| The Beijing Hour
Morning Edition
It's Spencer Musick with you on this Sunday, April 12th 2015.
Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital.
Coming up on our program this morning...
Cuban leader Raul Castro attends a historic meeting with US President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas...
China announcing plans to speed up railway construction in central and western regions of the country...
Hungary announcing its decision to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank...
In our weekly Sci-Tech feature: A Chinese icebreaker returning to Shanghai after an Antarctic expedition...
In Sports... the latest F1 action from the Chinese grand prix in Shanghai...
In Entertainment...Sir Ian Mckellan to star in the upcoming live action Beauty and the Beast film..
All of that coming up in just a moment, but first, just a reminder there are several ways to reach out to us here on the Beijing Hour.
You can follow us on our weibo account at weibo.com/beijinghour, or email us directly at [email protected].
Top News
U.S., Cuban presidents hold face-to-face talks in half a century
U.S. and Cuban presidents have sat down together in the first formal meeting in over half a century in Panama City, on the sidelines of the seventh Summit of the Americas.
This was the first face to face meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro after they announced the start of normalizing relations in December 2014.
President Obama said he felt it was time to try something new and to engage with both Cuba's government and its people.
"This is obviously a historic moment. The history between the United States and Cuba is obviously complicated and over the years a lot of mistrust has developed, but then of course, the last seven months, there had been contacts between the US and the Cuban government and in December as a consequence of some of the ground work that had been laid, both myself and President Castro announced a significant change in policy and relationship between our two governments."
Castro said he would continue to take steps toward normalizing relations with Washington, and was open to discussing human rights and other issues.
"So we are willing to discuss everything, but we need to be patient, very patient. Some things we will agree on; others we will disagree. The pace of life at the present moment in the world, it's very fast. We might disagree on something today on which we could agree tomorrow."
The United States and Cuba held three rounds of talks on the process of restoring diplomatic relations in the past three months.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held a closed-door meeting Thursday night in Panama, the highest-level meeting since 1961, in a run-up to the meeting of the two heads of state at the summit.
The U.S. State Department has completed the review of Cuba's status and recommended the White House remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List.
Obama vowed to act quickly once he receives the department's recommendation, which has been handed to the White House.
Cuba was added to the blacklist in 1982 and its presence has been a major sticking point to the restoration of full diplomatic relations between two countries. U.S. half-a-century economic and trade embargo against the Caribbean island country is another stumbling block in the process of detente.
US respond to meeting between Obama and Castro
Anchor:
The historic meeting between Obama and Castro at the sideline of the ongoing Summit of the Americas in the Panamas immediately hit headlines in the US, but drew criticism from several Republican heavyweights, including some potential 2016 presidential contenders.
Our Washington chief correspondent Xiaohong has more.
Ann:
Jeb Bush, a potential GOP candidate for the 2016 elections, tweeted (quote) "Obama meets with Castro but refused to meet with Netanyahu" (unquote).
He was referring to the ire between the U.S. President and the Israeli Prime Minister. He also questioned the administration's move to establish diplomatic ties with what he called a repressive regime.
Another possible GOP 2016 presidential candidate, Senator Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban-American descent, has also strongly opposed the administration's decision to re-establish ties with Cuba.
Here is what he said last December upon the announcement.
"This President has proven today that his foreign policy is more than just naive. It is willfully ignorant of the way the world truly works."
Senator Rubio is expected to announce his bid for 2016 elections next Monday.
However, despite strong resistance from the GOP heavyweights, the business circle as a whole has welcomed the idea to normalize relations with Cuba.
Home rental service Airbnb recently celebrated its expansion into Cuba with full page ads on New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
The ads read "the doors of 1,000 real Cuban homes are now open to you", calling it "one giant leap for man's kindness".
For CRI, I'm Xiaohong in Washington, DC.
China to Boost Railway Construction in Central, Western Regions: Premier
It has been announced that China will speed up railway construction in central and western regions of the country to lend steam to economic growth.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent the message to a work conference on regional railway development held in southwestern Chongqing municipality.
Premier Li noted that railway construction is crucial to steadying growth, economic restructuring and improving public welfare.
He added that China will continue to focus on developing major railway projects in its central and western regions to boost economic growth.
He said local governments should reform investment and financing mechanisms to this end.
China aims to invest over 800 billion yuan, or some 130 billion US dollars in railway construction to put more than 8 thousand kilometers additional railway lines into operation in coming years.
Hungary to join Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: FM
The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has confirmed that Hungary will be joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
He gave no details on the financial conditions for Hungary's membership, saying only that they would be set at the accession negotiations.
The bank, initiated by China, is expected to be established by the end of this year, with a mission to provide financing for roads, railways, airports, and other infrastructure projects in Asia.
A day earlier, Spain, South Korea, and Austria were approved as prospective founding members of the bank.
That brings the total number of prospective founders to 41.
The final number of founding members will be confirmed on April 15th.
US Allegation of China's supercomputer is 'speculation.'
Anchor:
A senior Chinese military expert is blasting the U.S. government for alleging that China's supercomputer was once used in nuclear explosive activities, saying that such claims are entirely unfounded speculation.
The comment following Intel's license for selling semiconductor chips to China for the purpose of upgrading the supercomputer was revoked by the US Department of Commerce.
CRI's Yu Yang has more.
Reporter:
Tianhe-2, which literally means "Milky Way-2" in Chinese, is believed to have been world's most powerful supercomputer for the past 18 months.
It uses 80,000 Intel Xeon chips to create a computational capacity of more than 33 pet flops.
This means that the computer can undertake some 33 quadrillion floating point operations per second.
This year, the supercomputer is set to increase number-crunching abilities by undergoing a series of upgrades, and the upgrades are mainly depending on new Intel Xeon processor chips.
Intel applied for a license to export tens of thousands of chips to update the Chinese machine but this request was refused by the US government.
US Department of Commerce says this is due to the concern about nuclear explosive activities that may be conducted by the machine.
However Yin Zhuo, a senior Chinese military expert has denounced this decision as absolutely unfounded speculation.
"It is absolutely impossible to conduct such confidential projects as nuclear explosion on a platform that is open to the public. We have a separate system for this. So, I say that it is out of thin air, pure and simple, for the United States to make such speculations. Its purpose is nothing but to restrict China's high-tech developmental capabilities so that China will not become a rival for the United States."
Yin mentions the United States has taken moves to limit US corporations from exporting computer technology to China in recent years.
He reckons such restrictions will, in the long run, tarnish the business reputation of the US.
"The United States has taken the move because in recent years, the overall computing power of China's supercomputer has surpassed that of the United States and, of course, it means a great challenge to its scientific and technological development. Our computer system is open to the society. In addition, we have paid high prices to buy chips from the United States. These companies have huge gains from the deals. If they are willing to sell, we are willing to buy. It is a fair deal conforming to the regulations of the World Trade Organization."
The export restrictions were put in a notice on February 18, introduced by the US Commerce Department.
The notice has also blacklisted four institutions where the Chinese supercomputer would be located, including the National University of Defense Technology, the National Supercomputing Center in Changsha, Guangzhou, and Tianjin.
For CRI, I'm Yu Yang.
Pollutants monitoring continues days after chemical plant blast in east China
Monitoring of toxic pollutants has continued in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, days after a chemical plant producing paraxylene exploded earlier this week.
The local environmental protection authority said they had set up monitoring points in surrounding areas, and that the air quality there has met national standards.
Xu Ya is an engineer with the Fujian Provincial Environmental Monitoring Center:
"These data were obtained from the sensor in Xiliao village 15 minutes ago. The concentration of benzene is around four micrograms per cubic meter and this is a very small amount. So to speak, this is even below China's standard for indoor benzene concentrations."
On Monday evening, oil that had leaked from a xylene facility caught fire and led to blasts at three nearby chemical oil tanks at Tenglong Aromatic Hydrocarbon Company, located on the city's Gulei Peninsula.
The fire was eventually put out on Thursday.
The quality of sea water around the accident site is also being monitored.
Hu Qinghui is a senior engineer with Fujian Provincial Off-shore Environmental Monitoring Station.
"Judging from the monitoring result, the water quality is more or less the same as before the accident."
The accident management authority says that as of 22:00 on Friday night, most of the local residents had been evacuated from the surrounding areas.
Anhui's affected crop not super-hybrid rice: Agriculture Ministry
Anchor:
China's agricultural authority says the massive crop failure in Anhui province does not involve a super-hybrid strain of rice.
The comment follows word that disease has struck a strain that was developed by China's "father of hybrid rice," Yuan Longping.
CRI's Luo Wen has more.
Reporter:
China's Ministry of Agriculture says Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture has not applied for the ministry's super-hybrid rice assessment for the strain in Anhui that's failed.
China started to cultivate super high-yield hybrid-rice in the 1990s in a bid to feed 20 percent of the world population with only seven percent of its arable lands.
Rice blast, a deadly disease affecting cultivated rice, has hit more than 650 hectare of rice fields in Anhui, a major rice producer in East China.
Wang Peijie is a local farmer.
"This year, I only managed to harvest a few bags of rice from 38 mu of fields. The best I can get is about 50 kilograms from 1 mu. It is almost like nothing."
In some villages, the affected strain, "Liangyou 0293," accounts for 90 percent of the rice cultivated in the fields.
Local farmers are blaming misleading advertisements for their losses.
It is reported that on the package of the seeds, the ad claims the strain has only a 25 percent of chance catching disease, but inside the package, the instructions suggest the possibility is as high as 100 percent.
Peng Guangjian, the executive president of Yong Longping Agriculture, says the company has already started the compensation process and will provide free seeds to affected farmers.
Peng blames poor weather conditions for the disease problem.
"The good things about the 0293 strain is that it has good lodging resistance and can deliver high yield. But the weak point is that it can be affected by rice blast. So the national authorities have approved to grow the rice in areas where is unlikely to see a rice blast outbreaks. The affected cities are one of those areas. But since last year, constant rains and low temperatures have been hitting the regions, which caused the outbreak."
Currently there is no effective way to prevent rice blast.
Local authorities in Anhui have already submitted a request to the Ministry of Agriculture, demanding the ministry reevaluate the cultivation areas of the 0293 strain and to exclude Anhui.
Yuan Longping, an academic from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, developed the world's first hybrid rice in 1974.
Last year, a team led by Yuan achieved a record for hybrid rice production with an average yield surpassing 1,000 kilograms per mu.
Super hybrid rice now accounts for around 30% of the country's overall rice cultivation.
For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.
China's 2014 e-commerce trading volume tops 13 trillion yuan
New stats show China's e-commerce trading volume topped 13 trillion yuan, or some 2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2014.
With a year-on-year increase of half a percent, the online retail transaction mark hit almost 2.8 trillion yuan, or some 450 billion U.S. dollars last year.
The numbers were unveiled at an e-commerce expo on Saturday in Yiwu city, Zhejiang Province.
Nie Linhai is an official with China's Ministry of Commerce who attended the expo.
"E-commerce has made new breakthroughs in its application to various sectors, giving rise to a new situation characterized by mass participation in starting new businesses and in innovation. It has become a new engine of economic growth in the country."
Regarding the new problems which cropped up during the rapid development of E-commerce, Nie says the ministry is taking action to keep things in line.
"We published a program of action at the beginning of the year and have recently mapped out and will publish in the near future a program of action for the application of Internet plus distribution."
He says the program will mainly cover policies, regulations and standards, which will help improve the environment for E-commerce.
He added the authority will be tough in dealing with copyright infringements and the sale of counterfeit products so as to maintain a good market order.
The e-commerce expo was opened on Saturday and is scheduled to last for three days.
It was attended by more than a thousand e-commerce enterprises from 10 countries.
Egypt's MB chief Badie sentenced to death over violence charges
An Egyptian court has sentenced Mohamed Badie the spiritual leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, to death for inciting chaos and violence.
13 other senior members of the group also received death sentences.
Presiding judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata:
"I confirm the sentence of execution for the crimes they are accused of and oblige the accused of paying the trial fees."
The men were among thousands detained after the ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, removed following mass protests against his rule.
They are charged with running an operational room that aimed to mobilize group members to target security forces and spread disorder after the dispersal of two major sit-ins in the capital of Cairo in August, 2013.
Badie has already been sentenced to multiple life terms. He was one of hundreds handed down the death sentence in a mass trial last year.
The court also sentenced U.S-Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soltan to life in jail for supporting the group and transmitting misleading news.
The sentences can be appealed before Egypt's highest civilian court in a process that could take years to reach a final verdict.
Nigeria's Governorship Polls Kick off Nationwide
Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections kicked off in Nigeria on Saturday.
The elections come some two weeks after a presidential election won by the nation's main opposition party.
Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission says voters in 29 states will elect governors while new state assemblies would be elected in 36 states.
Voters are being finger-printed in order to confirm their identities as they register to vote.
"Today's election means a lot to me, a good lot to me, because we want a good governor in Lagos state. That's the reason I came here for, to come and vote for him. Anyone in my conscience, I can vote for."
"We are looking for the future that, in five years time, Lagos will be more, more and more beautiful - like other countries, that is why we are working for it. So that we achieve what we want."
Election authorities may extend voting in Borno to Sunday following the late arrival of ballots there.
People mark 70th anniversary of Buchenwald camp liberation
Anchor:
Survivors and liberators gathered at the Buchenwald memorial on Saturday, which is located near the German city of Weimar, to mark the 70th anniversary of Buchenwald camp liberation.
CRI's Sophie Williams has more details.
Reporter:
A minute of silence was held at the Buchenwald memorial on Saturday, exactly 70 years after the concentration camp was liberated at 3.15 pm on 11 April 1945.
Survivors and liberators gathered at the former roll call square to remember the victims and lay down flowers.
Klaus Trostorff, 94-year-old Buchenwald survivor and former director of Buchenwald memorial, is amid a group of people holding a red rose.
"First of all, I am glad that I survived, that I could survive this. It was difficult, but I have also had a lot of friends and people who helped me."
Buchenwald survivor Henry Oster visited the site for the first time since its liberation.
"I thought it would be easier after 70 years, but the memories take over the feeling one hid for 70 years, and it was difficult for me and my family (coming to Buchenwald), but very precious."
Also on Saturday, Catalonian officials and the Spanish Ambassador to Germany, Pablo Garcia-Berdoy, unveiled a memorial stone for Spanish Republicans who died in the camp.
"It is a very important, historical fact to remember that many Spanish people died in concentration camps during the Second World War and before that, and that many of them were just fighters for freedom and tried to do their best as European citizens and as Spaniards. And I think it the tragedy is sometimes that we forget their memory."
Around 250,000 prisoners were held at Buchenwald from its opening in July 1937 to its liberation.
An estimated 56,000 people were killed, including political prisoners, people dubbed "asocial" by the Nazis, Soviet prisoners of war, Sinti and Roma, and approximately 11,000 Jews.
It was the first major concentration camp entered by American forces at the end of World War II.
The liberation of the Buchenwald camp brought an end to the long ordeal of around 21,000 surviving prisoners.
For CRI, Im Sophie Williams.
Italy Arts & Food' Exhibition - Food for Thought
Anchor:
A new unique exhibition in Milan is giving visitors plenty of food for thought. This year, the 'Arts & Food' exhibition is focusing on the theme 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.
CRI's Huang Shan has more.
Reporter:
The 'Arts & Food' exhibition, a ritual which can be traced back to 1851, aims to explore the human relationship with all things edible.
This year, 150 years' worth of food habits has been put on the menu.
At the exhibition, the function of food is not to stave off hunger, but to stimulate people's curiosity through mixed media. To comprehensively display foods as materials of artwork, the exhibit involves all five senses.
Exhibition Architect Italo Rota:
"In this room we go from the smell of coffee to that of chocolate and bread. These are the materials of the artwork, so the exhibit involves not just sight, but all five senses. And this helps visitors memorize complex issues that the exhibit illustrates…anorexia, bulimia, famine, and also the great pleasure of a colorful cake, which catches the eye first."
Visitors can explore fifteen rooms in the exhibition, which is set up to be like a journey through time.
The exhibition's curator took three years to obtain all of the over 2,000 pieces showcased at the exhibit on loan.
The theme of this year's exhibit is in line with the expo, which is 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.
Exhibition Curator Germano Celant:
"The goal of the exhibit is to bring the public closer to the complexity of history from 1851, the year of the first world EXPO in London, to today's EXPO, 2015, where the theme of food is explored through all possible languages: photography, cinema, literature, paintings, sculptures, designs, so that the public may understand the full picture of the intellectual work that evolves around food."
In one corner of the exhibition, visitors are experiencing a journey back into the 19th century.
Exhibition Curator Germano Celant:
"Since 1950, food has become something artificial, stored in cans and industrially-produced. This is the era of pop art, where food becomes the subject of sculptures and paintings and to this day that subject has evolved into an icon of the future."
Precious British silverware that opens the way to paintings, old fashioned Coca-Cola dispensers and art installations that critique mass consumption all make an appearance at the exhibit.
Familiar objects like blenders, mixers, juicers, toasters and grinders can all be found as well.
The 'Arts & Food' exhibition is expected to run until November 1st 2015.
For CRI, I'm Huang Shan.
Weather
Beijing will have slight rain today with a high of 9 degrees Celsius.
Overnight cloudy and temperatures will drop to 6.
Shanghai will be cloudy with a high of 20 and it will have some showers tonight with a low of 9.
In Chongqing it will be sunny in the daytime with a high of 25 and clear tonight with the lowest temperature of 14.
Elsewhere in the world, staying here in Asia,
Islamabad will see sunshine today with a high of 37.
Kabul will be sunny with a high of 24.
Over to North America,
New York will be sunny with a high of 19 degrees.
Washington will also be sunny with a high of 21 degrees.
Honolulu, cloudy, 28.
Toronto, Canada, will be sunny with a high of 19 degrees.
Finally, on to South America,
Buenos Aires will be cloudy with a high of 26.
And Rio de Janeiro, will also be cloudy with a high of 28 degrees Celsius.
Headline news
U.S., Cuban presidents hold face-to-face talks in half a century
U.S. and Cuban presidents have sat down together in the first formal meeting in over half a century in Panama City, on the sidelines of the seventh Summit of the Americas.
President Obama hails the meeting as a "historic moment," adding that he felt it was time to try something new and to engage with both Cuba's government and its people.
Castro said he would continue to take steps toward normalizing relations with Washington, and was open to discussing human rights and other issues.
The United States and Cuba held three rounds of talks on the process of restoring diplomatic relations in the past three months.
China to Boost Railway Construction in Central, Western Regions: Premier
It has been announced that China will speed up railway construction in central and western regions of the country to lend steam to economic growth.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent the message to a work conference on regional railway development held in southwestern Chongqing municipality.
Premier Li noted that railway construction is crucial to steadying growth, economic restructuring and improving public welfare.
He said local governments should reform investment and financing mechanisms to this end.
China aims to invest over 800 billion yuan, or some 130 billion US dollars in railway construction to put more than 8 thousand kilometers additional railway lines into operation in coming years.
Hungary to join Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: FM
The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has confirmed that Hungary will be joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
He gave no details on the financial conditions for Hungary's membership, saying only that they would be set at the accession negotiations.
The bank is expected to be established by the end of this year, with a mission to provide financing for roads, railways, airports, and other infrastructure projects in Asia.
A day earlier, Spain, South Korea, and Austria were approved as prospective founding members of the bank.
That brings the total number of prospective founders to 41.
U.S. Capitol locked down after shots fired, shooter neutralized
It is being reported that shots have been fired at the Western gate of the U.S. Capitol on Saturday leading to a security lockdown at the complex, and that the suspected shooter "has been neutralized" according to police.
Capitol police were also investigating a suspicious package on the lower West Terrace of the building.
Few lawmakers were in town when the incident occurred as Congress has been on spring break for two weeks. The lawmakers are set to return to work on Monday.
But the city is currently packed with thousands of tourists visiting the capitol for the famous annual Cherry Blossom festival and parade.
Sci&Tech
Science review
Anchor:
It's time for our Weekly Sci& Tech report. China's 'Xuelong' is returning from its 31st Antarctic trip, a Chinese-led team from Stanford reports a major breakthrough in aluminum battery development, and Xiaomi breaks the world's daily sales volume record.
Let's catch the details with CRI's Wenjie:
Reporter:
The icebreaker "Xuelong" (Snow Dragon), returned to Shanghai on Friday, concluding China's 31st Antarctic expedition.
Members of the mission have completed reconnaissance and survey observations for a planned bio-ecology and research station.
The team also analyzed marine geology; geophysics; marine chemistry, biology, and biotic resources in the Southern Ocean.
Scientists succeeded in drilling ice cores with a total length of 172 meters, which will inform ancient climate study.
The astronomical telescope at Kunlun Station was repaired, and another was installed.
The vessel left Shanghai on Oct. 30 last year.
Thirty-one team members will spend the winter at the Changcheng and Zhongshan stations to conduct research in the fields of meteorology, ecology and polar light.
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A Chinese-led research team from Stanford University announced it has developed a rechargeable, high-performance aluminum battery that could be a safe alternative to conventional batteries.
The research will be published in the online edition of Nature on Monday.
By using aluminum for the anode, graphite for the cathode and an ionic liquid as the electrolyte, the Stanford scientists claim they are able to create a battery that charges quickly, is long- lasting, and is inflammable, inexpensive and flexible.
Hongjie Dai, research team leader and professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, says this is a breakthrough as the rechargeable aluminum battery is the first of its kind.
Ming Gong, Graduate student at Stanford University, says the aluminum battery is very safe.
"Commonly, for lithium battery, if you drill a hole through the battery, it will probably catch on fire. But our aluminum battery is inflammable, so if you drill a hole through it, it still runs for a while. It's definitely a very safe battery. "
Besides safety, the battery can be charged within a minute, while it takes hours to charge the lithium battery that most smartphones and laptops use.
The aluminum battery can withstand over 7,500 charge-discharge cycles without losing any capacity, while a typical lithium battery lasts about 1,000 cycles.
Another feature of the aluminum battery is that it can be bent or folded without causing damage or causing a fire risk.
Researchers believe that the aluminum battery can be a safe alternative to alkaline batteries and many other commercial batteries in wide use today.
For future applications, the aluminum battery may also be used within electrical grids to rapidly store and release energy.
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Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has received a certificate from Guinness World Records to mark the company breaking a world's record in sales.
According to the certificate, the company was recognized for "the most mobile phones sold on a single online platform in 24 hours." A total 2.1 million phones were sold online on Wednesday, two days after the celebration of the company's fifth anniversary.
Statistics from Xiaomi show that the total number of orders was 3 million, and overall sales revenue reached 2 billion yuan ($340 million).
/////////////
Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest smartphone makers, rolled out a pair of its new Galaxy smartphones on Thursday, one of which has a dual curved screen.
The pair is almost the same in specs, including size, application processor, display, camera and even battery life.
The outstanding difference of Galaxy S6 Edge from Galaxy S6 is a dual curved screen.
The curved screen allows messages, calls and other information to be displayed, even while the phone is lying flat on a surface.
They're set up for wireless charging, meaning improved battery life in comparison to their predecessors.
But according to Will Findlater, the editor-in-chief of the monthly UK-based tech publication Stuff Magazine, the touch and look of the new devices are most important.
"The main thing that you'll notice as soon as you pick it up is that Samsung's made it from glass and aluminium, instead of plastic which has traditionally been a bit of a sticking point for some reviewers when they've been looking at the Samsung device. It feels very premium, it's got an incredible screen - 2k resolution screen which means you can't see any of the pixels at all, no matter how close you get to it. And a seriously impressive camera as well - 16 mega-pixel camera round the back which - as far as Stuff is concerned - is the best we've seen so far in a smart phone."
The Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge are the latest models from the South Korean tech giant.
They went on sale on Friday in about 20 countries and regions, including South Korea, the United States, Germany and France.
//////////////////////
A 3-D printed car could be in your driveway sooner than you think. A US car manufacturer is planning to sell a 3-D printed car called the Strati later this year. It's a two-seater that can go up to 40 kilometres per hour.
Engineered by Phoenix-based Local Motors, the car's frame and panels are printed out of carbon fiber-infused plastic, on a machine that could fit in a single-car garage.
The Strati was made in conjunction with Maryland based Sabic Innovative Plastics.
Scott Fallon is the CEO of Sabic Innovative Plastics.
"Who would have dreamed even five years ago that a 3-D car would be printed, shaped, assembled and driven off the floor of this show. It's absolutely remarkable."
Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers says the Strati is the first of three vehicles the company is planning to sell.
"This particular vehicle, the Strati, will be available within 2015. It may look different, it may have a different shape and that, but as a neighborhood electric vehicle, you'll be able to get them within 2015. We expect the starting price will be between US$18,000 and US$30,000."
It takes about 44 hours to print one Strati, made up of 212 layers. Then it's outfitted with an electric car battery, motor and suspension from French automaker Renault.
"Right now, we're at about 44 hours to build a vehicle by direct digital manufacturing. We hope by the end of the year to be closer to 24 hours, and then we'd hope be able to get it down to somewhere between 10 and 12 hours total."
It's going to be a while before 3D printing catches up with super-cars, but Rogers says the company eventually hopes to make highway-legal cars. For now, the Strati would serve for short, urban trips.
"It weighs about 18-hundred pounds (816 kilograms). It goes, limited, as a top speed of 25 miles (40 kilometres) an hour, carries two people. And it's a neighborhood electric run-about, as the first of many vehicles."
The manufacturer says the car should last for at least half a decade, and can be recycled.
"If you left it outside in the harshest of elements, you'd have probably five to six years of use. If you garage it and you use it like you would use a normal car, then it will last for much longer."
"And it is fully recyclable. So the good news is, while it's in its life, if it gets cracked or hurt or other things like that, you can take the other components off that are not recyclable, recycle the material. Get a credit for the cost of the material, and have a new vehicle."
And that's this week's sci & tech report, this is WenJie. See you next week!
Sports
F1: Lewis Hamilton Claims Pole Positon in Shanghai
Anchor:
Chinese Formula One Grand Prix is set for this weekend.
This is the third F1 race of the 2015 season.
Lewis Hamilton sits on pole position after Saturday's qualifying round. His teammate
Nico Rosberg has claimed second just before Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in third.
Our reporter Niu Honglin in Shanghai has more.
Reporter:
This weekend has been great so far for Lewis Hamilton. Topping all three practice sessions, the Englishman drove flawlessly and carried that form into qualifying. Getting his third pole position this season and fifth one in Shanghai, Hamilton says China has continued to be a good circuit for him.
"I just like the track. I guess it just naturally suits - a little bit - my driving style as opposed to other circuits for me. And one that I generally just really enjoy driving. It's a tough circuit, it's got a great combination of corners and the race is a good challenge. "
Although he is unbeated, he was actually only faster than his teammate by the smallest margin.
When asked about what cost the four one-hundredths of a second, Nico Rosberg admits he was frustrated.
"It's just four hundredths and that makes it even more annoying because it's just very, very close. A lap is never 100 per cent perfect and four hundredths is really the blink of an eye nearly y'know? That makes it even more disappointing. "
Rosberg is also accusing his Mercedes team of putting him under pressure, saying he was told to speed up on his final warm-up lap.
He points out that the team's input was unhelpful and that it was "not ideal" to put him under pressure like that.
Since an eye blink usually takes 30 or 40 hundredths of a second, it is safe to say Rosberg would have won if he could be faster by just one-tenth of a blink.
As for Hamilton, if wins the race on Sunday, he will become the first to defend the China Grand Prix title. The Englishman has expressed his appreciation for the support he received from Chinese fans.
"To the fans, they've been amazing. Every single year I come here... I couldn't imagine it growing but there's more and more people I get to see and the flags, the support is just... it's almost like it's my home Grand Prix, so I really do appreciate it."
For CRI I'm Niu Honglin in Shanghai.
Sun Yang clocks world fastest 200m free at national championships
In swimming, some news from China's powerhouse freestyler:
Olympic and world swimming champion Sun Yang dominated the men's 200m free final with a world top time so far this year at the National Swimming Championships.
Sun beat Japan's Kosuke Hagino's season best by seven hundredths of a second and set a new high of one minute, 45.75 seconds in the final.
The National Championships marks the first competition Sun Yang has taken part in after he served a 3-month ban in 2014 after testing positive for a banned substance.
Sun had been training in Australia prior to the national championships.
A few other Chinese swimmers also did well on Saturday, as they clocked several world top five results in both men's and women's 100m backstroke.
Lee Chong Wei appeals for doping ban
Lee Chong Wei's 8-hour doping hearing has ended before a 3-member panel in Amsterdam.
The 32-year-old Malaysian badminton player tested positive for a banned substance last August in the Badminton World Championships in Copenhagen.
Lee said he received the drug during stem cell treatment for a thigh injury.
London-based lawyer Mike Morgan is representing him:
Well, you know it's not necessarily that this is a difficult case. There is lot of witnesses, there is lot of evidence, science evidence, fact evidence to put in, and the panel gave us a fair opportunity and gave us the time to present our case and that's why it's taken so long."
Lee had been provisionally banned since last November after results of his B sample also returned positive.
If found guilty, the Olympic double silver medalist could be banned from his sport for two years.
Lee had previously expressed that he would retire from badminton if banned.
The result will be announced in 3 weeks.
MLB: Boston take on New York Yankees (waiting for updates!)
In Major League baseball action:
The Boston Red Sox took on the New York Yankees
The Chicago White Sox played the Minnesota Twins and prevailed 5-4.
St. Louis beat Cincinnati 4-1.
Seattle played Oakland
Detroit played Cleveland
Tampa Bay take on Miami
Toronto and Baltimore go head to head.
The Nats are playing the Phillies.
Its Pirates at Brewers
The Mets are in Atlanta to take on the Braves.
Later on this morning-
It is Astros at Rangers
And the Cubs are taking on the Rockies.
The Dodgers will play the Diamondbacks.
San Francisco and San Diego are on the diamond in California.
And it is the Kansas City Royals at the Los Angeles Angels.
Horse racing: Aspell powers Many Clouds to victory at Grand National
In Horse Racing:
Rider Leighton Aspell powered Many Clouds to victory at the Grand National in Aintree.
Aspell, victor on Pineau De Re last year, is the first jockey in 61 years to win the race on different horses in successive years.
Saint Are and Monbeg Dude came in second and third.
The moment of glory for Many Clouds was marred as he was led away after the race.
Clearly overexcited by the greatest moment of his career, Many Clouds inadvertently headbutted one of the handlers leading him, dealing him a heavy blow.
Race favorite AP McCoy failed in his attempt to end his 20th successive year as champion jockey, as his horse Shutthefrontdoor finished fifth in the end.
Maradona wins Colombian game, calls for peace
Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona played in an exhibition game to support the peace process in Colombia.
He led his team to a 2-1 victory in the Colombian capital of Bogota.
Maradona broke the tie and scored the winning goal wearing his trademark number 10.
It was a game without winners or losers, as Maradona gave credit to the people in pursuit of peace.
"The ones who deserve the credit are you in the stands, who want peace. We can run after a ball but peace must be won by you because you truly deserve it. Enough of the violence in Colombia! We want peace and I want it with all of my heart."
Maradona also called for an end to the 5-decade old civil war that has left millions of people dead and displaced.
Entertainment
Director Lu Chuan marries CCTV anchor
Chinese director Lu Chuan has revealed on his Weibo account that he has married Hu Die, anchor of CCTV Morning News.
He has also posted a photo depicting the couple with their marriage certificate.
Lu's first two small-budget films 2002's The Missing Gun and 2004's Kekexili: Mountain Patrol received both Chinese and international acclaim.
Kekexili won a Golden Rooster and a Golden Horse best picture award and Special Jury Prize at the 17th Tokyo International Film Festival.
Lu's third film, the war drama City of Life and Death, was released in 2009 to both critical and commercial success. The film won Best Film and Best Cinematography Awards at 57th San Sebastian Film Festival.
Lu's historical film The Last Supper was released in 2012.
Sir Ian McKellen to join Beauty and the Beast cast
Sir Ian Mckellen is to star in the upcoming Beauty and the Beast live-action movie.
The Lord of the Rings star will join Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast in the all-star lineup.
McKellen will play Cogsworth, the beast's butler who was transformed into a clock when the curse was placed on the castle.
The adaptation of Beauty and the Beast is currently slated for release in March, 2017.
Disney has recently announced plans to create live-action remakes of several of their classic films including Mulan and Pinocchio.
Rebel Wilson announces Pitch Perfect 3
Rebel Wilson has announced she has signed on for a third installment of Pitch Perfect.
The actress revealed she will reprise her character Amy in Pitch Perfect 3 but doesn't yet know if Anna Kendrick will return. Wilson revealed the information during an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Universal Pictures has yet to confirm if the film is on the horizon.
Wilson and Kendrick return with the original cast along with new cast member Hailee Steinfeld in Pitch Perfect 2 as the group Barden Bellas compete on a world stage.
Pitch Perfect 2 is released in cinemas next month.
Cast of Age of Avengers reunite for new film
The cast of Avengers have reunited for their latest film Avengers Age of Ultron.
Three years after the first Avengers movie brought in over $1.5 billion worldwide, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Black Widow are joining forces again. This time they're battling Ultron – an artificial intelligence program created by Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark.
Technology has evolved so much since the first "Avengers" film that Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo, who portrays the Hulk through motion-capture, were able to act out their largely computer-generated scenes together. They couldn't three years ago.
Scarlett Johansson on the filming process.
"This was the first time that I had the opportunity to really work with Hulk. Because the last time when we did Avengers you really were like totally in a separate movie. This time the technology had advanced enough so that we could do the motion-capture stuff in the physical places."
Avengers Age of Ultron is set for release next month.
James McAvoy gives scholarship fund to old drama school
Actor James McAvoy has given a scholarship to his former drama school to help aspiring actors.
The star pledged $180,000 to fund a 10 year scholarship program at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The scholarship will help actors aged 25 and under who need financial help to attend the drama school.
McAvoy was a student at Royal Conservatoire graduating in 2000 and went on to star in Hollywood films such as Oscar nominated Attonement, Wanted with Angelina Jolie and the new X-Men franchise.
In a statement he said he wanted other young people to have the opportunity to attend the drama school as he did.
McAvoy will reprise his role as Professor Xavier in X-Men: Apocalypse due for release next year.
Weather
Beijing will have slight rain today with a high of 9 degrees Celsius.
Overnight cloudy and temperatures will drop to 6.
Shanghai will be cloudy with a high of 20 and it will have some showers tonight with a low of 9.
In Chongqing it will be sunny in the daytime with a high of 25 and clear tonight with the lowest temperature of 14.
Elsewhere in the world, staying here in Asia,
Islamabad will see sunshine today with a high of 37.
Kabul will be sunny with a high of 24.
Over to North America,
New York will be sunny with a high of 19 degrees.
Washington will also be sunny with a high of 21 degrees.
Honolulu, cloudy, 28.
Toronto, Canada, will be sunny with a high of 19 degrees.
Finally, on to South America,
Buenos Aires will be cloudy with a high of 26.
And Rio de Janeiro, will also be cloudy with a high of 28 degrees Celsius.
That’s it for this weekend edition of the Beijing Hour.
A quick look at the headlines before we go...
Cuban leader Raul Castro attends a historic meeting with US President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas...
China announcing plans to speed up railway construction in central and western regions of the country...
Hungary announcing its decision to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank...
On behalf of the Beijing Hour staffers, this is Spencer Musick in Beijing hoping you'll join us for our next edition of the Beijing Hour to open a window to the world together. |