Wellington - China's free trade agreement with New Zealand, in effect as of October 1, has Tuesday raised food safety worries following the recent tainted milk scandal.

"Serious concerns have been raised about the safety of food products from China, in light of the infant baby formula debacle and concerns over melamine contamination of White Rabbit sweets and other milk products," said Green Party lawmaker Sue Kedgley in a statement.

Bangkok  - Myanmar has attracted 69 Chinese companies to its energy and mining sectors, raising environmental and security concerns for local populations, EarthRights International (ERI) revealed Tuesday.

According to a survey conducted by ERI, a non-profit activist group, there are now 69 Chinese companies involved in Myanmar's hydropower, oil, natural gas and mining sectors compared with only 26 known companies in 2007.

Hong Kong - The popularity of Hong Kong's leader has plunged to a new low in the wake of the contaminated milk scandal in China, according to a survey Tuesday.

Beijing-appointed chief executive Donald Tsang was given a score of 53.4 out of 100 in the monthly poll of more than 750 people, his lowest score since taking office in 2005.

The ratio of people satisfied with Tsang's administration fell 3.7 percentage points month-on-month to 21.3 per cent, also the lowest level since Tsang took office.

Mingora (Pakistan), Sept 30: The Pakistan’s unit of the Taliban – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - have reportedly offered to released the two Chinese engineers, whom they had abducted earlier this month, in exchange for 136 jailed militants.

The extremists also declared a unilateral ceasefire in Swat till the third day of Eidul Fitr, but said that they would retaliate if attacked by Pakistani security forces.

Speaking to journalists on phone from an unspecified place on Monday, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that the kidnapped engineers of a private Chinese cellular company were ‘safe’ in their custody, reported the Dawn.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares slumped by more than 4 per cent Monday as the bailout deal for the US economy failed to excite officials in the former British colony.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index shed 801.41 points, or 4.29 per cent, to close at 17,880.68 points. Turnover was a weak 54.96 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.07 billion US dollars).

The price falls mirrored regional losses and were led by property stocks which tumbled on worries over the housing market and an increase in mortgage rates by HSBC.

Earlier in the day, Hong Kong government officials gave a muted welcome to the 700 billion US dollar deal agreed in Washington early Monday Hong Kong time.

New Delhi, September 29: China has announced that a manned lunar landing is its next target when the current three-stage space program expires in 2020.

“When the three-phased strategy in our manned space program is completed, we will travel even further terrestrially,” said Wang Zhaoyao, deputy head of China’s manned space program office and Shenzhou VII mission spokesman.

“After comprehensively analyzing the general trend in international manned space developments, as well as Chinese realities, we see a manned lunar landing as both a very challenging and tactical field in global hi-tech,” he added.

“We deem it necessary for our country to do something in this field,” he further added.