Shortly after India, the world"s largest rice exporter, imposed a 20 percent tax on rice exports, Vietnam and Thailand, the world's second-and third-largest rice exporters, are following suit and preparing to raise the prices of their rice exports. This might further fuel global inflation. India exports rice to around 150 countries and regions, and its rice exports account for 41 percent of the global rice trade. Vietnam and Thailand account for about 24 percent combined. Rice prices are generally more stable than those of wheat, corn and soybeans. But the rice price this year has been less stable due to

Before his death from mouth cancer on Sept 10, Fu Song, a 36-year-old singer, warned the world to stay away from betel nuts, a carcinogenic substance he chewed regularly; in fact he was so addicted he could not give it up even after his diagnosis. His death triggered calls for banning betel products. Reports say betel nut sellers in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, have been asked to remove all betel products from their sales list, while Yingshan county in Sichuan province has banned it altogether. Market regulators are finally waking up to the danger posed by betel nuts. The World Health

The four-day 19th China-ASEAN Expo, which recently concluded in Nanning, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, saw offline and on-cloud participation by more than 3,000 enterprises from 40 countries. It saw 267 cooperation projects being signed while attracting a record high investment of 413 billion yuan ($58.57 billion). The expo is of significance at a time when the world economy is experiencing sluggish growth marked by gloomy prospects. At the expo, ASEAN purchasers welcomed Chinese intelligent equipment, green home appliances and lighting technology products, while Chinese buyers liked food and beverage, tropical fruits and household products from ASEAN countries. At