Xinhua scraps foreign arm

Xinhua's foreign affairs arm will be dissolved as part of the drive to streamline Beijing's representative office in the SAR. Xinhua vice-director Zhang Junsheng said other departments to be disbanded included the Land Commission, which concluded its last meeting shortly before the handover.

Mr Zhang confirmed that his boss, Director Zhou Nan, was in hospital in Beijing, but did not elaborate on Mr Zhou's illness. 'His situation now is fine,' Mr Zhang said.

Mr Zhou was absent from the final plenum of the Preparatory Committee last week.