Tokyo  - Chemical tests in Japan have confirmed that a Chinese-produced chocolate containing the chemical melamine was imported into Japan, local media reported Sunday, adding that the government in the city of Osaka has called on the importer NS International to recall the sweets from markets.

According to the reports, shopowners throughout Japan had already removed the product "Chocolate Pillows" from their shelves. NS International since January had imported around 798,000 packages of the sweet, which was produced in Shanghai, China.

Hong Kong - Around 200 people marched through Hong Kong on Sunday calling for a minimum wage to protect low-paid workers in the wealthy former British colony.

The marchers, organized by a group called the People's Alliance for Minimum Wage, said they wanted to see an immediate minimum wage of 33 Hong Kong dollars (4.24 US dollars) an hour.

Holding up banners and chanting slogans, they presented a petition at Central Government Offices calling on Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang to set a timetable for the minimum wage as soon as possible.

Islamabad, Oct 5 : Pakistan and China would soon establish a joint body to attract investments for nuclear and coal-based power plants and large dams in the country, sources in Pakistan’s Water and Power Ministry said.

The “Pak-China Joint Power Corporation” will help in developing technology and technical expertise for the new power projects, the sources added.

Pakistani and Chinese authorities had discussed the proposal during a meeting in the Foreign Office on September 24 and had decided that a framework for the organisation would be devised in a minister-level meeting in China soon, the Daily Times quoted them as saying.

Washington, Oct 5 : Beijing has warned that the US’ decision to sell weapons to Taiwan worth more than six billion dollars would hamper US-China relations. Following the US announcement on Friday in this regard, officials in Beijing issuing denunciations and warnings that the weapons deal could “worsen bilateral relations”.

Taipei - A Chinese dissident attempting to claim asylum in Taiwan since last year asked to be repatriated on Saturday, following an unsuccessful bid for refugee status.

Cai Lujun, 40, made the request in a letter emailed to the Taiwan government. Taiwan officials have said that they would respect Cai's wish.

Cai, a former businessman in Hebei Province in China, was a jailed for three years in 2003 for criticizing the Chinese government on the internet.

On July 26, 2007, he fled to Taiwan on a fishing boat to seek asylum.

Taipei - Twenty-nine young survivors of the deadly earthquake in China's Sichuan Province were in Taiwan for a holiday to help them recover from the trauma of the May 12 quake which killed 70,000 people, reports said Saturday.

The children, aged between seven years and their teens, were guests of the Chinatrust Charity Foundation, a Taiwanese charity.

Having visited Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, and the Taipei Zoo, the group on Saturday arrived in Nantou County in central Taiwan, to visit the site of the September 21, 1999 earthquake which killed 2,321 people and injuring 8,000.