President Hu Jintao says China will extend a $10 billion loan to a regional group that also includes Russia and four Central Asian states. ”China will provide $10 billion in credit support so that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization members can make their own efforts in countering the shock of the international financial crisis,” Hu told leaders gathered in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. In a speech to the organization summit, which brings together Central Asian states and neighboring powers, Hu did not give any details of the credit offer. Tian Qi, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official accompanying Hu, told Reuters after the speech that he had no additional details at hand. Hu did not raise the proposals for diluting the dominance of the U.S. dollar that other leaders at the summit endorsed. Beijing, with its massive holdings of U.S. dollars and bonds, has been more careful about those ideas. Hu said his country’s economy was pulling through, despite the grim international scene. ”The international financial crisis continues to spread and deepen… The state of world financial developments remains grim, and many countries have fallen into economic slumps“. In response to the ban of Coca-Cola Zero in Venezuela, Coca-Cola China says the product is safe and meets all necessary regulations in China. The website of Coca-Cola China says its drinks are safe and meet quality standards and regulations in China. The company has no plan to adjust its sales strategies. Zhai Mei. Director, Public & Comm. Affairs, Coca Cola(China), said, “Our products are absolutely safe, there’s no problem. And the Venezuelan government has not explained why it banned the product.”  Supermarkets say the ingredients scandal has not affected sales of Coke Zero. China’s food safety regulator says the ingredient sodium cyclamate is a commonly-used sweetener around the world. Uranium One plans to leverage its new links with Russia and Japan into a top-tier position among uranium producers, and sees Africa as the next hot spot for mining of the increasingly in-demand mineral, CEO Jean Nortier today stated. ”Our strategy is to be one of the largest uranium producers globally,” Nortier said in an interview after announcing a $390 million deal that will see the company acquire half of the Russian-owned Karatau mine in Kazakhstan in exchange for cash and a 17 percent stake in the company for Russian state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom. Nortier also said he does not expect an investigation into uranium contract sales in Kazakhstan that has appeared to involve one of Uranium One’s assets to harm the company. The deal with Rosatom comes as countries like Russia, South Korean, and Japan move to lock in supply of uranium to fuel a global expansion of nuclear power generation that is seen producing a massive uranium deficit over the next decade. Culminating a five-day visit to the United States, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met over the weekend with U.S. President Barack Obama who praised the former opposition leader’s leadership and courage and pledged $73 million to help the Zimbabwean people. ”The United States is a friend to the people of Zimbabwe,” Mr. Obama said. ”I’ve committed $73 million in assistance to Zimbabwe. It will not be going through the government directly, because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights and rule of law, but it will be going directly to the people of Zimbabwe and I think can be of assistance to the prime minister in his efforts. He’s going to continue to provide us with direction in ways that he thinks we can be helpful, and I’m grateful to him for his leadership, for his courage, and I’m looking forward to being a partner with him in the years to come,” the U.S. president said. Mr. Tsvangirai in turn told reporters that he had told Mr. Obama that his country “is coming out of a political conflict and economic collapse…and that the new political dispensation we have crafted is an attempt to arrest this decay” through a transitional arrangement. ”We want to institute those reforms that will ensure that in 18 months time the people of Zimbabwe are given an opportunity to elect their own government,” Mr. Tsvangirai said.