China's major tourist spots see double-digits visitors' increase

Major tourist spots across China are reporting double-digit increases in visitor numbers on the third day of the Spring Festival holiday yesterday.

Nearly 50-thousand people rolled through the Forbidden City yesterday.

That is a 19 percent increase from the same day last year.

The Linyin Temple in Hangzhou has seen a nearly 40 percent increase in tourist flows.

In Chengdu, one of its well-known Buddhist temples attracted 90-thousand visitors -- a nine-fold increase over last year.

One killed in clash in SW Chinawith police over self-immolation rumor

One protestor has been killed and 5 police officers seriously injured amid more clashes in Sichuan connected to self-immolation.

A crowd of around 100 people gathered in the county seat of a Tibetan prefecture in northern Sichuan yesterday amid rumors that 3 monks were going to set themselves on fire.

Fighting between the crowd and security forces then broke out, with attacks taking place at 2 local police stations.

Nearby banks and shops were also damaged in the fighting.

Italian cruise ship death toll rises to 16

意大利游輪事故死亡人數已經上升到16人

The official death toll from the Costa Concordia disaster has now risen to 16.

Another woman's body has been discovered inside the sunken hull of the cruise ship.

At least 23 others remain unaccounted for following the wreck.

As the search for the victims continues, a Dutch firm hired to drain the cruise ship of its rougly 24-hundred tons of fuel has now begun inspecting the Concordia.

The fuel draining process is expected to begin on Saturday.

Meanwhile, investigators are now looking into the details behind a telephone conversation the 52-year old capitan of the cruise ship had following the wreck.

Francesco Schettino reportedly told a friend that he was told by the managers of Costa Cruises to make a close pass of the island where the wreck took place to "salute" company officials.

Schettino is facing charges of Manslaugher and Abandoning Ship.

Egypt lifts state of emergency on the first anniversary of unrest against Mubarak

埃及稱穆巴拉克周年慶活動為緊急狀態

Egypt's ruling military council is now lifting the decades-old state of emergency.

The move this Wednesday marks the 1st anniversary of the start of the demonstrations which eventually led to the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The decision comes just a day after Egypt's new parliament held its inaugural session.

Presidential elections are to be held before the end of June.

Syria agrees to extend Arab League observer mission

敘利亞同意延長阿拉伯觀察家任務

Syria has agreed to extend the mandate of the Arab League observer mission by a month.

The concession follows Damascus' rejection of a new Arab League plan for President Bashar al-Assad to step down and hold elections.

The observer mission has been in Syria since late December, and is designed to see if the Syrian authorities are complying with an Arab League plan to bring the violence in the country to an end.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE have withdrawn their monitors from the mission.

Arab League deputy secretary general Ahmed Ben Helli says this will not affect the mission.

Al-Qaida militants agree to withdraw from Yemeni town/Sectarian violence in NW

基地組織同意從也門城市撤兵

Yemen's transitional government says it's been able to negotiate the withdrawl of al-Qaida forces from a town in the southeast of the country.

Reports are suggesting that al-Qaida fighters are now moving out of the town of Radda, which they seized a week ago.

The al-Qaida forces had been demanding the release of hundreds of political prisoners.

Meanwhile, sectarian fighting between local tribesmen and Sunni's in northwestern Yemen has left at least 16 people dead.

UN-backed Cyprus reunification talks enter second day in New York

聯合國支持塞浦路斯統一談判在紐約進入第二天

A 2nd day of Cyprus reunification talks have been taking place in New York.

Tuesday's UN-backed discussions between the Greek Cyprot and Turkish Cyprot sides follows -- what is being described -- as an "intensive start" on Monday.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has told both sides that he expects to see progress made in this current round of talks.

The UN-brokered sessions to try to end the split of Cyprus have been going since 2008.

The island-nation has been divided between Turkish and Greek-backed administrations since Turkish forces invaded and split the island in the 1970's.

Apple reports record quarterly results

蘋果公布季度報告

Apple has released its first fiscal quarter results, blowing past the expectations on "the street."

The company's fiscal first quarter, which ended December 31st, has seen Apple pull in revenues of over 46-billion US dollars over the period.

That compares to the just under 27-billion dollars the company pulled in over the same 3-month period a year earlier.

Apple says strong sales of both smartphones and tablets have led to the sharp increase.

Academy award nominees announced

奧斯卡獎提名公布

Academy Award nominations have been announced.

Martin Scorsese's children's adventure "Hugo" is leading the way with 11 nominations including best picture and best-director.

Seven other movies are also up for best film including golden globe winner "The Decendants," deep south drama "The Help," World War One epic "War Horse" and sports tale "Moneyball."

George Clooney has backed up his Golden Globe win with a best-actor nomination, with Brad Pitt, Demian Bichir and Gary Oldman rounding out the category.

Two-time oscar winner Meryl Streep has further secured her record as the most-nominated actress picking up her 17th nomination for her performance in "The Iron lady."

The February 26th Academy Awards are going to be hosted by Billy Crystal.