Politics and policies China’s cyberspace administration has issued a new set of regulations that mean individuals, institutions and companies could be “summoned for talks” by the administration officials if they are deemed to have violated internet laws. (Xinhua) Xi'an mayor Dong Jun warned by Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-graft authority, for attending dinners and drinking at private clubs. (People.cn) In effort to connect with the working class, more than 2,000 people have been named Model Workers by the Party's Central Committee and China's State Council, 36 years after the award was last given by the nation's top authorities. (Xinhua) "Dear Party, I couldn't help crying when I wrote down these words." The opening line of a confession written by a sacked Beijing official. The graft-busting body in Beijing's Haidian District has distributed confessions of jailed officials to the city's senior officials as a warning, urging them to study these materials for better self-discipline. ( The Beijing News ) A former official of China's poverty-reduction authority is sentenced to suspended death, which often means life imprisonment in China, for accepting bribes worth 40 million yuan. ( Legal Evening News ) Diplomacy In response to the chairman's statement issued at the Asean summit, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei says reclamation projects in the South China Sea will neither affect shipping routes nor harm the environment. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs website) Authorities have confirmed that three Chinese villagers in the northern province of Jilin were killed, though they did not clarify if these were the same people reportedly killed by fleeing North Korean deserters. South Korean media yesterday said that three deserters crossed the border and killed three Chinese. ( The Beijing News ) President Xi Jinping said China would encourage investment and financial aid to Equatorial Guinea, in his meeting with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who is visiting China under Xi’s invitation. Both parties agreed to lift the two countries’ bilateral relationship to an all-round partnership. (Xinhua) Money and Wealth China's outbound tourism spending last year reached 3.1 trillion yuan (US$500 billion), more than the overall household spending in Turkey. ( Financial Times ) Economy China to lower import tariffs on nondurable consumer goods, reform consumption tax and expand the range of goods that are duty-free in a broad move to stimulate domestic demand. China posted a 17.3 per cent drop in imports in the first quarter. ( People's Daily ) Read SCMP full story here China's bilateral trade with the 65 countries covered by its proposed One Belt One Road initiative soared to US$236 billion in the first quarter, more than a quarter of total trade. (CCTV) China's top think tank, the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, forecasts 7 per cent annual GDP growth this year. (Xinhua) All three provinces in northeastern China ended up in the bottom five places of the GDP growth rankings in the first quarter, with Liaoning posting the lowest growth with 1.9 per cent, underscoring the worrying state of the former industrial hub's economy. (21cbh.com) US retailer Wal-Mart plans to open 115 Stores in China by 2017, expecting to create over 30,000 jobs. ( Wall Street Journal ) Technology "No more workers," Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said in a speech addressing his employees, signalling that he is imposing a hiring freeze this year. Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce company, has a work force of approximately 30,000. (Bloomberg) China's first smartphones designed specifically for police use has been released for trial use. Jointly developed by e-commerce giant Alibaba and Ministry of Public Security, the gadget is developed to ensure confidential information won't be leaked by foreign-made cellphones to overseas servers. (thepaper.cn) Society Police in Guangzhou bust the city's first mafia gang consisting of foreign nationals, arresting 16 suspects over alleged robberies and drug trafficking (China News Agency) Police launch an investigation over a 9-year-old boy's mysterious death in a Henan orphanage, after his mummified body was found. (hnr.cn) A British wheelchair user currently travelling the world blasts China's disappointing wheelchair access facilities and hostile driving culture (BBC) A limited-edition super sports car LaFerrari worth 22 million yuan was severely wrecked during an accident in Shanghai last night. ( Shanghai Morning Post ) Read SCMP full story here