www.gzcti.org

China's home prices fell in April for the eighth month in a row while transactions also declined in most cities, a private sector survey showed on Wednesday.

The average price of 8,711 yuan ($1,400) per square meter across 100 cities was 0.34 percent lower than March and 0.71 percent lower than April 2011, marking the first year-on-year fall since June 2011, said the China Real Estate Index System, a consultancy affiliated with China's largest online real estate company, Soufun Holdings.

Barring a miracle, the 50-year-old will soon join the thousands of unemployed shipbuilders who have fallen victim to the end of China's maritime boom and the long-awaited consolidation of its more than 1,600 shipbuilding companies.

Four years into one of the worst downturns to afflict the global shipping industry, hundreds of small to mid-sized shipyards are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy as foreign orders dwindle and domestic lenders slash credit.

Nowadays Chinese leaders seem too busy putting out fires to think about their regime's long-term survival. Last month, they had to dispatch Politburo member Bo Xilai in a messy power struggle on the eve of a leadership transition. This past week, the daring escape of blind rights activist Chen Guangcheng from illegal house arrest to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing provoked another crisis. When rulers of one of the most powerful countries in the world have to worry about the defiant acts of a blind man, it's high time for them to think the unthinkable: Is the Communist Party's time up?

China's defense minister will visit the U.S., officials said Wednesday, despite the controversy in Beijing over the fate of a dissident who sought protection in the U.S. Embassy.

The U.S. Defense Department announced that Gen. Liang Guanglie will arrive Friday on a weeklong visit — a sign that military ties that were scaled back over arms sales to Taiwan last fall are back on track.

He will meet Monday with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and travel to U.S. military bases.

Spokesman Capt. John Kirby said Panetta is looking forward to visiting Beijing "in the not too distant future."

ThiWhat was supposed to have been two days of high level talks between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Chinese leaders has turned into a diplomatic fiasco over the fate of one man.