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Properties in the former US industrial city Detroit started to fall to as low as $100, attracting Chinese investors who have found their investments in the Chinese property market becoming harder under the central government's tightening policies.

As real estate hits rock bottom in Detroit, Chinese investors are planning to purchase properties there, the People's Daily reported.

There are more than a dozen properties priced lower than $100, with some extreme cases on offer for $1.

When Australian and Chinese leaders meet next week, one of the star items on the agenda is the signing of an agreement that will take the internationalization of the yuan another step forward.

Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard is expected to sign the agreement in Shanghai where she will meet President Xi Jinping.

Gillard is leading her second trade mission to China which has now become Australia’s biggest trading partner with exports and imports exceeding A$120 billion ($125 billion) last financial year.

Matt Hope joins the Beijing brigade of cyclists on the road each day, but his bicycle is special. It looks like a prop out of an off-mainstream sci-fi movie, and it attracts much attention and not a little alarm every time he rides out on it.

The 37-year-old Beijing-based artist is a natural facilitator, and has been "inventing" contraptions since he was a student.

Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, whose body was found in the locked bathroom of his luxury mansion near London over the weekend, died by hanging, British police said on Monday.

An autopsy showed no signs of a violent struggle but further tests will be carried out, including toxicology and histology examinations, police said.

A forensic examination of his home will continue for several days, police said.

When the global financial crisis broke out in 2008, little did economic experts think it would be the precursor to a healthy economic relationship between China and Europe. But in the subsequent years the alliance, aided by a series of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Europe, has managed to give Chinese outbound investment a new direction.

One of the greatest contributions of the late International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch may be the fact that he saved the Olympic Games by commercializing it.

But for Feng Jun, president of Aigo Digital Technology, a Chinese technology company, Samaranch’s legacy is not just about being able to enjoy the exciting sports competitions held in different countries, but about giving unified trust to the global plans of Chinese private companies.

The relative slowdown in China's economy was one of a number of factors casting a shadow over the recent Mining Indaba Conference in Cape Town. The mining sector in South Africa has other problems closer to home, including labor unrest and the threat of increasing government regulation.

But the demand for resources from the world's second-largest economy - as for the rest of the continent - remains an important lifeline for the mining industry.

The relative slowdown in China’s economy was one of the factors casting a shadow over the recent Mining Indaba Conference in Cape Town. The mining sector in South Africa has other problems closer to home, including labor unrest and the threat of increasing government regulation.

The demand for resources from the world’s second largest economy remains an important lifeline for the mining industry.

Jin Changhua puts down his phone with visible irritation, his good mood exorcized. That was the landlord — backing out of their deal. He told Jin he doesn’t trust fresh mainland graduates, just beginning — it’s a year’s rent up front, or the deal’s off.

“It’s OK,” he says tautly. “We have a second choice ready to go. Always have a second choice. It’s one of the things we learnt.”

In recent years, China has demonstrated its position as one of the world's most competitive sporting powerhouses. The improvement has been signaled through success at the Olympic Games, highlighted by China's highest gold medal tally of 51 at Beijing 2008 and 38 at London 2012. However, in contrast with the nation's prowess in athletics, the overall fitness of the general public, and children in particular, has become a cause for concern.

Shanghai has overtaken Hong Kong and Singapore to become the world's fifth most important financial center, and Beijing is considered the second most influential political city, in a survey that gauges the importance of global cities.

The joint study, by leading international property consultancy Knight Frank LLP and Bank of China International Ltd, said Shanghai - which is striving to become Asia's top financial center - had passed its two most traditional Asian rivals, who have slipped to 7th and 8th respectively.