Beijing  - A Beijing court has upheld a two-year prison sentence for a rights activist without holding an open appeal hearing or considering vital evidence not presented at her trial, her husband said Tuesday.

The court notified an attorney for Ni Yulan that it had rejected her appeal of a prison sentence passed in December for "obstructing public business," her husband, Dong Jiqin, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Beijing - China has launched a crackdown on illegal guns, the government said on Tuesday, as police continued door-to-door searches for the murderer of a soldier in a city notorious for gun trafficking and other organized crime.

The six-month nationwide crackdown is designed to "ensure social stability" by confiscating illegal weapons, preventing gun-related crime and imposing closer supervision over the use of guns, the Ministry of Public Security said.

Beijing, Mar. 24 : China, which is the world''s only major country without an aircraft carrier, is planning to discard this tag, if Defense Minister Liang Guanglie is to be believed.

"China''s navy is currently rather weak, so we need to develop an aircraft carrier," the China Daily quoted Liang, as saying.

The high-ranking official was reportedly responding to a question put forward by his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada during their meeting in Beijing.

Beijing - Uruguayan Presid

Beijing - Chinese officials on Monday said they were willing to back any issue of bonds by the International Monetary Fund and urged the "G20" group of major economies to give a greater say to developing nations.

"China supports the IMF's innovative financing attempts, and a more efficient and timely financing mode can effectively ease the IMF's cash shortage," Hu Xiaolin, vice governor of China's central bank, told reporters.

"If the IMF finances itself by issuing bonds, China will actively consider buying (them)," Hu said.