China, Asia | featured news

The Trade Representative's office on Tuesday welcomed what it called a "significant victory" in a World Trade Organization dispute over Chinese export restrictions on raw materials used for a variety of industrial products.

The inflation is still high, and the 10% annual growth rate of the last decade is going to wither to under 5% by 2014 or so, according to the Economist. The innovation necessary to boom a consumer economy is questionable. The state banks have probably been loaded with questionable loans.

As our train raced through the familiar scenery of rural and small-town China on this sunny Monday morning -- alternating between green farmland and red tiled-roofs, my Chinese seatmate proudly pointed to a coffee cup on the tray table.

One of China's most prominent dissidents, Hu Jia, was reunited with his family early on Sunday after serving three-and-a-half-years in jail on subversion charges, but he needed rest and was not ready to speak in public, his wife said.

Move over Anthony Weiner, there is a new Casanova on Twitter. Chinese billionaire Wang Gongquan announced on the social media website that he was leaving his wife for his mistress, according to the Daily Mail. "I am giving up everything and eloping with Wang Qin. I feel ashamed and so am leaving without saying goodbye. I kneel down and beg forgiveness," he Tweeted.

Jet engine manufacturer CFM International says it expects to see major orders for its products at this week's Paris International Air Show and that work on the Chinese C919 commercial jetliner remains on track for a 2016 service date.

Given China's increasing power and economic security, dealing with the communist nation poses a "big challenge" for the United States, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Sunday.

Lead pollution from workshops in eastern China seriously poisoned 103 children and has affected hundreds of other residents in the country's latest case of unfettered industrial toxins, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

More flooding across central China has killed 41 people, state media reported Friday, bringing the total killed in seasonal flooding this year to at least 95.

China's Communist Party expects its new propaganda film will be a blockbuster. After all, it has left little to chance. The cast is loaded with stars. Cinemas are banned from showing new Hollywood movies. And offices and schools have been encouraged to snap up tickets.