Organizers of the Shanghai Expo have been left sweating over visitor numbers, which so far have been lower than expected. But there are no such concerns at the Expo's Joint Africa pavilion. It has recorded the highest number of visitors of any pavilion, to the surprise of some observers. BON's Tom Spender has more.
China was once a huge source of economic migrants to other countries. Now there's a reversal - a growing number of foreigners are moving to China to work, attracted by the economic opportunities available. The numbers are now so significant the authorities are drafting the country's first-ever immigration laws to control the number of people coming here from overseas.
The new law is expected to pide potential immigrants into different categories such as skilled and unskilled labor.
In 2007, almost 2.9 million foreigners were registered with the Ministry of Public Security as working legally in China.
That number is rising rapidly. Last year, there were 152,000 foreign resident workers in Shanghai alone, a 14 per cent increase on 2008.
According to Amnesty International, more than two-thirds of the world’s countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. But while capital punishment remains a controversial issue throughout the world- China has continued carrying out the practice in estimated record numbers. But now- a potential revision of the country’s criminal law may see the first reduction in the number of crimes carrying the death penalty since the law was enacted in 1979. BON’s Kelda Yuen has more.