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China

  • China reports human bird flu death

    A man from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China has died of bird flu, the Health Ministry said Thursday. The ministry said on its website that a 41-year-old man surnamed Liang fell sick on Feb 12 and was hospitalized two days later.

  • Beijing to bring in more pandas for Olympics

    The city zoo is expanding its panda exhibit for the 2008 Olympics and will ship in up to 10 more for visitors to see during the August Games, an official said on Thursday. The zoo is expanding its facilities to accommodate the additional animals and is also building a Giant Panda Museum which will document efforts to save the endangered species, a zoo spokeswoman said. "The pandas will be on loan from the Wolong Giant Panda Centre, but the numbers to be brought in are still under negotiation,' she said. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, up to 10 more pandas would be brought in from Wolong, the world's most successful panda breeding centre located in southwest China's Sichuan province. The panda exhibition is the most popular attraction at the Beijing Zoo and currently houses seven of the animals. A record number of pandas have been bred in China in recent years, with 31 born and 25 surviving at breeding centers around the nation in the first 11 months of 2007, earlier press reports said. In 2006, 33 pandas were born, with most of the new births in both years occurring at the Wolong centre, where artificial breeding techniques are continually improving, the reports said.

  • Japan, China to step up food poisoning probe

    Top Japanese and Chinese police officials agreed Monday to spur investigations into toxic dumpling cases by offering evidence the two countries have collected to each other, Japanese officials said. The accord was reached when top officials from Japan's National Police Agency held talks with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing on Monday night. They also agreed on greater collaboration to settle the food poisoning cases involving Chinese-made dumplings, which caused 10 people in two Japanese prefectures to fall ill, the officials said.

  • Rise in Chinese coking coal price in March may hit India

    Chinese domestic coking coal prices are expected to rise $14 per tonne next month, which could trigger problems for the Indian steel industry whose demand for coke is expected to touch 85.34 million metric tons by 2011-12. "Chinese domestic coking coal prices are expected to rise by 100 yuan ($14) per tonne for March delivery, pushed up by strong demand for coke,' the Metal Bulletin reported. Coal producers in China are talking about raising prices next month in the face of strong demand as steel mills gradually ramp up production after the snowstorms, it quoted Chinese trading sources as saying. Currently, coking coal is transacting at 1,300-1,400 yuan per tonne in Shanxi province, China's largest coal and coke producer. This is double the price paid in the middle of last year. Indian Steel Alliance sources said that rise in Chinese coking coal prices could generate problems for the Indian steel industry as domestic firms are considerably dependent on the neighbouring country for coke. Recent force majeure announcements by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto at several hard coking coal mines in Queensland, Australia, have also seriously affected many Asian steel mills and caused a global shortage of coking coal supply.

  • Strict inspections halt some Chinese food exports to Japan

    Exports to Japan of some Chinese-made food items have come to a halt as Chinese inspectors are taking time to rigorously check product safety following the discovery of tainted meat dumplings in Japa

  • Jute industry seeks ban on imports from Bangladesh

    The jute industry has urged the ministry of textiles (MoT) to impose a ban on the imports of A.Twill and B.Twill jute bags from Bangladesh as part of its qualitative restriction. It has also requested the ministry for quantitative restrictions, whereby imports from Bangladesh will be limited giving a breather to the domestic jute industry. The country imported around 55,000 tonnes of jute products from Bangladesh, Nepal, China and Pakistan during 2006-07 jute season. The government recently made jute and jute goods imports duty free. According to the industry, qualitative and quantitative restrictions are required to be maintained as rules on these line have already been laid down in the Jute Mandatory Packaging Act (JPMA). In a letter to A K Singh, secretary, MoT, the jute industry has pointed out the events leading to the adverse effect faced by it because of the withdrawal of import duty on the crop and items. Indian Jute Mills Association ( IJMA) chairman, Sanjay Kajaria said, quantitative and qualitative restrictions need to be imposed to plug loopholes on imported jute bags by certain vested interested persons. Moreover, the restrictions would also ensure the stoppage of import of cheap and non-standard quality of jute bags which are not in conformity with Indian and international standards. The industry feels, unrestricted import of the raw crop and jute goods would be disastrous and therefore should be stopped immediately.

  • At least 27 miners missing in China

    At least 27 Chinese miners were missing in two separate accidents concealed by mine owners in northeastern Heilongjiang province, a state-run news agency reported Wednesday.

  • The 2005 global report on purchasing power parity estimates: A preliminary review

    The fifth (2005) round of the World Bank's International Comparison Program, which produces estimates of the gross domestic product at purchasing power parity prices, has been the most extensive and

  • Chinese group here to identify land for industrial zone

    Chinese group here to identify land for industrial zone

  • Big Quake, Aftershocks Hit China's Xinjiang

    A major earthquake and two aftershocks hit China's north-western region of Xinjiang on Friday morning, the China Earthquake Administration said, but there were no initial reports of casualties or dama

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