The price of housing in 70 of China's big and middle-sized cities rose by 5.6 percent in the first three quarters of the year compared to the same period of last year, according to data issued by the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on October 19.

The sale prices of housing in 70 Chinese big and middle cities rise by 5.6% in the first three quarters comparing to the same period of last year, according to the data issued by National Statistics Bureau on October 19.

Housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities have continued to rise since the beginning of the year, but the pace of the increase has eased off since August.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Governor Kuroda Haruhiko said in Urumqi on Friday that closer cooperation among central Asian countries will help reduce the poverty rate in the region from above 40 percent of the population to 25 percent by the year 2015.

Yesterday National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) spokesman Li Xiaochao addressed reporters at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office.

"As of September 27, Audi has sold 59,400 vehicles in China for the year 2006, surpassing last year's total of 58,128," said Mr. Erich Schmitt with joy, an Audi board member.

"The system reform of the Renminbi (RMB) exchange rate has been successful. Reforms based on market supply and demand were implemented over a year ago. China's export competitiveness has remained strong; GDP and consumption also continue to grow," said Yi Gang, assistant to the Governor of the People's Bank of China.

A senior government leader in the Altai Republic, Russia, revealed on October 16 that the natural gas pipeline project from West Siberia to China has been launched. The general contractor of this project has begun initial surveying.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest Chinese commercial bank, received 77 times of orders and froze 420 billion HK dollars (53.9 billion U.S. dollars) in its issue of initial public offering (IPO) ended Thursday in Hong Kong, sources said Friday.

As night falls on the town of Mayong in south China's Guangdong Province, container trucks emblazoned with the logo "Nine Dragons Paper", a local household name, take to the streets.