China in touch with ROK on fishermen-guards conflicts: spokesman
China says it remains in close contact with South Korea over the conflict between Chinese fishermen and South Korean coast guards in the Yellow Sea.
A spokesperson form the Chinese Foreign Ministry says officials from the Chinese Consulate General in Gwangju have visited the fishermen that were detained after the conflict.
Monday's incident left four South Korean coast guards injured and nine Chinese fishermen detained.
Seven have already been freed.
Two others are facing charges in South Korea.

China calls on India to make joint efforts to maintain peace in border region
A Chinese spokesman has expressed hope that China and India would continue to make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability in the border regions of both countries.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Weimin made the comments in response to claims that Chinese helicopters entered Indian air space twice in March.
Liu went on that China needed to establish the facts while at the same time resolving border disputes through negotiations and consultations.

China blames U.S. export controls for trade imbalance
Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming says that the current trade imbalance between China and the US has been caused by US restrictions on exports to China.
The minister made the remarks during the ongoing China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing.
Chen stressed that the export controls for China will also be harmful to the US companies and employment.
Chen has urged the US side to stick to its pledges and in relax its export controls.
The US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the US will make timely and actual changes regarding this issue.

60 killed in Nigeria cattle market attack
There are unverified reports that at least 60 people have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a cattle market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Potiskum.
According to the police and rescue workers, the attackers locked the main gates before launching explosives into the crowded marketplace.
Police speculated that the attack may have been in revenge for the earlier killing by traders of a cattle thief.

8 al-Qaida militants killed in southern Yemen: ministry
At least 20 al-Qaida militants were killed in a two separate gun battles with the army in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan on Thursday.
The killings are the latest in recent series of clashes between Yemeni soldiers and al-Qaida insurgents in the towns of Lauder and Mudiyah.
Al Qaida have been attempting to take advantage of the year long political turmoil in the Arabian Peninsula, where the locally known Ansar al-Sharia have seized control of a number of cities in the southern provinces.

UN monitoring mission visits Syrian city
Members of the United Nations monitoring mission have visited the northwestern Syrian city of Hama.
Despite growing violence in the country, the head of the monitoring mission Robert Mood says observers are having a "calming effect" and that state forces appeared willing to cooperate with the ceasefire.
Mood says that 50 monitors are now in the country with six monitors permanently based at the Safir hotel in Homs.
Around 300 monitors will be deployed in Syria by the end of this month.

Bin Laden's last words go online
The United States has published online some of the documents seized during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year.
The documents show bin Laden's intention to kill U.S leaders, with plots to bring down airplanes carrying General David Petraeus and President Barack Obama.
The papers also revealed his frustration with the dysfunction in his militant network, as he tried to steer affiliated groups away from using al-Qaeda's name.
The documents are among the more than 6,000 seized during last year's US raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

Cabbies strike over LPG refills in NW China city
Taxi drivers in a northwestern Chinese city have gone on strike to protest against long hours of waiting for liquefied petroleum gas.
At least 3,000 taxis - around half the fleet in Lanzhou - capital of Gansu province - went on strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, demanding more LPG refill stations to meet the growing demand.
Most of the taxis resumed service on Thursday morning after the local government promised to get tank trucks in downtown areas to exclusively serve taxis.
Lanzhou has 23 LPG stations and the city is planning to build 100 more.

Chinese passports to get chipped
China will start to issue a new type of passport, which contains an electronic chip recording the holder's personal information. The new passport will be available from May 15.
The passports will contain new bio-data such security measures such as finger prints.
The ministry hopes the move will help prevent counterfeiting.
China issues 10 million passports a year, an annual average growth of 20 percent since the 1990s.