Beijing

John R.R. Howie, a junior at Boston College, wants to be where the action is. For an economics major, that means China, “the most exciting and opportunistic place to be in the 21st century.’’ At Peking University (http://en.pku. edu.cn/) Howie is taking courses in Mandarin, Chinese history, economics, and business. To learn more about his experiences in Beijing, go to http://johnhowie .wordpress.com/. DORM LIFE : “The hot water is shut off at 11 each night until the morning.

Newton sculler Gevvie Stone had to wait a year, but she collected her Olympic ticket in Switzerland Wednesday by finishing third in the women's single at rowing's last-chance qualifying regatta on the Rotsee course in Lucerne. "It feels awesome," said the 26-year-old Stone, whose mother competed in the 1976 Games. "I've dreamt about this for so long. I had a good race out there today. " Stone, a three-time Head of the Charles champion who was 11th at last year's World Championships, needed to finish among the top four to make it to London.

BEIJING - A bureau in charge of monitoring China's frequently smog-choked capital will release more detailed reports, state media said yesterday, following a public outcry over the hazards of fine-particle pollution. Beijing's decision to publish the data appeared aimed at appeasing residents' anger over the pollution and a lack of government openness about it. Frustration over the issue has been fueled by a Twitter feed set up by the US Embassy in Beijing that reports air quality as measured by a monitor on the embassy roof and publishes it online every hour.

China's leadership is hitting a rough patch with ally North Korea under its new leader Kim Jong Un, as Beijing finds itself wrong-footed in episodes including Pyongyang's rocket launch and the murky detention of Chinese fishing boats. The testy state of China-North Korea affairs became public this week after Chinese media flashed images of the fishing crews, some of the 28 crew members stripped to their longjohns, returning home after 13 days in North Korean custody accused of illegal fishing.

BEIJING -- The restaurant at Ikea's newest store seats 700. Its lobby is a cavernous three stories high. To show off the Swedish home furnishing maker's goods, there are showrooms the size of five football fields with 77 model living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. The store, slated to open tomorrow, is Ikea's biggest in the world after its Stockholm flagship, and dramatically shows the intense competition to cash in on China's home improvement market as millions of new home buyers set out to decorate them.

BEIJING -- Forty-three men, women, and children using ladders clambered over a spiked fence around the Canadian Embassy in China's capital yesterday in what appeared to be the biggest recent bid for asylum by North Koreans. One other man was stopped by police. The group, which reportedly included two former political prisoners, was an embarrassing reminder of the dismal conditions in North Korea, whose isolationist, Stalinist dictatorship is officially China's ally. There was no immediate indication whether the incident might hinder Chinese diplomatic efforts to persuade North...

BEIJING -- China launched a sweeping effort yesterday to expand its access to Africa's oil and markets, pledging billions of dollars in aid and loans as dozens of leaders from the world's poorest continent opened a conference aimed at building economic ties. African leaders at the two-day meeting said they welcomed Chinese investment and business ties, but Beijing also faces criticism that it is treating Africa like a colonial territory and that it supports regimes with poor human rights records.

WASHINGTON - President Bush sharply confronted China's president, Hu Jintao, yesterday about Beijing's harsh crackdown in Tibet, joining an international chorus of alarm just months before the United States and the rest of the world parade to China for the Olympics. In a telephone call with Hu, Bush "pushed very hard" about the violence in Tibet, the necessity for restraint, and the need for China to consult with representatives of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, the White House said.

WASHINGTON - The United States branded China an authoritarian human rights abuser yesterday, citing alleged torture, state control of basic aspects of daily life, tight controls on religion, and harassment of foreign charities. China, host of the summer Olympics, has rampant and chronic human rights problems despite rapid economic growth that has transformed large parts of Chinese society, the State Department said in its annual accounting of human rights practices around the world.

China has rejected an annual Pentagon report that assesses Beijing's expanding military power. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Saturday the report made irresponsible comments about China's legitimate and normal defense development, and demanded that the United States stop issuing the annual report. This year's report, which was released Friday, describes an ambitious, fast-growing Chinese military program aimed at transforming the People's Liberation Army into a modern force.

The US men's eight came through when it had to Tuesday in Switzerland, easily winning the last-chance Olympic rowing qualifying race on the fabled Rotsee course in Lucerne to earn a chance for a third consecutive medal at this summer's Games in London. The Americans, who won gold in Athens and bronze in Beijing, had failed to earn their London ticket after finishing eighth in last year's world regatta. If they hadn't won at Lucerne, they would have missed the Olympic field for the first time.

A European envoy held out a possible compromise in a fight with China over carbon emissions charges on airlines, saying Wednesday that Europe might alter its system if Beijing helps negotiate global regulations. China, India, the United States and Russia oppose the European Union charges that took effect Jan. 1. Beijing has barred its carriers from cooperating and has suspended purchases of European aircraft. Talks on a global system have begun in the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. body, said Matthew Baldwin, director of aviation for the 27-nation...

BEIJING — A Chinese conglomerate said Monday that it will buy US cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, for $2.6 billion in China's biggest takeover of an American company. Dalian Wanda Group's purchase reflects the global ambitions of a wave of cash-rich Chinese companies that are using acquisitions to speed their expansion by obtaining foreign skills and brands. Wanda said the deal would create the world's biggest movie theater operator. The Beijing-based company said it will invest an additional $500 million to fund AMC's development.

BEIJING - Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal advocate who made an improbable escape from virtual house arrest and sought refuge in the US Embassy here, arrived in Newark, N.J., on Saturday, ending a fraught diplomatic drama that threatened to disrupt relations between China and the United States. The arrival of Chen, one of the country's most prominent dissidents, and the talks that led up to it, appeared to reflect careful calculations in both countries as they seek to cooperate on a range of economic and security issues.

China has rejected an annual Pentagon report that assesses Beijing's expanding military power. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Saturday the report made irresponsible comments about China's legitimate and normal defense development, and demanded that the United States stop issuing the annual report. This year's report, which was released Friday, describes an ambitious, fast-growing Chinese military program aimed at transforming the People's Liberation Army into a modern force.

BEIJING - The activist who was at the center of a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington said Thursday that Chinese officials have told him the passports that he and his family just applied for should be ready within two weeks. A rights group, meanwhile, described more retaliation by authorities against his family. From a Beijing hospital room, where he remains under virtual house arrest, Chen Guangcheng said in a phone interview that it remained unclear if he, his wife, and their two children would be able to leave China shortly after getting their passports.

China's inflation edged up in March as Beijing shifted from containing price rises to shoring up flagging growth in the world's second-largest economy. Consumer prices rose 3.6 percent over a year earlier, up from February's 3.2 percent but below the government's 4 percent target for the year, data showed Monday. The increase was driven by a hike in state-set fuel prices and a 7.5 percent rise in politically sensitive food costs, up from the previous month's 6.2 percent but well below last year's double-digit rates.

BEIJING — US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with a Chinese vice premier yesterday and discussed economic ties in a sign the two sides might be trying to cool their rhetoric in a dispute over China’s currency controls. In a statement after their meeting, the Treasury Department did not say whether the two sides discussed currency. Calls to China’s Finance Ministry were not answered. But Geithner had been expected to press Washington’s case for Beijing to ease exchange-rate controls that critics say distort trade and keep China’s currency...

The activist who was at the center of a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington said Thursday that Chinese officials have told him the passports that he and his family just applied for should be ready within two weeks. A rights group, meanwhile, described more retaliation by authorities against his family. From a Beijing hospital room where he remains under virtual house arrest, Chen Guangcheng said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that it remained unclear if he, his wife and their two children would be able to leave China shortly after getting their passports.

China criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday for meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, saying it amounts to support for Tibet's independence from Chinese rule. The British government ignored Beijing's objections in going ahead with Monday's meeting in London, and doing so "hurts the feelings of the Chinese people," meddles in China's affairs and harms Chinese-British relations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. He said Britain now needs to take actions to repair the damage.