The number of the city's permanent residents exceeded

• Weather
  
• Week in brief
  
• Offices hot properties
  OVERSEAS financial institutions are seeking to snap up stakes in Shanghai's office projects, as the city's office property sector still has potential for fast growth and has scarcely been affected by the government's tightening measures, analysts say.
• Real support for arts
  REPRESENTATIVES from the Centre of China Shanghai International Arts Festival and Shanghai Grand Real Estate signed a contract on June 25, announcing the company's sole sponsorship of the prestigious arts event.
• Living with culture
  SHANGHAI Industrial Development Co Ltd (SID) is launching a real estate project in the Hongkou District by using a new development concept that puts culture and innovation into the community.
• Intel quickens investment expansion
  INTEL Corporation is considering a new expansion plan for the China market over the next few years, said a senior manager here on June 28.
• Briefs
  
• Polulation decline ends
  A RAPID increase in births and decline in deaths last year led to zero natural growth of the city's population, ending the negative growth which has occurred every year since 1994.
• Bread bakers' brightener banned
  STARTING in July, all wheat flour producers in the city will be prohibited from using potassium bromate in their production process, in accordance with a notice from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision.
• Pool water checks
  THE local administrative department has found that some indoor swimming pools have excessive levels of chlorine in the water, according to a report at www.eastday.com.
• Food poisoning hit 87
  A MASS food poisoning case has affected 87 workers in Pudong. The victims suffered from symptoms including stomach aches and diarrhoea and were sent to hospitals, the city's Food and Drug Administration Bureau said on June 29.
• Vaccine suspect in students' death, illness
  HEALTH authorities in East China's Anhui Province say immunoreaction is likely to blame for the vaccine accident that has killed one and sickened another 300 school children in Sixian County.
• Numbers of the week
  
• Sociologists urge restraint in reporting divorce figures
  LEADING Chinese researchers in family studies are urging the Chinese media to be prudent in their coverage of the country's divorce statistics.
• Billions in public funds missing
  CHINA'S top auditor said that 9.1 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) was misused by 38 central government departments last year, Xinhua News Agency reported June 29.