Visa-free entry Changsha, capital city of Central China’s Hunan Province, started to offer 72-hour visa-free entry for international transit* passengers from Friday. The policy covers travelers from 51 countries, including 37 in Europe, six in the Americas, six in Asia and two in Oceania, Xiong Fangping, deputy secretary general of the provincial government, said on Thursday. Travelers can enjoy a 72-hour stay in Hunan upon entry via the Changsha Huanghua International Airport, as long as they have third-country visas and onward tickets to leave for a third country or region within 72 hours, Xiong said. Wishes from Xi President Xi Jinping looked forward to 2016 in a speech that called for confidence and hard work for a good beginning in the home stretch of building a “well-off society in an all-round way.” In his New Year speech on Thursday, Xi said that a meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late October set out a promising and encouraging blueprint for development over the next five years. Xi added that lifting tens of millions of rural people out of poverty was his top concern, and called for joint efforts to achieve this goal. Aircraft carrier China confirmed on Thursday it is building a second aircraft carrier to go with an existing one bought secondhand. Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said the carrier had been designed in China and was being built in the port of Dalian in Liaoning Province. Foreign military analysts and Chinese media have for months published satellite images, photographs and news stories purporting* to show the second carrier’s development. Stock slump Chinese stock markets tumbled 7 percent in their opening session of 2016 on Monday as weak factory activity surveys and falls in the yuan added to concerns about the struggling economy, forcing exchanges to suspend trade for the first time. Early losses quickly snowballed* in the afternoon, with trading suspended at around 1:30 p.m., about 90 minutes before the regular close. (SD-Agencies) | 