Prosecutors have been checking if Samsung's support for a business and foundations backed by Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, was connected to a 2015 decision by the national pension service to back a controversial merger of two group affiliates.

Samsung has acknowledged making contributions to two foundations as well as a consulting firm linked to Choi. The prosecution summoned two senior Samsung Group officials this week for questioning, though they were classified as witnesses.

Lee, the vice chairman of flagship affiliate Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, has managed South Korea's top conglomerate after his father and founding patriarch Lee Kun-hee was incapacitated after a May 2014 heart attack.

At a December parliament hearing, the executive denied that the firm paid bribes to pave the way for the 2015 merger.

Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesman for the special prosecution team, told a briefing Lee had been summoned for questioning at 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Thursday, over suspicions including bribery, but did not elaborate.

"All possibilities are open," the spokesman replied, when asked if the prosecution team would request an arrest warrant for the Samsung Group leader.

A Samsung Group spokeswoman declined to comment.

President Park could become South Korea's first democratically elected leader to leave office early after parliament voted in December to impeach her over the corruption scandal, a decision that must be approved or overturned by the Constitutional Court.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee and Ju-min Park; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

The autonomous region welcomed more than 23 million tourists and tourism revenue reached 33 billion yuan in 2016, annual increases of 14.7 and 17 percent respectively, according to the session.

"The region has fully promoted the standardization of tourism services, and the tourism industry has witnessed growth both in quality and effectiveness," said Losang Gyaltsan, chairman of the regional government, when delivering the annual government work report.

"More than 100,000 residents in the region's rural areas have benefited financially from tourism," Losang Gyaltsan said.

Losang Gyaltsan said the region will encourage big tourism enterprises to set up branch companies in Tibet and train more professional tourism workers in the near future.

The regional government has been making efforts to turn Tibet into a world tourism destination in recent years.

"Along with the progress of turning Tibet into a world tourism destination, the region has carried out a plan of developing regional tourism," said Xu Zhuwu, deputy Party chief of the regional government.

With unique natural landscapes and cultures, Tibet has big advantages and potential to develop tourism, Xu Zhuwu said.

In addition to improving the quality of tourism services, the region's many new plans for airlines, railways, roads and supplies have helped develop the tourism market.

Tibet has decided to build 2,000 toilets across the region in 2017, according to the government work report.

palden_nyima@chinadaily.com.cn

The project, now Erdene’s flagship venture, has grown to prominence in the past 18 months. The company has held a variety of mineral interests in Mongolia, but leaned towards gold once Bayan Khundii came into the picture.

Before that, the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based miner had been advancing its Altan Nar project (meaning Golden Sun).

Today results show a new gold zone (Midfield) discovered in October under younger cover, includes some of the highest grades and the longest mineralized intervals intersected to date, the firm said.

Other highlights from the press release:

Gold mineralization at Midfield includes some of the highest grades and the longest mineralized intervals intersected to date including:
o 149 metres of 2.1 g/t gold from 23 metres depth, including 41 metres of 5.2 g/t gold and 15 metres of 6.5 g/t gold (BKD-90)
o 72 metres of 4.0 g/t gold from 108 metres depth (BKD-92)
o 16 metres of 3.9 g/t gold from 19 metres depth and 40 meters of 1.0 g/t gold from 106 metres depth (BKD-95)

Bayan Khundii project went from greenfield prospect to being Erdene’s flagship asset in roughly nine months.
All step-out confirmation holes intersected gold mineralization with visible gold observed in six of the eight holes, establishing lateral continuity of the new mineralized Midfield Zone in all directions.
Geophysical surveys indicate alteration zones that host gold mineralization at Midfield extend under cover along the 1.7 kilometre north-northeast trend.
2017 exploration drill program now being designed to test additional target areas.
Peter Akerley, Erdene’s President and chief executive said the company would launch this year a resource drilling program, complimented by an extensive exploration scheme designed to expand the known areas of gold mineralization at Bayan Khundii as well as our other targets in the district including Altan Nar.

Mongolia’s mineral wealth drew several firms in the past two decades as it opened up to investment. The main attraction has always been the country’s riches — vast deposits of copper, coal and iron ore— as well as its proximity to China, the world’s biggest buyer of the minerals.

The enthusiasm peaked in 2011 when the land-locked nation’s economy grew 17% or the fastest pace on the planet. It’s been downhill since.

The FIFA Council unanimously approved the expansion in a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino proposed the expansion last October.

Participants at Tuesday's meeting say that despite initial opposition from some FIFA Council officials, almost nobody raised objections as FIFA stressed the benefits of the expansion, including an increase in revenue.

The World Cup finals will be expanded for the first time in 28 years.

The number of teams increased from 24 to the current 32 in the 1998 World Cup in France. Japan made its first appearance in that year.

FIFA has yet to decide how many extra places will be allotted to each of the 6 continents.

At present, Asia has 4.5 slots for the World Cup finals. There is speculation that this may be increased to 7.

National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Xu Shaoshi said China's GDP grew 6.7 percent in the first, second and third quarters of last year. He said the annual growth rate is expected to be about the same.

Xu did not mention China's growth target for this year. But he said the country's economy has the potential to maintain a reasonable pace of expansion.

The Chinese government will release the official GDP figures for 2016 on January 20th.

Speaking about Trump’s policy on France 2 television, Le Pen said it was "economic patriotism, (and) intelligent protectionism."

"I don't mind explaining to French companies that they can not escape tax that they should be paying in France, that they cannot go offshore without suffering the consequences... A choice has to be made, a choice of patriotism,” she said, as quoted by Reuters.

French car makers Renault and Peugeot have big plants in Spain, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Trump has pledged to dramatically hike tariffs on US cars made abroad, as moving production out of the country costs American jobs. The president-elect also praised Ford for scrapping a plan to build a plant in Mexico and Fiat-Chrysler’s announcement to create 2,000 jobs in the US.

Socialist Arnaud Montebourg and left-wing independent Jean-Luc Melenchon also praised Trump’s policy.

Le Pen’s calls for protectionism and anti-globalism has made her one of the upcoming French presidential elections favorites. The bookmakers regard conservative Francois Fillon as a favorite, and Le Pen is second favorite to win on April 23.

Fillon has a polar opposite stance on the car business. He calls for liberalizing car production and selling the government's 20 percent stake in Renault. Fillon says government control will not prevent companies from moving production abroad

France, which owns 87 percent of Areva, notified the European Commission in April of the restructuring plan to restore the group's competitiveness and financial position.

State aid may be authorized under certain conditions when it contributes to an objective or common interest without unduly distorting competition.

The European Commission, which oversees competition policy in the European Union, said the state aid was subject to conditions, in particular a positive conclusion of tests on the nuclear reactor vessel Flamanville III and an approval of the divestment of Areva's reactor business.

Areva will concentrate on nuclear fuel.

(Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)