eng文章

1.China's GDP soars to US$3.43 trillion

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 11.4 per cent year-on-year to 24.6619 trillion yuan (US$3.43 trillion) in 2007, but the risks of spiralling inflation and economic overheating （經濟過熱） are also growing.

The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than the 2006 level revised at 11.1 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

NBS head Xie Fuzhan told reporters in Beijing that 2007 was the fifth year in a row in which GDP had expanded by more than 10 per cent. Analysts said the 2007 figure was also the highest of the past 13 years.

Breaking economic growth down by quarter, GDP expanded 11.1 per cent in the first quarter, 11.9 per cent in the second, 11.5 per cent in the third and 11.2 per cent in the fourth.

Xie said that the United States and China had been powerful engines for the current cycle of global growth（環球增長）. However, the mounting possibility of the US economy moving into a recession was bound to have a negative effect on the world economy.

However, Xie was confident of China's economic prospects, saying a "steady" growth was likely this year.

Xie said "We will keep a close watch on developments in the US economy on one hand. On the other hand, we'll be striving to address institutional and structural problems in the Chinese economy."

He said there was still a risk that China's economy could shift from rapid growth to overheating this year, with growing inflationary pressure. To avert this, the central government had adopted a tight monetary policy in tandem with a prudent fiscal policy for 2008.

The NBS also reported that in 2007, primary industry output was2.89 trillion yuan, up 3.7 per cent, while that of the secondary sector was 12.14 trillion yuan, up 13.4 per cent, and the tertiary sector, 9.63 trillion yuan, up 11.4 per cent.

The growth rate for the primary sector was 1.3 percentage points lower than in 2006, while the rates for the secondary and tertiary sectors were 0.4 percentage point and 0.6 percentage point higher, respectively.

According to Xie, 2007 was the fourth straight year of growth in grain production. (Xinhua)

The harvest was 501.5 million tonnes, up 3.5 million tonnes, or 0.7 per cent, over the 2006 level. (Xinhua)





2.Castro salutes Cuban people for '50 years of resistance' against US in New Year message

Written message was read on state TV minutes before midnight
Ailing leader Fidel Castro saluted the Cuban people for their "50 years of resistance" against the United States in a written message read on state television shortly before the first minutes of the new year.

"During the course of the morning, the 49th year of the Revolution will have been left behind and we will have fully entered the 50th year, which will symbolise a half century of heroic resistance," said the message read by a television presenter shortly before midnight. The broadcast showed old photographs of the Cuban leader.

"We proclaim to the world with pride this record which makes us believe in the most just of our demands: that there be respect for the life and the wholesome joy of our nation."

Cuba will mark the 50th anniversary of the Jan. 1, 1959, triumph of the revolution led by Castro a year from now, but is already characterising all of 2008 leading up to that date as the "50th year of the revolution."

The 81-year-old Castro has not been seen in public in the 17 months since he announced he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding his powers to a caretaker government led by his younger brother Raul, the 76-year-old defense minister. (AP)

A managing director of Standard Chartered has been given a suspended jail term for assaulting a taxi driver after he grew impatient while she was busy adding up the fare.




Briton Andrew Steven Dyer, 43, who oversees transaction banking in northeast Asia, received a two-month jail term, suspended for two years, in Eastern Court yesterday.

He was also ordered to pay the taxi driver HK$5,000 compensation.

Dyer admitted pushing the woman, 39, to the ground and slapping her face after he got out of the taxi late on October 25, 2006. He was charged last September and pleaded guilty to common assault.

The taxi driver spent a day in Queen Mary Hospital. She suffered tenderness to her feet and head and minor abrasions on her elbows.

The court was told Dyer and a colleague got into the taxi at the airport to return home to Mid-Levels. The pair grew concerned about the way the woman was driving and decided to hail another taxi near MacDonnell Road in Central.

Dyer went to the taxi driver's door and gave her a HK$500 note to settle the fare of HK$274 while she was adding up the luggage charges and tunnel fee.

Dyer shouted at her repeatedly for change and grew upset. He then stretched his hand into the car and hit her head. She got out of the taxi and stood on the kerb. He urged her again to give the change and suddenly pushed her shoulder.

She fell but quickly got to her feet. He slapped her face with his right hand and she kicked his chest.










Chu Chi-kong, a PCCW senior vice-president who lives near the location, witnessed the assault and asked his wife to make a report while he rushed to help the taxi driver.

In passing sentence, Principal Magistrate Garry Tallentire said he understood the banker's frustration after a long journey but he should have controlled his temper.

He said Dyer committed a serious offence because public transport drivers should not be subjected to such assaults. He therefore refused to fine him instead of the jail term despite his remorse.