AFP - Chinese President Hu Jintao has said the country must urgently confront climate change and make it a central part of the government's development strategy, state media said Wednesday.

Reuters - The government can raise 3.81 trillion rupees ($82 billion), equal to 0.88 percent of GDP every year, in stake sales in state firms and banks in the next five years, the finance commission said.

Reuters - India and Pakistan held their first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Thursday, a meeting that is unlikely to lead to an immediate breakthrough but may help thaw relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

AP - China will grant young migrant workers more social service benefits and help them rent or buy homes in smaller cities, a government adviser said Tuesday.

AP - Twenty-three people will go on trial this week for alleged involvement in a deadly fire triggered by an illegal fireworks display that gutted a hotel at the new headquarters of China's main television network last year, a court official said Monday.

Reuters - Home Secretary G.K Pillai on Monday promised tight security for October's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, but warned that militants could target other parts of the country.