Lhasa (Tibet), Nov. 8 : China has increased its military presence in Tibetan capital Lhasa amid fears that "separatist" supporters of the Dalai Lama plan a repeat of the bloody March 2008 riots.

Military personnel with machine guns are conducting routine patrols around Lhasa''s historic Barkhor district. Snipers are also positioned on rooftops and stairwells.

During a four-day visit to the Buddhist kingdom, The Courier-Mail also witnessed monks being bundled into a police van close to Lhasa''s historic Jokhang temple.

Washington, Nov. 8 : The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its forecast for China''s economic growth in 2009 to 8.5 percent from 9.3 percent.

According to the China Daily, it also changed its estimate of developed countries'' growth next year to a decline of 0.3 percent, from 0.5 percent growth.

The IMF now expects the global economy will grow 2.2 percent in 2009, 0.8 percentage point less than last month''s estimate.

Beijing, Nov. 8 : China has said that it will never tolerate any attempts at "Tibet independence".

"Tibet independence is out of the question," The China Daily quoted Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the CPC Central Committee, as saying after meeting with two representatives of the Dalai Lama recently.

"Semi-independence or independence in any disguised form will not be tolerated either," Du reportedly told the two envoys, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, Xinhua said on Thursday.

Wellington - A man whose bride was killed in a car crash while being driven home from their wedding reception said he should have been in the car with her, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Instead, Chinese immigrant Quiong Mao, 28, told the New Zealand Herald, he offered to drive home a guest who had too much to drink. It is a decision he said he would regret for the rest of his life.

Beijing- Chinese leaders on Friday called for developed nations to take the lead on climate change and share technology to help developing nations to reduce carbon emissions.

Developed nations should "take responsibility and obligations in addressing climate change" and "alter their unsustainable way of life," Premier Wen Jiabao said in a speech at a UN-sponsored conference on climate change.