Beijing - As millions of migrant workers return to the countryside after losing their jobs with export-oriented factories, China is grappling with how to rebalance the economy to help the 900 million people living in underdeveloped inland areas.

"China's economy has slowed down together with the world economy, and its impact on our rural economy is deepening," Wei Chao'an, a vice agricultural minister said during China's annual parliament in March.

Washington - US officials on Tuesday rejected calls from China and Russia for the international community to shift towards a global reserve currency that could replace the dollar.

At a congressional hearing in Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said they opposed the idea that was floated by China's central bank head earlier Tuesday.

Beijing  - A Beijing court has upheld a two-year prison sentence for a rights activist without holding an open appeal hearing or considering vital evidence not presented at her trial, her husband said Tuesday.

The court notified an attorney for Ni Yulan that it had rejected her appeal of a prison sentence passed in December for "obstructing public business," her husband, Dong Jiqin, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Beijing - Chinese and South Korean officials met on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to North Korea's planned rocket launch next week, the Chinese government and South Korean media said.

Wi Sung Lac, South Korea's chief envoy at talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

Beijing - China has launched a crackdown on illegal guns, the government said on Tuesday, as police continued door-to-door searches for the murderer of a soldier in a city notorious for gun trafficking and other organized crime.

The six-month nationwide crackdown is designed to "ensure social stability" by confiscating illegal weapons, preventing gun-related crime and imposing closer supervision over the use of guns, the Ministry of Public Security said.

Beijing, Mar. 24 : China, which is the world''s only major country without an aircraft carrier, is planning to discard this tag, if Defense Minister Liang Guanglie is to be believed.

"China''s navy is currently rather weak, so we need to develop an aircraft carrier," the China Daily quoted Liang, as saying.

The high-ranking official was reportedly responding to a question put forward by his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada during their meeting in Beijing.