Beijing- Chinese and Cambodian security chiefs on Tuesday vowed to strengthen cooperate against international trafficking in drugs and people, the Chinese government said.

China's Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu held talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, saying the two sides "enjoyed increasing exchanges and pragmatic cooperation," the ministry reported on its website.

Taipei (Taiwan), Nov. 4 : The heads of the two main negotiating bodies of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan sat down together in Taipei on Tuesday morning for their first ever summit in Taiwan.

Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland''s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and his island counterpart Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, met at the Grand Hotel in Taipei.

Taipei, Nov 4 : China and Taiwan reportedly signed agr

Beijing - China's ruling Communist Party sees the signing of four economic agreements with Taiwan on Tuesday as a small step on the path that it hopes will lead to eventual unification with the island state, a leading scholar said.

"In this situation the main aims are to promote economic, trade and cultural exchanges across the Strait, and to realize and normalize the 'three direct links' of trade, mail, and air and shipping services across the Taiwan Strait," Li Jiaquan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"This trip does not cover political issues," Li said of the three-day visit to Taiwan by Chen Yunlin, the head of China's Association of Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

Taipei - Negotiators met Tuesday to prepare signing four pacts on expanding trade ties across the Taiwan Strait, in the first high-level talks with China held on Taiwan since 1949.

China's chief negotiator Chen Yunlin and his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kun, who met at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, are expected to sign the agreements Tuesday afternoon.

They cover direct sea links, the expansion of weekend charter flights between the China and Taiwan to daily charter flights, direct postal services and food safety.

Beijing - The death toll has risen to 26 with more than 40 people still missing after heavy rain caused landslides in mountainous areas of south-western China's Yunnan province, the government said Monday.

Torrential rain caused mud and rock to flow down valleys and hillsides in at least 13 counties of Yunnan over the past few days, affecting more than 411,000 people, the provincial Civil Affairs Department reported on its website.