BEIJING – Chen Kaige’s war epic The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death continued its reign at the top of China’s box office during the National Day holiday, maintaining its lead for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.

Starring Zhu Yilong, Xin Baiqing and Zhang Zifeng, the second installment of Chen’s “The Volunteers” trilogy has raked in more than 600 million yuan (USD 85.6 million), accounting for around 36.7 percent of the holiday’s total box office revenue.

According to movie data platform Maoyan, the film is on track to finish its run with over 1.4 billion yuan, potentially placing it among the top six highest-grossing films in China this year.

The film’s predecessor also found success at the box office, earning 868 million yuan following its release during last year’s National Day holiday.

The lucrative week-long National Day holiday kicked off on October 1, and has been seen as a potential catalyst for a box office rebound following a weaker-than-expected summer season.

The holiday lineup currently features eight new domestic releases, after two films recently withdrew from the competition.

The second and third highest-grossing films to date are Lu Chuan’s sci-fi offering “Bureau 749” and the crime drama “Tiger Wolf Rabbit,” which have earned over 330 million yuan and 282 million yuan, respectively, as of last Saturday afternoon. (Xinhua)…[+]

HAIKOU – As night fell, the Qilou old street in Haikou, the capital of south China’s Hainan Province, got busier. A fashion show featuring intangible cultural heritage was presented with music and lights, bringing a cultural feast for tourists.

“It’s stunning! The costumes of the ethnic minorities are so beautiful!”,  said Chen Nan, a tourist from Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province. Having finished a trip to Sanya, a resort city in Hainan, Chen and her boyfriend arrived in Haikou, not expecting to encounter such a wonderful performance.

“The Qilou old street has a retro charm and a vibrant atmosphere”,  she said, adding that the show made their trip more worthwhile.

During the week-long National Day holiday, the Qilou old street was full of tourists visiting different shops or tasting various local snacks, and attractive street performances added a festive atmosphere.

The bustling scene of the Qilou old street in Haikou is a microcosm of Hainan’s tourism industry during the holiday.

Last month, the Super Typhoon Yagi landed in Hainan, causing serious damage to the tourism industry. With self-rescue efforts and support from all parties, the entire tourism industry in the province resumed before the National Day holiday.

At the Hainan Ocean Paradise Resort in Lingshui Li Autonomous County, a fireworks show illuminated the sky and also ignited the enthusiasm of the tourists.

Liu Xiao’ou, the resort’s president, said the resort presented a fireworks show every night during the holiday, together with a stunning display of drones. In the Polar World, which opened in July this year, tourists can interact closely with penguins, seals, sea lions and beluga whales.

“This year’s National Day holiday has a special significance”,  said Liu, noting that Hainan had just experienced a severe typhoon disaster, so the resort was particularly concerned about the travel needs of the islanders.

He said that the resort offered exclusive discounted tickets for Hainan residents during the holiday, allowing them to enjoy the holiday.

During this year’s National Day holiday, Hainan launched rich tourism products and more than 70 cultural performances and sports events to welcome tourists.

On Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya, the pier was bustling with visitors who were waiting for various water activities. (Xinhua)…[+]

GUYANA – The People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) have hammered former president and prime minister, Samuel Hinds,  who is currently Guyana’s ambassador to the United States,  for his recent comments that encourage Guyanese to rejoice over the pittance the country has received to date from the oil sector.

In a letter published in Kaieteur News, the ambassador said:“…perhaps we should rejoice that we received directly USD 4.4 billion, when without oil, we would have received nothing, zero”,  Hinds said.

“Let’s feel good about the USD 4.4 billion. If we have troubles absorbing the USD 4.4 billion according to some reports, what more troubles we would have had in absorbing USD 10 billion!  Sometimes there could be too much of a good thing,” the former president said.

Hind’s letter was addressed to the editor days after Kaieteur News reported that the country should have already received USD 10B from the Liza One and Liza Two projects. However, figures from the Bank of Guyana (BoG) revealed that only about USD 4.4B has been paid into the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) since the startup of production activities to the end of June 2024.

Chairman of the AFC, David Patterson in an invited comment said that it was unfortunate that a former president of Guyana could express such simplistic utterances.

In fact, he said:, “Hinds is now the country’s ambassador, so we have to be very worried about the level of presentation on behalf of the country, if he is satisfied with seeing his country short-changed.”

Patterson said Hinds, like his government, completely miss the point, which was never the country’s ability to spend the resources garnered from the petroleum industry, but rather, ensuring the country receives the maximum benefits for its resources.

Furthermore, the former minister of Public Infrastructure argued that the PPP government feels it is duty-bound to spend all the revenues generated from oil production.

He said that it is the only explanation for the comments made by Hinds, signaling that there is no consideration of saving for future generations. Patterson also suggested:  “If you can’t spend all the money, it should be invested and saved for a later generations.” (Kaieteur News)…[+]

GUYANA – Newly crafted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will see the enhancement of monitoring activities related to the oil and gas sector.

The Government of Guyana (GoG)  2024 Mid-Year Report revealed that the SOPs are awaiting final approval by the Customs and Trade Administration and will enhance the monitoring of all shore bases.

The new regulations specifically seek to beef up the “examination of outbound vessels with oil and gas related items; closure of files; and the presence of officers aboard installation vessels with helipads for the examination of cargo outbound and inbound”,  the report stated.

The accuracy of ExxonMobil Guyana’s (EMGL) daily reporting of oil production from its Stabroek Block Operations without independent meters onboard its three Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, has raised questions.

Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall had commented that Guyana’s oil could be leaving in boatloads, since the country lacked measures to independently verify the data provided by ExxonMobil.

Lall’s statement prompted Exxon to make it clear that it has no objection to Guyana installing its own meters to monitor its production activities.

ExxonMobil Guyana said: “the Government’s oil lifts also aren’t a mystery,  they are available for anyone to read on the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website. Furthermore, despite repeated claims to the contrary, our offshore production vessels have meters, and those meters meet or exceed international industry standards. “That data is also monitored by the Government”,  the company stated.

Exxon says its FPSOs’ transfer meters meet or exceed international industry standards. The company claims the government has approved them too. Government representatives also reportedly witness the transfer meter operations, in accordance with industry best practices.

Exxxon added that the government and lifters receive representative samples as an additional layer of verification. To this end, the oil company said: “EMGL is unaware of any regulatory regime that requires local regulators to install separate metering equipment, however we have no objection to the government pursuing an independent monitoring system and will adhere to any regulations the government puts in place.”…[+]