CHINA

Nationwide Check on Inflation Ordered: China’s leaders have ordered a check into soaring prices and unrestrained capital investment as inflation bites jittery consumers harder. The official People’s Daily announced that the State Council (Cabinet) has ordered city and provincial leaders to make a full investigation into pricing as official urban inflation hit nearly 26% in February. The checks will focus on household goods, as well as products such as rolled steel, electricity, coal, petroleum and chemical fertilizer. China’s last major brush with inflation occurred in the late 1980s, culminating in the 1989 Tian An Men pro-democracy protests that the government put down with tanks and troops.