DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Former lawmaker in central China jailed 20 years for gang-related crimes” plus 9 more

CHANGSHA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- A former lawmaker in central Hunan Province was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for gang-related crimes, according to a court verdict.
Li Xiangming, 38, former deputy to the Hunan Provincial People's Congress, was also deprived of his political rights for two years and fined 1.52 million yuan (233,846 U.S. dollars), the Yuhu District People's Court in Xiangtan City, Hunan, announced in the verdict.
Li, also board chairman and general manager of Hunan Zhongyi Group, a real estate developer, stood accused of organizing and masterminding a series of crimes since 2008 that included rape, assault, racketeering, illegal imprisonment and gun smuggling.
Twenty-six other defendants who were involved in the crimes under Li's direction were sentenced from 14 months to 14.5 years and were fined a total of 1.277 million yuan.
Li's company, Hunan Zhongyi Group, was also fined 1 million yuan for loan fraud, according to the verdict.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with his Philippine counterpart Albert del Rosario Friday in Beijing, saying del Rosario's visit will help boost bilateral ties.
Yang said that del Rosario's first visit to China as Secretary of Foreign Affairs would be helpful for the two countries to increase communication and coordination in international and regional affairs.
Yang and del Rosario are expected to discuss a wide range of topics, including trade, investment, culture, tourism, defense cooperation, and coordination in combating transnational crimes.  
Del Rosario arrived in Beijing Thursday for the visit at the invitation of Yang.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China's business climate index rose to 135.6 in the second quarter of this year, up 1.8 points from the previous quarter, said the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
The bureau said the index of the information transmission and software sector rose 14.7 points to 165.1, topping all industries. Indices of construction, social service, accommodation and catering enterprises also rose.  
Meanwhile, the wholesale and retail sector index dropped 4.2 points to 149. Indices of transportation, postal and real estate enterprises also dropped.
The index reflects the operational climate of enterprises. A reading above 100 indicates an upward trend for the business climate.
The country's entrepreneurs were less confident in the economy during the second quarter as the Entrepreneur Confidence Index dropped 5 points to 132.4. The index has been on the rise after hitting an eight-year low of 94.6 in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The confidence of construction company managers was greatly shaken with the sector's index slumping 6.6 points to 139.
The index results were based on a survey of a large number of  enterprises nationwide. It is compiled on the basis of the understanding, views, judgements and expectations of entrepreneurs concerning the external environment of the market economy and the macro policy and reflects the feelings and confidence of entrepreneurs in the macro economic environment.

SHANGHAI, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China's economic hub Shanghai ranks as the sixth most competitive financial center worldwide, up from the eighth last year, according to the Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index (IFCD Index) issued Friday.
A total of 45 international financial centers have been evaluated on  the overall performance of their financial industries and related development environment, with top 10 cities this year being New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Amsterdam.
The IFCD Index was jointly launched by CFC Holding Company, a subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency, and CME Group Index Services LLC (Dow Jones Indexes).
The index is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centers around the world on the basis of a comprehensive valuation system combining objective indicators and surveys.
China's capital city of Beijing and its southern economic powerhouse Shenzhen ranked 14 and 21 in the list, respectively.
In terms of growth and development potential, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo were the top three financial hubs.
The rising ranking of Shanghai shows "strong growth momentum while displaying stability," which is a necessary condition for a mature financial center, said a report released with the index.
There were more financial factors flowing to the city in the past year, giving it greater confidence to compete with the financial centers of Europe and the United States in the future, it said.
Shanghai also topped the confidence comparison on financial centers of the BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which is seen most likely to become one of global leading international financial centers, followed by Moscow, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg and Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the yuan ranked the first in the currency familiarity index for BRICS nations.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares ended higher at midday Friday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.21 percent to close at 2,800.13.
The Shenzhen Component Index climbed 0.39 percent to finish at 12,441.06.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China's stock index futures opened higher on Friday with the contract for settlement in July, the most actively traded, up 15 points at 3,122.
The August contract opened 11.6 points higher at 3,128.
The contract for settlement in September opened 9.4 points higher at 3,139.6 points.
The contract for settlement in December opened at 3,188 points, 10.8 points higher from the previous close.
The stock-index contracts, agreements to buy or sell the Hushen 300 Index at a present value on an agreed date, are designed to allow investors to bet on and profit from both gains and declines in the market.
The index futures were launched at the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and started trading from April 16, 2010. The CFFEX has set the base value for all the four contracts at 3,399 points.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- ChiNext Index opened at 899.47 points Friday, down 0.33 points from the previous close.
The index, officially launched on June 1, 2010, on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, has a base value of 1,000 points.
The ChiNext Index, together with the Shenzhen Component Index and the Shenzhen SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Board Index, makes up the three core indices reflecting the performance of China's stocks listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

SHANGHAI, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China's economic hub Shanghai ranks the sixth most competitive financial center worldwide, up from the eighth last year, according to the Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index (IFCD Index) issued Friday.
The IFCD Index was jointly launched by CFC Holding Company, Ltd., a subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency, and CME Group Index Services LLC (Dow Jones Indexes).
The index is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centers around the world on the basis of a comprehensive valuation system combining objective indicators and surveys.
A total of 45 international financial centers have been evaluated on  the overall performance of their financial industries and related development environment, with top 10 cities this year being New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Amsterdam.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Following are home news items to be covered or pursued by Xinhua on Friday:
-- Chinese leaders to visit exhibition on 60th anniversary of Tibet's peaceful liberation
-- Central government holds conference on water resources
-- Xinhua, Dow Jones jointly issue global financial center ranking
-- China Focus: Shanghai's rise for a global financial hub
-- State Food and Drug Administration holds press conference on crackdowns on counterfeit drugs
-- China cracks down on illegal toll collection
-- China Focus: Mythical show staged at ancient town stirs controversy

TV News Magazine: CHINA VIEW
1. Click on Today
2. Day tour tainted TCM image  
Editor's Notes: China View from CNC World is a 30-minute daily English in-depth news program that brings global audience a panorama of what happens across China and face-to-face interviews over hot issues in China that interest people around the world.
Global viewers can tune into CNC English programs via Asia-Pacific Satellite-6 at 134 degrees east longitude, with parameters set as "6065MHz/3840MHz." The programs can also be viewed at www.cncworld.tv.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Following are the central parity rates of the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) against seven major currencies announced on Friday by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System:
Currency           Unit          Middle Price (in RMB yuan)
U.S. Dollar        100                647.05
Euro               100                928.65
Japanese Yen       100                7.9603
Hong Kong Dollar   100                83.138
British Pound      100                1,033.14
Malaysian Ringgit  46.402             100
Ruble              431.57             100
The central parity of RMB against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of enquired prices from all market makers before the opening of the market in each business day.
The central parity of RMB against the other six currencies is based on the central rate of RMB against the U.S. dollar of the same business day as well as the exchange rates of the six currencies against the U.S. dollar at 9 a.m. of the same business day in the international foreign exchange market.