(AFP)

Authorities in Beijing pushes a new health practice all over the Chinese capital with daily calisthenics routine for all workers to perform. This initiative was revived after a 3 year suspension due to low interest and focusing on the 2008 Olympics.

“Young people snack a lot and sit in front of their computers all day. They don’t want to exercise,” said Liu Tao, a property manager whose employer assigned him to learn the routine so he could in turn teach his colleagues.

“So this type of activity is good for the body and the mind,” he adds.

The Beijing Federation of Trade Unions likes the routine to be mandatory in all state-owned companies in the capital by 2011. There will be instructors in Working People’s Cultural Palace, a park adjacent to the famed Forbidden City palace complex weekly to teach the routine so people can perform the exercise twice a day thru a music broadcast in a state radio.

“When they retire, before school, on holiday, travelling, they can do them, it’s so beneficial — you don’t just have to do them in the office,” Zhang Zhenying, 64, a fitness expert said.

Launched by Communist leader Mao Zedong in 1951, group calisthenics grew all over China.

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(photo: The Tenth Dragon)

Hong Kong stocks falls, pulling down Hang Seng index in its biggest for the month as Vodafone Groud Plc sold its stake in China Mobile Ltd. which brought speculations that China will introduce new property-market curbs.

China Mobile which is known as the worlds largest phone carrier with its market value declined 3.8 percent. China Resources Land Ltd., a state- controlled developer, retreated 1.4 percent. Bank of Communications Co., part-owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, slipped 2 percent.

Hang Seng index went down 1.5 percent closing at 21,088.86, its biggest since August 10. Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of so-called H shares of Chinese companies slipped 1.5 percent to 11,776.72.

Castor Pang, Hong Kong-based research director at Cinda International Holdings Ltd. said that the market hasn’t done enough consolidation. He also added that the upside of banks outlook is capped.

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(Photo: Sullivan/GettyImages)

Hewlett-Packard (HP) sued its former CEO Mark Hurd to block him from joining its competitor Oracle. The suit alleges that Hurd, HP’s CEO the past five years, “put HP’s most valuable trade secrets and confidential information in peril” by joining their rival.

The civil complaint was filed Tuesday in California Superior Court for Santa Clara County, a day right after Oracle hired Mark Hurd to help lead the database-software maker. He was forced to resign in HP after a sexual-harassment investigation.

“By filing this vindictive lawsuit … the HP board is acting with utter disregard,” Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in a press release Tuesday. “It is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace.”

“Mark did a brilliant job at HP, and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” Ellison added. “There is no executive in the (information technology) world with more relevant experience than Mark. Oracle’s future is engineering complete and integrated hardware and software systems for the enterprise.”

Hurd replaces one of Oracle’s two presidents, Charles Phillips, a former investment banker who was with the company for seven years. Phillips resigned Monday. Oracle co-President Safra Catz is staying.

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Kris Ingraham / AP Photo

Hollywood celebrity John Travolta dropped the extortion case he filed against two men accused of blackmailing him for $25 million after the death of his son in 2009.

Neil Braithwaite, Chief Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General said, “The defendants have been discharged. Mr Travolta is no longer interested in pursuing the matter because it has caused his family great emotional distress.”

“The long-pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family, causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us,” the actor said in a written statement. “Therefore, after much reflection I concluded that it was in my family’s best interest for me not to voluntarily return to The Bahamas to testify a second time at trial.”

Paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater allegedly demanded $25 million from the actor threatening to sell a story that Travolta and his Wife Kelly Preston intentionally killed their son. Both defendants pleaded not guilty.

Travolta, the Pulp Fiction star, announced earlier this year that they were expecting a third child.

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2010 World Cup Of Pool

Russian partners Ruslan Chinakhov and Konstantin Stepanov came out of a 4-0 deficit to beat Canada’s Jason Klatt and John Morra, 8-4 to be the first teams to move to the next round.

The powerhouse Philippines A team composed of Efren “The Magician” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante won their first match against Thailand in a race to 8 game with a score of 8-3 in the 2010 World Cup of Pool.

Bustamante said in an interview earlier:

“It was very difficult as they had us 2-0 in a race to eight. We thought it was alternate break but it was winners’ break and we didn’t know that.”

“My partner played great and withoutEfren we wouldn’t have won the match.”

“My break wasn’t good and this was a surprise as Efren always wants me to break every time but I never made a ball on the break.”

“We always try whoever we play but everyone here is a good player. I’ve played the Indonesian players in tournaments but never in doubles. If my partner plays like that again then we will win.”

Here’s the full result of all the games today:
Session One
Indonesia 8-7 India
Canada 4-8 Russia

Session Two
Italy 8-6 Korea
China 8-2 Belgium

Session Three
Philippines A 8-3 Thailand
Germany 8-4 Hong Kong

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Photo by: STRINGER/INDONESIA

Mount Sinabung, a volcano in Indonesia erupted Tuesday dusting villages up to 25 kilometers away with black ashes after four centuries of dormancy.

Witnesses said that orange glow, most probably magma, was seen in cracks along its slopes for the first time.

“There was a huge, thunderous sound. It sounded like hundreds of bombs going off at one,” said Ita Sitepu, 29, one of the thousands of people living near the area. “Then everything starting shaking. I’ve never experienced anything like it.” There’s an estimated 30,000 people living in the area now evacuated to refugee camps in nearby villages.

Scientists fear of a much bigger explosion in the next few weeks or months but they also said that the volcano might go back to sleep after Tuesday’s explosion.

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