Beijing, Oct 7 : At least nine people were killed and many injured in a powerful earthquake that jolted a county near Lhasa, the capital of southwest Tibet Autonomous Region, last evening.

The death toll is expected to be much higher as at least 147 houses reportedly collapsed in Yangyi village and others in a neighboring county.

Beijing  - An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale hit China's Tibet Autonmous Region on

Beijing  - Tourism revenue fell by nearly 40 per cent in China's Tibet region over the week-long National Day holiday because of rioting and unrest in the region earlier this year, state media said on Monday.

The number of tourist arrivals fell by 36 per cent year-on-year to 257,000 during the one-week holiday, which ended on Sunday, the government's Xinhua news agency quoted a regional tourism official as saying.

Only 110,900 tourists stayed overnight in the region, down 41.5 per cent from last year, the agency said.

Beijing  - Shares on China's main stock market lost more than 5 per cent of their value on Monday, dragged down by banking stocks, on the first day of trading after the one-week National Day holiday.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, fell by 120.05 points, or 5.23 per cent, to end the day at 2,173.74.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index also lost about 4.5 per cent of its value on Monday.

Tokyo  - Chemical tests in Japan have confirmed that a Chinese-produced chocolate containing the chemical melamine was imported into Japan, local media reported Sunday, adding that the government in the city of Osaka has called on the importer NS International to recall the sweets from markets.

According to the reports, shopowners throughout Japan had already removed the product "Chocolate Pillows" from their shelves. NS International since January had imported around 798,000 packages of the sweet, which was produced in Shanghai, China.

Hong Kong - Around 200 people marched through Hong Kong on Sunday calling for a minimum wage to protect low-paid workers in the wealthy former British colony.

The marchers, organized by a group called the People's Alliance for Minimum Wage, said they wanted to see an immediate minimum wage of 33 Hong Kong dollars (4.24 US dollars) an hour.

Holding up banners and chanting slogans, they presented a petition at Central Government Offices calling on Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang to set a timetable for the minimum wage as soon as possible.