Child abductions plague China .

China is struggling to cope with a wave of child abductions which sees more than 200 babies and toddlers being stolen every day, according to some estimates.It is a lucrative business in which an abducted girl child can fetch $1,200 and a boy anything up to $5,000, more than the average annual salary in urban China. "Before I only knew people stole mobile phones and wallets. Later I knew that more than 1,000 kids have been stolen in this province, more than 20 kids living near me. It is astonishing," Sun Haiyang told Al Jazeera. The 35-year-old father knows the painful reality of the sordid business that preys on the angst of couples desperate for a child. His three-year-old boy Zhuo was last year taken from the street just 30 metres from his home in Shenzhen, southern China.The kidnapper was caught on a surveillance video. First he handed Zhuo a snack, then a toy, before walking away with the boy.The boy has never been found and the kidnapper has never been arrested."It's too easy for the gangs. For a little money they can buy a birth certificate and then permanent residency for a child thousands of kilometres away," Sun said."The government has created this environment."More.

Financial hubs see an opening up at the top.

Wall Street's long, dominant run is fading, global financiers say.

SHANGHAI - Looking down from his building's 87th floor at the glittering signs of multinational banks along the river here, Fan Dizhao declared confidently that wallstreet`s reign as the world's No. 1 financial hub is coming to an end.
The United States may be grappling with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, but these are go-go days in China.
Venture capital, private equity and foreign direct investment are at all-time highs. Although Shanghai's stock exchange has lost close to two-thirds of its value this year, China's big banks have escaped the credit catastrophe largely unscathed, and the economy continues to expand briskly.More.