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Auto sector gets shot in the arm

Sales tax on vehicles with engines of less than 1.6 liters will be halved, and exchange of old vehicles for new ones with smaller engines subsidized to boost China's auto industry, the third largest in the world.

Five billion yuan ($731.45 million) will be for subsidies for farmers. And the sales tax will be cut from 10 percent to 5 percent from January 20.

Growth rate of forex reserve falls

China's foreign exchange or forex reserve increased by $417.8 billion last year, $44.1 billion less than in 2007, the People's Bank of China said Tuesday.

Analysts say the fall in the growth rate is the result of a shrinking trade surplus and a possible slowdown in the inflow of "hot money".

Probe on fake currency

The central bank also announced it will soon release the results of an investigation into the fake 100-yuan notes that surfaced in a number of major Chinese cities.

Authorities say most of the counterfeit notes display serial numbers starting with "HD90".

The first fake notes sporting the "HD90" prefix was reportedly found in Yangjiang, Guangdong province a year ago.

Shining stars at Golden Globes

Slumdog Millionaire, a rags-to-riches story about an orphan in Mumbai was the underdog winner at the Golden Globes this past weekend, with four awards.

Kate Winslet was awarded two Globes for her performances in The Reader and Revolutionary Road directed by her husband Sam Mendes.

The Wrestler won two awards, including best actor for Mickey Rourke.

Israel hits UN office in Gaza

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was outraged after Israeli forces shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip Thursday.

Ban was in the area on a mission to end Israeli's deadly offensive against the territory's Hamas rulers.

He said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told him there had been a "grave mistake" and promised to pay extra attention to protecting UN installations.

Meanwhile Israel pushed further into Gaza, entering residential neighborhoods for the first time.

No one was hurt after bullets also entered the building housing The Associated Press.

In the war that started December 27, over 1，100 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed.

Chinese navy escorts ships through Somali waters

Earlier this week the Chinese navy for the first time escorted a Taiwan ship and three other merchant ships through Somali waters to protect it against pirate attacks.

Two navy destroyers and a large supply ship have been patrolling the Somali waters for the past week and offered to escort ships from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan on request.

The navy began its 553-nautical-mile mission in the east estuary of Mandeb Strait on Monday, where the Red Sea meets the Arabian Sea.

Despite being difficult to navigate, the area is among the busiest shipping channels in the world.

Russian gas supplies to Europe threatened again

Russia and Ukraine wrangled over gas supplies again Wednesday and two European Union states launched missions to plead for Russian gas flow to be restored.

European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso called the crisis "unacceptable and incredible" and warned the EU executive would advise the bloc's firms to sue Russian and Ukrainian energy companies unless gas supplies were restored quickly.

Russia began pumping gas meant for Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, but the EU said little or none was flowing yet to countries downstream suffering urgent energy shortages.

The crisis has hit 18 countries this winter, shutting down factories and leaving householders shivering.

Phelps returns to Beijing

Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps was back in Beijing this week to shoot a commercial in the Water Cube.

He jokingly told sohu.com that drinking the water in pool gave him magical powers.

During his visit Phelps also tried his hand at calligraphy, writing the Chinese character for "ox".