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STOCKS in Shanghai tumbled today, with the key index headed for the longest losing streak in nearly eight weeks after the government imposed curbs on food prices and ordered banks to set aside larger reserves to curtail inflation.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, shed 2.63 percent, or 138.98 points, to 5,151.63 at 3pm today.

Losers in the Shanghai market outnumbered winners 624 to 166 and 60 were unchanged.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller mainland stock market, lost 2.42 percent, or 37.3 points, to 1,501.06.

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co led food producers lower on speculation price limits will dent profits.

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co, a flagship enterprise in China’s dairy industry, sank 6.54 percent, or 2.10 yuan (29 US cents), to finish at 30.01 yuan. Shanghai-based Bright Dairy & Food plunged 5.52 percent, or 0.76 yuan, to 13 yuan.

Major producers and sellers of instant noodles, cooking oils and dairy produce must seek permission from the nation’s top planning agency directly to raise prices. Others providing staples such as grains, pork, beef, mutton and eggs, as well as liquefied petroleum gas, will have to seek approval from provincial governments to raise prices, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday.

Since May, China’s consumer prices, the main gauge of inflation, have soared, largely due to increasing food costs.

Food prices climbed 18.2 percent in November, pushing overall inflation to 6.9 percent, its highest monthly rate in 11 years, despite a string of fiscal and monetary policies introduced to slow the pace of inflation.

The banking sector suffered a wide sell-off today after China yesterday ordered banks to increase their reserves for the 11th time in 13 months to curb inflation. Investors are worried that corporate earnings growth at banks may be affected.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the nation’s biggest listed lender, dropped 2.53 percent, or 0.20 yuan, to 7.71 yuan. China Construction Bank Corp, the second-largest, fell 2.71 percent, or 0.26 yuan, to close at 9.35 yuan.

Lenders must put 15 percent of their deposits into the central bank beginning January 25, the People’s Bank of China said late yesterday on its Website, up from 14.5 percent. The ratio is the highest in at least 20 years.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia’s biggest oil refiner and a key heavyweight in the market, was among the falling chemical shares after minority shareholders of its two listed units rejected a plan to make its stock available for trade publicly.

China Petroleum, also known as Sinopec, slid 6.48 percent, or 1.49 yuan, to 21.49 yuan. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co, China’s largest maker of ethylene, shed 4.97 percent, or 0.82 yuan, to 15.67 yuan. Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fibre Co, China’s largest chemical fiber maker, lost 4.96 percent, or 0.56 yuan, to 10.72 yuan.

Shares of the two Sinopec’s units were suspended through yesterday after last trading on January 4.

It is the second time small investors of the two companies have rebuffed the proposal by Sinopec to convert its shares in the units into tradable stock that can be bought and sold on exchanges. The first veto happened in November 2006.

Sinopec offered holders of the units’ Shanghai-traded stock 3.2 shares for every 10 owned, the two companies said last month. Sinopec undertook not to sell the newly available shares for 72 months after the proposal is implemented.

But consumer stocks including Gree Electric Appliances Inc gained on expectations they will weather the government’s plan to cool economic growth.

Gree Electric Appliances, China’s largest maker of home air-conditioners, advanced 2.31 percent, or 1.29 yuan, to 57.10 yuan.

As one of the most important qualifier for the Beijing Olympic Games, most people thought the lineup of the “Good Luck Beijing” FINA Diving World Cup was exactly the lineup of the Olympic Games. However, it was not.

“The lineup of the World Cup does not equal to that in Beijing Olympic Games,” announced Zhou Jihong, the director of the Chinese national team.

The World Cup, which ran from Feb. 19 to 24, served as an Olympic qualifier and for that reason attracted many world class divers, like Russia’s “diving czar” Dmitry Sautin, Chinese “diving queen” Guo Jingjing and Canadian “golden boy” Alexandor Despatie.

According to FINA, the first eight divers in the final will get the qualification for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Each national federation will submit their final list of divers before the deadline of June 23.

“Until June, our team will still attend many FINA competitions,” said Zhou. “The lineup of the Beijing Olympic Games still need some months to decide.”

“There is a principle about who to attend the Olympic Games. We will choose the best divers in their best form,” Zhou added.

But in the women’s three-meter springboard, Zhou said world and Olympic champion Guo will be a sure shot. Her partner in the three-meter synchronized event Guo Jingjing, who beat her in the individual event to win the title on Saturday, is also sure to compete in the Water Cube again during the Olympics.

As for Athens Olympic champion Hu Jia and Peng Bo, who were absent from the World Cup, Zhou said: “They had injuries in the past two years and took a rest for some time. Now they are still recovering. Whether or not they can enter the Olympics will be decided by their performances in the coming months.”

China clinched seven out of eight golds offered at the World Cup, but Zhou said it is too early to be happy.

“There were still some world class divers who did not come,” Zhou said. “In the men’s three-meter springboard and 10-meter platform, Russia didn’t send any divers. We just take the World Cup as a training session.”

Zhou, China’s first Olympic diving champion, said that she was especially satisfied with the women’s 10-meter platform event at the World Cup.

“Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin showed their talent in the final,” said Zhou. “It was a high level competition, and our divers performed quite well.”

Teenagers Chen and Wang were the winner and runner-up respectively in the final, and they paired up to clinch the women’s 10-meter platform synchronized gold as well.

Zhou also warned that Chinese divers should keep a cool head because some foreign divers impressed her very much.

Yahel Castillo of Mexico, 21, only 0.30 points behind world champion Qin Kai in the men’s three-meter springboard final to take the bronze. The difficulty degree of the 21-year-old’s one dive was the highest during the final, and he also got the highest score in the dive.

“I saw Castillo in last September’s World Series in Nanjing, and by then he had not learned the dive,” Zhou said. “He learned it in recent months and performed it with high quality and consistency, which shows his talent and strength in diving.”

Zhou also complimented 14-year-old Thomas Daley of Britain, who took the bronze in the men’s 10m platform synchronized event.

“The difficulty degree of his dives has increased a lot since the last time I saw him in England,” said Zhou. “He really has some talent and made a lot progress in the past year.”

Zhou said that the German Sascha Klein will be a hard challenger for Chinese divers.

Chinese shares slumped 3 percent on Monday after securities regulators failed investors’ expectation that they might introduce stimulus measures.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shed 107.43 points from the previous close to 3,472.71. The Shenzhen Component Index fell 390.71 points, or 2.85 percent to 13,302.14.

The major stock index rebounded by 4.94 percent last Friday on market talk that the securities watchdog might announce a stamp duty cut or unveil the timetable for the launch of stock index futures over the weekend to stem further declines.

Investors were disappointed to find no such moves taken at the weekend, which made worries on the market worse, said analysts.

Reports on Sunday said the China Securities Regulatory Commission had urged fund companies to stay cool amidst market changes and stick to long-term investment to help maintain stability of the capital market.

The Chinese government will make efforts to promote stable and sound development of its stock market, said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when visiting Laos on Sunday.

Losers outnumbered winners on Monday by 726 to 65 in Shanghai and by 570 to 49 in Shenzhen. Aggregate turnover shrank sharply to97.4 billion yuan from 130.88 billion yuan last Friday.

Large caps led the downward movement, with PetroChina, the biggest index component, falling 3.64 percent to 17.22 yuan. ChinaLife lost 3.71 percent and China Shenhua Energy reduced 5.99 percent.

Oil, coal, airline and banking sectors rose, with Sinopec gaining 1.34 percent and Air China climbing 0.18 percent. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country’s largest lender, went up 1.32 percent to 6.13 yuan.

Four-year-old Alex Hua Tian took up horse riding in Beijing’s suburbs and 14 years later became a history maker in the equestrian world.

He was the first Chinese rider registered by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and the first Chinese rider to compete in three-day eventing at an international equestrian event, which includes dressage, jumping and cross-country competitions.

On Sunday, the 18-year-old Eton College student became the first Chinese eventer to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games and the youngest rider to take part in this event at the Olympics.

At one of the Olympic qualifiers in Bialy Bor, Poland, last week, Hua passed the Olympic qualification standards after finishing second, fifth and seventh, respectively, on FBW Chico, Jeans and Castlebanny Prince. The confirmation of his Olympic berth by FEI will arrive soon, his father Hua Shan said.

“His mother called me from (Poland) and she was so excited she couldn’t speak a complete sentence and cried,” Hua Shan said.

“Alex was of course quite happy but kept cool as usual. He told me the horses had been wonderful.

“We all believed that Alex could qualify for the Olympics but we didn’t expect it to come so soon. The average age of Olympic event riders is around 35 and what he has achieved at such a young age is really amazing.”

As host country, China was automatically allocated six berths in equestrian events - four in jumping, one in dressage and another in eventing. Even so, Chinese riders and their four-legged partners need to satisfy the minimum standards at specified events that take place between Jan 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008.

“We were very happy to hear the news but not that surprised,” Chinese Equestrian Association director Cheng Qing said.

“Hua Tian is such a talented rider and has already shown that he is capable of qualifying for the Olympics. All he needs now is more match experience.”

Hua’s Chinese sponsor Jiang Fengcan, who is also the owner of the horses, said he was proud of his decision to back the youngster.

“I was a little bit nervous before he qualified for the Olympics but now I am relieved,” he said.

“I have known Hua Tian for years and always believed he would make history at the Olympics.”

According to the rules, an eventer can take just one horse to Olympic competition and Hua needs to choose from the three qualified horses.

“As horses can easily get hurt during the dangerous cross-country competition, we will protect them and they will only participate in dressage and jumping before the Olympics,” Hua said.

World-class team

Thanks to Guangdong province businessman Jiang’s 30 million yuan ($3.8 million) sponsorship Hua has backing from top professionals in the industry, including four seasoned grooms, one physiotherapist, one physical trainer and one veterinarian.

The world’s leading event riders have coached Hua since he was 10 years old, including Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks.

Clayton is currently the world’s No 1 event rider, the 2005 World Cup champion and president of the international Event Riders Association. His wife, Lucinda, has won the four-star eventing competition at the British town of Badminton.

Other veteran dressage and jumping riders, who have competed at previous Olympics, have also joined the team.

“We should thank the Fredericks for their great efforts in helping Alex achieve his Olympic dream,” Hua Shan said.

“They are working so hard at coaching Alex and sometimes they have to change their own Olympic preparations in order to meet Alex’s schedule, because they understand that he is making history,” Hua Shan said.

The reason scientists can’t find rocks more than 4 billion years old is they may not have been able to handle the weather — stinging acid rains — and an intensely warm surface.

The fate of all those rocks from the first 500 million years after Earth formed has been a longstanding question in geology. Scientists have advanced various explanations for the missing rocks, including destruction by barrages of meteorites and the possibility that the early Earth was a sea of red-hot magma in which no rocks could form.

Geologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined zircon crystals, the oldest known materials on Earth, to shed light on the fate of rocks from the early Earth. Zircons, which are smaller than a speck of sand, can offer a window back in time to about 4.4 billion years ago, when the Earth was a mere 150 million years old because they are extremely resistant to chemical changes.

The research team analyzed the ratios of different isotopes of lithium (which have different atomic weights and number of neutrons per atom) in zircons from the Jack Hills in Western Australia. They compared the lithium fingerprints of those zircons to those from continental crust and rocks similar to those found in Earth’s mantle, the molten layer sandwiched between the crust and core.

The results of the analysis, detailed in a recent online issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, provide evidence that the young Earth already had the beginnings of continents, relatively cool temperatures and liquid water by the time the Australian zircons formed.

But the lithium signatures also hold signs of rock exposure on Earth’s surface and breakdown by weather and water, suggesting that early rocks were destroyed by intense weathering.

The early Earth is thought to have had extremely high levels of carbon dioxide ─ perhaps 10,000 times as much as today. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can combine with water to create acid rain.

“At [those levels of carbon dioxide], you would have had vicious acid rain and intense greenhouse [effects]. That is a condition that will dissolve rocks,” said study team member John Valley. “If granites were on the surface of the Earth, they would have been destroyed almost immediately ─ geologically speaking ─ and the only remnants that we could recognize as ancient would be these zircons.”

The Main Press Center (MPC) near the centerpiece Beijing Olympic venues is undoubtedly a refuge from the midsummer heat wave, with its cool air out flowing from the main entrance and felt from several paces away.

But coolness slowly escalates into bitter cold when one stays in the building for more than 30 minutes, and my colleagues and I who spend days on end in our newsroom have to put on jackets and even sweaters — most of the time the indoor temperature here is no more than 22 degrees Celsius.

“You might feel cold, but many others will complain when the mercury goes up,” a maintenance worker has told us.

Yet 26 is the minimum indoor temperature allowed for Chinese government offices in a nationwide campaign to cut energy consumption and improve efficiency. Government employees have also been told to take off their suits and ties in the office to stay cool.

The Games organizers may as well follow these practices and force extra doses of frugality.

In fact, extravagance was never part of the Beijing Games. Without any compromise of its architectural security and futuristic style, Beijing has “slimmed” the landmark Bird’s Nest and cut construction cost by 400 million yuan (57 million U.S. dollars). Steel consumption alone was slashed by 12,000 tonnes.

To ensure the venues will not be left unused after the Games, Beijing has built 20 percent of its Olympic facilities on campus –and four of all the 11 brand new stadiums are based in colleges and universities.

The MPC itself is exemplary in saving — its 80,000 square meters of interior and exterior decoration cost 3 million yuan in total. Sources from the industry said the amount was only enough to decorate a five-star hotel lobby about several hundred square meters.

Beijing has promised “Green Olympics”, a concept widely applauded internationally. But in many cases, to economize is essential if we wish to be “green”.

Against the backdrop of a global economic slowdown, surging oil prices and the growing pressure from inflation and global warming, the Beijing Games need to be “green” and frugal more than ever.

Not to mention the needy population at home, including those people in the southwestern Sichuan Province whose homes toppled in the devastating May 12 earthquake.

Sure enough, the stadiums need to be air-conditioned to an ideal temperature — probably around 20 degrees Celsius in some events. But at the press center, we will feel perfectly comfortable at 26 degrees.

“Finally, he got it, for which he has waited for 12 years,” said excited Sasithorn Jongjohor, wife of Thai Olympics gold winner Somjit Jongjohor, after her husband beat Cuba’s Andris Laffita Hernandez in Beijing late Saturday.

In the last match of Somjit, the 33-year-old boxing star showed a class of his own in the flyweight division.

On Saturday, he continued his overwhelming advantage on the boxing stage. He trounced the 30-year-old Pan American champion 8-2.

In earlier matches, he beat Eddie Valenzuela from Guatemala 6-1, Mammadov Samir from Azerbaijan 10-2, Anvar Yunusov from Tajikistan 8-1, Vincenzo Picardi from Italy 7-1.

“In his 12 years of boxing career, he has got many medals from various games. However, he was dreaming an Olympic medal all the time, although he lost the match four years ago in Athens, he never gave up. That’s the reason why he kept fighting until now,” said Sasithorn. “His dream now comes true.”

At Somjit’s hometown, Thai northeastern Korat Province’s Bakchong district, thousands of local officials, villages, fans and media crews bombarded his house to watch live coverage and lend supports. They burst into cheers after Somjit’s win.

His only son turns seven on Saturday. The boy got the best birthday gift from his father as Somjit earlier said that he will win an Olympic gold medal for his son. “My father is so cool. I want to be like him,” the boy said on a TV live coverage.

Somjit will retire from the national boxing team after he returns from Beijing on Monday. However, he earlier said he wanted to be a youth boxing coach to stay in the sport he loves.

The win produced the second gold medal for Thailand in Beijing after Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon won the women’s 53kg weightlifting event last week.

He is scheduled to return to Thailand on Monday with more than 15 million baht (about 450,000 U.S. dollars) incentive money from the government and private sectors waiting.

In another match, the light welter (64kg) final bout, Thailand’s Manus Boonjumnong lost to Dominican’s Felix Diaz, won a silver medal for Thailand. However, the Athens gold winner is also praised by Thais since he is the first Thai athletes who won medals in two Olympic Games.

Thailand so far got two golds and two silvers at the Beijing Games.

The films of Paul Newman include:

“The Silver Chalice,” 1954.

“Somebody Up There Likes Me,” 1956.

“The Rack,” 1956.

“The Helen Morgan Story,” 1957.

“Until They Sail,” 1957.

“The Long Hot Summer,” 1958.

“The Left-Handed Gun,” 1958.

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” 1958.

“Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!” 1958.

“The Young Philadelphians,” 1959.

“From the Terrace,” 1960.

“Exodus,” 1960.

“The Hustler,” 1961.

“Paris Blues,” 1961.

“Sweet Bird of Youth,” 1962.

“Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” 1962.

“Hud,” 1963.

“A New Kind of Love,” 1963.

“The Prize,” 1963.

“What a Way to Go,” 1964.

“The Outrage,” 1964.

“Lady L,” 1965.

“Harper,” 1966.

“Torn Curtain,” 1966.

“Hombre,” 1967.

“Cool Hand Luke,” 1967.

“The Secret War of Harry Frigg,” 1968.

“Rachel Rachel,” (director) 1968.

“Winning,” 1969.

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” 1969.

“WUSA,” 1970.

“Sometimes a Great Notion,” 1971.

“Pocket Money,” 1972.

“The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” (director), 1972.

“The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,” 1972.

“The Mackintosh Man,” 1973.

“The Sting,” 1973.

“The Towering Inferno,” 1974.

“The Drowning Pool,” 1975.

“Silent Movie,” (cameo), 1976.

“Buffalo Bill and the Indians … or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson,” 1976.

“Slap Shot,” 1977.

“Quintet,” 1979.

“When Time Ran Out,” 1980.

“Fort Apache The Bronx,” 1981.

“Absence of Malice,” 1981.

“The Verdict,” 1982.

“Harry and Son,” 1984.

“The Color of Money,” 1986.

“Fat Man and Little Boy,” 1989.

“Mr. & Mrs. Bridge,” 1990.

“The Hudsucker Proxy,” 1994.

“Nobody’s Fool,” 1994.

“Twilight,” 1998.

“Message in a Bottle,” 1999.

“Where the Money Is,” 2000.

“Road to Perdition,” 2002.

“Our Town,” 2003.

“Empire Falls,” 2005.

“Cars,” (voice) 2006.

Britney Spears is craving more freedom — and less of the “control” that’s stabilized her personal life and reinvigorated her career over the last several months.

In an upcoming behind-the-scenes documentary, the 26-year-old pop star says: “If I wasn’t under the restraints that I’m under right now, with all the lawyers and doctors and people analyzing me every day and all that kind of stuff … I’d feel so liberated, and feel like myself.”

The 90-minute film, “Britney: For the Record,” airs Nov. 30 on MTV and the LOGO network. She is shown backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards; recording her new album, “Circus”; dodging the paparazzi; and goofing off with her father, Jamie, who controls her personal and financial affairs.

While her career takes a positive turn, Spears says she’s sad and feels her life is “too in control.”

“There’s no excitement, there’s no passion, there’s no nothing. It’s just like `Groundhog Day’ every day, you know? So I’m really bored,” she says, getting teary.

The mother of two young sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline says she “used to be a cool chick,” but the paparazzi has made it impossible for her to be out and about. In the documentary, which was executive produced by Spears’ manager Larry Rudolph, her security staff discusses hiring a decoy to fool the cameras.

Spears’ turnaround kicked into high gear in September when she nabbed three VMAS, including video of the year. Now on the comeback trail, she has a hit song, “Womanizer,” and is releasing “Circus” next month.

She talks about her two-year downward spiral, which included a divorce, a custody battle, public meltdowns and a sluggish performance at last year’s VMAs, when she barely made it through a dance number of “Gimme More.”

“I’ve been through a lot this year — well, actually the past two or three years,” she says. “And my trust has really been battered. I’ve definitely grown up — big time. And I’m very weary of a lot of things. Very protective of myself.”

She says sometimes she gets lonely.

“You’re guarded,” she says. “You have to be that way, otherwise you get taken advantage of and get in situations like I did the past year. I totally lost my way. I lost focus, I lost myself, I had that type of nature within me that wanted to rebel out.

“I never wanted to become one of those prisoner people — I always wanted to feel free and get in my car and go and not let people make me feel like I have to stay in my home. I think that was always the part of me that kinda got me in trouble,” she says.

Spears dishes on Federline and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake in the film.

“With Justin, he was a part of the magnitude of what I’d become,” says Spears, who ended a three-year relationship with Timberlake in 2002. “So then when he was gone, I was like, `What am I supposed to do with myself?’ … I would go out just to keep my mind busy, just to keep going.”

While she was devastated over her breakup with Timberlake, she says she handled that better than her separation from Federline in November 2006.

“With Kevin, because I had two children with him, I did not know what to do with myself,” she says. “I had built my dream home in Malibu, a huge house and a pool and a huge yard for the kids and I did everything for them. And just my world was that.”

She says she married Federline for the wrong reasons instead of following her heart. As a result, she went down a “weird path.”

She says her marriage disintegrated when Federline began concentrating on his rap career.

When it ended, “I felt so alone. I didn’t really want to think about the reality of it. It was like, `I’m OK.’ … But I never really faced it, and I just ran,” she says.

China’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity remained resilient in 2008 despite the global financial meltdown, making it the best performer in the Asia region, according to information company Thomson Reuters.

M&A activity in the country was at an all-time high of $159.6 billion worth of deals last year, 44 percent more than in 2007, compared with the year-on-year 11.1 percent fall in Asia, excluding Japan, Thomson Reuters said in a report.

“China was the only country in the region to experience growth in such a tumultuous environment, and it’s also the most targeted nation in Asia with a 26.9 percent market share, ” the report pointed out.

“The market’s better performance is mainly due to the fact that the impact of the economic crunch started in the US is delayed when passing down to the domestic transaction activities, and the Beijing Olympics in August helped bolster the strong spirit of the market,” said Xie Tao, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) transactions partner based in Beijing.

Xie added that unlike in other markets, Chinese companies are not in dearth of cash, which is crucial for M&A activity.

The largest transaction of the year was Aluminum Corp of China and Alcoa’s stake purchase in Rio Tinto for $14.3 billion through their Singapore-based joint venture Shining Prospect Pte Ltd.

The country’s inbound activity posted a 34.2 percent year-on-year increase, and made China a global investment haven. Cross-boarder M&A activity rose 51.1 percent from a year ago to $78.4 billion worth of deals in 2008.

“Protection policies to set barriers for cross-boarder M&As have been partly pared when facing the economic meltdown, which helped boost the outbound M&A deals for Chinese companies,” said Xu Wenfei, an analyst at Beijing-based investment research and consulting firm China Venture.

However, transactions were unsurprisingly caught up in the second half of the year when the worst financial woes unfolded in September.

With 543 announced deals between July and November, transaction activity in domestic M&A dropped by a staggering 47 percent compared to the same period in 2007, although it followed a strong growth in the first half to reach 920 announced transactions, according to PwC’s report.

“Activity levels dropped dramatically in the second half, largely as a result of regulatory policies to cool the economy in early 2008 amid the fallout from the global economic crisis, and a valuation gap arising from the unwillingness of domestic sellers to meet lower bids for buyers also contributed to the drop,” Xie pointed out.

Looking to 2009, Xie predicts that overall M&A activity in China will remain slow in the first half of the year, but will pick up in the second half as pricing expectations align.

“We expect domestic M&A activity to recover quicker than other regions of the world mainly due to the government’s 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package, and regulators having room to lower interest rates. Private equity deals may be the first to recover,” said Christopher Chan, PwC’s transactions partner.