Beijing, Apr. 10 : When two Tibetans were sentenced to death on Wednesday for setting fire to shops during last year's protest riots in Lhasa, the Chinese authorities chose to tell the rest of the world before they told their own citizens.

The episode illustrates the peculiar way in which news travels in China, where the government controls the traditional media, but the Internet offers an alternative, reports the Christian Science Monitor (CSM).

Beijing - China's exports fell in March for the fifth month in a row as its manufacturers suffered through plummeting overseas demand during the global recession. Exports fell 17.1 per cent from the same month last year to 90.29 billion dollars while imports were also down
25.1 per cent to 71.73 billion dollars, the official news agency Xinhua reported, citing the General Administration of Customs.

The statistics showed that the total value of China's imports and exports in March was 162.02 billion dollars, down 20.9 per cent.

New Delhi, Apr 10 : China has denied hacking into America's electrical grid, as media reports claimed that Chinese cyber-spies penetrated the US electrical grid.

"The intrusion doesn't exist at all," Xinhua quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, as saying.

Several international news agencies reported that cyber-spies penetrated the US electrical grid, leaving behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system.

The articles said the spies came from China, Russia and other countries.

Beijing  - China on Thursday denied media reports that it was involved in an attack on the US power grid by computer hackers.

"The intrusion doesn't exist at all," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, denying any involvement by China in mapping or breaking into America's infrastructure.

The US Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that cyber-spies, believed to be from countries like China or Russia, repeatedly attempted to gain access to the US power grid to leave viruses which could disrupt the system.

Notwithstanding the massive plunge in the 2009 first quarter private equity (PE) activities in China by 50 percent and in India by 87 percent, the two countries managed to sweep-clean a majority – more than 70 percent - of the PE deals in the Asia-Pacific region!

During the first quarter of 2009, from January to March, private equity firms struck 36 deals amounting to an investment of nearly $526 million. These figures mark a considerable drop from the same-quarter year-before figures of 133 deals totaling $3.9 billion in investment.

London, Apr 9: A court in Tibet has sentenced four people to death for their part in rioting in Lhasa last year.

Fierce anti-China riots broke out in Lhasa in March last year and spread across Tibet as China was preparing to host the Beijing Olympic Games.

Two of the four death sentences are suspended and could be changed to life sentences if the defendants demonstrate good behaviour. A fifth person was given a life sentence.