China's business press carried the following stories on Thursday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Walmart in talks to buy Carrefour China, says insider -- National Business Daily

Walmart has been holding talks with Carrefour to buy the latter's operations in China, and their talks may have already touched on the takeover price, said a person close to the two retail giants.

Despite Carrefour's lead over Walmart in China, there has been a divergence of opinions among Carrefour's shareholders on whether or not to exit the Chinese market, said the insider.

Survey: over 80% of consumers wouldn't buy Unicom's iPhones --www.qq.com

China Unicom announced yesterday that it will start selling iPhones on Oct. 30 and set the prices for the 8GB iPhone 3G at 4,999 yuan, the 16GB iPhone 3GS at 5,880 yuan and the 32GB iPhone 3GS at 6,999 yuan.

A survey conducted by news portal www.qq.com found that, based on the 21,217 people who submitted their votes by 9 a.m. Thursday, 18,218 people, or 85.06% of the total surveyed, said that they wouldn't buy Unicom's iPhones and 15,878 people, or 74.14%, said that the prices are too high.

PetroChina's US$16b deal to develop Venezuela oilfield expected this month --National Business Daily

China's largest oil producer PetroChina is expected to sign a US$16 billion deal with Venezuela's national oil company PDVSA to develop resources in the heavy oil-rich Orinoco Belt of the South American country, a move that will enhance PetroChina's status in Venezuela, where Western oil companies have been dominating.

Indian duty on China soda ash to stay --www.southcn.com

On Oct. 6, in its final ruling after a preceding investigation, the directorate general of safeguards under the Indian government's revenue department recommended keeping the provisional 20% safeguard duty on soda ash from China, saying that there had been a sharp increase in imported Chinese soda ash since Dec. 12, 2008, causing material damage to domestic manufacturers.

Caijing Magazine: operations normal after personnel reshuffle --www.sina.com

Caijing Magazine, one of China's top business journals, said in a statement on Wednesday that it is operating normally after a recent top management reshuffle.

Dai Xiaojing, an executive director from SEEC Media Group Limited, Caijing's parent company, has taken over Wu Chuanhui as general manager of the magazine. It remains unknown whether Hu Shuli, editor in chief of Caijing, will resign.

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