From the foreign press

China will maintain its target of 8 percent growth for 2009 despite facing its "most difficult year" economically since the turn of the century, the country's premier Wen Jiabao has said.

Addressing China's parliament, the National People's Congress, Wen outlined a raft of public spending measures to boost consumption in China in the face of tumbling demand for its exports from Western consumers.

A mixture of tax-breaks for the rural poor, increased availability of consumer credit and new government spending on welfare and rural infrastructure will be aimed at reorientating Chinese export-driven economy toward greater domestic consumption.