Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell will set up a China telecommunications equipment joint venture next year as part of Nokia’s €15.6 billion global acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. The joint venture, Nokia Shanghai Bell, will be headquartered in the China (Shanghai) Pilot free trade zone (FTZ). Nokia will hold a 50% stake plus one share, which means it has a controlling stake in the venture. Nokia had agreed to create a Chinese joint venture with China Huaxin, a state-owned Chinese investment company with a controlling stake in Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell. The venture is expected to pave the way for China to approve Nokia’s proposed take-over of Alcatel-Lucent. “The new JV will consolidate its position in the domestic market with strong research and development ability,” Yuan Xin, China Huaxin’s General Manager, said in a statement. The joint venture will help Nokia develop business in China, the world’s biggest mobile phone market with over one billion users, analysts said. Both Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent are facing challenges from Chinese rivals including Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp, both based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. The Chinese telecom companies are gaining market share overseas, which challenge the overseas telecom giants in their home markets. Nokia is expected to complete the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent globally in 2016, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Chinese prosecutors are investigating 10 officials and port executives in Tianjin for alleged neglect of duty in connection with the warehouse explosions which killed at least 145 people. Another 28 are still missing and around 470 people wounded in the blasts are still in hospital. The officials include Wu Dai, Director of the Tianjin Transportation Commission, and Zheng Qingyue, President of Tianjin Port (Group) Co. Customs personnel of the Tianjin Customs District were found to have been slack and irresponsible in supervising the chemical business run by Ruihai. The personnel involved are also suspected of illegally issuing customs clearing permits to the company and allowing it to carry out illegal business activities. An investigation by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) has found that Wang Jinwen, a senior official with the Ministry of Transportation, violated the law by helping Tianjin Ruihai International Logistics Co, the owner of the warehouse, pass safety evaluations and obtain approvals to store and transport dangerous chemicals. Wang is being investigated on suspicion of abuse of power. Plans have been submitted by local governments across China to move or upgrade about 1,000 chemical plants after the explosions in Tianjin. The plants had cost about CNY400 billion and money involved in moving or upgrading them would be a major issue. In the face of local opposition, another question is where to move to?

Contaminated soil from the Tianjin blasts is to be stored in a 20,000 square meter leak-proof tank 4 km from the explosion site. A 13-cm “impermeable layer” of sand and bricks will be placed at the bottom and workers are busy lining the tank with leak-proof material. Thousands of tons of dangerous chemicals were stored at the warehouse when it exploded on August 12. Residents living near the blast site have reported bad smells in the past few days.

A landmark gas deal between China and Russia that has been years in the making looks set to be finalized. More than 20 agreements covering finance, transportation and energy cooperation will be signed when Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the September 3 parade in Beijing, said Andrey Denisov, Russian Ambassador to China. “The gas deal looks very likely to be confirmed at the final moment because of its large scale and importance due to international practices,” Denisov said, adding that he was sure that there will be an agreement but that the details won’t be disclosed until the last minute. In May 2014, after 20 years of negotiations, China and Russia agreed to build a natural gas supply line, known as the “eastern route”, that is supposed to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas to Beijing and Northeast China annually, starting in 2018. Chen Yurong, Expert with the China Institute of International Studies, said that the Russian Ambassador might have been referring to the “western route”. Negotiations on the western route, a 2,800-kilometer supply line to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Xinjiang over 30 years, began in 2006. According to Chen, the western route framework agreement is not legally binding like that of the eastern route, so it has been postponed and is mired in differences over pricing, while construction of the “eastern route” has begun, the China Daily reports.

Chinese researchers have gained a better understanding of a “back door” into the defenses of nearly all bacteria to allow antibiotics to penetrate the bacteria’s membrane without triggering drug resistance. The discovery could significantly accelerate the development of new antibiotics that can take advantage of the back door. But researchers could not observe the portal directly on living bacteria, given the structure was only five nanometers wide and well beyond the range of even the most advanced electron microscopes.

Intellectual property industry insiders called for the integration of IP and market demand at a recent forum themed “Open innovation” in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi. The forum, organized by the China Enterprise Confederation and wtoip.com, attracted more than 1,200 delegates. Li Mingxing, Vice Chairman of the China Enterprise Confederation, said in his opening address that open innovation is a requirement for China’s sustainable development.