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A rally across the board pushed the Shanghai index higher in the early session today with technology stocks leading the way and industrial shares driven by profit reports.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, added one percent, or 52.53 points, to 5,285.88 at 11:30 am today.

Winners in the Shanghai market outnumbered losers 537 to 213 and 96 were unchanged.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller mainland stock market, gained 1.34 percent, or 19.26 points, to 1,452.32.

China United, which controls the nation’s second-largest cell-phone operator, jumped 8.11 percent, or 0.92 yuan (13 US cents), to 12.27 yuan.

China’s government has supported the development of TD-SCDMA mobile phone technology to compete with W-CDMA and CDMA2000. It is poised to award licenses for networks to offer so-called 3G phone services during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The technology represents “a major thrust in the future of China’s information technology,” China’s State Council said in a statement yesterday, without giving details.

“The implementation of the technology raises the competitiveness and innovation of China’s wireless communication industry.”

CHINA plans to better coordinate fiscal and monetary policies in 2008 to help reduce its trade surplus and mop up excessive liquidity, Vice Finance Minister Li Yong said yesterday.

The nation’s money supply grew at the slowest pace in seven months in December, the central bank said on Saturday, after it took measures to cool inflation and prevent the economy from overheating.

China may face pressure from Europe and the United States to allow faster gains by its currency after the trade surplus surged 48 percent to a record US$262.2 billion last year, Bloomberg News reported.

“This year’s fiscal policy will focus on structural adjustments and help essentially solve the problem of excess liquidity,” Li said at a conference in Beijing. “Monetary policies should focus on quantitative controls to win more time for structural reforms.”

China also needs to use administrative measures to tackle these issues, he said.

The government will adjust resource prices this year to rectify its energy-pricing system and boost domestic spending as its top priority, Li said. Weakness in the US dollar will limit China’s ability to raise interest rates and reserve ratios, he added.

“Fiscal policy can play a bigger role,” said San Feng, an economist at the State Information Center in Beijing. “The government this year needs to cut its fiscal deficit and debt issuance for long-term construction projects, and it should lower taxes on sectors affected most by price controls.”

China will cut the budget deficit “modestly” this year, the finance ministry said last month.

The ministry this year began to tax exports of grain at a rate up to 20 percent to boost domestic supply.

China’s total tax revenue jumped 31.4 percent to 4.94 trillion yuan (US$680.2 billion) last year, according to the taxation administration.

The People’s Bank of China has pledged a “tight” monetary policy this year, after six interest-rate increases in 2007, to curb lending and prevent escalating asset prices.

“We will decisively fight against inflation and implement tight monetary policies,” said Yi Gang, vice governor of the central bank, at the Beijing conference yesterday. “But we will do it prudently to ensure economic stability.”

Consumer prices jumped to an 11-year high of 6.9 percent in November, prompting the State Council, the Cabinet, to announce last Wednesday a freeze on energy and utility price gains in the near term.

“The government needs to avoid high inflation expectations,” said Xu Lin, head of the fiscal and financial department of the National Development and Reform Commission.

“If price increases slow down, the temporary measures to curb prices can be eased,” he told the conference.

China has set a preliminary target for the full-year inflation rate of 4.6 percent in 2008 and that for annual economic growth at eight percent, Xu said.

Both targets need to be officially set at the sessions of the National People’s Congress, which are scheduled to be convened in March.

The yuan rose for a fifth week, reaching the strongest level since China scrapped a fixed exchange rate to the greenback in 2005.

The US and Europe say the yuan, even after recent advances, is still at a level that gives local companies an “unfair advantage” in overseas markets.

The December trade surplus shrank to US$22.7 billion from US$26.2 billion in November, as exports grew at the slowest pace in two years, indicating that recent yuan gains, the cooling global expansion and cuts to export-tax rebates on polluting industries are beginning to bite.

China’s economy probably expanded 11.5 percent in 2007, the fastest pace in 13 years, according to government forecasts.

Late goals gave Liverpool a 2-0 home win over 10-man Inter Milan while Roma came from behind to beat Real Madrid 2-1 as the Champions League resumed after its nine-week winter break Tuesday.

In the night’s other last 16 first-leg matches, Germany’s Schalke beat 2004 winners Porto 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen while Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus in Athens.

Needing a win to bounce back from Saturday’s shock 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Championship (second division) Barnsley, Liverpool pinned back Inter from the start and got the result they wanted thanks to strikes from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard.

Inter’s packed defence held out in the first half after having Marco Materazzi sent off in the 30th minute for two yellow cards, but the Serie A leaders cracked in the closing stages after relentless pressure from the 2005 winners.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini acknowledged Materazzi’s dismissal for two fouls on Liverpool striker Fernando Torres had put paid to his team’s hopes of getting a better result ahead of the return leg at the San Siro.

“With 10 it’s very hard,” he told Sky Sport. “The players made the most of it on the field and unfortunately the last five minutes were fatal,” he said.

Torres twice came close and Liverpool had a strong penalty claim waved away before Dutchman Kuyt finally broke the deadlock in the 85th minute with a downward volley that bounced wickedly over the outstretched arms of keeper Julio Cesar.

Gerrard delighted the Anfield faithful in the final minute of regular time when he drilled in a crisp low shot from 25 metres that beat Cesar all the way at the far post.

Roma captain Francesco Totti had a hand in both Roma goals as the Italian side registered their first home win over Real Madrid in Europe’s premier club competition after three successive defeats at the Olympic Stadium.

Raul gave nine-time European champions Real a perfect start in the eighth minute when he turned in a speculative shot by Guti after Arjen Robben’s darting run and cross from the left.

David Pizarro drew Roma level midway through the first half with a deflected effort after Totti had fed Mancini and the Brazilian played the ball into his path.

Mancini grabbed the winner shortly before the hour with a cool finish, having rounded the keeper after Totti won a loose ball in midfield and put him through.

In Athens, Chelsea held on to a goalless draw in the cauldron of the Karaiskakis stadium with captain John Terry and England midfielder Frank Lampard starting on the bench.

Roaored on by their frenetic fans, Olympiakos often came forward but it was Avram Grant’s side that looked more likely to score on the break as both sides created few clear-cut chances.

“The result is okay,” Grant told reporters. “We always want to win but a draw away is OK,” he said.

“The performance though was a bit disappointing, we only created two chances. But it is difficult to play here, they have good supporters and Olympiakos are very well organised, tactically very good.”

The Central government of China will increase an additional 25.25 billion yuan (3.6 billion U.S. dollars) as subsidies to farmers this year in an effort to boost agricultural production and cool down rising inflation, Premier Wen Jiabao announced here on Thursday.

The original budget was 562.5 billion yuan for this year, 130.7 billion yuan more than in 2007, Wen said at a national conference on agriculture and grain production.

The government is to adopt 10 major measures to support agriculture and boost grain production, Wen said.

Oprah might want to nail down her furniture. Tom Cruise is scheduled to return to “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” nearly three years after a couch-jumping appearance that spawned countless YouTube parodies and late-night jokes.

The two-part show will coincide with the 25th anniversary of Cruise’s booty-shaking turn in the film “Risky Business.” Friends and colleagues will surprise Cruise with taped messages honoring his work in movies, according to a statement Thursday from Harpo Productions.

Winfrey will interview Cruise from his home in Telluride, Colo., for the first show on May 2, which will cover his “family, his life and the future,” Harpo said. Then on May 5, Cruise will appear in Winfrey’s Chicago studio.

Cruise became the butt of jokes after a May 2005 appearance on Winfrey’s show, where he repeatedly jumped on the talk-show host’s couch, saying his love for then-new girlfriend Katie Holmes was “beyond cool.”

Cruise and Holmes became parents in April 2006 with the birth of their daughter, Suri, and married in Italy in November 2006.

When Portugal last played Germany, Cristiano Ronaldo was upstaged by another tricky winger with an eye for goal, while Bastian Schweinsteiger is eager to make the same impact in today’s Euro 2008 quarterfinal.

Schweinsteiger left it too late to produce his best form at the 2006 World Cup but when he did it was spectacular, as he scored twice in Germany’s 3-1 win over the Portuguese in the third-place match in Stuttgart.

“I had a fantastic match at the World Cup and that does play a role, mentally speaking,” he said. “This is going to be a much harder game. Portugal has improved since then and I think it’s the strongest team here.

“I should meet Ronaldo on the same bit of the pitch but Portugal are not just about him. They also have Deco, Simao, (Joao) Moutinho. They’ve got a lot of great players with international experience and it will be some game.”

Schweinsteiger is only 23 but he is one of the more experienced members of the Germany squad, with 13 goals in his 53 appearances.

Still, the versatile winger has plenty to prove again in Basel today. He lost his place in the starting line-up before the tournament and lost his cool after coming on as a substitute against Croatia, getting himself sent-off for a shove on Jerko Leko.

“I recognise that I made a mistake in the last minute against Croatia,” said Schweinsteiger, who has been promised a return to the team after being suspended for the Austria game. “Now my goal is to inject pace and creativity and contribute to a German win.”

Touring Beijing can be a lot of fun, especially when you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Xinhua recommends that you refresh yourself at these sites.

Situated in Haidian district, about 28 km northwest of downtown Beijing, the park consists of beautiful hills and a forest covering 160 hectares.

The resort’s name has two origins. One is that Zhongrushi, the peak of these hills, looks like an incense burner (thus, fragrance) from a distance. The other is that in ancient times, the hills were thick with the scent of apricot blossoms in the forest.

The Laoshan BMX field on Friday witnessed a fabulous debut of the sport at the Olympics Games with roller-coaster processes and dramatic results, despite a one-day postponement due to heavy rain on Thursday.

Anne-Caroline Chausson of France, who used to be a mountain biker, claimed the first-ever women’s bicycle moto cross (BMX) Olympic gold with the fastest time of 35.976 seconds in the event’s final at the Beijing Games.

After crossing the finish line, Chausson jumped off her bike in a rush and yelled.

“I wanted to dedicate this medal to my dad. He passed away last year. I’m sad he could not be here today, but this medal is for him,” said the French cyclist, the most senior female rider at the tournament.

“I am happy to win the first gold of this sport, because I came from a mountain biker. Now I am an Olympic champion,” added the 31-year-old, who has already considered retirement after these Games.

Her compatriot Laetitia Le Corguille took the silver at 38.042 seconds, while the bronze medal went to Jill Kintner of the United States at 38.674.

Defending world champion, also the Games’ favorite Shanaze Reade of Britain, who had a heavy crash in the first run in the semifinal, suffered the same misfortune in the final and did not finish the race.

“I put everything into this and I couldn’t have done any more,” said the disappointed British.

Chinese Ma Liyun, the host’s solo contender who competed in her first Olympics with a wild card, only finished 7th in the first heat of the semifinals.

In the men’s BMX final, Maris Strombergs, reigning world champion from Latvia, clinched the gold, dashing the hope of the United States to pocket all medals in the event.

Strombergs took the lead in the final from the very beginning, and finished the run at 36.190 seconds, leaving Mike Day and Donny Robinson of the United States far behind at 36.606 and 36.972 respectively.

He was the fastest in the three runs that made up the semifinals to secure the preferred inside gate start position, and notched Latvia’s second gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games.

The Latvian cyclist won the title of the 2008 BMX world championships held in Taiyuan, capital of north China’s Shanxi Province, in last May. He is leading a new generation of European riders to challenge the established U.S. squad.

“It doesn’t matter if it is the Olympics, the world championships or the European championships, the feeling is the same. I see no difference between my competitors, whether they come from the United States or New Zealand,” said Strombergs, adding that he had kept cool and concentrated for the whole race.

The 21-year-old has been riding BMX for 16 years, and is regarded as a veteran of the sport despite his age.

“I’m still young. I have plans for the future, and I have a lot more to accomplish,” he said. “This Olympic gold is only one step in my career.”

Commenting on the BMX’s entry to the Olympic Games as an extreme sport, bronze medalist Robinson, who tops the International Cycling Union’s BMX ranking for men’s individuals, said it was exactly what needed to happen.

“It can bring more kids and viewers of the Olympics to the sport,” said the 1.65-meter-tall cyclist of compact build. “The sport is pretty awesome, and we could work as role models for kids.”

The International Olympic Committee decided on June 29, 2003 to introduce BMX at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The sport, which rooted in the late 1960s in southern California, has brought a wild flair packed with youthful energy and colorful characters to the Games.

Legendary film star Paul Newman, whose brilliant blue eyes, good looks, cool style and talent made him one of Hollywood’s top actors over six decades has died at age 83 after a long battle with cancer.

Newman died on Friday night at his farmhouse near Westport, Connecticut, surrounded by his wife of 50 years, actress Joanne Woodward, and other family and friends.

“His death was as private and discreet as the way he had lived his life, a humble artist who never thought of himself as ‘big,’” said a statement released by his family on Saturday.

Paul Leonard Newman, known as “PL” to his friends, appeared in more than 50 movies, including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Sting.” He earned nine Oscar nominations for acting and won the best actor honor for 1986’s “The Color of Money.”

A director and race car driver as well as an actor, Newman was also known for his extensive philanthropy. He created Newman’s Own food products, which funneled more than $250 million in profits to thousands of charities worldwide.

“He quietly succeeded beyond measure in impacting the lives of so many with his generosity,” his five daughters said in a statement. “Always and to the end, Dad was incredibly grateful for his good fortune. In his own words: ‘It’s been a privilege to be here.’”

“There is a point where feelings go beyond words. I have lost a real friend. My life - and this country - is better for his being in it,” said actor Robert Redford, Newman’s friend and co-star in “Butch Cassidy” and “The Sting.”

Former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton said in a statement that they will miss their “dear friend.” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Newman the “ultimate cool guy” who was “one of a kind.”

HOLLYWOOD LEGEND

Born in a Cleveland suburb on January 26, 1925, Newman was a Navy radio man in the Pacific during World War Two. He went to Kenyon College in Ohio on a football scholarship, but took up acting after he was cut from the team over a barroom brawl.

He helped run the family sporting goods store, then headed to the Yale Drama School and ended up in New York, winning a Broadway role in “Picnic” in 1953. His first major movie role was as boxer Rocky Graziano in “Somebody Up There Likes Me.”

In 1958, Newman starred in “The Long Hot Summer” with Woodward, whom he married that year shortly after divorcing his first wife, Jacqueline Witte.

He played an alcoholic loser in “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” opposite Elizabeth Taylor, and pool shark Fast Eddie Felson in “The Hustler.” Other hits were “Hud” and “Cool Hand Luke.”

Newman was also recognized for work behind the camera, earning a best picture Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award for best director for “Rachel, Rachel,” starring Woodward, which he produced and directed.

Although his movie career slowed in later years, Newman picked up Oscar nominations in 1994 for “Nobody’s Fool” and in 2002 for “Road to Perdition.”

He returned to the stage the same year in “Our Town” at a Connecticut playhouse. The show moved to Broadway and Newman was nominated for a Tony award. He won an Emmy, U.S. television’s highest honor, for its 2003 broadcast.

In 2005 he won another Emmy for best supporting actor in the mini-series “Empire Falls.” His last film part was a voice-over role in the 2006 animated “Cars.”

OUTSIDE THE LIMELIGHT

Newman resisted the glare of Hollywood’s spotlight.

His long marriage to Woodward ran counter to Hollywood’s tradition of fast weddings and quick divorces, and the pair lived in a 200-year-old Connecticut house, far from the heart of the entertainment industry.

Asked the secret of his marriage, Newman once said there was no reason to roam, asking: “I have steak at home. Why should I go out for a hamburger?”

He started auto racing because he said he was bored with acting, but won respect in that field, coming in second in the Le Mans 24-hour competition in 1975. In 1995 at age 70, he became the oldest driver on a winning team at the 24 hours of Daytona race.

Newman tried to advance many social causes, at times in the political arena. A supporter of liberal Democratic presidential nominee Eugene McCarthy in 1968, Newman ended up on President Richard Nixon’s “enemies list,” which he termed “the highest single honor I’ve ever received.”

Still, Newman said his deepest satisfaction came from philanthropy.

Particularly close to his heart were his Hole-in-the-Wall Camps for seriously ill children. Today, there are eleven around the world that have helped over 135,000 kids, all free of charge.

Newman is survived by Woodward, five daughters, two grandsons, and his older brother, Arthur. Newman also had a son Scott, who died in 1978.

The warm pastas and desserts at Sculpting in Time are perfect for filling little tums as kids are engrossed in a book (3A, 2 Jiangtai Lu, near Lido Hotel, Chaoyang district 5135 8108). Garden Books is a sunny spot with an extensive range of kids titles, especially paperback chapter books for older kids. Lounge about in the kids zone for a lazy read, then nip downstairs for a tasty sandwich or macaroni cheese at Sequoia Café(44 Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang district 6585 1435). If syrupy pancakes are your kind of thing, head to the cosy Le Petit Gourmand to browse a library of over 9,000 books while mum and dad surf the web.