Beijing - A court in China's Tibet Autonomous Region has sentenced eight Tibetan monks to between five years and life in prison after convicting them of bombing a local government office, the London-based Free Tibet Campaign said on Tuesday.

The group identified the eight monks from the Thangkya (Tongxia) monastery in Tibet's Gyanbe township and said they were sentenced on September 23 after a secret trial by the court in Chamdo prefecture.

Beijing  - China's central bank on Tuesday reported that the nation's foreign exchange reserves had soared to a record 1.91 trillion dollars by the end of September, fuelled partly by a large trade surplus.

The latest total of foreign exchange reserves was up 33 per cent from September 2007, following the addition of 377.3 billion dollars to the reserve in the past year, the People's Bank of China said.

China's foreign exchange holdings jumped by 21.4 billion dollars last month alone, the bank said.

China reported reserves of 1.53 trillion dollars at the end of last year, up 48 per cent from 2006.

Beijing  - China's main stock market index plunged by nearly 3 per cent Tuesday despite an Asian regional rally spurred by bank bail-out deals.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies on the larger of the mainland exchanges, lost 2.71 per cent to end the day at 2,017.32, down 56.25 points.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index also lost nearly 2 per cent of its value after both markets made initial gains in the morning session.

Only 217 shares traded on Tuesday rose, with 1,373 falling and 120 unchanged, state media said.

New Delhi, Oct 14 : The Sixth Council meeting of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) will begin here tomorrow.

This is for the first time that the council meeting is being organised outside its headquarter in China.

India being chair of the council session is hosting the Sixth Council Session. This meeting will provide guidance for future thrust of INBAR activities. INBAR has 34 member countries at present, which include 13 in Africa, 10 in Asia, 10 in America and one in Oceania.

Islamabad - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday left for Beijing to garner economic and commercial assistance as the security situation along the Afghan border undermines the country's relations with the United States.

The four-day visit is Zardari's first official bilateral visit since his election to the presidency in September. However, he had already met US President George W Bush on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session last month.

Beijing - As house sales and prices tumble in China amid heightened uncertainty brought by the global financial turmoil, millions of would-be first-time buyers are locked in a standoff with giant, government-backed property developers.

"Developers expect the government to save the market and loosen the control of property loans," said Zhou Fan, chairman of the Zuoyou Real Estate Consultancy, based in the southern city of Guangzhou.

"Consumers expect the government not to take measures and think prices are still too high," Zhou told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Many buyers are waiting for an expected fall in property prices, depriving the developers of the advance cash they need to fund some larger projects.