Kathmandu  - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Wednesday promised to increase aid and security cooperation with Nepal, but raised concerns over the activities of Tibetan exiles in the Himalayan nation.

The promise of increased assistance to Nepal came during bilateral talks between Nepalese Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav and the visiting Chinese minister in Kathmandu.

The Nepalese foreign minister told reporters that the two countries had signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation.

Beijing  - Chinese stocks r

Taipei  - President Ma Ying-jeou said Wednesday that China is the key to Taiwan's economy and the third round of Taipei-Beijing talks will focus on economic cooperation.

In an interview with the Radio Taiwan International (RTI) broadcast live to the mainland, Ma explained his China policy and answered some of the 8,000 questions posted by Chinese listeners online.

"Trade with China has reached a record high of 130 billion US dollars. That is significant because foreign trade has always been key to Taiwan's economic growth, sometimes contributing as much as 75 per cent to Taiwan's economic growth," he said.

Beijing - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi telephoned Hillary Clinton to offer his congratulations on her nomination as US secretary of state, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The spokesman said Yang expressed satisfaction at the state of relations between the two countries and looked forward to cooperation with Clinton so that ties could develop further.

The spokesman, Liu Jianchao, made no reference to differences between Clinton and outgoing President George W Bush over the US position on human rights in China.

London, Dec 2 : A Chinese man was left stunned when he woke his wife from a 10-year coma by nibbling on her toes.

London, December 2 : Beijing Olympics theme composer Tan Dun is upbeat that member of the video sharing website YouTube will give rise to revolutionary methods of playing music when they try performing his work.

The website is said to be organising a competition to discover new classical musicians, and wants users to submit videos showcasing their musical talent.

Those interested may submit their entries by 28 January next year. A final public vote will take place two weeks later.

Since the website’s members have to perform their own versions of Tan Dun''s composition, using an instrument is not necessary.