Beijing, Sept. 27 : Fifty monks have been injured and at least four were taken to hospital after clashes between police and Tibetan monks near an ancient monastery that has been under tight security since anti-Chinese unrest swept across the Himalayan plateau in March.

According to a Times report, the incident happened when a monk left the Kirti monastery after obtaining a pass from the authorities.

“The returning monk was beaten so badly by the armed police that he was bleeding when he managed to return to the monastery,” the Free Tibet Campaign said.

Beijing - Global plane maker Airbus plans to formally launch its assembly plant in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin on Sunday, the company said on Friday.

"The completion of the first assembly line outside Europe, in China, is a visible cornerstone of Airbus internationalization strategy," Airbus said in a statement.

Beijing - The United Nations said it was concerned by high levels of ignorance and stigma towards HIV/AIDS in China, as it released the results of a survey of 6,000 people on Friday.

More than 48 per cent of respondents in six of China's major cities said they believed they could be infected with HIV through mosquito bites, while 83 per cent had never looked up information on HIV/AIDS and 30 per cent did not know how to use a condom, UNAIDS said in a report.

Nearly 65 per cent said they would not be willing to live with someone infected with HIV, 48 per cent said they were unwilling to eat with an HIV-infected person, and 41 per cent were unwilling to work with an HIV-infected person, the report said.

Beijing - China's Shenzhou VII manned spacecraft adjusted its orbit early Friday in preparation for the country's first spacewalk later in the day, the government said.

Shenzhou VII moved from an elliptical orbit to a circular orbit 343 kilometres above the Earth at 4:05 am (2005 GMT Thursday), state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

China launched three astronauts in Shenzhou VII on a Long March-2F carrier rocket Thursday night from the Jiuquan space centre in the north-western province.

The scheduled three- to four-day Shenzhou VII mission includes a spacewalk to be carried out by astronaut Zhai Zhigang at about 4:30 pm (0830 GMT) Friday.

Beijing  - China on Friday launched its Shenzhou VII manned space mission carrying three astronauts whose main task was to complete the country's first spacewalk.

The spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan space centre in the north-western province at about 9:10 pm (1310 GMT) on board a Long March-2F carrier rocket.

The scheduled three-day Shenzhou VII mission includes China's first spacewalk on Friday, which is expected to last about 40 minutes and be carried out by astronaut Zhai Zhigang.

Beijing - The Chinese death toll from Typhoon Hagupit rose to 10 with at least two people still missing as the storm brought gales and torrential rain to much of southern China, state media said on Thursday.

Floods, landslides and wind damage caused by the typhoon affected 8.73 million residents and 400,000 hectares of crops in Guangdong province and the nearby Guangxi region, the official Xinhua news agency said.

About 18,500 houses collapsed, and estimated direct economic losses reached 6.3 billion yuan (923.7 million dollars), the agency said.