Word: majorities
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Sharks' precarious finances were thrown into further turmoil this year when a major sponsor, a fertilizer and fireproof-material conglomerate called Xiyang Group, pulled out of a contract two years early. If Yao's ownership deal does go through, as expected, it's not clear how much input Yao will have in shaping the team. Although he is a product of the state-run sports machine that still dictates much of the Sharks' athletic direction, Yao has, in the past, issued oblique criticisms of the creativity-stunting and motivation-sapping style of Chinese hoops. Even if he takes the helm...
...Sharks are currently owned by an unlikely consortium that includes a Shanghai media group, a domestic airport operator and a state sports institute. According to China's official news agency, Xinhua, Yao is in the process of buying out shares from some major investors. No estimate has been released, however, of just how much Yao will spend on his former team, for which he started training as a young teenager. (See 100 Olympic athletes from the Beijing Games...
...That acceleration - GPD growth was just 6.1% in the first quarter - is unmistakably good news for China's major trading partners, particularly those countries in Asia that export raw materials to China's manufacturers. Imports of semifinished industrial metals in the quarter soared by more than 35%, as China's stimulus-driven infrastructure build-out gathered steam. Overall fixed-asset investment picked up 33.5% year over year, a pace that recalled the country's glory years of double-digit economic expansion. (See pictures of life on the fringes of the People's Republic...
...analysts still skeptical of China's recovery story, major questions hung over the announcement today. One concerns long-standing doubts about the reliability of government economic data - what one U.S. hedge-fund manager calls "the Beijing fudge factor." In the first quarter of this year, Beijing reported 6.1% GDP growth, but electricity consumption overall in the country appeared to decline. How a country the size of China could grow by 6% yet use less electricity was puzzling. And in the first six months of this year, overall rail-freight traffic declined in China. Again, how that squares with accelerating growth...
...bigger issue that divides economists is whether China's growth spurt is sustainable. Goldman Sachs and several other major investment banks are increasing their China growth forecasts for the rest of this year and into 2010. Strong retail sales and household-survey data show that consumption is contributing to growth and may help sustain it even if government spending levels off. (See pictures of China's investment in Africa...