London, November 1 : A Chinese research team has moved a step closer to realising flat speakers that will be much cheaper than the existing ones, for they have found that sheets made of carbon nanotubes behave like a loudspeaker when zapped with a varying electric current.

Shoushan Fan and his colleagues at Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University have become the research team to study the acoustic properties of nanotubes.

For their study, the researchers created a think sheet by roughly aligning many 10-nanometer-diameter carbon nanotubes.

Taipei - Taipei is filling up potholes, removing the sensitive Taiwanese national flags from roadsides and holding police drills to prepare for next week's Taiwan-China dialogue.

Hundreds of policemen are combing each floor of the Grand Hotel, venue of the November 3-7 dialogue, and its surrounding hills to check for bombs and security gaps.

The island will mobilize 7,000 policemen to maintain order and assign 40 bodyguards to protect Chinese negotiator Chen Yunlin's safety. Chen will arrive on November 3 leading a 60-member delegation.

The dialogue will be the most important talks between Taiwan and China in a half century. President Ma Ying-jeou called it a milestone in Taiwan-China ties.

Beijing - Severe snowstorms have left at least nine people dead and trapped hundreds in China's Tibet region, state media said on Saturday.

Rescuers had evacuated 1,892 people in the worst-hit counties of Lhunze and Cuona in Tibet's Shannan district and were trying to reach some 250 people still trapped by heavy snowfall, the semi-official China News Service said.

Most of the nine people who died had either frozen to death or were hit by falling buildings brought down by the weight of snow, other reports said.

The worst-hit areas reported snow lying an average of 1.5 metres deep after heavy snow fell for 36 hours continuously earlier this week, the official China Daily said.

Taipei - Taiwan Friday opened its 2008 Taipei International Travel Fair with the aim of attracting more foreign and Chinese tourists.

Sixty-two countries and regions have set up 1,206 booths at the four-day fair with Chinese exhibitors occupying 256 booths, nearly four times more than the second-largest exhibitor, Japan, with 69.

China sent a 290-strong delegation to the Taipei World Trade Centre, hoping to boost its own tourism.

Beijing - The global economic crisis is expected to slow China's economy down from previous double-digit growth rates to 9.8 per cent in 2008, Chinese officials said Friday.

After a significant slowdown in the third quarter, caused by the economic crisis, China's economy grew 9.9 per cent in the first nine months of the year, less than expected, China's State Information Centre was quoted as saying by the China Daily newspaper.

The effects of the crisis were expected to increase gradually, the centre said, adding that China's economic planners will have to concentrate on ensuring rapid and stable growth in 2009.