China

The benchmark rate for a one-year loan will be cut by 0.25 percentage points to 4.6 percent and the one-year rate for deposits will fall by a similar margin to 1.75 percent, the central bank announced. It also increased the amount of money available for lending by reducing the minimum reserves banks are required to hold by 0.5 percentage points.

The moves had been expected after exports, manufacturing and other economic indicators weakened by larger margins than expected.

Xinhua says no casualties were immediately reported following the blast Saturday night in Shandong province on Saturday night.

The news agency says the explosion triggered a fire and that a dozen fire engines are battling the fire.

The blast follows the Aug. 12 chemical warehouse explosion in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin. At least 121 people were killed in that disaster, while another 54 remain unaccounted for.

Dodging next month's IFA gathering in order to go out on its own, Microsoft will reportedly debut the eagerly-awaited Surface Phone alongside the final Windows 10 for mobile release.

It's not the only Microsoft-made device being tipped for an October unveiling, either. According to Chinese Windows blog, WPDang, the flagship phone will debut alongside the heavily rumoured Surface Pro 4 tablet and a second-gen Microsoft Band wearable.

Director General (DG) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Johnny Koanapo told Daily Post that the post of Vanuatu Ambassador to China has been advertised and the process of appointing a Foreign Service Selection Panel under the Foreign Service Act is in progress.

He said under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act, the Panel will meet shortly to shortlist, interview and nominate a suitable candidate for an appointment to be made this month.

China's Ambassador to Samoa Madame Li Yanduan says it is important for the students to study and learn more about her country's way of life and explore its people.

She has encouraged them to use the opportunity well to return to serve the Samoa government and apply their knowledge.

"Between China and Samoa we have a very long distance. It is not easy for our people to understand, to know each other. And all these student [should] just apply the messages of the friendship and the culture:"

Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated that about 1.6 million people in China die each year from heart, lung and stroke problems because of incredibly polluted air, especially small particles of haze.

Earlier studies put the annual Chinese air pollution death toll at 1 to 2 million, but this is the first to use newly released Chinese air monitoring figures.

China's government said the devaluation of the yuan was part of reforms meant to make its exchange rate more market-oriented. But the decision has added to worries over slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy and that Western companies might find it harder to sell their goods there.

A nakamal is a traditional house which is reserved mainly for the chiefs and the Malfatumauri has in Port Vila to accommodate its members from around the country during their annual meetings.

The Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu, Xie Bohua, says the money is to help rebuild the chiefs' traditional parliament which was damaged by Cyclone Pam.

He says it will also help build a new office for the Malfatumauri.

The IMF’s new data set, released in April with its latest World Economic Outlook report, estimates that in real terms (corrected for price differences, that is), China’s output in 2014 edged ahead of the United States for the first time. There was little between them: assuming its national accounts are correct, China produced goods and services worth US$17.6 trillion, just $198 billion more than US production of US$17.4 trillion.