Beijing, Apr. 18 : China wants the United States to engage the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK) directly to ease escalating tensions over Pyongyang''s renewed nuclear weapons activities.

The China Daily quoted Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi as saying in an interview with Japan''s Nikkei newspaper on Friday that the Six-Party Talks hosted by Beijing remain the way forward in making the Korean Peninsula nuclear free, despite Pyongyang''s declaration this week that it would boycott the talks for good and resume work at shuttered atomic facilities.

Beijing  - An explosion in the dynamite warehouse of a coal mine killed at least 18 people in central China's Hunan province, state media reported Saturday.

Two people were missing after the blast destroyed the three-storey warehouse Friday in Yongxing County in Chenzhou city.

Police were investigating the cause of the blast and searching for three of the mine's shareholders, the official news agency Xinhua quoted Yongxing County head Xie Guanghui as saying.

But the report also said one of the shareholders had already been "put under control."

Beijing  - China extended a 5-billion-dollar loan Friday to Kazakhstan to expand oil cooperation between the two countries.

The government-owned China National Petroleum Corp announced the loan to Kazakhstan's state-run KazMunaiGas National Co during a visit by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to China.

The two firms plan to jointly take over the large Kazakh oil company Mangistaumunaigas, which develops oil fields, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Beijing, Apr. 17 : In an attempt to tighten the noose on the Chinese media, the nation's media watchdog has issued a circular sermonizing the responsibilities and credibility of the press.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has urged newspapers and organizations to verify the facts to ensure truthfulness and objectivity in their news coverage.

To facilitate it, the organizations must be strict in hiring reporters and editors. Those with a track record of fabricating news stories or seeking profit by abusing their jobs should not be employed, the circular read.

Beijing - Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with China's top legislator Wu Banguo Thursday, pledging to step up bilateral cooperation, state media reported.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, said relations between the two countries were at an all-time high and that China would work with Kazakhstan to enhance cooperation in fields such as energy, transportation, mineral resources development and infrastructure construction, the Xinhua news agency reported.