Encumbered with its investment in 3G technology, China United Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (Unicom) again saw steep declines in profits, which recently reached a record low. It has invested enormously in the initial operation of 3G, paying for operating costs, administrative costs, and TV and internet advertisements. This huge investment has not immediately resulted in large profits. It is said that the main reason is that Unicom has not targeted a wide enough market.

China has entered a period of intensive conflicts in labor relations, focused around the issue of profit distribution. In the years since the official implementation of the Labor Law in 1995, China has been establishing the mechanism of collective consultations. However, the other laws matching it, such as the Labor Contract Law, do not mandate compulsory force on collective contracts or collective consultations on wages, which weakens the implementation of the two mechanisms.

The tighter their controls on risk in banks, the more frontier police the regulators will need.

By Howard Davies

If systemic risk can cause this kind of cascading sequential imbalance, then the “sovereign” needs to be alert, competent at identifying rising systemic risk, and able to take corrective action early.

By Michael Spence

Reshaping the US health-care system to focus on successful outcomes and quality of life, rather than on employing the newest and most expensive technology, is a challenge for which no one yet has a proven solution.

By Simon Johnson and James Kwak

Two years after the outbreak of the financial crisis, Caijing reporters go to the centre of the financial storm - the United States, and interview the elites in Wall Street, namely Morgan Stanley's Chairman John Mack, the genius in finance George Soros, the initiator of Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio, and JP Morgan's senior managers, listening to their thoughts and perspectives of the financial development.

China should guard against inflation in the second half as concerns are mounting over the hikes of prices especially food prices, a government official said.

China should guard against inflation in the second half as concerns are mounting over the hikes of prices especially food prices, said Zhang Ping, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner.

Chinese government has approved the project of coal-fired power plant construction in Vietnam, the largest invested by Chinese companies in the country.

China’s top economic planner has officially approved a coal-fired power plant project in Vietnam with an overall investment of 1.75 billion U.S. dollars, China Southern Power Grid Corp. , the developer said in a statement on Friday.

»Brilliance China Automotive Holdings (01114.HK) has reported a return to profitability at the net income level in the first six months this year driven by strong sale of MMW-Brilliance.

»First-half net profit hit 510 million yuan, compared with a loss of 386 million yuan in the same period of last year.

»Brilliance has 50 percent ownership in a joint investment with BMW. Sales of BMW 3-series and 5-series surged more than 50 percent from the previous year.

Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, one of the five special economic zones in China, will be expanded to the whole city of Zhuhai on the southern coast of Guangdong Province.

Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, one of the five special economic zones in China, will be expanded to the whole city of Zhuhai on the southern coast of Guangdong Province, effective from October 1, Xinhuanet said on Thursday, the day that marks the 30th establishment anniversary of China’s first group of special economic zones.