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/ 10 October 2006
The $20-billion initial public offer (IPO) of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the mainland’s largest lender, drew intense interest on the its opening day, reports said on Tuesday. The IPO — expected to be the largest to date — attracted a wave of international orders of up to $56-billion, according to reports in Hong Kong’s English-language press.
Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher swept to a sensational victory at a rain-soaked Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to seize the Formula One championship lead by the slimmest of margins. The seven-time world champion pulled level with Renault’s Fernando Alonso on points, 116-116, but is ahead 7-6 on race victories.
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/ 30 September 2006
World champion Fernando Alonso boosted his Formula One title chances on Saturday by taking pole position on an all-Renault front row at a rain-swept Chinese Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, two points behind the Spaniard in the standings with three races remaining, will start a distant sixth.
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/ 28 September 2006
The duel between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher is heating up both on and off the track going into this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, the third-to-last race of the most closely contested season in years. ”It’s quite simple,” Alonso said on Thursday, ”it’s three races to go. The one who wins the most races will win the championship.”
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/ 27 September 2006
Attention this weekend will be focused on the tussle for the Formula One championship as Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso set up a thrilling conclusion to the season. Schumacher says that thoughts of his imminent retirement will not affect his preparations for the three crucial remaining races of the season, starting in China.
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/ 21 September 2006
People wearing pyjamas in public, still a common sight in Shanghai, is one of the most irritating aspects of life in China’s biggest city, according to an opinion poll of residents. The survey found that pyjama-wearing on the streets and in public places such as shops, banks and parks is among the most uncivilised things in the city, along with aggressive pets and unhelpful neighbours.
At this time of the year, holidaymakers in Europe rush to the beaches to top up their tans, but in Chinese cities women avoid the sun like the plague. Umbrellas deployed, arms fully covered, hats jammed on their heads, women on Shanghai’s occasionally sunny streets are now employing every trick in the book to cut out the UV rays.
The dog days of summer are murder on China’s canines. For the second time in days, a Chinese region has ordered a mass slaughter of dogs to curb a rabies outbreak, drawing criticism from animal lovers but also support from many who say such culls are the only sure way to contain the disease.
Tropical Storm Prapiroon strengthened into a full-blown typhoon on Wednesday, with forecasters warning of possible severe destruction to parts of southern China. The storm had been steadily gathering strength while churning across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where six deaths were blamed on the severe weather.
A pair of Chinese blogs maintained by a banned Tibetan writer have been shut down in an apparent attempt to block her distributing her work online, French monitoring group Reporters sans Frontières said on Tuesday. Attempts to connect to the blogs on Tuesday were returned with a message saying they did not exist.
An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China killed at least 12 people on Friday and prompted the evacuation of 7 000 others, state media and officials said. Also on Friday, two unrelated explosions at another chemical plant and aboard an oil tanker injured at least five people, with two others missing and feared dead.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday the international incentive offer to curtail his nation’s nuclear programme was a ”step forward” that would be carefully considered. ”We will give a response in due time in line with the international interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Ahmadinejad told a press conference.
China’s largest refiner Sinopec has acquired stakes in Angolan oil exploration blocks, state press reported on Tuesday, marking another success in the Asian nation’s global quest for more sources of fuel. The three blocks have total proven reserves of 3,2-billion barrels of oil and are expected to boost oil production for Sinopec by 100 000 barrels a day.
China’s will next month increase down-payments on home loans and broaden the capital gains tax, moves analysts said on Tuesday should help cool the overheated real estate sector in the short term. The down-payment on homes above 90 square metres would be raised to 30% from 20%, as authorities target the high-end of the property market.
Spanish whiz Dani Pedrosa became the second-youngest winner in the history of motor cycling’s premier class with victory in the Shanghai Grand Prix on Sunday. Pedrosa (20) started in pole and pushed his Honda through the 22 laps of the 5,28km Shanghai International Circuit in 44 minutes 07,734 seconds.
The Rolling Stones will finally play in China this weekend after a three-decade battle to win censorship approval, but there are few frenzied fans here awaiting the arrival of the British legends. The veteran bad boys of rock — the biggest music act ever to play in China — have chosen to play their one-off concert on Saturday at a tiny 8 000-seat theatre in Shanghai .
Ryk Neethling of South Africa won the opening gold medal of the World Short-Course Swimming Championships here on Wednesday. Neethling, who led from the outset, held off a late challenge from European champion Filippo Magnini to take the 200m freestyle in 1:43,51 sec.
A 24-year-old man tried to sell his soul on China’s most popular auction website and managed to get 58 bids before operators pulled his ad, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday. "It was just an impulse," the seller, who requested anonymity, said from Shanghai. The man posted the announcement on Taobao last week, asking a starting price of 10 yuan ($1,23).
The World Short-Course Swimming Championships suffered the loss of yet another top athlete as Australia and the United States dominated the opening heats on Wednesday. Double world champion Roland Schoeman, the top draw here in the absence of swimming greats Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, was a late withdrawal citing a lack of fitness, organisers said.
Workers have abandoned a third attempt to cap a poisonous gas leak from a drilling site in south-western China that has forced the evacuation of almost 15 000 residents, state media reported on Thursday. Officials said they were struggling to raise supplies and funds for the evacuees, lending a note of urgency to the capping work.
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/ 13 February 2006
Bored with the same old candlelit dinner, red roses and chocolate truffles on Valentine’s Day? Newly rich Chinese are looking to something decidedly more edgy — matching plastic surgery for him and her. In Shanghai’s increasingly competitive plastic surgery market, clinics are offering Valentine’s Day discounts.
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/ 2 February 2006
China has banned Hollywood’s Memoirs of a Geisha a week before it was due to be released over fresh speculation that the Chinese actresses’ roles as Japanese courtesans could spark public controversy. The film tells the story of a girl from a poor Japanese fishing village who is sold to a geisha house and goes on to romance a rich businessman.
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/ 23 January 2006
China’s economy likely became one of the world’s five biggest in 2005 as booming exports and surging investment again helped secure growth of well above nine percent, analysts said on Monday. Ahead of Wednesday’s release of China’s 2005 economic data, analysts expect the world fastest growing major economy to surge between 9,5 and 10,3% to surpass the two-trillion-dollar mark.
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/ 18 January 2006
Chinese authorities banned 79 newspapers and seized 169-million publications deemed illegal in a nationwide crackdown last year, the country’s top propaganda official announced. Seventeen production lines making pirate compact discs were also shut down and 50 types of computer software games banned, said Liu Yunshan on Tuesday.
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/ 10 January 2006
China’s $2.3-billion Nigerian oil venture is a major step forward for the energy ravenous country as it seeks to power its fast-growing economy but analysts said on Tuesday the race was just heating up. China National Overseas Oil Corp’s purchase of a 45% stake in the Akpo field is the biggest overseas investment by Beijing since China National Petroleum Corp’s took over PetroKazakhstan for $4,18-billion in October.
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/ 21 November 2005
The upset of the year in the season’s most gripping final came to the rescue of a troubled ATP Masters Cup which was rocked by high-profile withdrawals and complaints over the playing surface. David Nalbandian’s shock, come-from-behind win over hot favourite Roger Federer in a pulsating five-setter drew a line under the farcical early days when five big names dropped out.
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/ 20 November 2005
Tennis chiefs announced on Sunday that they were replacing the third set in doubles matches with a tie-breaker, brushing off objections from top players. The third set will consist of a first-to-10 tie-breaker to speed up play. There will also be no advantage played in the first two sets, with games decided by the first point after deuce.
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/ 18 November 2005
Five days ago, David Nalbandian was packing his things for a fishing trip in his native Argentina. Now he’s one match away from a place in the Masters Cup final. Nalbandian has found some great form since his late call-up to replace the injured Andy Roddick, taking Roger Federer to three sets before whitewashing Guillermo Coria and Ivan Ljubicic.
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/ 17 November 2005
Russian Nikolay Davydenko hopes to take advantage of a depleted field after making it to the semifinals of the season-ending Masters Cup. Davydenko will be the highest-ranked player in the semifinals behind two-time defending champion Roger Federer.
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/ 16 November 2005
World number one Roger Federer has given his support to Andre Agassi after the United States veteran was criticised for his early withdrawal from the Masters Cup tennis tournament. Federer, the only top-five player left in the season finale after Agassi and Rafael Nadal added their names to the injury list, said the eight-time Grand Slam champion deserved credit for turning up.
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/ 14 November 2005
Andre Agassi lost 6-4, 6-2 to Nikolay Davydenko and then pulled out of the Tennis Masters Cup on Monday, less than an hour after second-ranked Rafael Nadal withdrew with an injured left foot. Agassi lasted one hour and 14 minutes against Davydenko and then told reporters he had to withdraw after aggravating an ankle problem.
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/ 9 November 2005
World number one Tiger Woods says his mother’s Buddhist beliefs and his father’s combat experience with the Green Berets during the Vietnam War are fundamental to his success on the golf course. The 10-time major winner said his intense powers of concentration and fierce competitiveness on the golf course are a result of his Thai mother’s Buddhist influence and his father’s special forces’ tour in Vietnam.