The news release said that English Premier League champions Chelsea have listed Malaysia in their Asia Tour 2011 journey and also for pre-season training.

The declaration was made by Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay that the club was making plans to be in Malaysia for one week for a training stint before a friendly match in Kuala Lumpur.

While talking to media, Mr. Gourlay said, “As a centre for pre-season training as well, our manager Carlo Ancelotti will require first class facilities and we know Malaysia will provide that too.”

Oil prices dropped down in the Asian market after two straight days of gains, taking a sign from regional bourses that retreated among expectations of slower U. S. financial growth.

Benchmark crude for the next month delivery remained down 24 cents at $73.12 a barrel at midday Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The contract increased 84 cents to settle at $73.36.

However, the rally was short-lived among gloom about the global financial system.

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, the country will meet its Asean promises for the liberalization of the services segment when it liberalizes 15 new services sub-sector.

While talking to reporters, Minister Mustapa Mohamed said that the expected commencement of the new segments was made after references with the related ministries and the private sector.

Bank of China Ltd., one of the China's four lading state-based commercial banks, announced that its profit during the first half increased by 27 percent owing to growth in interest income following a lending boom in 2009.

The Beijing-based bank added that profit in the first half, which ended on June 2010 was 52 billion yuan ($7.6 billion), or 0.2 yuan per share, from 41 billion yuan during the same period of 2009.

China's largest oil and gas company, PetroChina Ltd., has announced that its profit for the first six months of 2010 increased by 29 percent as compared to 2009.

The company said that it posted profit on account of higher oil prices that helped to offset weaker margins in its refining biz.

In addition, the Beijing-based company said that the revenue in the first six months of this year was 65.3 billion yuan ($9.6 billion), up from of 50.5 billion yuan compared to 2009.

China Nuokang Bio-Pharmaceutical Inc., which focuses in blood and cardiovascular treatments, has announced that the company’s profit in the three month period ended June 2010 increased by 10 percent.

The company attributed the overall growth to the sales from its major product.

In a statement, the company stated that sales of China Nuokang's bleeding control product, Baquting, grew by 8.2 percent to 77.8 million yuan ($11.5 million).

According to fresh reports, the US-based insurance major American International Group (AIG) has committed to sell Nan Shan Life Insurance Co to China Strategic Holdings Ltd.

Chins Strategic Holdings Ltd is a Hong Kong-based investment enterprise.

Further, AIG said that it has full confidence that Taiwan's regulators will given green signal to the agreement.

Moreover, this is the first time when AIG stated clearly his stand, saying that it has no plan to sell Nan Shan Life to other potential buyers.

According to the recent statement issued by the China Vanke Co Ltd, the company has bagged the bids for two pieces of land in the CBD, Fuzhou of Fujian Province for a total of RMB 653 million or RMB 4,992 per square meter of potential floor area.

The reports said that both the plots have a total land area of 38.1 mu or 25,399 sq m.

In the meantime, the company statement said that out of the two plots, one will have a floor area ratio less than 5.5 and will have a commercial floor area of not more than 10,000 sq m.

According to the statement issued by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau (SSB)of China, the retail sales at the World Expo Shanghai 2010 were RMB 542 million in July this year, up from RMB 527 million registered during June this year (2010).

The bureau stated that the said growth took place mainly due to an increase in attendance and introduction of fresh products. 

In May this year, the figure stood at RMB 413 million.

The report showed that the largest listed gold miner in China, Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd, and the China-Africa Development Fund are all set to sign bag sanction from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to get hold of copper mines jointly in the African country.

The above declaration was made by Chi Jianxin, the president of the China-Africa Development Fund.