China will punish web portal and social media firm Sina Corp after it was identified as operating the most complained about major website in the country, the Internet regulator said, the latest blow in an ongoing online crackdown.

China's foreign ministry threatened to punish a prominent non-governmental organisation which lobbied for the release of five freed women activists, saying the group must be held accountable for "breaking the law."

The former head of CNPC, China's top energy group, admitted his guilt and asked for leniency at the opening of his trial on charges of bribery and abuse of power, the latest in a string of top officials caught in an anti-graft campaign.

Chinese Internet technology company Cloud Live Tech Group became the second listed company in China to default on a corporate bond payment, failing to repay some 240 million yuan ($38.8 million) to investors.

Three Chinese citizens are taking China's Ministry of Agriculture to court in a bid to make public a toxicology report supporting the approval of Monsanto's popular weedkiller, Roundup, 27 years ago.

China will loosen capital controls for foreign-funded firms, allowing them to convert all foreign-currency capital into yuan to help them hedge currency risks and cut costs, the foreign exchange regulator said.

China's two biggest insurers are funding the majority of a $500 million commercial real estate project in the United States, a person with knowledge of the deal said, in the latest offshore property investment by China's cash-rich financial institutions.

Chinese authorities have lifted a sales blockage on most apartments built by Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd, removing a key hurdle to the proposed sale of the troubled developer to larger peer Sunac China Holdings Ltd.

Iran hopes to resolve differences with Chinese energy companies on oil and gas projects in the Islamic republic, as Tehran wants to be ready to raise output quickly after a potential lifting of sanctions this year, Iranian oil officials said.

China's government released a framework to develop sprawling urban areas along the Yangtze River as it moves forward with a decade-long ambition to turn the Chinese heartland into a major economic belt.