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From Reuters, via Yahoo News:
Mothers of those killed in China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests have joined the list of groups invoking this summer's Beijing Olympics to draw attention to their causes.
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NPR's Talk of the Nation had a program about politics and the Olympics. The topic was not specifically about Beijing 2008 but naturally the topic came up:
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Pollution turned sections of the Han river system in central China red and foamy, causing water supplies to 200,000 people in the central Hubei province to be cut,
AP reported. The Dongjing River, a tributary of the Han River, was found to contain high levels of ammonia, nitrogen and permanganate near Xingou township in Jianli county. Provincial authorities said the pollution flowed from the Han, but did not give details on its source.
Factories in six provinces and municipalities across northern China have begun to be shut down in order to clear up Beijing's air for the Olympics in August, the
Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities in Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin and Inner Mongolia are targeting heavily polluting facilities, especially coke, cement and small-sized steel factories, in a campaign lasting from January to June. Beijing alone aims to close 40 factories this year, in addition to 29 that were closed in 2007. Although previous Olympic host cities have shut down factories ahead of their games, Beijing's effort to curb pollution is by far the most expansive. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in an interview in September that some events
may have to be postponed due to the pollution in Beijing.
Standard Chartered and JPMorgan Chase have been approved to underwrite debt offerings from the Chinese government, the
Wall Street Journal reported. The banks became the second and third foreign institutions to be allowed to sell government bonds in China, following HSBC, which was approved in 2004. Demand for treasury bonds has grown rapidly in China, with bond prices getting higher and yields falling even as inflation has risen. Officials from JPMorgan said they expect the underwriting business to be only slightly profitable - the bank is required to underwrite 0.2% of each offering - but the main benefit could be a closer working relationship with the Ministry of Finance.
China Railway Construction Corp confirmed that it raised US$3.1 billion in a mainland initial public offering Wednesday, the
Wall Street Journal reported. The state-run railway company sold shares priced at the top of an indicative range of RMB8-9.08 (US$1.12-1.27) for a listing to be held on March 10 in Shanghai. Shares were oversubscribed 155 times for the retail tranche and 77 times for the institutional batch, as bearish investors have flocked from investing in the secondary market to subscribing in IPOs. China Railway Construction also plans to raise
another US$2.33 billion in a share sale in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Shanghai Pudong Development bank announced that its board approved a share sale that could raise
US$4.54 billion, about 20% less than the
US$5.6 billion it initially planned.
China’s drug regulator, the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), said in a statement that importing countries bear responsibility for inspecting facilities producing drugs for export, in line with international practice, the
Wall Street Journal reported. The SFDA has been cooperating with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on investigating a plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu province that produces the blood-thinner heparin for US drug firm Baxter International. The SFDA said the plant had been “verified” by the FDA in 2004, but the FDA said it did not inspect the facility due to a mix-up. It is unclear whether the Changzhou facility, which is majority-owned by Wisconsin-based US Scientific Protein, was the source of Baxter-produced heparin that was linked to four deaths in the US.
Ping An Insurance said it would "carefully weigh" its decision to hold a US$17 billion share and convertible bond sale in Shanghai against government demands, the
Financial Times reported. The statement was seen as an indication that the proposed sale by China's second-largest insurer will be reduced. The China Securities Regulatory Commission
warned companies against "money-grabbing" by holding large share sales that could damage the market on Monday, and fund managers with stakes in Ping An have suggested that they would
vote against such a large issuance at a shareholder's meeting in March. The mainland A-share market has declined 30% since peaking in October, partly on fears that it has been flooded with new shares.
China's ruling Communist Party approved government reform plans and new appointments to party leadership positions at a
high-level meeting Wednesday, ahead of the March 5 National People's Congress (NPC),
AFP reported. Though no details of the meeting were released, it is believed that Shanghai Party Secretary Xi Jinping was named vice president and Liaoning party boss Li Keqiang was appointed to a vice premiership. Beijing Mayor
Wang Qishan is expected to be named vice premier in charge of finance. Xi is seen as next in line to replace Hu Jintao as president and party chairman at the end of his second five-year term in 2013, while Li is seen as Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's likely successor. The NPC must approve all appointments from the meeting. A reform of the State Council is also anticipated, with the total number of ministries in China's cabinet being trimmed to 21.
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