Wal-Mart may close more outlets in Germany
Frankfurt: US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores may close more outlets in Germany, according to a senior executive in the company. This year Wal-Mart closed three shops in Germany as it is losing money in the country. Wal-Mart entered Germany in 1997 and employs thousands of workers at 85 stores.

The company has been recording losses for many years but reported a positive operating cash flow for the first time in '04. Germany is the world's third-largest retail market.
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China still 100 years behind US
China is likely to take as much as 100 years to overtake the US as the world's economic superpower, according to a Chinese official.
Shi Jianxin, a key counsellor from the Chinese embassy in London, said having surpassed the UK to become the world's fourth-biggest economy, it will take many more decades to raise living standards to levels comparable with the US.

This is s contrary to research done by investment bankers who say that China will overtake the US far sooner. In a recent piece of research, investment bank Goldman Sachs said: "China will overtake the US by 2040, slightly ahead of our 2003 projections."
Shi said although the country's overall GDP may be rising quickly, it still has much to do in terms of modernising its Communist-era industries and raising living standards. He said the West would be wrong to react to Chinese growth with "double standards," by raising economic barriers or by using protectionist policies.
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