'Lucky' ballboy touts China to pull an upset

The "lucky" ballboy who helped China save a penalty and sparked its run to the Asian Cup quarterfinals has backed Alain Perrin's men to upset his beloved Australia on Thursday.

Ronaldo confirms breakup rumors

Portugal and Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed on Tuesday he has broken up with his longtime girlfriend, Russian model Irina Shayk.

Hoisting sails on the journey to recognition

Cheng Ying-kit always dreamed of racing across distant oceans as a professional offshore sailor, despite limited access to the sport in China.

Digest

Golf

Score board

Chengdu GDP hits 1 trillion yuan

At a recent economic meeting in Chengdu, officials announced that the western city's GDP surpassed the 1 trillion yuan ($161.1 billion) benchmark for the first time last year.

Slow growth to put banks under pressure

Increasing nonperforming loans, rise of Internet finance among major challenges for sector this year JIANG XUEQING

Series of policy changes loom for financial institutions

Regulators are expected to further cut interest rates and reserve requirement ratios, ease the rules on loan-to-deposit ratios and continue opening up the financial sector by giving a green light to the establishment of more private banks this year. Here are some policy changes that economists and banking analysts are widely expecting:

Finding the balance in a fast-changing global environment

IT companies must identify niches, focus on shifting consumer tastes

Daimler drives into Chongqing

It was announced recently that the world-famous auto brand Daimler with its Car2go car-sharing service brand plans to launch its first operation in Asia later this year.

Tariff reform brings much-needed transparency to electricity sector

The National Development and Reform Commission last week announced detailed plans for its first pilot plan for electricity transmission and distribution tariff reforms in Shenzhen, a move seen as a breakthrough for the world's largest electricity consume.

Euro back in crisis mode as Davos awaits ECB guidance

Draghi attempts to craft cross-border consensus needed for full-blown QE