Archive of: February 2019
Jack Ma says movies should be made with passionij
With Green Book won best picture at the 91st Academy Awards ceremo
ny, its co-producer Alibaba Pictures Group, the movie unit of the world's largest e-com
merce company, claimed to be the first internet film company to co-produce an Oscars winning movie.
Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, said a good movie does not necessarily have to cost
a lot, nor tell an earth-shattering story, according to the Paper, which also said Ma watchedGreen Bo
ok with some of his friends, including Chinese computer giant Lenovo Founder Liu Chuanzhi and Chinese studio Bona P
resident Yu Dong in a Beijing cinema on Monday, though the film will not be officially screened in China until March 1.
He said a good movie is the one which is made with passion and can brin
g positive things to the society. Ma said he has seen the film, a road trip drama based on a tru
e story in segregation era, three times, and in his view, a Chinese movie is actually not far from an Oscars award.
boligangfuheguan.cn
An announcement by Alibaba Pictures said the Beijing
based company decided to invest in Green Book in July, as the decision-maker
were attracted by its heartwarming theme, positive values and quality narrative.
Following the decision, the Paper said, Alibaba Pictures recommended the film to Hu
axia Film Distribution, and both sides agreed to introduce Green Book to Chinese audience.
Only four days after the film was announced, Chinese audience could watch it in the nearby theaters. Yu said af
ter watching Green Book on Monday that the cooperation between Alibaba Pictures and Huaxia Film Distribution m
akes the fastest release in China for an imported movie, which is also attributed to the country's reform and opening-up.
As of the publication time, Alibaba Pictures shares increased 1.39 percent to HK$1.46 on Tuesday in Hong Kong.
www.moefantasy.cn
Group to map way out of vaccine morassational w s to ens
China has set up a national work group for immunization planning that will suggest ways
to ensure vaccines are safe, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.
The work group, led by a vice-minister of health, will analyze all incidents involving vaccine safety over the past few years to find
the root sources of problems, Gao Fu, head of the center, said at a news conference. He didn't name the minister.
"Vaccines made in China are some of the best in the world," said Gao, who is also a member of China's top poli
tical advisory body. "We should have no doubt about the role of vaccines in disease prevention or the quality of vaccines made in China."
For example, he said, by promoting immunization, some infectious diseases that
once seriously harmed people's health in China, such as smallpox, have been eliminated.
Hepatitis B once infected more than 10 percent of the population of China, but now only 0.3 p
ercent of children under 5 years old are carriers because of mandatory immunization.
Gao made the comments in light of a series of incidents involving vaccine safety over the past few years.
whcoding.cn
Critics of the Trump administration's unconventional North
Korea policy have assailed the President and his advisers for failing to get the North to agree to anything specific at
their June meeting — the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president — in Singapore.
The US contends that talks have brought the two sides back from the brink of war and created an unprecedented opportunity to cut a deal.
A handful of analysts believe there is an agreement to be had but question whether either side has the flexibility to compromise.
Trump touts trust with Kim in TV interview
"So far, the negotiations have reduced tensions for a year and slowed the advancem
ent of the arsenal marginally. The trick now is to make those limits permanent and to make th
em strict limits," said Adam Mount, an expert in nuclear deterrence at the Federation of American Scientists.
Lee, the former AP Pyongyang bureau chief, likens Trump and Kim's next meeting to a chess match. The first su
mmit helped establish a "leader-level relationship," but Hanoi will be time to move beyond smiles and pleasantries.
"They (US) need to go into this next summit prepared and having done their homework," she said.
"I know how tough the North Koreans are, and if you don't understand the history and the motivations of the No
rth Koreans, it's very easy to be swayed by the propaganda and the drama of the moment."
ozsnl.cn
Controversial Serena Williams cartoon ruled not to have br
A widely criticized Australian newspaper cartoon showing tennis legen
d Serena Williams jumping up and down next to a broken racket and a pa
cifier which she had spat out was not racist, according to the country's media watchdog.
The Australian Press Council ruled that the drawing, published by Murdoch group newspaper the Hera
ld Sun, did not breach Australia's press standards and instead was capturing Williams' "on-co
urt tantrum" at the 2018 US Open final "using satire, caricature, exaggeration and humor."
The cartoon was published shortly after the bad-tempered final, in which Wi
lliams had a dispute with the umpire over his allegedly sexist treatment. The pr
ess watchdog received a number of complaints about the image, which drew international condemnation.
The press council said the newspaper "was depicting the moment when, in a high
ly animated tantrum, Ms Williams smashed a racquet and loudly abused the ch
air umpire, calling him a thief, a liar and threatening that he would never umpire her matches again.
www.7893391.cn
Flight inspections at new Beijing airport complete ddays early
Beijing's new international airport finished its flight inspections on Sunday, 19 days ahead of schedule, according to the civil aviation authority.
At 10:20 am, an aircraft taking off from Beijing Capital Internation
al Airport in the northeastern part of the city landed smoothly on the northern run
way at Beijing Daxing International Airport. The Civil Aviation Administration's North China Regional Bu
reau called the event a "successful completion" in a news release, referring to its series of flight inspections.
The inspections, which lasted for 34 days, started on Jan 22 and were suppo
sed last until March 15 to cover the airport's four runways, six landing systems, lighting facilities and other services.
Flight inspections, which all airports must undergo before opening, are designed to ensure the airport's flight pro
cedures and aviation navigational aids will be ready for operation, according to the news release.
Daxing airport is scheduled to be completed by June 30 and enter commercial operation before Sept 30.
Soubry said the issue could prompt more defections. "There
are a number of our colleagues that are deeply unhappy, particularly about no-deal Brexit," Soubry said, responding to a quest
ion about whether more Conservative MPs would follow their lead. "We do expect people to stand up for w
hat they know is right for our country, which is not a no-deal Brexit."
The question now is whether the now 11-stron
g Independent Group will establish itself as a new party, and it if does, whether it will have any success at general election.
Britain's electoral system makes it tough for any new political party to win re
presentation in Parliament. A group that broke from Labour in the 1980s, the Social Democratic Party, fizzled after some early successes.
But small parties can nevertheless wield significant influence over larger ones. "UKIP is an example of a party that won su
fficient votes to frighten the Conservatives into changing its policy very significantly, ultimately forcing a vote
on Brexit," Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, told CNN on Tuesday.
But dreams of a new reality for Iran screeched to a halt in
But dreams of a new reality for Iran screeched to a halt in May 2018 when President Donald Tr
ump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal. Despite repeated certifications that Iran was
sticking to its end of the bargain, Trump unleashed several rounds of stinging sanctions on the country.
The US president said the penalties aimed to force Iran to end its military adventurism in the region, a demand that Iranian officials have repeatedly brushed off.
Officially, the sanctions exempt humanitarian goods, such as food, medicine and medicin
al instruments. But in reality, shortages in essential goods have affected households across the country.
Ali now gets the medicines to treat his daughter's rare genetic disease, from friends living abr
oad. Her medical bill has more than doubled, forcing him to sell his car, work two jobs, and accu
mulate loans. He says that his entire salary from his day job as a waiter goes toward Dory's treatment.
"I am a wedding singer at night. I try to stay cheery and
keep a smile on my face, but on the inside all I can think about is my daughter," says Ali.
www.qianhuain.com
Patients and their families are doubly affected by plum
meting purchasing power across the country. It's a situation, Emami says, that has made a lot of treatable cases lethal.
"I have a patient upstairs … I diagnosed him with brain cancer. The cost of biopsy, the chemotherapy and medication is
very high. So, the family asked me if I could leave him be," says Emami. "Every day, we see this story here."
Even when families can afford medical equipment they often join long waiting lists. Cardia
c pacemakers are in short supply in the country, and patients must abandon their regular lifestyles, an
d become admitted to hospitals where they are hooked up to a cardiac machine.
Emami tells CNN that some families are opting out of paying for feed
ing tubes for relatives with advanced Alzheimer's disease. Without the feeding tubes, the pat
ients spend the rest of their days wired to machines in hospitals, instead of receiving home care.
www.qianpadbe.com
Emami recalls a family meeting in which an elderly woman's
children decided to go against his advice to discharge their mother with Alzheimer's disease: "(The children) told me the patient is yours. We don't have any money to spend on her."
"I explained to the children that when she stays here, it means that her life expectancy is reduced by 80% … it means that she may have an infection and means the lady will die much sooner," says Emami.Accompanied by her mother, 5-year-ol
d Dory visits Ali at work wearing a tutu skirt and a coat with leopard print. He carries her behind the bar where she pl
ays with empty juice dispensers. Later she settles on his lap and plays games on his smartphone.
Trump admin pushes for tougher action on Iran, swipes at Europe
It's a break from her shuttling between home and the hospital, which she must visit at lea
st once a week. Sometimes the doctors determine that she has to stay in her hospital bed for sev
eral weeks. It's a routine that will continue until she's 18-years-old, her father says.
But Ali says he's dedicated to helping her have a normal life: "It doesn't matter what Trump's sanctions do, I'll do whatever it takes to find her medication."
He puts a hand on his chest, puffing up his skinny frame. "I'll even fly myself to get them for her. Whatever it takes."
qianpadbe.com