Business news with words announced+people+plans. 12 news.

GENERAL Motors Corp is considering increasing interest rates for car loans in China as part of moves to offset mounting expenses. GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance Co, a local auto financing tie-up of GMAC, the auto financing business of GM, plans to raise the lending rate at the same pace of the benchmark increase offered by People's Bank of China for previous contractors, industry sources said. For new clients, the rate will be even higher, the source said, adding details would be announced later. China's central bank yesterday raised the interest rate for the sixth time this year by adding a 0.09-percentage point on the benchmark one-to-three year lending rate to 7.56 percent and 7.74 percent for three-to-five year loans. GMAC-SAIC now offered annual car loans for one-to-three year contacts at 11.38 percent while 11.6 percent was capped for a three-to-five year loan. It would be the third time GMAC has raised the interest rate this year following a series of tightened monetary

Dow Chemical and PIC, an arm of Kuwait Petroleum, announced plans to form a joint venture that will employ more than 5,000 people world-wide.

Love them or hate them, Germany's two power giants keep the lights on IN AN apparent victory for the little man, the burghers of Ensdorf this week successfully blocked plans by RWE, a huge German power company, to build a spanking new coal-fired power station in their back yard. But those Saarland villagers have won an incomplete victory. Germany needs to add about 35,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity by 2020, plus another 16,000MW if its nuclear plants are to be phased out by then, as planned. So new power stations will have to be built somewhere. RWE and E.ON, the other German power giant, are treading on eggshells these days. Their duopoly over electricity generation and distribution in Germany is under attack from almost every quarter: the European Commission, the Federal Cartel Office, the Federal Network Agency and, of course, consumers. People are livid that the two giants recently announced price rises of 7-10% for next year, despite record profits in the first three quarters and windfall gains from CO2 emission certificates that they were given free. ...

In mid-August, shortly after U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood announced plans to retire, Aaron Schock met with the influential Republican to seek his support and advice on running for the congressional seat. "He gave me two pages of people to contact," says Mr. Schock, a state representative. He wasn't far ...

SIEMENS AG, Europe's biggest engineering company, may name Wolfgang Dehen, Heinrich Hiesinger and Erich Reinhardt as new heads of the energy, industrial and medical units. Two insiders with direct knowledge of the plans revealed the information to Bloomberg News. Siemens' supervisory board will meet on Wednesday to decide on the proposals by Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the plans are not official yet. The appointments may be announced on the same day as the supervisory board meeting. Loescher plans to nominate Dehen to head the energy division, Hiesinger the industrial unit and Reinhardt the health-care business. Loescher also intends to appoint Siegfried Russwurm as the new personnel chief of Munich-based Siemens, which employs about 450,000 workers in more than 190 countries. Siemens spokesman Constantin Birnstiel said via phone that the company doesn't comment on "speculation." He declined to

A shake-up of schooling may miss those most in need of help THE idea was first mooted in 1918, when an education act made provision for young people to stay in school until they turned 18. But young men, and teachers, were being sent off to fight, and the leaving age was raised from 12 to just 14. War again stymied bold moves in 1944, when the age was nudged up to 15. And in 1972 it was raised to just 16, teacher shortages and the baby boom this time the obstacles. Now, after a mere 90 years, the age at which young people leave education in Britain is at last to be lifted to 18. The measure, announced in the Queen's Speech on November 6th, reflects a determination to bring Britain into line with the rest of the developed world, where education and workplace training tend to continue much later (see chart). New qualifications and training programmes are being created at the same time. Taken as a whole, the plans amount to a radical shake-up.

Boeing is putting more money and people behind its delayed 787 Dreamliner program as it grapples with new schedule targets, the company said Wednesday. The company has sent hundreds of manufacturing and procurement employees out to work with its six major partners to deal with bottlenecks and other supply chain issues, Boeing chairman and chief executive Jim McNerney said after the company reported its third-quarter financial results. Boeing announced earlier this month that it had delayed initial deliveries of its popular 787 jetliner by six months because of out-of-sequence production work, software integration and parts availability. The delays will cause revenue to decrease $3.5 billion next year from previous estimates, although profits are expected to remain on track. Boeing will spend about $200 million more in 787 research and development costs because of the changes, officials said. But production will continue, and Boeing plans to deliver 109 Dreamliners by the end of 2009, down three from the original plan.

The people are watching the new president to see which way he will go DESPITE the stench of April's elections, described by many observers as the most fraudulent they had ever witnessed, the new president, Umaru Yar'Adua, has been enjoying a honeymoon with the Nigerian electorate. For a country that has known little but corrupt military or civilian rule in the past 40 years or more, Mr Yar'Adua at least looks and sounds different. But now Nigerians are waiting for him to take the harder decisions that alone may sort out some of their country's more intractable problems. Only then will they be able to tell if he is truly up to the job. The "servant leader", as he styles himself, has made a fair start, even if it amounts so far mainly to promises and gestures. Mr Yar'Adua has announced several plans to boost Nigeria's economy, root out corruption, get the power-grid working again and stem the rising violence in the Niger Delta region and elsewhere. He has avoided meddling in a corruption scandal in the National Assembly, as his predecessors might have done, leaving the legislature's committees to sort it out. And, just as significantly, he has refused to intervene on behalf of former state governors from his own party who have been indicted by the country's anti-corruption agency. The tribunals set up to challenge the election results have also been allowed to operate freely; on October 10th, one called for fresh elections in Kogi state.

THE city's supply of new residential properties dropped below six million square meters on Tuesday, a historic low since the second half of 2005, according to the Shanghai Real Estate Trading Center Website yesterday. Only about 5.76 million square meters of new houses were available for sale on Tuesday, the center said. The figure slightly rose to 5.82 million square meters yesterday. Industry people agreed that usually a supply of some 10 million square meters is regarded as normal for the city. The country's real estate market has been overheating, with housing prices soaring over the past few years. The National Development and Reform Commission said earlier property prices in 70 major Chinese cities jumped 8.2 percent in August from a year earlier after gaining 7.5 percent in July, the biggest gain in almost two years. In Shanghai, the second-hand housing index, a major indicator reflecting the average housing price for Shanghai's used apartments, soared 6.03 percent in August, the highest growth since 2004. And sales price for new apartments also rose 3.6 percent. To address the problem of insufficient supply, two weeks ago the city government announced plans to increase land supply and meanwhile speed up both construction and sales of houses. Under its plan, a total of 4.5 million square meters of land designated for residential use, of which 500,000 square meters are in downtown areas, will be introduced to the market by the end of this year. The local authority also said it expects construction to begin by December on six million square meters of new houses, plus 4.5 million square meters of homes ready for pre-sale will be introduced to the market by December. Nationally, the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced jointly on September 27 that mortgage holders who apply for another home loan are now required to produce a down payment of at least 40 percent and pay a 10-percent premium on their interest rate. This is the latest and perhaps toughest effort by central government to rein in speculation in the domestic real estate market. However, while admitting such policies are necessary, many industry experts said that the scarcity of available land to develop as well as the accelerating pace of urbanization will likely prompt housing prices to rise further in the long run.

The U.S. Air Force provides air support to countless troops, via missiles, bombs and .50-caliber guns. But on Oct. 22, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base wants to let people know it provides spiritual leadership, too, the base announced Wednesday.

SHANGHAI stocks rallied to a new high on the first trading day after a weeklong holiday spurred by robust growth in the banking sector. The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, jumped 2.53 percent, or 140.45 points, to close at 5,692.75. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller mainland stock market, rose 0.57 percent, or 8.69 points, to 1,541.35. Turnover in the morning amounted to 158 billion yuan (US$21 billion). Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the biggest Chinese lender, surged by the daily-limit 10 percent to 7.27 yuan per share. China Merchants Bank rose 6.9 percent to 40.91 yuan and Bank of China advanced 6.24 percent to 6.30 yuan. China Minsheng Banking Corp grew 3.1 percent to 16.30 yuan after it announced plans to buy 20 percent of UCBH Holdings Inc by 2009, the first stake purchase by a mainland bank of an American bank. Minsheng, China's first non-state-owned bank and the seventh-largest bank by market value, will buy 5.4 million shares of UCBH shares for US$96 million, taking up a 4.9 percent stake this year as the first step of its three-year acquisition plan. China Life, the biggest insurer on the mainland, surged 8.65 percent to 67.81 yuan and Ping An Insurance rose 4.77 percent to 141.39 yuan. Real estate companies reported widespread growth thanks to a booming property market during the Golden Week, apparently unaffected by the latest government efforts to cool the market. On September 27, the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced that mortgage holders who applied for another home loan would be required to produce a down payment of at least 40 percent and pay a 10 percent premium on their interest rate. China Vanke, the No. 1 publicly traded real estate developer, climbed 10 percent to 33.22 yuan and Poly Real Estate also jumped 10 percent to 82.04 yuan. Air China dropped 6.74 percent to 22 yuan and China Eastern Airlines dropped 6.65 percent to 17.13 yuan. China Southern Airlines lost 6.81 percent to 22.31 yuan and Hainan Airlines declined 5.43 percent to 11.14 yuan.

SHANGHAI stocks rallied to a new intraday high on the first trading day after a weeklong holiday as investors build their positions due to a lack of new tightening measures. The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, jumped 2.99 percent, or 166.19 points, to 5,718.49 at 11:30am. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller mainland stock market, rose 0.7 percent, or 10.74 points, to 1,543.41. Turnover in the morning amounted to 86.8 billion yuan (US$11.56 billion). Robust growth in the banking sector contributed a lot to the market's surge. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the biggest Chinese lender, surged 9.38 percent to 7.23 yuan per share. China Merchants Bank rose 7.39 percent to 41.10 yuan and Bank of China advanced 6.41 percent to 6.31 yuan. China Minsheng Banking Corp grew 4.36 percent to 16.50 yuan after it announced plans to buy 20 percent of UCBH Holdings Inc by 2009, the first stake purchase by a mainland bank of an American bank. Minsheng, China's first non-state-owned bank and the seventh-largest bank by market value, will buy 5.4 million shares of UCBH shares for US$96 million, taking up a 4.9 percent stake this year as the first step of its three-year acquisition plan. China Life, the biggest insurer on the mainland, surged 9.85 percent to 68.56 yuan and Ping An Insurance rose 7.45 percent to 145 yuan. Real estate companies reported widespread growth thanks to a booming property market during the Golden Week, apparently unaffected by the latest government efforts. On September 27, the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced that mortgage holders who applied for another home loan would be required to produce a down payment of at least 40 percent and pay a 10 percent premium on their interest rate. China Vanke, the No. 1 publicly traded real estate developer, climbed 5.2 percent to 31.77 yuan and Poly Real Estate jumped 5.39 percent to 78.60 yuan. Air China dropped 5.93 percent to 22.19 yuan and China Eastern Airlines dropped 5.99 percent to 17.25 yuan. China Southern Airlines lost 3.93 percent to 23 yuan and Hainan Airlines declined 4.92 percent to 11.2 yuan.