Beijing  - China on Monday said "serious differences" remained in its dialogue with the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, with little sign of progress in the most recent talks.

Talks earlier this month were "frank and sincere" but stalled on the long-standing differences between the two sides, Zhu Weiqu a vice-minister of the ruling Communist Party's United Front Work Department, told reporters.

Beijing  - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit China's remote north-western province of Qinghai on Monday, the government said.

The quake struck at 9:22 am (0122 GMT) with an epicentre in Qinghai's Haixi prefecture, an area mainly inhabited by Mongolians and Tibetans, some 700 kilometres from the nearest city, Golmud, the China Earthquake Administration reported.

The epicentre was close to the Da Qaidam salt lake at an altitude of 4,000 metres on the Tibetan Plateau, in an area with a population of about 16,000.

Be

Beijing - China on Sunday announced a major package of measures designed to stimulate domestic demand and buffer the economy against the effects of the global financial crisis.

The government would spend an estimated 4 trillion yuan (588 billion dollars) on infrastructure projects, reduce some taxes and loosen bank lending requirements, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Shanghai - Nikolay Davydenko had to overcome a late struggle from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before defeating the Frenchman 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) to start with a tight victory at the Masters Cup on Sunday.

The Russian had to sweep a third-set tiebreaker after failing to serve out victory leading 5-3 in the third, scratching through in two hours, 43 minutes.

Novak Djokovic broke his duck at the year-end spectacular, winning his first career match at the event after three 2007 losses.

The Serb overpowered Argentine Juan Del Potro 7-5, 6-3 to take the early lead in the Gold group.

Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao and US president-elect Barack Obama have discussed Taiwan and the global financial crisis by telephone, China's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Hu told Obama that bilateral relations could improve if the two sides showed respect for each other's concerns and "properly handle sensitive issues ... particularly the Taiwan issue," the ministry reported on its website.

The ministry quoted Obama as saying late Saturday that resolving the current financial crisis needed the close cooperation of every national government.

Obama said he hoped that China and the United States would strengthen cooperation at the international summit on the financial crisis and the global economy on November 15.