer competition environment for both domestic and foreign companies have been in the spotlight and under hot debate at this year's Summer Davos, which will ends tomorrow.
For CRI, I'm Liu Min.
 
 
Experts Advise Ways to Improve Education for China's Disabled Children
 
Anchor:
A human rights conference launched in Beijing today has heard a senior Chinese researcher call on the government to increase education opportunities for disabled children to help them become more self-sufficient.
CRI's Xu Fei has more.
Reporter:
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are over 85-million disabled people in China, accounting for around 8% of the overall population.
However, a recent report published by China's Education Ministry indicates that about 28 percent of Chinese children with disabilities remain not enrolled in China's compulsory nine-year education.
Ye Xiaowen, Vice-president of China Society for Human Rights Studies, therefore, suggests the government at all levels increase investment in the education for the handicapped people to make them not be a burden anymore for the social development.
"Their disabilities are just the malfunctioning of some organs. If they are given access to regular education, they would contribute to our society as much as or even more than normal people. The issue of education for disabled children is not only a human right issue but also has a direct bearing on the sustainable development of our Chinese nation. "
In fact, there are various problems relating to the living conditions of this large group of people in China. In an exclusive interview with CRI along the sideline of the sixth Beijing Forum on Human Rights which opened Thursday morning in Beijing, Ye Xiaowen believes proper education plays a crucial role in solving such problems.
In 2012, the Chinese government has vowed to increase its spending on education to four percent of the country's gross domestic product, and this leads Ye to suggest the portion for education of the disabled children rise accordingly.
"Along with the increase in the government budget on education reaching 4-percent of GDP, the portion for education designed for the disabled from should rise accordingly in this budget. This is a type of strategic investment which would lead to high returns."
Receiving proper education, the disabled' right to work could be better guaranteed.
China's National Human Rights Action Plan for the period between 2012 and 2015 provides that the country will stabilize and expand employment for the disabled.
Xu Jianzhong, an official that promotes welfare and charity in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, notes one of the progresses in the employment of the disabled in China.
"There are more than 20,000 charity enterprises in China that give job offers for almost 600,000 disabled people."
Themed Constructing an Environment for Sustainable Human Rights Development, the sixth Beijing Forum on Human Rights will run till Friday. Participants at home and abroad discuss a number of issues including China-made progress in protecting the rights for the disadvantaged population.
For CRI, I'm Xu Fei.
 
 
U.S. begins delivering weapons to Syrian rebels: report
 
A new report says the United States has begun delivering weapons to the Syrian rebels.
The report in the Washington Post is quoting both US officials and individuals in Syria says the CIA has been shipping weapons to the Syrian rebels for the last two-weeks.
The weapons themselves are said to be limited to light weapons, and can easily be tracked.
Non-lethal assistance has also reportedly been floating to the rebels in the form of vehicles, advanced communication devices and medical kits.
The Washington Post is reporting the weapons and other assistance is being shipped to fighters under the command of Salim Idriss.
He's the man in-charge of the so-called Supreme Military Command.
This is the group of fighters who defected from the Syrian military at the beginning of the conflict some 2.5 years ago.
The weapons are reportedly flowing into Syria via points in both Turkey and Jordan.
The report is also quoting a Syrian opposition official as saying the US is still reluctant to provide the rebels with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons.
 
 
Philippine standoff reaches a fourth day
 
A standoff between government troops and Muslim rebels in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga is well into its 4th evening.
Rebels have also attacked another town in the southern province of Basilan this Thursday.
Five people are missing and two have been wounded.
At least 15-thousand people have been displaced after the Moro National Liberation Front took dozens of hostages on Monday.
The United Nations is calling for an immediate end to the violence.
It also says it's ready to provide assistance to the civilians.
Philippine military spokesperson Domingo Tutaan says their operations are moving at a slow pace for the sake of civilians.
"That's what they're doing from day one. From the start of this, they use the civilians in the area as human shields, and that is the reason why again, since the start, it was really to complicate the security forces to launch an attack. On the matter or what, they are civilians."
The rebels are accusing the Philippine government of terminating an earlier peace pact that would have allowed them to run a Muslim autonomous region on the southern island of Mindanao.
The rebels are hoping to declare an independent state in Zamboanga.
The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country with a small population of Muslims living in the southern Islands.
 
 
Dutch envoy makes public apology for colonial-era summary executions
 
The Netherlands has issued a formal apology for a series of summary executions carried out by the Dutch army in Indonesia during its colonial era.
Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan.
"The Dutch government is aware that it bears a special responsibility in respect of Indonesian widows of victims of summary executions comparable to those carried out by Dutch troops in what was then Celebes and Rawa Gede."
The Netherlands will also pay 20-thousand euros to each victim's family.
This is the first general apology issued by the Dutch government, though the Netherlands has already apologised and paid compensation in certain specific cases.
Representatives of the victims are welcoming the apology.
"We feel grateful and very happy to be here. Before that we never imagined that it would be like this."
More than 40-thousand Indonesians were killed in south Sulawesi during the war for independence from 1945 to 1949.
 
 
Sentences will come Friday in Indian bus gang rape case
 
Heated calls are being made in India in advance of tomorrow's sentencing of the 4-men convicted this week of last year's brutal gang-rape of a young woman.
The victim's parents and even some leading Indian political leaders have been demanding the men be sentenced to death.
The men have been convicted of rape and murder, on top of 11 other charges, and will face either life in prison or death by hanging.
The men's defence lawyers are insisting their clients confessions were coerced by police torture.
Defense lawyer A.P. Singh is calling for the judge to avoid the death penalty.
"If they have committed a mistake, and the court accepted that they committed a mistake, then they should be given a chance to reform."
5 men and a young offender gang-raped the 23-year-old medical student in a moving bus, then dumped her on the side of the road.
She died of her injuries two weeks later in hospital.
 
 
Biz Reports
 
 
Stocks
 
Most Asian markets ended higher today as the concern over a US strike on Syria further recedes.
However, weaker than expected Japanese machinery orders dampened investor confidence, stalling the recent rally.
Here in China shares continue to gain momentum following rosier than projected economic data released this week.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6%
The Shenzhen Component Index rose by 0.5%
Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.1%
Elsewhere here in Asia,
Japan's Nikkei lost 0.3% as the yen strengthens, hitting exporters.
South Korea's KOSPI ended flat
Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.4%
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose by 0.1% as the Australian dollar falls for the first time in a week.
 
 
South Korea's Central Bank maintains 2.5% policy rate
 
South Korea's central bank is maintaining its key interest rate at 2.5 percent.
This is the 4th straight month the BOK has refused to move on rates.
Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo and monetary policy board members have decided unanimously to keep the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate on hold at 2.5-percent after lowering the rate in May.
The committee cut borrowing costs by 25 basis points in July and October last year.
The decision is in line with market consensus.
 
 
Australian Dollar falls as unemployment rises in August
 
Australia's unemployment rate has increased 0.1-percent to 5.8-percent this past month.
And additional 10-thousand-800 have found themselves out of work.
Full-time employment has dropped by 26-hundred.
Part-time employment is down 82-hundred.
The figures are in line with expectations.
Despite this, the Australian dollar has dropped nearly 1-percent against the US dollar.
10-year Australian government bond yields have also dipped 12 basis points to 4.05-percent.
 
 
EC banking and telecoms reforms
 
EU executives are set to vote later on this Thursday for the potential establishment of a new banking union in the Eurozone.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is calling for the swift formation of the region's new banking union.
"It is the way to ensure that taxpayers are no longer the ones in the front line for paying the price of bank failure. It is the way to make progress in decoupling bank from sovereign risk. It is the way to remedy one of the most alarming and unacceptable results of the crisis: increased fragmentation of Europe's financial sector and credit market. And it is also the way to help restoring normal lending to the economy, notably to SMEs."
Barroso also says a functioning Banking Union will help stabilize the financial markets.
"Ultimately, this is about one thing: growth, which is necessary to remedy today's most pressing problem: unemployment."
Alongside the banking reforms, a comprehensive legislative package is being proposed to help bolster the telecom market in the EU.
 
 
Morning Call-In Solar Panel Deal
 
Anchor:
China Power Investments is reportedly set to take a minority stake in Maltese energy company Enemalta Corporation.
The move is being made to try to allow the state-owned Chinese firm to gain a foothold in the solar panel market in the EU.
China Power Investment is reportedly dumping 200-million euros into the company, which is already 800-million euros in the red.
The deal follows the recent solar energy trade dispute between China and the EU, where the EU accused Chinese producers of benefiting from unfair state aid.
The dispute was resolved last month when the two sides agreed on a minimum price for panels from China.
For more on the move, CRI's Rebecca Hume spoke earlier with Cao Can, CRI's financial commentator.
…
CRI's financial commentator Cao Can, speaking with CRI's Rebecca Hume.
 
 
Wanda looks to further acquisitions in US and Europe
 
The head of Chinese property developer Dalian Wanda Group has released a new statement, saying it can afford to spend as much as 5-billion US dollars every year on foreign acquisitions.
Chair Wang Jianlin, reportedly China's richest man, says the company will continue to focus on the hospitality and entertainment industries.
He says the focus will be on Europe and the US.
Last week Wanda completed the acquisition of AMC Entertainment Holdings, the second largest cinema chain in America.
The deal is the largest acquisition made by a private Chinese firm in the US.
 
 
Sharp to raise 1.5 billion US dollars through public share offering
 
Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp is reportedly planning to raise around 1.5-billion US dollars through a public offering.
A spokesperson for the Osaka-based company says a final decision on the value of the share offering has yet to be made.
The company will also reportedly use a third party share allocation to raise an additional 100 to 200-million US dollars.
It's being reported electric power tool maker Makita and automobile parts manufacturer Denso will be among those involved in the fundraising scheme.
Sharp has been surviving a major downturn in its television manufacturing business via the sale of its LCD screens to Apple.
 
 
Royal Mail plans IPO
 
The UK's 360-year-old postal service, the Royal Mail Group, has announced plans for an initial public offering.
The IPO is set to be issued in the coming weeks.
The sale is poised to be the largest UK privatisation since former Prime Minister John Major put British Rail into private hands in the 1990s.
Royal Mail Group, which has yet to be valued, is hoping that the access to private capital will bolster its competitiveness in the face of fiercer European rivals.
The firm wants to shift its business focus away from letter delivery to the more lucrative package shipping.
Royal Mail is one of the UK's biggest employers, with nearly 160-thousand employees.
 
 
Saudi Arabia projects fall in Oil Revenue
 
Saudi Arabia's government expects its oil revenues to hit 285.5 billion U.S. dollars this year.
The projection is down by 19.6 billion dollars compared with last year.
Saudi Arabia generated 10.19 million barrels daily last month in response to the glut in the market left by a lack of production coming from Libya.
 
 
Mercedes unveils driverless car
 
Mercedes Benz has rolled out its driverless car at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
The Benz S500 is designed to operate with or without a driver.
It's reportedly performed well on a recent 100-kilometer test drive through Germany.
Ralph Herrtwich is head of Telematic Research for the firm.
"We ourselves were amazed when we did some customer research on whether people like autonomous vehicles and the surprising result was that a lot of people would like to have such a feature in their vehicle, not all the time, but in certain situations where driving is not really fun - in a traffic jam, on your daily commute to work, that's where people would like to have that feature and that's why we intend to build it for them."
Nokia has announced it has been working with Mercedes on smart maps to be used for self-driving cars.
No date for a release of the S500 has been released.
Nissan has already announced it plans to sell a driverless vehicle by 2020.
 
 
Headline News
 
 
Chinese, Iranian presidents meet on ties
 
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as part of his time in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
The two leaders talked about their bilateral ties and issues of common concern.
Rouhani is in Bishkek for this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which is set to be held tomorrow.
Iran became an SCO observer state in 2005.
 
 
China urges resumed Korean Peninsula six-party talks
 
A senior Chinese diplomat is calling for the resumption of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
Lead Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei amid talks with Glyn Davies, visiting U.S. special representative for North Korean policy.
The two met to talk about the potential resumption of the 6-party talks.
The six-party talks, which have included the two Koreas, China the United States, Japan and Russia have been stalled since late 2008.
 
 
U.S. begins delivering weapons to Syrian rebels: report
 
A new report says the United States has begun delivering weapons to the Syrian rebels.
The report in the Washington Post is quoting both US officials and individuals in Syria says the CIA has been shipping weapons to the Syrian rebels for the last two-weeks.
The weapons themselves are said to be limited to light weapons, and can easily be tracked.
Non-lethal assistance has also reportedly been floating to the rebels in the form of vehicles, advanced communication devices and medical kits.
 
 
Chinese man, helper found dead in Madagascar, murder suspected
 
The Chinese Embassy in Madagascare says a Chinese man and his assistant had been found murdered.
The two men have been found dead in a lake on the outskirts of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo.
The police say the victims were killed Tuesday night.
The 37-year old Chinese national was the owner of a stone-collecting company.
 
 
Beijing unveils clean air action plan
 
Municipal authorities here in Beijing have unveiled a new five-year plan to improve air quality.
The plan includes cutting coal consumption, promoting clean energy and reducing industries which are heavy polluters.
The plan is to cut annual coal consumption to under 10 million tonnes by 2017.
Last year saw 23 million tonnes of coal burned here in the city.
Cement production capacity is also going to be cut to under 4 million tonnes by 2017.
This would be down from the current average of 10 million tonnes.
 
 
Newspaper Picks
 
 
Xinhua
"Experts appeal for labelling GM food"
Experts are appealing for the consumers' right to be informed when buying GM products.
It's reported 28 countries have planted GM crops, and on the planet 81 percent of soybeans, 35 percent of corn and 30 percent of oilseed rape are GM products.
Experts say more than half of cooking oil consumption is soybean oil in China, and 90 percent of that oil is made from GM soybeans.
Experts say people have the right to know what they are eating and the choice of whether to have GM food should be left up to them.
Although China has a strict trademark mechanism for GM products, including clear labeling, many transgenetic products are still without such labels.
Xinhua reporters found cooking oil products of well-known brands labeled GM or non-GM in several big supermarkets in Beijing and Tianjin, with non-GM especially evident.
For other products, including soy sauce and soy milk, such marks are not regularly seen on the labels, especially for those made by less popular manufacturers.
China Daily
"Municipal buses to use Shanghai dialect"
Shanghai transportation management office says announcements in the Shanghai dialect will be expanded to all buses in the municipality from October.
Commuters will hear announcements about routes and stops in Mandarin, the Shanghai dialect and English on buses traveling in central urban areas but only Mandarin on buses serving the outskirts.
Residents welcomed the change and hoped the dialect will be used in more public services to highlight Shanghai and better protect and showcase the language and culture.
A pilot program commenced in 2011 on buses on the No 785 route, which operates in the Pudong New Area. Seven bus routes have joined the program so far.
The Telegraph
"Start schooling later than age five, say experts"
An influential lobby of almost 130 experts is warning formal schooling should be delayed until the age of six or seven because early education is causing "profound damage" to children.
It claims traditional lessons should be put on hold for up to two years amid fears that successive governments have promoted a "too much, too soon" culture in schools and nurseries.
Experts claim that the current system robs infants of the ability to play and puts too much emphasis on formal learning in areas such as the three Rs at a young age.
They warn that the Coalition is now ratcheting up the requirements with policies that prioritise "school readiness" over free play.
Those experts believe that children who "enter school at six or seven" – in line with Scandinavian education systems – "consistently achieve better educational results as well as higher levels of wellbeing".
 
 
Sports
 
 
Chinese National Games close
 
The 12th Chinese National Games has lowered its curtain.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang officially marked the end of the event this afternoon in a low-budget closing ceremony held in the gymnasium at the Olympic Sports Center complex.
Team Shandong beat hosts Liaoning to the top the final medal tally with 65 gold medals, breaking a 20-year tradition of the hosts winning the most.
Liaoning was second with 56 golds while Guangdong was third with 50.5
With 78 percent of the budget slashed to keep it to a maximum of 800 million yuan or around 130 million U.S. dollars, the organisers smoothly ran high-level competitions which saw five Asian records, 14 national record and one national youth record broken.
Next National Games will be held in the north Chinese city of Tianjin in 2017.
 
 
W Jordan Lee talking about national games
 
For more on the last day of the National Games, we are joined live with CRI's Jordan Lee.
…
Another of our reporters at the event, Su Yi, has been speaking to one of the athletes that won Gold at the games:
 
 
China's National Games witness maturity of new generation 
 
Reporter:
Shelok Dolma comes from China's Tibetan Autonomous Region.
The 26-year-old wrestler won the only gold medal for her home team in the women's 67 kilogram competition.
"I did not feel too much pressure. After all, this was my first time entering the finals, so the only thing I could do is try my best."
Despite her modesty, it is hard to argue that her win is a big deal for her coach, local sports authorities and the people back home.
In fact, this year's organizer has been promoting the notion of a return to the pure spirit of competition.
Unfortunately, the two-week event has still been marred by unprofessional and unpleasant moments.
The Beijing's Women 7s rugby team has been banned from competing internationally for the rest of this year following their throwing the final match against Shandong in the final.
The team has issued an apology for their conduct on the pitch, at the time believing that the Spanish referee was in favor of the opposing team.
Also, two women's marathon swimming teams exchanged blows to get ahead of each other while swimming for the finish.
The list could go on.
Winning or losing seem to be even more important for athletes than before.
But for young athletes, including Tibetan wrestler Shelok Dolma, to win is not the only thing they care about.
"Actually, it is all thanks to the support of my coach and teammates. I just want to say thanks to them."
Dolma does have enough excuses to feel pressured to win, though.
She became the first Tibetan world champion in over half a century at the World Wrestling Championship in Istanbul back in 2011.
She is one in just a handful of gold medal hopefuls on her team, which consists of less than 20 athletes.
But it appears, for her, winning or losing is just as simple as that.
The International Olympic Committee has just decided to include wrestling into the 2020 and 2024 summer games.
Still, Dolma says she is not too worried about that.
"Happy! I am just happy! I managed to get a gold medal for Tibet. Regarding my future, I will keep working on improving in the future, nothing more."
With this perspective in mind, this year's National Games may be a milestone of the maturity that this new generation of young Chinese athletes is reaching.
It is not about how many medals they win because they are showing the outside world that they know what they are doing and why they are doing it.
For CRI, I'm Su Yi, reporting from Shenyang.
 
 
Tottenham fans warned against using anti-semitic terms
 
Fans of Tottenham football club have been warned by the football association not to use anti-Semitic chanting at games or they could face criminal charges.
The London based team often call themselves the "Yid army" as a form of identity due to the large Jewish community near the Spurs ground,
But the FA said in a statement that the "use of the term Yid, is likely to be considered offensive by the reasonable observer."
During the Europa League campaign last season, Spurs fans were twice the victim of racially motivated attacks once in Italy, and I was actually at the pub with them in Lyon in France when they were attacked the second time……
I have never seen anything like it, out of nowhere bricks and smoke grenades and all sorts of projectiles came smashing through the windows.. so they have suffered a lot of having this Jewish connection…
 
 
Boxing- Floyd Mayweather to face Canelo Alvarez in Super Welterweight World Championship
 
In Boxing, Floyd Mayweather is due to take on Canelo Alvarez in their Super Welterweight World Championship bout this weekend.
36-year-old Mayweather is boxing's reigning pound-for-pound king, unbeaten in 44 fights,.
His 23-year-old opponent, who is Mexico's biggest sporting hero, is undefeated in 42 bouts, though the level of his opponents has been nowhere near that of the American.
Floyd"Money" Mayweather, who is the worlds highest paid athlete, will be earning at least 41 million dollars for this fight.
At their final weigh in, the eight time and five-division world champion said he has nothing to fear from Alvarez:
"I basically faced every style. So I don't think there's nothing new that he can bring to the table that I haven't seen before. And if he can bring something to the table, I'm the best at making adjustments and adapting to anything in the sport of boxing."
 
 
Entertainment
 
 
'12 years' leads strong performances in Toronto Film Fest
 
The film "12 Years a Slave" is receiving overwhelming acclaim at its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Judging by early reviews, the historical drama is being tapped to sweep the Oscars and the Golden Globes.
Based on an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup, it tells the story of a free black man from upstate New York who is abducted and sold into slavery.
The film includes an all-star cast, including Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Benedict Cumberbatch.
 
 
Breaking Bad spin-off prequel announced
 
AMC has announced a spin-off prequel for the TV series Breaking Bad.
The show is going to be based around the character of lawyer Saul Goodman.
Actor Bob Odenkirk will reprise his role as the crooked criminal lawyer in the one-hour show.
The spin-off will focus on the evolution of the character before he came to represent crystal meth kingpin Walter White.
AMC has not said when production is due to start or when the show will air.
Saul Goodman first appeared in season two of Breaking Bad.
The name of the spin-off is going to be "Better Call Saul".
Breaking Bad is set to end this month after five series.
The TV series has been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards this year, including best drama.
 
 
2013 Mercury Prize nominees announced
 
The nominations for this year's Mercury Prize have been announced in London.
The competition is for the best British and Irish album of the year.
Chosen by a panel of music critics and industry experts, 12 out of 220 have been confirmed for this year's shortlist.
The list includes seven acts who have been nominated before, such as singer-songwriter Laura Marling, Foals, James Blake and Villagers.
For Foals, he says being in the running a second time around feels different.
"It feels more like we're allowed to be here this time, which is nice. On the first time we were a little bit like, constantly checking to make sure people weren't trying to get us out of here."
Also on the list is David Bowie, who has been nominated for his comeback album "The Next Day."
The 66-year-old music icon has never won the Mercury.
Electronic artist James Blake is also nominated a second time for his album "Overgrown."
Blake says it's surreal for him to be on the same shortlist with David Bowie.
"I'm not going to be annoyed if I lost it to David Bowie, because it's David Bowie. Actually no, not because it's David Bowie, because it's a really good album and appropriately that is what the Mercury judges and not anything else and I think for that reason it's unpretentious and it's a good barometer."
On top of the previous winners, 19-year-old Bugg, Disclosure, Savages, Laura Mvula, Jon Hopkins and Rudimental are also up for the award.
Newcomers Rudimental say they're surprised they made the list.
"It gives us a really good feeling to be amongst this royalty of music. We really feel like the other artists in the Mercurys are extremely good".
The winner will be revealed on October 30th in a ceremony in London.
Last year, the prize went to Alt-J for their debut album "An Awesome Wave."
 
 
Amy Winehouse exhibition opens, as part of the celebrations for what would have been her 30th birthday
 
An exhibition has opened in London to celebrate what would have been Amy Winehouse's 30th birthday.
The diva's spray-painted image adorns several Camden walls.
The exhibition also includes photographs, sketches and graffiti art.
Street sign was covered with tributes from fans.
The singer died from alcohol poisoning in north London's Camden district at the age 27.
Winehouse got her start amid the pubs and clubs of Camden.
As such, local businesses are holding a series of events this month to raise money for the Amy Winehouse Foundation, a charity set up by the singer's family.
Camden Mayor Jonathan Simpson says there is a strong connection between the singer and her neighborhood.
"She really is a chapter of Camden's music history - of which there are many, but it's such a rich one with Amy. We really do miss her, she had so many friends in Camden and she brought so many tourists to the area and I think really her legacy lives on for so many people."
Mitch Winehouse, the singer's father, says he appreciates what Camden did for his daughter.
"She loved Camden.Camden meant everything to Amy and Camden recognises that and that's why throughout this month of September they're going to be doing all these wonderful things for us and of course, although it's not ready for September, Amy's statue's going to be permanently at the Roundhouse."
Other events for the charity include helping youth nurture their love of music and steer clear of drugs.
 
 
That's it for this edition of the BJH
A quick recap of the headlines BEFORE WE GO...
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met with the new President of Iran ahead of the start of this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
Business leaders attending the Summer Davos in Dalian are calling for a safe environment to help create a consumer-based economy here in China.
A new report says the US government has finally begun sending arms to Syria's rebels.
In Business，South Korean financial authorities have left their benchmark interest rates unchanged again.