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Shots have been fired at French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in the heart of Paris Wednesday, with Paris officials reporting at least 10 fatalities. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing multiple masked gunmen. Follow FRANCE 24’s live blog.

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Shanghai to cancel massive gatherings 'if necessary'

SHANGHAI - Shanghai decided on Tuesday to tighten controls on large gatherings after the stampede that killed 36 people during the New Year's Eve celebrations.

Mass activities in Shanghai will face stricter registration procedures, and will be canceled if they violate safety rules, said Zhou Bo, vice mayor of Shanghai, at a national conference on workplace safety.

The stampede occurred on Shanghai's historic riverfront walk, the Bund, where tens of thousands of people gathered to ring in the New Year.

The tragedy in one of China's wealthiest and most modern cities, has cast a shadow over urban management and emergency response in the crowded cities.

Zhou said the Shanghai making changes to emergency procedures and rearranging scheduled gatherings.

On Tuesday, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong said the city should draw a "bloody lesson" from the stampede and reflect deeply.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Tears as Shanghai laments stampede victims

Flowers are placed on Tuesday at the site where 36 people were killed in a stampede during a New Year's Eve celebration on the Bund in Shanghai.

SHANGHAI - The city of Shanghai was steeped in sorrow on Tuesday as citizens and victims' families visited the site of the New Year's Eve stampede to mark the seventh-day commemoration of the tragedy.

Braving freezing temperatures and drizzle, visitors laid flowers and winter clothes on the Chen Yi Square near the Bund area, where the stampede killed 36 people and injured 49 others.

There were tearful moments for relatives of the victims, some of whom, overwhelmed by sorrow, fainted at the site and were attended to by medical staff on stand-by.

Many held portraits showing the young faces of the deceased.

"We felt so sad that these young lives vanished in such a happy moment," said a tourist from Anhui Province, who placed flowers at the site.

The crush happened at about 11:35 p.m. on Dec. 31 on the Bund, a riverbank walk where tens of thousands of revelers gathered to ring in the New Year against the backdrop of illuminated skyscrapers along the Huangpu River.

Tuesday marked the seventh-day commemoration of the tragedy. In China, the seventh day after any death marks the height of mourning as people believe that souls come back to the earthly world to pay their last visit to family on that day.

The site was cordoned off on Tuesday, and visitors were ushered in by government workers. Some police officers patrolling the site said they had joined in the rescue mission that night and were here to lament the death.

The tragedy in one of China's wealthiest and most modern cities has raised concerns over urban management and emergency response in China's crowded cities.

Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong said Tuesday at a conference of the city's legislature that Shanghai must draw a lesson from the New Year's Eve stampede and reflect deeply on the incident.

"The lesson was extremely profound and extremely painful," he said, adding that the cause of the accident is yet to be confirmed.

"We hope such disasters will never happen again," said a Shanghai citizen at the site.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Asthma on the rise over past decade

A specially designed truck sprays mist to reduce dust in the air in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Tuesday. The vehicle is said to be able to alleviate smog effectively.

Asthma cases have risen dramatically in China over the past decade along with ever deteriorating air pollution, according to leading respiratory specialists.

Nationwide, the prevalence of asthma stands at 1 to 2 percent, while in some cities it can reach more than 10 percent, a leading pulmonary physician said.

Lin Jiangtao, director of the China Asthma Alliance and a physician at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, was citing results from the first nationwide epidemiology survey on asthma, which he led.

The potentially fatal disease has risen quickly across the nation, with Shanghai recording the fastest increase in prevalence of 190 percent over the past decade.

"Given that air pollution is a major risk factor in asthma, the disease is still rising constantly," Lin warned.

In a widely reported case, Chinese mother Shang Yujun moved her son to three different Chinese cites to escape air pollution before finally settling in London to control his asthma.

Lin suggested that patients with the disease limit outdoor activities and heavy exercise on days with high concentrations of pollutants, as such conditions can prompt asthma attacks.

Asthma is the leading cause of hospitalization among children in China and imposes a significant burden on their families. Patients with the condition have increased rates of work absenteeism.

The Asia Asthma Development Board said China has the world’s highest mortality rate from asthma, with 36.7 out of 100,000 patients failing to survive.

Wang Chen, a leading respiratory disease expert and an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said, "Various respiratory diseases have become a public health challenge in China."

But he said public awareness remains poor in a country where only 34 percent of the cases are under control.

Of the more than 30 million patients in China, about 80 percent fail to effectively control the disease and less than 5 percent have received standard treatment, Lin said.

A 36-year-old patient surnamed Wang, from Hebei province, said he used to be hospitalized three times a year in Beijing for serious asthma attacks. He was diagnosed with the disease after having it for more than a year.

"I frequently felt out of breath and had to take a rest when climbing up several steps," he said.

Drug therapy and a surgical procedure called bronchial thermoplasty helped put him back on his feet after he had to use a wheelchair.

Wang Chen called for standardized treatment and improved access to drug treatment for asthma patients.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

E-cigarette controls considered for safety

China is considering bringing electronic cigarettes under State management to ensure a standardized and well-regulated development of the popular smoking alternative, according to an official of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration.

Li Baojiang, deputy director of the administration's economic research institute told China Daily there is currently a lack of regulation and standards for e-cigarettes across the nation, which could affect public health. He cited problem products as well as potential government revenue.

"Regulating e-cigarettes, like traditional tobacco products under the State monopoly, is highly feasible. And that helps with consumer safety and rights, product quality control and the government coffers," he said.

Bernhard Schwartlander, the World Health Organization's representative in China, said the group is highly concerned about the role of the tobacco industry in the rapidly emerging e-cigarette sector.

"The WHO is calling for stronger regulation of e-cigarettes and similar devices," he said.

Invented in 2003 in China, e-cigarettes use battery-powered cartridges to produce a flavored vapor, either with or without nicotine. Worldwide, regulation and management of e-cigarettes varies.

Brazil banned e-cigarettes in 2009, but people could buy them online or on the black market. In the same year, Canada followed suit, prohibiting sales of e-cigarettes containing nicotine. In 2013, Spain banned e-cigarette use in public. In the UK, the product has been regulated under the country's drug authorities since June 2013 to ensure quality and consumer safety.

In China, e-cigarettes have become increasingly popular. Gan Quan, China director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said that caught the attention of the WHO.

The Sixth Conference of the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control Parties, including China as a signatory country in October, recognized that e-cigarettes represent an "evolving frontier filled with promise and threat for tobacco control".

According to Schwartlander, evidence suggests that exhaled e-cigarette aerosol increases the background air level of some toxicants, nicotine and particles. Thus, the WHO recommends that use of e-cigarettes should be banned in all places where smoking is banned, he said.

"If it's regulated as a tobacco product, it will thereafter be subject to existing smoking control policies," the tobacco administration's Li said.

China had roughly 900 e-cigarette manufacturers by the end of 2013, up 200 percent over the previous year. Exports amounted to 3.5 billion yuan ($560 million) the same year, up 150 percent over 2012. Worldwide, more than 80 percent of the e-cigarettes in a market worth $3 billion are made in China.

Li said he expected that the product would become steadily bigger in the domestic market. E-cigarettes are widely available in the country through online sales.

"A regulatory blank spot, which resulted in problem products and unsubstantiated media hype and health claims, has to be filled, particularly for quality control and consumer safety," Li said.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Many Africans in Guangzhou earn more than local white-collar workers

Africans walk in the Xiatangxilu area in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on April 1, 2014. More Africans are choosing to do business in the city. 

More than 20 percent of African people staying in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, are earning more than 30,000 yuan ($4,838) a month, according to a recent survey by Southern Metropolis Daily.

The newspaper in Guangzhou interviewed 204 people from more than 50 African nations.

Of the 165 interviewees who revealed their monthly income, 37 said they earn more than 30,000 yuan a month doing business in the southern city. The figure is higher than the average income of local white-collar workers.

Many African businesspeople think that Guangzhou has a wide range of good-quality products at competitive prices and that the business environment is getting better, the survey found. More than 50 percent of the African businesses in Guangzhou achieve a profit rate of between 50 and 100 percent.

"A shirt purchased at 50 yuan in Guangzhou can change hands for 100 yuan in my African mother-land," an African businessman was quoted as saying.

Garments, silks, ceramics, handicrafts, electronics, toys, shoes and watches are the products many African businesspeople like to purchase in Guangzhou and ship to Africa, the survey said.

Xie Xiaodan, deputy mayor and director of the Guangzhou city bureau of public security, urged departments in his city to offer even better service to foreigners.

Xie dismissed rumors that Guangzhou has now registered more than 600,000 people from African nations and regions.

According to statistics from the city's entry and exit department, Guangzhou has about 120,000 permanent foreign residents, including 16,000 from Africa.

In addition to doing business, African people arrive in Guangzhou for work, study and sightseeing, Xie said.

The African people live in the Dengfeng, Kuangquan, Taojin and Xinshi communities of the city's Baiyun and Yuexiu districts.

Guangzhou welcomes all foreign people who arrive in the city with valid travel documents and visas, while sparing no effort to fight illegal immigration, Xie said.

Peng Peng, a senior researcher with the Guangzhou Academy of Social Science, said departments should step up efforts to curb illegal immigration in the city.

"But the legal interests and rights of the foreigners, including Africans, who arrive in Guangzhou with effective travel documents should be protected according to laws," Peng said.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/