Beijing - China's central bank on Wednesday cut its base interest rates and the reserve ratio for commercial banks, in moves designed to bolster the economy against fallout from the global financial crisis.

Base interest rates for deposits and loans will be reduced by 0.27 percentage points from Thursday, while the required reserve ratio of deposits to loans will be lowered by 0.5 percentage points from October 15, the People's Bank of China announced via state media.

Beijing - Shares on China's two stock markets plunged by 3 per cent on Wednesday as financial firms led a third straight daily fall following last week's global market losses.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, ended down 65.61 points, or 3.04 per cent, at 2,092.22.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index also lost more than 3 per cent as both markets fell for the third consecutive day of trading since a seven-day National Day holiday ended Sunday.

Beijing, Oct. 8: A 6.4 billion dollar deal to sell US arms to Taiwan has ruined years of Chinese efforts to build military trust with the Pentagon.

A spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Washington should bear full responsibility for the consequences.

He made the remarks after the US government announced plans on Friday to sell a massive arms package to Taiwan, including 30 Apache attack helicopters and 330 Patriot missiles.

Washington - China's decision to reduce contacts with the United States over weapons sales to Taiwan is "unfortunate", the US State Department said Tuesday, while pledging to continue working with Beijing.

"It's an unfortunate decision that the Chinese have taken," deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.

China strongly opposed the plans announced last week to sell 6.4 billion dollars in arms to Taiwan, and said US-Chinese military relations would be "poisoned" over the deal.

Beijing - China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said a US arms deal for Taiwan had "poisoned" military ties between Washington and Beijing, but it did not confirm US reports that China had cancelled some bilateral meetings.

"The United States ignored the opposition of China to sell military arms to Taiwan, which poisoned the Sino-US relationship and also harmed the sound atmosphere between the two militaries," ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.

Beijing, Oct 7 : At least nine people were killed and many injured in a powerful earthquake that jolted a county near Lhasa, the capital of southwest Tibet Autonomous Region, last evening.

The death toll is expected to be much higher as at least 147 houses reportedly collapsed in Yangyi village and others in a neighboring county.