Beijing, Nov 10 : An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit the Qinghai Province, in northwest China, at 9:22 today, though no casualties was reported.

According to news agency Xinhua, the epicenter was in the Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi, about 716 km from provincial capital Xining.

Exactly an hour after the quake, the Qinghai provincial seismic network monitored an aftershock measuring 3.9 hit the same area, the news agency quoted the National Seismic Network as saying.

Sydney, Nov 10 : Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who was sidelined from the team over his attitude problems especially after he went fishing instead of attending a team meeting in West Indies, is officially back into his national side as he had reportedly been called for this Friday''s Twenty20 exhibition match against an All-Star team in Brisbane.

Washington, Nov 10: A new research has suggested that variations in monsoon climate over longer time scales had influenced the evolution of the world’s highest mountain chain, the Himalayas.

The climate over much of Asia is dominated by seasonal winds that carry moist air over the Pacific Ocean into East Asia and over the Indian Ocean into South Asia.

The East and South Asian monsoons are responsible for most of the rainfall in these regions.

Havana/Miami  - The first reports late Sunday from Cuba following Hurricane Paloma described relatively modest damage from the storm.

The initial assessments were a relief on the island, where rebuilding was still underway from two earlier storms during the current hurricane season.

The only significant damage was reported from the coastal city of Santa Cruz del Sur, where the storm made landfall Saturday night with reported wind speeds of 195 kilometres per hour.

Beijing  - China on Monday said "serious differences" remained in its dialogue with the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, with little sign of progress in the most recent talks.

Talks earlier this month were "frank and sincere" but stalled on the long-standing differences between the two sides, Zhu Weiqu a vice-minister of the ruling Communist Party's United Front Work Department, told reporters.

Beijing  - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit China's remote north-western province of Qinghai on Monday, the government said.

The quake struck at 9:22 am (0122 GMT) with an epicentre in Qinghai's Haixi prefecture, an area mainly inhabited by Mongolians and Tibetans, some 700 kilometres from the nearest city, Golmud, the China Earthquake Administration reported.

The epicentre was close to the Da Qaidam salt lake at an altitude of 4,000 metres on the Tibetan Plateau, in an area with a population of about 16,000.