China faces a looming baby boom as newly rich couples find they can afford to pay fines incurred from having more than one child, state media reported on Monday. Upward pressure on the birth rate also is coming from millions of Chinese in their 20s and 30s, who are allowed two children under the policy because they themselves were single children.
Casey Stoner won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to notch up back-to-back MotoGP victories and firm his hold on the championship lead. The Australian started fourth on the grid, but his Ducati blew past pole-sitter Valentino Rossi at the start of the second lap, forcing the seven-time world champion into second place.
The mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China, a manager of a feed company and one of the chemical’s producers said on Monday, describing a process that fraudulently boosts the feed’s sales value but risks introducing the chemical into meat eaten by humans.
China’s ZTE announced a -million deal with Ethiopia’s state-owned telecoms group just ahead of the release of seven abducted Chinese workers in the African nation, a statement said on Monday. The agreement signed on Saturday with Ethiopia Telecom Corporation proposes to build up the East African nation’s fledgling telecommunications network.
China hit back on Friday at Taiwan’s refusal to admit the Olympic torch, saying the island’s Olympic Committee had reneged on an earlier agreement to let the relay pass through. Beijing, host of the 2008 Summer Games, unveiled the torch relay schedule on Thursday and included self-governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own, as the stop before Hong Kong.
China said on Thursday it remained fully committed to investing in Africa, despite a recent spate of violence against Chinese interests there, including the deaths of nine Chinese among the slaughter of 77 people in Ethiopia. ”China supports trans-national trade and investment between China and other countries, including those in Africa,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
A deadly attack by rebels on a Chinese-run oil field in Ethiopia that left more than 70 dead is the latest example of the human and political cost of China’s growing energy interests in Africa. Tuesday’s attack on the facility left 65 Ethiopians dead as well as nine workers from China, making it the deadliest in a recent spate of killings and kidnappings aimed at Chinese firms in Africa.
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin finally cashed in on his recent hot run of form with a wire-to-wire victory by two strokes in torrential rain at the Asian Open on Sunday. The 32-year-old, second in Portugal at the start of the month and leader for two rounds at last week’s China Open, survived a late wobble as the wind and rain made conditions difficult.
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin put himself in position for a wire-to-wire victory at the Asian Open on Saturday, carding a two-under-par 70 to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the ,3-million event. The 32-year-old mixed four birdies with a couple of bogeys to finish the third round on 11-under, a shot ahead of Australian Scott Hend.
Raphael Jacquelin fired a second-round three-under-par 69 to open a three-shot advantage at the ,3-million Asian Open on Friday, the Frenchman leading a tournament at the halfway stage for the second week in a row. The 32-year-old, who led by two strokes at the same stage of last week’s China Open, made the most of balmy afternoon conditions.
France’s Raphael Jacquelin shot a six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen after the first round of the ,3-million Asian Open on Thursday. Eight-time European number one Colin Montgomerie finished three behind after a patient round of 69, while two-time US Open champions Ernie Els and Retief Goosen finished five off the pace with a pair of one-under 71s.
China has detained four people after a accident in which more than 25 tonnes of molten steel engulfed a room where workers were changing shift, killing at least 32. An industrial ladle was moving into the pouring position when it sheared off an iron rail, spewing out its 1 500 degrees Celsius contents.
More than a year before the first starter’s pistol fires at the Beijing Olympics, competition is rife for what may be spectators’ biggest prize — a comfortable hotel room within range of top sports venues. City tourism officials and Olympics organisers are confident Beijing’s 700-plus star-rated hotels can absorb the onslaught of half a million foreign and domestic visitors.
Ernie Els and Retief Goosen will be aiming to ease very different forms of Masters heartache when they tee off at the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai on Thursday as a high-class field aims to impose more misery. The smooth-swinging South African duo walked off the famed fairways at Augusta National this month with their hopes of securing another Major title blown away.
At least 32 workers were killed and two injured on Wednesday when they were engulfed by molten steel at a metal factory in north-east China, the government said. The accident was triggered when a steel ladle, with a capacity of 30 tonnes of liquid steel, sheared off from the blast furnace, spilling molten metal onto the factory floor about 3m below.
North Korea said on Friday it may be ready to move in a stand-off over frozen assets it insists be unblocked before shutting down its nuclear reactor, one day before the first deadline of an atomic disarmament deal. The secretive state has until Saturday to start shutting down its Soviet-era reactor.
Medicine abuse is making about 10 000 Chinese children deaf each year, state media said on Friday, blaming doctors and parents alike. Parents had ”blind faith” in antibiotics and doctors, who often take kickbacks from drugs middlemen, were more than willing to prescribe them, the People’s Daily said.
China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and his United States counterpart discussed promoting the continued use of political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Darfur problem. Dai and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte discussed the crisis in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region in a late night phone call.
Google apologised on Monday to a Chinese rival that complained its data was used by the United States search giant in a new internet tool in an incident that highlighted the intense competition in China’s booming online market. ”We are willing to face up to our mistake,” Google said in a statement.
United States swimming sensation Michael Phelps said in Beijing on Monday he hopes to race for eight gold medals at next year’s Beijing Olympics and out-do Mark Spitz’s Games record of seven titles. The US champion won seven golds in eight events and set five world records at the recent World Championships in Melbourne.
Working hard at the office is not enough to warrant a promotion in one Chinese county, where a new rule says government employees must also be nice to their parents, state press reported on Monday. Assessment teams interview officials’ relatives, neighbours and colleagues to determine if they are caring towards their mother and father.
The first gay-themed chat show to appear in China debuted online on Thursday, with the host and guests discussing the challenges of being homosexual in the country’s conservative society. The first of 12 episodes appeared on the website of Hong Kong-based broadcaster Phoenix Television and three other sites.
China and Sudan have agreed to strengthen military ties, state media reported, underscoring the two countries’ close and controversial cooperation as some Western nations seek United Nations action over bloodshed in Darfur. In Darfur, over 200 000 people are believed to have died and about 2,5-million have been driven from their homes.
Hail the size of eggs has ravaged southern parts of China, killing 13 people, closing an expressway and damaging crops on at least 81Â 300ha of farmland, the Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Seven people were killed and one was injured when a bus was hit in a landslide triggered by hailstorms since Sunday in mountainous areas in south-western Sichuan Province, Xinhua said.
For three beer-swilling days a year, Hong Kong hosts one of the biggest rugby parties in the world — its Sevens tournament — and lapses into a hangover from a colonial era that ended a decade ago. But there was no rendition of God Save the Queen this year as England’s four-year winning run ended in a 26-0 defeat to New Zealand.
China announced on Wednesday it will launch a joint mission with Russia to Mars in 2009, marking ”an important milestone” in space cooperation between the two countries. A small Chinese satellite will take off on a Russian rocket, according to the agreement signed on Monday between the China National Space Administration and the Russian Federal Space Agency.
A lovelorn Chinese herdsman who is the world’s tallest man has finally found his other half in a sales clerk who comes up to his elbow, state media reported on Wednesday. Bao Xishun, who stands 2,36m, will marry 1,68m Xia Shujun, who is also half the groom’s age at just 28, the Beijing News reported.
Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear-weapons programme broke up on Thursday following four days of deadlock, throwing efforts to implement a disarmament accord into disarray. North Korea’s chief envoy Kim Kye-Gwan abruptly abandoned the talks and flew home on Thursday afternoon.
A one-day extension on Thursday failed to kick-start stalled six-party negotiations on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, with the chief North Korean negotiator apparently on his way back to Pyongyang. The talks were likely to be suspended following an unexpected delay in the transfer of frozen funds from a Macau bank.
Chinese cemeteries are selling paper replicas of Viagra pills to be burned for dead relatives as a wish for satisfying sex in the afterlife, state media reported on Wednesday. Customers are snapping up the paper Viagra ahead of the annual Tombsweeping Festival on April 5, the Nanjing Morning News reported.
Delegates to talks on disarming North Korea’s nuclear programme voiced their impatience on Wednesday that the negotiations remained stalled over a dispute on when $25-million of Pyongyang’s funds will be released from a Macau bank. Planned group talks were called off on Tuesday.
Beijing will adopt emergency measures shutting down the capital’s industry if pollution threatens to disrupt next year’s Olympic Games, organising committee chief Liu Qi said on Tuesday. Poor air quality constitutes a serious problem for the August 8 to 24 Games next year in Beijing, one of the world’s most polluted cities.