Pop the bubbles for real investment, says Wen

BEIJING - Premier Wen Jiabao has urged the financial sector to strengthen its capability in supporting the production of goods and services and to prevent artificial factors from inflating the economy.

Heart to heart via satellite

Jitters may keep money supply tight

IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Keeping the wall standing

When the workers in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) first built the Great Wall in Huairou district with animal power and human labor, they probably did not expect that it would be restored the same way hundreds of years later.

The Great Wall, The Great Defender

Great wall album

Wrapped up in China

Sipping tea in the lobby of a fine Beijing hotel, Randy Lee Svendsen stands out. In a setting full of Chinese businessmen in Western-style suits, the big Chicagoan sits back on a brocade sofa in his trademark Tang suit, blue with gleaming gold cuffs.

Ski enthusiast finds a snow job in Beijing

1 million Chinese get US visas

Revenge, or salt in the wound?

MANCHESTER, England - Roberto Mancini has warned his Manchester City players to beware an "angry" Manchester United as the two rivals go head-to-head in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

Rooney set to leave? 'Absolute rubbish,' he says

A new record at Xiamen marathon

Score Board

IN BRIEF (Page 7)

Now it's serious

View from the AFC

View from the NFC

The week that was

Clamor grows for living unplugged

A bout a year ago, I flew to Singapore to join the writer Malcolm Gladwell, the fashion designer Marc Ecko and the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister in addressing a group of advertising people on "Marketing to the Child of Tomorrow." Soon after I arrived, the chief executive of the agency that had invited us took me aside. What he was most interested in, he began - I braced myself for mention of some next-generation stealth campaign - was stillness.

Rebuilding the metal boy with a clockwork brain

Are all those resolutions for nought?

Florida courts Brazilians and their buying power

MIAMI - Flush with cash from a booming economy and enamored of luxury, Brazilians are visiting South Florida in droves and spending millions of dollars on vacation condominiums, clothes, jewelry, furniture, cars and art, all of which are much less expensive here than in Brazil.

Priceless view means pot of gold

Organic agriculture is outgrowing its traditional ideals

Migration routes face an uncertain future

HELENA, Montana - Every fall the calliope hummingbird, which weighs about 2.5 grams, braves high winds and bad weather to migrate from Canada and the northern United States to as far south as Mexico, then back again in the spring - a total of 6,000 to 8,000 kilometers.

Past cute age, brain grows up

Freeways fall, and cities are renewed

MADRID - Even on a chilly afternoon in December, the old men, engulfed in cigar smoke, were sitting around chess tables under tall pines. Nearby, a young woman had strung her line between two mulberry trees to practice tightrope walking.

A year of flops for rock

La Femme French

There was a delicacy to the meal that was intriguing. There's French cuisine and there's French cuisine, but the menu at Ja'an seemed to be just a little more.

Yunnan in a Beijing hutong

Friendly service from veteran staff

The Villa story

One year into her job working in Shanghai and Sara Villarreal was ready for a change.

Cervantes Institute goes bullish

You may see bullfights as high drama - the choreography of elegant matadors in their black and gold finery and flourished red capes.

Shanghai's biennale coming back

Sounds of Africa

City guide

Flavors of Hamburg

Hamburg, the northern harbor city of Germany, has nothing to do with Big Macs and other American-style fast food. Instead, this is the second largest city in Germany and the country's artistic hub.

Departure gate

Airline news and deals