China rail: high speed from Beijing to Guangzhou opens
From 21 hours to 8: Beijing to Guangzhou
China’s infrastructure development hit another milestone on Wednesday with the full opening of the world’s longest high speed rail line.
Connecting Beijing with Guangzhou at speeds of over 300kph, the 2,298-km route halves travel time between the two cities to less than 10 hours.
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China: loving the Bordeaux
The Christmas holiday season is the perfect traditional moment to open a good bottle of Champagne, Muscat, Bordeaux or another French wine, in France and many other places.
Sales of Bordeaux, France’s most famous red wine, increased again this year – not bad given the sluggish world economy, especially in Europe. But, it is not the French, but the Chinese who are responsible for the growth. And with their appetite for the Bordeaux wine, their appetite for the Bordeaux wineries is growing too. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* Morsi signs controversial charter into law
* KT Corp seeks stake in Maroc Telecom
* China consumers driving economic rebound: survey
* Russian pipeline blast, quake strike 2014 Olympics host Sochi Continue reading »
Further reading: when the levee breaks
Boxing day picks from the beyondbrics team: companies are queuing up to list on China’s mainland exchanges; an unusual potential entry to India’s rich list; Egypt’s opposition target the Muslim Brotherhood’s free market reforms; and Brazillian taxpayers get to learn a bit more about how their money is being spent. Continue reading »
Chinese rating agency Dagong warns on US fiscal cliff
The US still has a few days to avert the fiscal cliff, but a prominent Chinese ratings agency is not waiting around. Dagong has already served notice of what failure might mean, putting the US sovereign rating on its negative watch list.
It is tempting to dismiss the Dagong statement as a publicity stunt, its latest in a long line of downgrades and warnings directed at the US. But Dagong’s criticism is a good reflection of views that are commonly expressed in Beijing. And given that China is the biggest foreign holder of US government bonds, these views deserve a hearing. Continue reading »
London headlines
* Asian shares edge higher
* China opens world’s longest high-speed train line
* Modi starts new term as chief minister Continue reading »
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Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh