Beijing - Two Tibetans have been sentenced to death by a Chinese court for starting fatal fires during riots in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa last year.

Two others were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve, and another faces life imprisonment, according to an spokesman with the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

Losang Gyaltse received the death penalty for setting fire to two garment shops in downtown Lhasa that killed a shop owner, Xinhua said.

Beijing  - Chinese President Hu Jintao and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged to strengthen bilateral ties in energy, trade, and science and technology, local media reported Wednesday.

Chavez arrived in Beijing Tuesday night for a two-day which is expected to focus heavily on oil.

Beijing - A Peking University professor apologized after hundreds protested in front of the campus against his claims that people who petition the government are mentally ill, local media reported Wednesday.

Professor Sun Dongdong was quoted in the March 23 edition of China Newsweek magazine as saying that 99 per cent of people who repeatedly petition, or make complaints to the government, are mentally ill.

Beijing  - China has called for a cautious response from the United Nations Security Council over North Korea's rocket launch at the weekend.

"Concerning resolution 1718, the UN Security Council should act carefully," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Tuesday, referring to a resolution passed after North Korea's nuclear test in 2006.

Resolution 1718 demands that North Korea does "not conduct any further nuclear test or launch a ballistic missile."

Beijing  - The Chinese government announced a three-year action plan on health care reform on Tuesday, pledging improved facilities, universal access to basic insurance and the introduction of an essential drug system.

Admitting that health care services in rural areas lag behind those in the country's cities, the government has pledged to build 2000 new county-level hospitals which adhere to national standards, and to provide each village with a local clinic.

Beijing - Tibetans are continuing small protests and a farming boycott in a closed area of south-western China known for its unrest and ethnic division, according to reports seen on Friday.

Police detained four Buddhist nuns and two other Tibetans in Sichuan province's Kardze (Ganzi) prefecture on Wednesday after they shouted slogans supporting the exiled Dalai Lama and calling for greater freedom, the pro-Tibetan independence website phayul. com reported.