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WASHINGTON? Feb.1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate Republicans on Wednesday morning suspended standard committee rules so as to advance two key cabinet nominees picked by President Donald Trump with no Democrat present.


The move came one day after Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee refused to attend a panel vote on Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary and Tom Price as secretary of Health and Human Services? arguing the pair had made misleading statements that needed to be rectified.


Under the rules of the committee? at least one member of each party are required to be in attendance for the panel's work to proceed.


However? following Democrats' boycott? Republican members of the committee on Wednesday morning agreed by unanimous consent to suspend the rules and thus give Mnuchin and Price green lights.


""We took some unprecedented actions today due to the unprecedented obstruction on the part of our colleagues?"" Orrin Hatch? the chairman of the Finance Committee? said at the opening of the meeting.


""It's just another way of roughing up the president's nominees?"" Hatch said? ""They have nobody to blame but themselves.""


""Both nominees have yet to answer important questions that impact the American people?"" committee Democrats argued in a letter sent to Hatch Wednesday.


Democrats said Mnuchin should answer more questions about how OneWest Bank? which he headed after the financial crisis? handled foreclosures for mortgages it held? and also whether he was sufficiently forthcoming about foreign entities he helped establish.


Meanwhile? Price's investment activity? including whether his political actions benefitted his personal portfolio? also raises more questions? the Democrats claimed.


However? Republicans slammed Democrats as being obstructionists while dismissed their concerns with the two nominees.


""Dr. Price's account of the investment hasn't really been substantially refuted? let alone disproven?"" said Hatch? adding that the Mnuchin controversy is moot.


The nominees now head to the Senate floor and only require a simple majority of votes to get the final confirmation by the 100-seat Senate where Republicans hold 52 seats.

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BEIJING Kelvin Herrera Royals Jersey , Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's property market remained largely stable in December with home prices edging down slightly in major cities amid tough purchase restrictions, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.


On a monthly basis, new residential housing prices in first-tier cities stayed unchanged in December from November, and second-hand home prices went down 0.1 percent.


In contrast, the property market in second- and third-tier cities is showing signs of picking up Paulo Orlando Royals Jersey , with new residential housing prices gaining 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, from a month earlier, NBS data showed.


New residential home prices went down on a yearly basis in nine of the 15 major cities, considered the "hottest markets." On a month-on-month basis Salvador Perez Royals Jersey , new residential housing prices fell in four of the 15 cities, while Beijing, Hangzhou and Hefei saw prices flat with November.


NBS statistician Liu Jianwei said that housing prices stayed generally stable in major cities as differentiated control policies continued to take effect.


The data provide evidence that government cooling measures to prevent asset bubbles in the property market are producing the desired outcomes.


China's housing market last year had a red hot start with soaring prices in some major cities, but ended on a cool note after local governments rolled out a string of restrictive measures echoing the central government's call that housing is for living in, not for speculation.


About 110 cities and government agencies introduced more than 270 restrictions to tame the housing market Alex Gordon Royals Jersey , with Beijing implementing over 30 cooling policies, according to Centaline Property.


A statement released after the Central Economic Work Conference last December said that China will maintain policy consistency and continuity and adopt differentiated property policies in 2018.




BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- China will expand a pilot project nationwide this year to ensure all criminal cases to have defense lawyers, said a report on Friday's China Daily.


The project will assign criminal defense lawyers to represent defendants in criminal cases who do not have lawyers to protect their human rights, said Zhou Yuansheng Alcides Escobar Royals Jersey , director of the Department of Directing Lawyers and Notarization with the Ministry of Justice, the newspaper said.


In October, the Supreme People's Court and the ministry decided to conduct the pilot program for all criminal defense cases in eight provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai Yordano Ventura Royals Jersey , Zhejiang, Henan and Guangdong.


"We will expand the program across the country this year, after summing up successful experiences from the pilot programs," said Zhou, adding that after the new measures are in place Bo Jackson Royals Jersey , there will be an estimated increase of 400,000 criminal defense cases each year.


Data provided by the ministry show that since October, courts in Zhejiang's Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou have accepted a total of 2,007 free legal aid cases George Brett Royals Jersey , including 733 criminal defendants who were assigned lawyers providing free legal services, accounting for 36.52 percent, according to the newspaper.


"Providing a full criminal defense to accused people -- a major incentive to promote judicial reform -- has played an essential role in safeguarding the suspects' legitimate rights and effectively avoids miscarriages of justice," Zhou said.


The newspaper said, citing Zhou Michael Saunders Jersey , that the pilot areas should improve support systems and adopt effective measures to protect legitimate rights of criminal defense lawyers, while standardizing their professional behavior.

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