Miranda's not the only Brit to have a Hollywood-over

Talented, funny, well on her way to becoming a national treasure, yes, but glamorous is probably not the first word one would land upon to describe Miranda Hart. I wouldn't be so uncharitable as to call her frumpy, but she'd have been unlikely to make it on anyone's best-dressed list in the party pages. Until this week that is, when 42 year-old Hart slinked up the red carpet at the London premiere of her new film, Spy, with an infinitely more polished appearance, svelte in a chic black jumpsuit and beaded sandals, with softly waved hair and stylish jewellery.

Property prices recover in May as demand rises

Bullish stock market generates wealth, fuels renewed enthusiasm for home purchases

Chinese dominate foreign US home purchases for first time

Chinese buyers topped Canadians to rank as the biggest foreign purchasers of United States homes by both sales and value, accounting for more than one-quarter of all international spending.

Bubble fears trigger fall in equities

Mainland stocks appear to be heading for their steepest weekly loss since February 2009 as initial public offerings drained cash from the market and investors speculated the recent gains have gone too far.

It is raining freebies as realtors go into overdrive; some offer luxury cars

Debt-riddled developers in China are turning to incentives like luxury cars as they rush to shed an inventory of unsold homes about seven times the size of Manhattan.

China's EV sector in urgent need of a jump-start

After spending two years on Beijing's monthly ballot for car license plates, seen as the best way of curbing traffic congestion in the capital, my neighbor Jiao Wen finally decided to go electric to avoid what was starting to look like long odds.

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Government and policies

Quotes of the day

Outbound deals continue to gain momentum in first five months

EU, ASEAN major targets of investment from China, says Commerce Ministry

IMF visits for SDR review

Addition to basket seen as crucial to yuan internationalization process, says official

London gold fix gets a Chinese touch

The presence of a Chinese bank in the global gold pricing system will strengthen the nation's ties with the global bullion market and increase transparency, experts said on Wednesday.

Nation's commuters skip taxis as Uber lures with free rides

Jessica Yang switched from taxis to chauffeured cars for the commute into her Beijing office as rides have become cheaper. These days, she often goes for free, because apps such as Uber Technologies Inc offer big incentives to win customers.