China

Taiwan bans melamine-tainted baking powder from China

China Baking PowderTaipei - Taiwan Saturday barred the import of Chinese-made ammonium bicarbonate, an ingredient used for baking, in yet another ban related to China's toxic chemical-tainted food scandal, a senior health official said.

"We have found concentrations of 70 to 300 parts per million of melamine in the Chinese-made ammonium bicarbonate, which is a rising agent used as baking soda," said Cheng Shou-hsia, deputy director-general of the Department of Health.

"For this, we have barred the import of ammonium bicarbonate from China and the use of such ingredient in any of our food products effective today," he said.

China extends Olympic concessions for foreign media

China extends Olympic concessions for foreign media Beijing - China late Friday announced new regulations for foreign journalists that make permanent more liberal provisions introduced for the Beijing Olympics.

The main change from the pre-Olympic regulations was that foreign journalists no longer need permission from local governments before interviewing Chinese citizens and organizations, the foreign ministry said.

Bayer begins production at new Shanghai MDI plant

Beijing - German chemical giant Bayer on Friday formally launched production at a new plant in Shanghai with the capacity to produce 350,000 tons annually of diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI).

   "The new world-scale plant is the largest MDI facility of its kind in the world," Bayer said a press release issued in Shanghai.

   It said it had also broken ground on the construction of another plant at its purpose-built Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai to produce 250,000 tons of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) per year by 2010.

Chinese hostage escapes Taliban captivity in Pakistan

Peshawar, Pakistan - One of two Chinese engineers kidnapped by Islamic militants in Pakistan's north-west escaped from captivity on Friday and reached a security post, but his colleague was recaptured, officials and a Taliban spokesman said.

The two abductees managed to slip away when they were being transported by Taliban militants in a vehicle from the Piochar area in the restive Swat district to the neighbouring Dir region in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

They were chased by the Taliban in the wooded mountains and one of them was caught after he received injuries due to a fall, the militants said.

Angela Merkel to visit Beijing for Asia-Europe summit

German Chancellor Angela MerkelBerlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit Beijing next week for the scheduled Asia-Europe summit ASEM, her deputy spokesman Thomas Steg said Friday in Berlin.

The October 24-25 meeting would give 43 nations an opportunity to discuss the financial crisis, the world economy and environmental issues, according to Steg.

Merkel, who has been pushing for stricter global regulation of financial markets, would meet beforehand with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Export slump, rising costs hit China's toy firms

Beijing - Thousands of workers were made redundant in southern China after the global recession and rising costs forced more than 3,000 toy makers out of business, state media said on Friday.

More than 6,000 workers at two plants lost their jobs this week when Hong Kong-based company Smart Union closed two toy factories in Dongguan, Guangdong province, the official China Daily said.

"The main reason for the closure is that we are too dependent on the US market, which has become sluggish," the newspaper quoted Xu Xiaofang, a Smart Union personnel officer, as saying.

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