Beijing, Mar. 2 : A senior US defense official has claimed that the first defense talks between Beijing and Washington after Barack Obama took office were the best in more than a decade.

“These were the best set of talks that I have ever been a part of ... between the US and Chinese defense establishments,” said David Sedney, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and Pacific Security Affairs.

Beijing, March 2 : Reports indicate that China''s lunar probe has ended its 16-month mission with a controlled crash onto the moon on March 1st.

Chang''e I hit the moon''s surface on March 1st after completing its tasks, according to sources with the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Chang''e I began to reduce its speed at 3:36 pm on Sunday with two observation and control stations in Qingdao and Kashgar controlling it remotely.

The mission was to gather experience for a moon landing and launch of a lunar rover, which is the next stage of China''s three-stage moon mission - in 2012, sources with the administration said.

Beijing, Feb. 28 : A Tibetan monk was shot by Chinese police after he set himself on fire

Pro-Tibet activists in London and Hong Kong reported that the monk, called Tabe and said to be in his twenties, walked out of Kirti monastery, an important seat of worship in a majority Tibetan area of Sichuan province, at around 1 p. m. He was carrying a hand-drawn Tibetan flag carrying a picture of the Dalai Lama.

According to The Telegraph, Tabe walked down the main street into nearby Aba town, dousing himself with petrol, finally immolating himself in front of numerous witnesses.

The Free Tibet Campaign and Students for a Free Tibet said they had several different accounts of what happened next.

Beijing - China on Saturday said it had made little progress in military talks with the United States, but both sides promised to continue dialogue.

"Frankly speaking, it will take a long time to restore our military exchanges as not a single obstacle in military ties has been removed so far," Major General Qian Lihua, the foreign affairs director of China's defence ministry, told the official Xinhua news agency.

Beijing  - China's nominal parliament on Saturday approved a new food safety law designed to stem a recent tide of scandals over tainted food products.

The Standing Committee of the annual National People's Congress, which approves policies and laws proposed by the ruling Communist Party, said the new law would help ensure food safety "from the production line to dining table."