Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the first meeting of the presidium of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 17, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING - The presidium of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its first meeting on Tuesday afternoon, approving a report on the examination of delegates' qualifications by the delegate credentials committee. The delegates elected are in general outstanding Party members with high ideological and political quality, good style in conduct, strong capability in discussing political affairs, and good professional performance, and they are highly representative, the report said. Xi Jinping was present and delivered a speech. Presided over by the congress' secretary-general Liu Yunshan, the meeting approved a list of the presidium's 42-member Standing Committee including Xi. Liu Qibao, Meng Jianzhu, Zhao Leji and Li Zhanshu were approved as deputy secretaries-general of the congress. According to the examination report, 2,287 delegates were elected from electoral units across the country and the list had been published with the approval of the CPC Central Committee. After examination, qualifications of 2,280 were confirmed valid, putting the actual number of delegates attending the congress at 2,280. The election began in November last year, the report said, noting that almost all primary CPC organizations and up to 99.2 percent of more than 89 million Party members took part in the election, up from 98 percent five years ago. It stressed that the election was a competitive one, and more than 15 percent of the preliminary nominees had been eliminated in each electoral unit during the process, except Tibet and Xinjiang, which had been approved to exercise non-competitive election. The report said that in light of the practice of the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee specially invited 74 delegates to attend the 19th congress and they would enjoy equal rights as elected delegates. A draft electoral method of the 19th CPC National Congress was approved at the meeting and was handed over to each delegation for deliberation. The CPC Central Committee decided to invite relevant leading Party officials and a group of non-Communist figures to attend the congress as non-voting participants. The non-voting participants, totaling 405, include non-delegate members and alternate members of the 18th CPC Central Committee and non-delegate members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, non-delegates nor specially invited delegates but former members of the Central Advisory Commission, among others. In addition, 149 guests were invited to attend the opening and closing sessions of the congress. The twice-a-decade congress will open Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and last till Oct 24. custom silicone wristbandswristbands with a messagebat fidget spinnerrubber wristbands in bulkcustom wristbands no minimumballer bandsjordan wristband rubber
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga on International Yoga Day in Lucknow, India June 21, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] NEW DELHI - Tens of thousands of Indians joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to celebrate the third International Yoga Day. Rains failed to dampen the spirits of about 50,000 people who joined in an outdoor yoga session with the prime minister in a park in Lucknow, capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Yoga has connected the world with India, Modi, looking relaxed in white track pants and blue-collared T-shirt, told a cheering crowd. Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice, he added. The Modi's official Twitter handle, which has more than 30 million followers, has posted pictures of mass yoga sessions in China, Colombia, the United States, Paraguay, Mexico, Italy, Singapore and atop Machu Picchu, a 15th century Inca citadel in Peru. Social media was flooded with pictures of yoga, the country's signature cultural export, being performed in various places. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee held a yoga session at the presidential palace and several members of Modi's cabinet joined similar events across the country. Modi pushed for the annual event to be celebrated worldwide after winning power in 2014, promoting a lifestyle industry that has grown up around the ancient physical and spiritual discipline and is estimated to be worth around $80 billion. Reuters
