新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 20:00 2013/07/22

 The Beijing Hour

 
Evening Edition
 
RH with you on this Monday July 22nd, 2013.
Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital.
Coming up on our program this evening,
75 killed in Gansu earthquake, relief efforts underway.
Japanese Prime Minister promises to continue with economic reforms.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos reacts to weekend attacks that left 19 soldiers dead.
Business, China's property loans increase 1.3 trillion yuan in the first half of this year.
Sports, Chinese divers Wu Minxia and Shi Tingmao win gold at the world championships.
Entertainments, the Royal family waits in anticipation as the Duchess of Cambridge goes into labour.
Plus Special reports takes a look at the rise of the high end jewellery market here in China.
 
 
Weather
 
 
Beijing will be cloudy tonight with a low of 23 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow overcast with a high temperature of 31.　
Meanwhile Shanghai will be clear tonight, with a low of 28,　sunny tomorrow, with a high of 38.
Lhasa will have thundershowers tonight, 11 degrees the low, showers tomorrow with a high of 20.
Elsewhere in the world, staying in Asia.
Islamabad, sunny, with a high of 34.
Kabul, sunny, 36.
Over in Australia
Sydney, sunny, highs of 17.
Canberra, overcast, 12.
Brisbane, overcast, 20.
And finally, Perth will be sunny with a high of 23.
 
 
Top News
 
 
75 killed in Gansu earthquake, relief efforts underway
 
At least 75 people have been killed after a 6.6-magnitude quake hit northwest China's Gansu Province this morning.
More than a dozen people are still missing and over 400-others have been injured in the quake.
Rescue efforts are underway in the quake-hit region.
CRI's Hefei has more.
The disaster happened at 7:45 a.m. this morning, with the quake jolting the junction of Minxian County and Zhangxian County in Gansu.
Liu Huibing, a local resident in Minxian County, described the event.
"During the earthquake, the sound of moving stones underground was very loud. Then came the violent shaking, which made me dizzy and sick. It lasted for nearly 10 minutes. I haven't seen any wounded men in the town but there's a lot of people on the street."
The epicenter of the quake, had a depth of 20-kilometers, and was 170-kilometers away from the provincial capital of Lanzhou.
A 5.6-magnitude aftershock jolted the same area an hour and a half later.
Rescue efforts were quickly initiated after the disaster took place.
Du Chaoren, Chief of staff of Gansu fire corps, explains.
"Right after we got the earthquake report from the fire brigade in Minshan County, we launched our contingency plan immediately. We have sent out 6 teams, 360 soldiers. They are now rushing to the scene."
So far more than 2-thousand soldiers and officers as well as two helicopters were dispatched to quake-hit areas.
The Gansu Provincial Department of Civil Affairs has sent 500-tents and 2-thousand-cotton sheets to the quake zone.
The work team is trying to relocate residents from dangerous areas to safety.
More than 50-medical workers including mental health experts have been sent to quake-hit areas to join in the relief work.
According to the provincial meteorological station, light to heavy rain are forecasted in Dingxi City, which will affect rescue efforts.
For CRI, this is Hefei.
 
 
Jewish Settlements in West Bank create tensions in peace talks
 
Anchor:
Israeli President Shimon Peres says the renewal of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians would be a "great opportunity" for both parties.
The comments come following the announcement by US Secretary of State John Kerry that peace talks will resume this week in Washington after being stalled for some 5-years.
However for observers and locals in the region, one of the larger issues to be dealt with is the issue of Israeli settlements.
CRI's Su Yi explains.
Reporter:
Itamar is an Israeli settlement near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Around 15-hundred Israelis current live there.
Moshe Goldshmidt has lived in Itamar for 28 years.
"We believe that we will continue to live here and the problem will be solved one day. We can't focus on what will happen tomorrow, what will happen another week or year, we have to focus on living."
In a nearby settlement called Har Bracha, around 300 Israeli families have been living there for years.
Yonatan Behar is among them.
He says people living in the community don't want an independent Palestinian state.
"We just hope and pray it won't happen. We continue building, we continue inviting people here, hoping that they'll want to come and live here. And the bigger and bigger we get, the more difficult will be to ever evacuate us."
There have been frequent clashes between Jewish settlers and local Palestinians.
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian university professor.
He says the anger among the Palestinians in the West Bank is understandable.
"Palestinians are not resisting settlers because they are Jews. They are resisting because they're taking their land, they're destroying their livelihood. And the international law recognizes the right of people to resist colonization and occupation."
One of the solutions being discussed is the possibility of a land swap.
Palestinian business person Samia Totah is among those who doesn't thing this will work.
"Swapping the land is what? Giving us a piece in the desert and taking up the settlements? How can we have one Palestinian state? Where? Where little pieces everywhere and we're gonna hop from one place to another? You cannot have a Palestinian state in small lands. You need one unified piece of land physically. So the settlements have to go from all of the West Bank, from all the '67 borders, all the settlements have to be dismantled."
And while the issue of Israeli settlements is widely opposed by the Palestinians, there are those in Israel who also against it.
Sahar Vardi is one of them.
"Beyond the fact that it's ruining the two-state solution, it's also taking over Palestinian land, it's in a fact making the Palestinian community small and more and more restricted and allowing military control of that and taking land, taking resources. So obviously settlement expansion is harmful both on political level but also on humanitarian level, on human rights level."
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators plan to go to Washington this week to restart the peace talks.
The fate of Israeli settlements in occupied territories is widely expected to be one of the main talking points.
For CRI, I'm Su Yi.
 
 
QA with Li Guofu on the resumption of the Middle East talks
 
Now for more on the resumption of the Middle East talks later this week, I earlier spoke to Professor Li Guofu, senior research fellow at the Chinese Institute of International studies.
…
Back anchor: Professor Li Guofu, senior research fellow at the Chinese Institute of International studies.
 
 
Abe promises to continue with economic reforms after poll victory
 
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised to continue with his economic reforms following his win in Sunday's upper house elections.
Abe made the promise after some doubts were raised that he might lose interest in difficult economic reforms:
"We must further speed up the pace of our policies. If we return to the old LDP that would ignore public opinion or would look to run away from reforms, then we will lose the public's support."
Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and it's minority coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, have won 76 of the seats up for election in the upper house of parliament.
This gives the coalition 135 of the 242-seats in the upper chamber.
The victory allows Abe's coalition to maintain its full control of both the upper and lower chambers of the parliament, which is a first for a prime minister in 6 years.
58-year-old Abe, who returned to power after a big win in December's lower house poll, reiterated that he would remain focused on a mix of hyper-easy monetary policy, fiscal spending and a growth strategy including structural reforms.
 
 
Santos promises strong military offensive against rebels after 19 soldiers killed
 
President Juan Manuel Santos has reacted to a weekend attack blamed on FARC rebels that left 19 Colombian soldiers dead.
Santos ordered the army "not to stop shooting" until the conflict with the FARC rebels was over.
"I hope that these men understand that militarily speaking, they do not have even the minimum possibility of achieving any kind of success.　They will continue to be weakened as we have been weakening them systematically.　These attacks are not the path and these attacks will be confronted with blunt force."
Santos also ordered more troops to the eastern Arauca region, where the ambush by suspected FARC gunmen took place on Sunday.
The Colombian government and the FARC are currently holding talks in Cuba to end more than five decades of conflict.
The government earlier rejected a rebel call for truce during the talks, saying it would only provide the opportunity for the rebels to regroup.
 
 
Two military jet fuselages found on NKorean ship detained in Panama; president comments
 
Panamanian investigators have found two missile radar systems while unloading the cargo of a seized North Korean ship that carried arms from Cuba.
The discovery was made alongside two MiG-21 fighter jets that the Cuban government had said were on board.
Javier Caraballo is Panama's top anti-drugs prosecutor.
"Radar systems that controls the launching of missiles.　In other words, they are the ones that guide the missile to the target.　These radars, according to the experts, are of the 'phantom' type."
The North Korean ship was seized last week by Panamanian officials after they discovered weapons system parts buried under sacks of sugar.
Cuba later admitted shipping obsolete Soviet-era arms for repair in North Korea to maintain the island's defensive capacity.
Prosecutor Caraballo says a U.N team is expected to arrive in Panama to carry out investigations early next month once Panama has finished unloading the ship.
UN sanctions currently prohibit the supply of arms to North Korea in the dispute over its nuclear program.
North Korea has asked Panama to release the ship and its 35 member crew, who were arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle undeclared weapons.
Panama has so far dismissed North Korea's requests.
 
 
EU to discuss Hezbollah militant ban
 
European Union Foreign Ministers are set to meet later today.
They'll decide whether to list the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
The move requires the agreement of all the EU's 28 member states.
If they agree it will become illegal for sympathizers to send money to the group.
Insiders say the EU is moving closer to a decision, but some members are unenthusiastic.
They argue that it would be difficult to distinguish between the group's military and political wings and it could also further destabilise the situation in Lebanon.
 
 
QA with Steiner on eco
 
China has pledged to take measures to restore the country's natural ecology and curb environment pollution.
Su Wei heads the National Development and Reform Commission's climate department.
"We can impel green, low-carbon economic development by controlling the emission of greenhouse gases. This can also be an opportunity for the industrial transformation and the change of economy growth model."
The promise comes as a part of the Guiyang Consensus, which was signed during an eco-forum in Guizhou's capital, Guiyang.
For more on China's ecological push, CRI's Zeng Liang spoke with Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and executive director of the UN environment program.
…
Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and executive director of the UN environment program, speaking with CRI's Zeng Liang.
 
 
S.Korea, DPRK end talks without agreement
 
Another round of working-level talks between the two Koreas has failed to see any agreement on the reopening of the Kaesong industrial zone.
It follows four previous talks, during which Seoul and Pyongyang all failed to narrow gaps over conditions for the factory park normalization.
The joint industrial park has been suspended since early April when Pyongyang pulled out its workers in protest against the joint annual military drill between Seoul and Washington.
 
 
Aftermath of earthquake; mayor comments on damage to the capital; prime minister
 
Residents in New Zealand's capital Wellington are trying to clean up a day after the city was rattled by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake.
Officials say there was minor structural damage that left parts of the city without power.
The tremor has also damaged roads and left four people slightly injured.
 
 
Biz Reports
 
 
Asian Stock
 
Chinese shares ended 3 consecutive days of losses to close higher today
this boosted by small enterprises with high growth potentials.
when the market closed, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went up 0.6 percent.
The Shenzhen Component Index added 0.3 percent.
Shares in the financial sector took a roller-coaster ride as investors were digesting the central bank's recent move to further liberate lending interest rates for financial institutions.
Following the news, the financial sector dipped during the morning session but managed to rebound later, ending 0.7 percent higher at the day's close.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng increased 0.3 percent.
Elsewhere in Asia,
Japan's Nikkei rebounded to end 0.5 percent higher
this after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party won decisively in Sunday's upper house election.
Meanwhile, South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.5 percent.
Singapore's Straits Times index picked up 0.7 percent.
and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent.
 
 
Banks' property loans spike in the first half of 2013
 
China's property loans increased 1.3 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, 732.6 billion yuan more than the same period last year.
A People's Bank of China report says all financial institutions have loaned a combined 13.56 trillion yuan to property developers and homebuyers in the first half of this year— 18.1 percent higher than a year earlier.
Among the total new loans in the first six months, 27.1 percent went to the real estate sector.
Analysts say more loans for land and property development reinforces evidence that a recovery is taking place in the real estate market.
 
 
Calling with Mike Bastin on China's liberizing of lending rates
 
Anchor:
Today marks the start of the first trading week following the Chinese government's move to liberalize this country's lending rates.
In a move made on Friday, authorities are now allowing financial institutions here in China to decide their own interest rates for loans.
Deposit rates have not been touched.
For more on the lending rates reform, CRI's Paul James earlier spoke to Mike Bastian, Visiting Professor at China's University of International Business and Economics.
…
That's Paul James speaking with Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor at China's University of International Business and Economics.
 
 
GSK executives in Beijing to address China scandal
 
Three top executives from British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline are in China to deal with its corruption scandal.
The three executives held a confidential meeting with Ministry of Public Security officials.
Right after the meeting, GSK issued a statement, saying high ranking employees within the company may have deliberately contravened industry regulations.
GSK has already hired Ernst & Young to conduct an independent review of its systems in China.
On top of the charges here in China,
GlaxoSmithKlein could also be facing prosecution under Britain's Bribery Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
It's also reported that the head of GSK, Andrew Witty is going to outline the company's actions in response to the scandal at his quarterly earnings report soon.
 
 
Apple buys 2 startups to improve its mobile maps
 
Apple has bought online mapping services HopStop and Locationary to better compete against Google's navigation system.
The acquisitions give Apple more tools to round out the maps that it embeds in the mobile operating system running its iPhones and iPads.
Apple relied on Google for the built-in maps on those devices until switching to its own system last year.
Terms of the acquisitions weren't disclosed.
Last month, Google paid 1.03 billion-US-dollars to buy an Israeli startup called Waze.
Waze relies on social networking to monitor real time local traffic conditions.
 
 
WeChat suffers technical problems
 
Tencent's popular messaging tool, WeChat, suffered large-scale technical problems on Monday morning.
Many users reported they could not send out messages from 8 am or browse their friends' home pages, or connect to the WeChat's web version.
Users in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong, Heilongjiang and Henan provinces, as well as in Beijing, reported difficulties.
 
 
Headline News
 
 
2,000 soldiers dispatched to China's quake-hit areas
 
Rescue efforts are underway in quake-hit areas in northwest China's Gansu Province.
75-people have been killed and 412 others injured in the 6.6-magnitude quake which jolted the junction of Minxian and Zhangxian County in Gansu.
The epicenter of the quake had a depth of 20-kilometers and struck an area 170-kilometers away from the provincial capital of Lanzhou.
A later 5.6-magnitude aftershock jolted the same area at just after 9am local time.
 
 
Banks' property loans spike in the first half of 2013
 
China's property loans increased 1.3 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, 732.6 billion yuan more than the same period last year.
A People's Bank of China report says all financial institutions have loaned a combined 13.56 trillion yuan to property developers and homebuyers in the first half of this year— 18.1 percent higher than a year earlier.
Among the total new loans in the first six months, 27.1 percent went to the real estate sector.
Analysts say more loans for land and property development reinforces evidence that a recovery is taking place in the real estate market.
 
 
S.Korea, DPRK end talks without agreement
 
Another round of working-level talks between the two Koreas has failed to see any agreement on the reopening of the Kaesong industrial zone.
It follows four previous talks, during which Seoul and Pyongyang all failed to narrow gaps over conditions for the factory park normalization.
The joint industrial park has been suspended since early April when Pyongyang pulled out its workers in protest against the joint annual military drill between Seoul and Washington.
 
 
Two military jet fuselages found on NKorean ship detained in Panama
 
Panamanian authorities say they have found the fuselages of two military jets in a North Korean ship detained in a Panamanian port.
A team of technical experts from the United Nations are due in Panama later in August to inspect the cargo.
They will also determine if it violates the arms embargo currently in place against North Korea.
The ship was seized last week, en route to North Korea from Cuba, after officials discovered weapons system onboard.
 
 
25 killed, 29 wounded in suicide bomb attack in northern Iraq
 
Up to 25 people are dead and 29 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the Iraqi Province of Nineveh.
Local police says a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into an army convoy in eastern Mosul, some 400-kilometers north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
 
 
Newspaper Picks
 
 
 Xinhua
 "China's education ministry stresses students' summer safety"
The Ministry of Education has called for students' awareness of various dangers ahead of the 2-month summer vacation.
The ministry has ordered campaign to keep students alert to the dangers of drowning, natural disasters, fire accidents and crimes, and also to encourage students to use the Internet appropriately.
The ministry has also asked schools, science associations and women's federations to organize more science popularization activities and to engage students in more social practices to cultivate responsibility, innovation and hands-on capability.
China Daily
 "New visa for foreign relatives"
A new regulation makes it easier for foreigners working in China to bring over members of their extended family.
The regulation states China will grant a new type of visa, the S visa, for the family members of foreign professionals.
Parents and parents-in-law will be qualified to apply for the S visa, which stands for "relative" in Chinese, once the regulation goes into effect in September.
The visa will permit a stay of more than six months.
An S2 visa will grant short-term residency to family members.
The Telegraph
"Children becoming increasingly unhappy, report warns"
A report has warned young teenagers are becoming increasingly unhappy, with growing concerns about school, their appearance and the amount of choice and freedom they have.
The study interviewed 42-thousand children aged between 8 and 17.
It found after a long period of gradual increase, children's happiness began to stall in 2008 and has more recently been declining.
It has warned although many young people do not meet the criteria for mental health problems, they were nevertheless "substantially unhappy" with their lives.
Those teenagers were more likely to have low academic motivation, poor quality relationships with their family and feel as though they have a lot less money than their friends.
Experts warn such well-being and mental health issues were too often dismissed as teenage angst, creating a culture of misunderstanding and ignorance.
The Province
 "Hungry shoppers buy more fattening foods, study shows"
New research is offering up scientific support for why it's a bad idea to shop for groceries when you're starving.
Researchers at the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab have found hungry shoppers buy more calories — specifically, up to 45-percent more high-calorie foods.
Studies suggest even brief periods of "food deprivation" — skipping breakfast or lunch — may change how the brain reacts to fattening foods shifting towards a higher-calorie shopping basket.
Therefore, researchers suggest people have a small snack or appetizer before shopping.
 
 
Special Reports
 
 
Jewelry Fair
 
Anchor:
Affluent Chinese are flocking to a jeweler fair in Beijing over this weekend, in search of bargains and antiques of the future.
It seems precious stones and metals are being sought out now as well as cars and property by the growing rich.
CRI's Li Dong has the details.
Reporter:
Gems of every color are on show at the 14th Beijing International Jewellery Fair.
High end jewellery was traditionally out of reach for most Chinese people, but as incomes increase, so does the desire for precious stones.
Wang Peng, a designer with Sino Gem says he thinks the items on display will be the antiques of the future.
"Now Chinese people are becoming more and more affluent in many ways. We used to only care about cars and houses and seldom pay attention to high-end jewellery because they are considered 'out of reach'. But today, more people are paying attention to jewellery and are able to recognize their potential cultural value. I think this will made jewellery stand out from other products and become art pieces worth collecting among Chinese people."
What they are doing here at this booth is known as "stone-betting", where these black or grey crude stones with jadeite of unknown quality inside are sold at relatively low prices to customers, who only come to know if their money is worth it when the stones are later cut open and the jadeite inside exposed.
Wu Anfu, salesman at Burmese Jadeite Crude Materials Company explains:
"Before we cut it open, no one knows the quality of the jadeite inside. But these are all crude jadeite stones, just with different qualities, some have good clarity and some don't."
Stone-betting has attracted a large number of enthusiasts in China in recent years because of enviable stories where buyers get rich over night after buying crude stones proved to contain top-level jadeite inside, despite authorities' warning that this kind of investment is risky.
Wu Anfu says:
"For example, if you get a "glass" kind of jadeite, which is a top-level kind of jadeite, out of this piece (referring to the piece he is holding, and if the clarity is good and there is no crack inside, its value can reach millions or even tens of millions yuan. The idea behind is that you spend thousands of yuan to buy it, and you get something worth tens of thousands of yuan if you've got good luck."
The four-day fair held at the China National Convention Centre runs from July 19 - 23.
With 2,000 booths exhibiting jewellery from more than 18 countries and regions this is the largest fair of its kind in Beijing.
For CRI, I am Li Dong.
 
 
Sports
 
 
Wu, Shi win 3-meter synchro at World Championships
 
Chinese divers Wu Minxia and Shi Tingmao have won the 3-meter synchro gold medal at the world championships in Barcelona.
It is the first gold medal for the Chinese team at this world championships.
It is also the sixth world title in the women's 3-meter synchronized springboard for Wu.
She won her first world championships medals in Barcelona 2003.
Italian duo Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape won silver.
Canada's Pamela Ware and Jennnifer Abel took bronze.
Diving competitions of World Championships 2003 and 1992 Olympic Games were also held at Barcelona's Piscines de Montjuic.
Nearly 23-hundred athletes have taken part in the World Swimming Championships this year, with 252 of them competing in diving.
 
 
China, Japan draw at East Asian Cup
 
Substitute Sun Ke has scored with three minutes left as China holds Japan to a 3-3 draw at the East Asian Cup.
Wang Yongpo puts China 1-0 ahead from the penalty spot in the 5th minute.
But Yuzo Kurihara levels with a header into the top corner on 33 minutes.
Yoichiro Kakitani struck just before the hour before setting up Masato Kudo to make it 3-1 two minutes later.
Wang converts from the spot for a second time in the 81st minute, reviving the hopes of a comeback for China.
China's continuous attacks pay off as Sun Ke completes the scoring with a volley at the far post.
Chinese interim coach Fubo:
"There is a lot of pressure on me. The preparation last month gave us some relief from stress. Before the match, we said we want to show the people that Chinese football will have a better image and it will if we work hard. And that's what we should to do. Before the match, I told my players to forget everything on the field. Just beat them and play a good match. That's the way we deal with pressure. It's important to regain our confidence through this match."
South Korea drew 0-0 with Australia in the opening game of the men's tournament on Saturday.
The East Asian Cup was launched in 2003, with China winning the tournament in 2005.
South Korea triumphed in both 2003 and 2008.
 
 
Froome wins the 100th Tour de France
 
After leading for the majority of the race, Chris Froome has officially won the title at the 100th edition of the Tour de France.
"Those last two kilometers.. was an overwhelming... I'm in yellow. No one is going to take it away from me over those last two kilometers. It was an emotional, just what I've achieved here."
After claiming the leader's yellow jersey in stage eight, Froome didn't once surrender his lead.
The 28 year-old's final winning margin of over five minutes, was the largest since 1997.
Miles away from Paris, a group of Kenyans from Froome's early cycling days gathered to celebrate their old friend's entry into Paris.
Froome was born in Kenya, and his love of cycling developed on the hills around Nairobi.
Nairo Quintana, the 23-year-old Colombian, secured second place after a big win on the penultimate stage 20. And third place went to Spain's Joquim Rodriguez.
Notably, this year's winner's podium is squeaky clean when it comes to performance enhancers.
None of the top three have ever failed a drugs test, which is a refreshing conclusion for a sport that has been plagued by doping scandals.
 
 
Sailing America's Cup- Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa
 
Team New Zealand have beaten Italy's Luna Rossa in the second head-to-head race in the America's Cup challenger series.
The Kiwis beat Luna Rossa and now lead 6-3 in the Louis Vuitton Cup round-robins.
The team with the most points after five round-robins advances to the Louis Vuitton Cup finals, which will determine the opponent for defending champion Oracle Team USA in the 34th America's Cup.
Despite the defeat, Luna Rossa are at least more competitive than the first match-up, in which they finished outside the five minute time limit.
The teams will race each other again on July 23rd.
 
 
Manchester City arrives Hong Kong
 
Passionate Hong Kong soccer fans have welcomed Premier League side Manchester City's arrival with flags, songs and chants.
City will take on three other teams for Barclay's Asia Trophy over the next seven days in Hong Kong.
City's captain, Vincent Kompany, says the tournament is a great way to start off the season.
"Well this tournament is important in the sense that we're still preparing for the season and it comes a stage when we're going to have to know where we're at. I think priority is still to the training but we will be competitive for this tournament and obviously for the rest of the season."
Manchester City will play against local league champions South China, while Tottenham Hotspur face Sunderland in the semi-finals.
The final is set to take place at Hong Kong stadium in front of a packed arena of 40,000 fans.
 
 
Entertainment
 
 
Royal Baby Getting Born
 
The royal baby seems to be making its way into the world.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, has gone into labor and been admitted to St. Mary's Hospital.
The duchess and Prince William have yet to name their baby as they did not want to know the baby's sex in advance.
Many British parents have put off naming their own newborns for the time being in anticipation of the royal arrival's name announcement.
The duchess will be giving birth in the same place both William and Prince Harry were born.
The baby will be third in line for crown regardless of sex following The Queen, Prince Charles, then his son William.
 
 
Comic Con Update
 
This year's comic-con in San Diego California has had major revelations about upcoming fan favorite projects.
It has been announced the sequel to this summer's wildly successful Man of Steel film will also feature Batman.
What's more is the pair may not be teaming up to fight villains in the film but rather will be fighting each other.
Screenwriter David S. Goyer has teased audiences with the prospect saying the Batman/Superman film may have a 'versus' in the title implying the two heroes will fight one another.
The film will likely hit theaters summer 2015.
It has also been teased Riddick actor Vin Diesel will be appearing in the upcoming sequel to the Avengers.
The actor took a mysterious meeting with Marvel studios in June and is expected to appear in the Joss Whedon film which begins filming in London early next year.
The Avenger's sequel also now has a name. It has been revealed the new film's full title will be The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The title refers to a 10-issue series of Marvel comics published this year featuring the supervillain Ultron who begins a conquest of Earth.
It is speculated Diesel will be taking on the role of Ultron though confirmation will likely come by the end of the month.
 
 
Glee to Have Tribute Monteith Episode
 
Television series Glee's creator has announced plans to air a tribute episode to deceased Glee star Cory Monteith.
The 3rd episode of the 5th season will reportedly deal with the death of his character Finn Hudson before the show goes on a long hiatus.
Producers for the show don't know how long the show will be on hold or what direction they'll take.
The cast and crew of the show all agreed to continue work on the show so they could all grieve together.
Monteith was found dead last week following an overdose of heroin and alcohol.
 
 
Band Smashing Pumpkins to Release Concert Documentary
 
US grunge-rock band the Smashing Pumpkins have announced they will release a documentary of their Oceania concert last year in New York.
The documentary titled Oceania: Live in New York City showcases a night from the band's world tour after the release of their 2012 album Oceania.
The band performed the entire new album plus a collection of older fan favorites and radio hits.
A cover of David Bowie's A Space Oddity also appears in the documentary.
The grunge group is also about to re-release their 1996 5-disc collection The Aeroplane Flies High.
The new edition features the original 5-discs remastered plus a wealth of bonus tracks and rare songs.
The new set features a total of 90-tracks.
A live DVD accompanies the new box set which will also be released on vinyl for the first time ever.
 
 
Kanye West Investigated for Felony Robbery
 
Police are investigating US rapper Kanye West as a felony suspect in an attempted robbery case.
Los Angeles police are putting a file together on West who was photographed punching a paparazzo while trying to take the man's camera.
The case will be sent to the Los Angeles Country District Attorney where prosecutors will determine whether they want to pursue pressing charges.
Following the incident the injured photographer was taken to the hospital though his condition is unknown.
According to witnesses West grabbed, punched, and tried to wrestle the camera away from the man before fleeing the scene.
The alleged assault may throw a wrench in the star's plans for a world tour this year following the release of Yeezus, his 6th studio album.
West also recently became a father with starlet Kim Kardashian.