Beijing - Beijing police on Friday morning detained five foreign tourists who were advocating "Tibet independence" near the construction site of China Central Television's new building, state media said.

The protest happened around 5:50 am (0950 GMT), Xinhua cited police officials saying.

Three of the five foreigners were from the United States, one was from Canada and the other from Britain, according to Xinhua. They came to China on tourist visas.

Taipei - Taiwan should learn a lesson from the ongoing conflict in the Caucasus and beware of a similar situation with China, a Taiwanese political analyst said Friday.

"Georgia's tragedy is a warning for Taiwan. Georgia sees a Russia which wants to regain its past power. Taiwan sees a China which has already risen," political analyst Antonio Chiang said in his column in the Apple Daily.

"Every now and then, thug leaders pick out a weakling and knock his head against the wall, to remind others who is in charge," he wrote in an article entitled, A Small but Smart War.

Beijing - A bus accident killed 24 in a mountainous region of

Beijing, Aug. 12 : A team of 650 construction workers are working over time to get the Beijing National Stadium, better known as the Bird''''s Nest, for the athletics events that commence from August 15.

The workers have been given only 84 hours to complete the changeover for track and field competitions, a soccer match and the closing ceremony, China View reported.

Beijing - China on Tuesday reported a slight drop in monthly inflation to 6.3 per cent year-on-year in July, but prices of some food items soared.

The rise of 6.3 per cent in July in the consumer price index (CPI) was down from 7.1 per cent in June, and from a 12-year high of 8.7 per cent in February.

It brought average inflation for the first seven months of the year down to 7.7 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

"The continuous decline of the CPI is a positive sign as it shows the government's measures to ease inflationary pressures were effective," Zhang Xiaojing, an analyst with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the official Xinhua news agency.

Beijing - Pilots serving in China's air force are banned from drinking alcohol with their lunch when at work, according to new regulations in force since Monday.

Soldiers flaunting the ban are threatened with demerit, demotion or dismissal, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The teetotal duty for officers serving in China's air force was to improve the image and the leadership of the troop, the agency reported.

Offenders are to be detected using breathalyzers set up in sentries and posts at parking lots.