China refutes Japan's annual defense paper, urging it to introspect

The Chinese government is rebuffing criticisms of its national defense policy, which have been presented in a newly-released annual defense white paper by Japan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has already made official complaints with the Japanese government.
The Chinese government notes Japan has been continuously re-arming its military and expanding its military alliances as well.
The Chinese side is calling on the Japanese government to think about whether these moves are conducive to regional peace and stability.
Japan's new Defense report, released yesterday, expresses concern over Chinese naval activities in the Pacific Ocean.
The report suggests China is likely to expand its maritime activities in the waters near Japan, including the East China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the South China Sea.
SE China braces for Typhoon Saola

Typhoon Saola, the 9th typhoon of the year, is approaching Fujian.
Typhoon Saola is gaining strength.
The storm is expected to reach the northeast coast of Taiwan on Thursday.
Saola is expected to hit Fujian and parts of Zhejiang on Thursday evening or during the day on Friday.
Coastal areas in Fujian are being warned to prepare for gales and rainstorms.
The provincial authorities have already activated emergency response programs.
They've also extended a local fishing ban.
So far some 8-thousand people have been moved out of harms-way.
Death toll rises to 13 in Xinjiang mudslide

The death toll from a mudslide yesterday in Xinjiang stands at 13.
15 remain missing, after the slide came down at an iron ore mine in the Ili Kazak prefecture in the western part of Xinjiang yesterday morning.
A huge wall of mud and debris buried the 28, who include 22 mine workers and 6 locals who happened to be there as well.
Searchers are using sniffer dogs, life-detecting devices and excavators to find the missing.
The nearby mountains remain unstable, prompting officials to warn that mudslides could happen at any time.
More rain is expected to hit the same area in the coming days.
China still top of Olympic medal tally with 23

Now just a quick update on the ongoing London 2012 games.
China still sitting pretty, on top of the medal tables with a total of 23, including 13 gold medals so far.
Among the latest triumphs, 16-year old Ye Shiwen picking up her 2nd gold of the games with a win in the 200 metre individual medley.
At the same time, Lin Qingfeng picking up the gold in the 69 kilogram weightlifting.
We'll have more details in the second half of our show as part of our special 'Olympic Extra' coverage.
Obama announces additional sanctions against Iran

The United States government is moving to try to prevent Iran from getting around its existing sanctions against its energy sector.
President Barack Obama has announced a new round of sanctions to try to deter Iran from establishing payment vehicles for its oil to circumvent the existing US sanctions.
The additional sanctions include the targeting of a Chinese bank, which the US side is accusing of enabling hundreds of millions of US dollars worth of transactions for US-blacklisted Iranian banks.
Under the sanctions signed by Obama late last year, foreign financial institutions, whose governments still purchase Iranian crude oil as of June 28th, will be denied access to the U.S. financial market.
A total of 20 economies, including China, have been cleared from the US sanctions because their governments' have reduced the purchase of Iranian oil.
Number of suspected Ebola cases in Uganda increases to 36: WHO

Authorities in Uganda are working to contain an Ebola outbreak.
The virus has so-far killed 14 people, mostly in the Western part of the country.
Medical authorities in Uganda are treating a dozen other people with Ebola.
Isolation wards have been set up in the affected areas of Uganda, which are mostly in the western part of the country.
Ebola infections are hard to detect early on, as they only tend to present with eye problems and rashes.
However, Ebola hemorrhagic fever can spread very quickly through direct contact with infected people or animals.
Teams of experts from the US and the World Health Organization are on the ground in Uganda to try to help control the spread of the disease.
Israeli, Bulgarian ministers meet to reboot tourism after deadly bombing

Bulgarian officials are in Israel to try to re-establish tourism links following last month's suicide bombing in the coastal Black Sea city of Burgas.
Bulgaria's economy minister has held talks with Israel's tourism minister, with the two talking about ways to try to bolster bilateral travel.
A suicide bomber attacked a bus load of Israeli tourists at the airport in Burgas on July 19th, shortly after a group of Israelis arrived from Tel Aviv.
Officials in Bulgaria, Israel and the United States are working jointly to try to identify who exactly the attacker was, and whether he had any accomplices.
China's steelmakers face huge losses: industry group

Chinese major steelmakers are seeing their profits decline in the first six months.
Industry-wide profits are said to be down around 55 billion yuan in the 1st half.
Chinese steelmakers have so-far only pulled in around 2.4 billion yuan.
That's down some 96 percent year-on-year over the period.
The China Iron and Steel Association says close to 35-percent of the country's major Chinese steelmakers are reporting losses.