Australia’s beef and veal exports for March increased 5% year-on-year, to 87,742 tonnes swt, with the Chinese market again setting a monthly record high, at 12,320 tonnes swt (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries).
China is on course to overtake the US as the world’s top crude importer by 2014, as the Asian country’s growing refining capacity boosts demand and America’s fracking boom cuts the need for foreign oil, OPEC said in its monthly report.
A new bird flu strain that has killed 22 people in China is one of the most lethal of its kind and transmits more easily to humans than another strain that has killed hundreds since 2003, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Wednesday.
China unveiled plans to build more aircraft carriers after commissioning its first last year, as the country extends its influence amid territorial disputes with neighbours including Japan and Vietnam. China already has the world’s second-biggest military budget after the US.
The new strain of bird flu that has killed 17 people in China has been circulating widely under the radar and has acquired significant genetic diversity that makes it more of a threat, warned scientists.
Chinese capital Beijing reported on Saturday its first case of a new strain of bird flu, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time it has been found in a human outside of eastern China.
By Steve Tsang (*) - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fought a war with Argentina to defend the Falklands, but she negotiated with China over the future of Hong Kong. Should the apparent success of British diplomacy in securing an acceptable future of Hong Kong be a shining example for a similar solution for the Falklands?
Fitch Ratings has downgraded China's sovereign credit rating, warning about a credit build-up in the economy that could threaten the recovery. The agency cited “underlying structural weaknesses” and a growing risk from shadow banking. The downgrade is for Yuan-denominated debt, not foreign currency debt.
China and Brazil signed an agreement to do billions of dollars of trade in their local currencies, as the five-nation BRICS forum of emerging market powers work to lessen dependence on the US dollar and Euro.
Brazil hopes to sign a bilateral accord with China to promote trade in their national currencies at next week's BRICS summit of the world's five emerging powers, Trade and Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel said on Thursday.