Beijing - Chinese shares dropped 2.94 per cent on Wednesday despite a massive rally on Wall Street overnight.

Taipei - Taiwan's Defence Minister Chen Chao-ming Wednesday said the military opposes opening the restricted air zone to allow cross-strait flights, during the second round of Taiwan-China talks in Taipei to begin next Monday.

"The air space in Taiwan is very small, and it is absolutely impossible for us to allow cross-strait planes to fly through our R8 zone," General Chen said in a parliament session in Taipei.

The R8 zone is one of the military's five strategic flight zones off-limits to civilian aircraft. It is located near the median of the Taiwan Strait, which provides the shortest distance in flights between Taiwan and China.

Manila - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged African leaders to take "very decisive" steps to end a standoff between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for an urgent summit to end the deadlock between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over a unity government aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis.

Washington, Oct 29 : A Dutch researcher has unravelled a genetic defence mechanism that combats the lethal bacteria Burkholderia pseudomalle—a bacterium suitable for bioweapons.

The research by Joost Wiersinga from AMC Medical Centre in Amsterdam paves the way for a vaccine against the attack by this bacterium.

It has now been found that B. Pseudomallei, can remain hidden in the human body for many years without being detected by the immune system. The bacteria can suddenly become activated and spread throughout the body, resulting in the patient dying from blood poisoning.

The researchers have now discovered which gene-protein combination makes the lethal bacteria B. pseudomallei harmless.

More lows overnight; but buyers show up. Hook reversal showing from the toolbox today suggests aggressive traders can buy the rate soon.

Rate possibly getting spillover effect from GBP. Overnight news shows inflation not as bad as expected also helping to lift the rate a bit. Support possibly from option trades; but those are cleared. Official interest noted traders say but rate continued to sell-off.

Rate is an absolute screaming buy in my view—I can't see further weakness being ignored by the buyers but conditions are not right I think; possibly overnight tonight into Wednesday.

Islamabad, Oct 29 : A British journalist has said that the situation in which Pakistani neuroscientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui was shot at and arrested by American military men could not have even been visualized by a Hollywood scriptwriter.

The journalist also deplored the circumstances in which Dr Aafia was arrested after she allegedly “attacked two armed US soldiers in Kabul”.