 IN BRIEF (Page 14)
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-25 07:47 Microsoft-CCTV deal Software giant Microsoft yesterdayformed a partnership with CCTV to offer online services for CCTV's website. Under the agreement, Microsoft messenger users could use its account to log into CCTV's website during and after the Beijing Olympics. Microsoft will also embed its Life search and advertising services into CCTV's website, according to the company. Overseas investment up Chinese companies' investment overseas more than tripled to $25.7 billion in the first half of 2008 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. "The government is vigorously promoting domestic companies going abroad," Wang Chao, assistant minister of commerce, told a press briefing in Beijing. Chinese companies are venturing overseas to secure supplies of raw materials to feed the fastest growth of major economy. Yuan debit card Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd yesterday launched its first yuan-denominated debit card, becoming the second overseas bank in China to launch the debit card following Bank of East Asia. The card database is located in Shanghai. The bank also signed an agreement with China UnionPay for cooperation. Card users can withdraw cash and perform balance enquiries at all Standard Chartered ATMs in China or at any CUP-enabled ATMs worldwide. Shanghai GDP rises 10% Shanghai's GDP grew 10.3 percent year-on-year to 653.07 billion yuan in the first half of this year, Shanghai municipal statistics bureau said yesterday. The growth rate was 0.1 percent lower than the country's 10.4 percent in the same period, and slid down 2.7 percentage points compared to the first half of last year, said Cai Xuchu, the bureau's chief economist. Hotel group to expand Jinjiang International Holdings announced that its budget hotel brand Jinjiang Inn aims to reach a total of 600 outlets over the next two years, focusing on the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the pan-Bohai Bay area. Currently, the company has 25 outlets in Beijing, with another two scheduled to open before the Olympic Games. By the end of June, Jinjiang Inn had already set up 267 budget chain hotels with over 30,000 guestrooms throughout 60 first and second-tier cities around the country. Visa tourist kiosks Visa will launch 55 tourist info kiosks in Beijing. Two made their debut at the Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport. The Visa tourist info kiosk, featured in Taiji White-and-Blue Porcelain style, will provide international tourists with varied hospitality information services in multiple languages. Dangdang partnership China's e-commerce website Dangdang.com will establish a strategic partnership with Chongqing Publishing Group and build a logistics base in the southwestern area of China. One of the largest online bookstores in China, Dangdang.com will set up a special column for Chongqing Publishing Group on its book sales page and create a special area to introduce the contracted writers of the group, according to Yu Yu, head of Dangdang.com. Taipei office Alibaba.com launched its Taipei functional office yesterday, the fourth such office outside the mainland. The new Taipei office will be able to better serve its 40,000 local members and enable more small and medium-size enterprises in Taiwan to grow their business through e-commerce, according to David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com. Agencies-China Daily (China Daily 07/25/2008 page14) |
