Society

Ghana's state-owned oil company and China's Cnooc Ltd. made an unsuccessful joint bid of $5 billion for a U.S. company's stake in one of Africa's most promising oil regions, an official of the Ghanaian company said Monday.

The offer was for a 23.5% stake in Ghana's Jubilee field, one of the continent's largest oil deposits, and other nearby assets. The field, thought to contain 1.5 billion barrels of crude, is scheduled to start producing oil in December, heralding Ghana's entry into the ranks of Africa's major oil producers.

The stake is owned by Dallas-based Kosmos Energy LLC, which previously held talks with Exxon Mobil Corp. about the oil-field stake.

Kosmos Energy, majority owned by private-equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Warburg Pincus LLC, "has now decided to remain [in Ghana]. That is for sure," said Gabriel Q.A. Osatey, chief geophysicist of Ghana National Petroleum Corp., or GNPC, on the sidelines of an oil conference in New Delhi.

China's national census, which aims to update the official count for the world's largest population, will also illustrate the increasingly mobile society's growing sense of privacy—and distrust of their government.

Communist Party leaders hope the ten-yearly survey, set to begin Monday, will provide an unprecedented amount of information about the lives of its citizens, who numbered 1.3 billion in 2000. In particular, the government will try to calculate exact figures for the tens of millions of migrant workers who have flooded into cities from the countryside, and for the millions of children who have been born in violation of China's one-child policy.

People stand in queue outside of Guangzhou subway station.

The Guangzhou subway system saw a historic passenger flow on November 1, the first day of free rides during the 30 working days of the Asian Games. The Guangzhou Metro Corporation said over 6 million people chose to take subway on Monday, 2 million more than on regular days.

One passenger said it took her nearly half an hour to get into the station in the morning as people waiting to board lined up outside.

Some migrant workers who usual ride their bicycles to work joined subway passengers, and those who normally walk to work also took the free ride on Monday, Guangzhou Daily reported.

Foreign employees in China will be entitled to the same social insurance benefits as Chinese nationals after the top legislature adopted a law on Thursday that is being seen as a major sign of the country's wider economic and social openness.

The Social Insurance Law, which was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), will take effect in July 2011.

"China's economy and society are opening up more and more. Such a regulation follows international practice and gives equal national treatment to foreigners working in the country," Hu Xiaoyi, vice-minister for human resources and social security, said during a news conference held by the NPC Standing Committee on Thursday.