Cut your powers, premier urges colleagues

Premier Li Keqiang told his colleagues in the central government on Tuesday to "pluck up the courage" to reduce their own power as China looks to cut red tape to unleash potential growth.

His comments came as concerns mount among global investors over the nation's fast-cooling economy, highlighted by economic data for the first two months.

Although the official Purchasing Managers Index rose slightly to 50.3 in March, the figure is unlikely to dispel concerns that the world's second-largest economy faced a slowdown in the first quarter.