BEIJING – A report by a local major food delivery service has found that preferred orders differ across the nation’s regions.

According to delivery service Meituan-Dianping, people in Shanghai and neighbouring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces like to order fried chicken the most.

This is very different from Guangdong province in the south and Beijing in the north, where local specialty dim sum and Beijing dishes topped the rankings.

Some residents attributed the findings to the Shanghainese love for fried food.

Zhou Wenshu, who works with a multinational corporation and has to work overtime a lot, orders fried chicken from food delivery apps often as an energy recharge.

“It’s just so crispy and tender. Just indulge in the wonderful mouthfeel and forget calories,” said the 29-year-old.

Jiang Jian, a 32-year-old IT engineer in Shanghai, said, “Perhaps it’s also because of the strong influence of Western fast food and South Korean soap operas.”

A food delivery worker with eleme.com in the Central Business District in Shanghai said he gets off work at 10pm every day, and usually those working overtime order pizza and fried chicken after 8pm.

“I think it’s related to the heavy workload in Shanghai. Fried chicken is quicker and easier to eat compared to, say, noodles and wontons,” said the worker, who only gave his surname Song.

The report also found that the three northeastern provinces – Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang – were the top three for breakfast orders.

Internet users kidded that the residents are passing on the pain of getting up in the freezing morning to the delivery drivers.

When it comes to late night snacks, nine out of the top 10 cities are in Fujian and Guangdong provinces, which is consistent with the eating habits of people in those regions, according to the report.

NEW DELHI – In Bollywood-crazy India, the decision by the nation’s highest court to require playing the national anthem before film screenings has triggered an array of responses.

“All the cinema halls in India shall play the national anthem before the feature film starts and all present in the hall are obliged to stand up to show respect to the national anthem,” the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The flag must appear on-screen while the 52-second anthem plays, the court said. “Be it stated, a time has come, the citizens of the country must realise that they live in a nation and are duty bound to show respect to national anthem which is the symbol of the constitutional patriotism and inherent national quality,” the ruling said.

Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu called it a very good decision. “It will inculcate a sense of patriotism in the people, particularly the younger generation,” he said. “I’m very happy for this.”

The court, which has given theatres 10 days to implement the decision, issued several interim directives while acting on a petition by Madhya Pradesh-based social activist and retired engineer Shyam Narayan Chouksey. These included that there should not be “commercial exploitation” and “dramatization” of the national anthem.

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BEIJING/WASHINGTON – China lodged a diplomatic protest on Saturday after US President-elect Donald Trump spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, but blamed the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own for the”petty” move.

The 10-minute telephone call with Taiwan’s leadership was the first by a US president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it had lodged “stern representations” with what it called the “relevant US side”, urging the careful handling of the Taiwan issue to avoid any unnecessary disturbances in ties. “The one China principle is the political basis of the China-US relationship,” it said.

The wording implied the protest had gone to the Trump camp, but the ministry provided no explanation.

Speaking earlier, hours after Friday’s telephone call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointedly blamed Taiwan for the exchange, rather than Trump, a billionaire businessman with little foreign policy experience.

“This is just the Taiwan side engaging in a petty action, and cannot change the ‘one China’ structure already formed by the international community,” Wang said at an academic forum in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying. “I believe that it won’t change the longstanding ‘one China’policy of the United States government.”

In comments at the same forum, Wang noted how quickly President Xi Jinping and Trump had spoken by telephone after Trump’s victory, and that Trump had praised China as a great country.

Wang said that exchange had sent “a very positive signal about the future development of Sino-US relations”, according to the ministry’s website. Taiwan was not mentioned in that call, according to an official Chinese transcript.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office also called the conversation a”petty” move by Taiwan that does not change the island’s status as part of China. Beijing is resolute in opposing independence for Taiwan, it added.

Trump said on Twitter that Tsai had initiated the call he had with the Taiwan president.

“The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you!” he said.

Alex Huang, a spokesman for Tsai, said: “Of course both sides agreed ahead of time before making contact.”

WAYWARD PROVINCE

Trump and Tsai noted that “close economic, political and security ties exist between Taiwan and the United States”, the Trump transition team said in a statement. Taiwan’s presidential office said the two discussed strengthening bilateral interactions and establishing closer co-operation.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Relations between the two sides have worsened since Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, was elected president in January.

Chinese state media downplayed the possibility of a major blow-up in Beijing’s relations with Washington as Trump prepares to assume office.

Influential state-run tabloid the Global Times said in an online editorial that if Trump really overturned the “one China”principle upon assuming office it would create such a crisis with China he’d have little time to do anything else.

“We believe this is not something the shrewd Trump wants to do.”

China’s official Xinhua news agency said Trump needed to know Beijing can be a “cooperative partner” as long as Washington respects China’s core interests, including the issue of Taiwan.

“China and the United States are not destined rivals,” it said in an English-language commentary.

Washington remains Taiwan’s most important political ally and sole arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, the irony of which was not lost on Trump.

“Interesting how the US sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call,” Trump said in another tweet.

Trump has eschewed tradition in other calls with foreign leaders since he won the US election, prompting the White House to encourage him to make use of the diplomatic expertise and counsel of the State Department.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN that Trump was”well aware of what US policy has been” on Taiwan.

Administration officials said Trump’s team did not alert the White House about the call ahead of time. The White House also said after Trump’s call that “longstanding policy” on China and Taiwan had not changed.

Advisers to the Republican president-elect have indicated that he is likely to take a more robust policy towards China than Obama, a Democrat, and that Trump plans to boost the US military in part in response to China’s increasing power in Asia. However, details of his plans remain scant.

Trump lambasted China throughout the US election campaign, drumming up headlines with pledges to slap 45 per cent tariffs on imported Chinese goods and label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

Earlier this week, Trump spoke to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and praised him, according to the Pakistani leader’s office, as a “terrific guy”.

Islamabad and Washington have seen relations sour in recent years over US accusations that Pakistan shelters Islamist militants who kill US soldiers in Afghanistan, a charge denied by the South Asian nation.

Trump also invited Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House next year during what a Duterte aide said was a”very engaging, animated” phone conversation. Duterte has openly insulted Obama, who cancelled a planned meeting with him in September.

A statement issued by Trump’s transition team made no mention of the invitation.

JAKARTA/SINGAPORE – A twin-engine Indonesian police plane went missing on Saturday with 15 people on board en route to the island of Batam, south of Singapore, police said.

The plane is thought to have crashed between the islands of Mensanak and Sebangka or Gentar, a police report obtained by Reuters said.

A search team recovered items apparently identified as being from the missing aircraft, the report said. No other details were immediately available.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) confirmed that the had lost contact with Singapore air traffic control in the Singapore Flight Information Region at 11.22am today (Dec 3).

The aircraft departed Pankal Pinang at 10.24am and was expected to arrive in Batam at 11.58am.

Its last known radar position was about 40 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Pinang, the CAAS said in a statement.

Search and rescue operations from Singapore have been activated by the Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre, which is managed by the CAAS and supported by various agencies.

“With clearance from the Indonesian authorities, one SuperPuma helicopter and one Fokker 50 are currently on-scene supporting the Indonesians to locate the aircraft. Two ships are awaiting clearance by the Indonesian authorities to assist in the search and rescue efforts,” the CAAS said, adding that its Crisis Management Centre has also been activated.