Beijing, Oct 25 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that development has to be inclusive, at his maiden speech at the 7th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM), in Beijing on Saturday.

Describing sustainable development as one of the biggest challenges of present times, Dr. Singh said a lot of cooperative work is needed to transform it from a mere buzz word to an operational strategy for development.

He said, Asia is home to the largest concentration of the world''s poor and poverty eradication at this scale requires a collaborative global effort to promote development and in particular to create job opportunities.

Taipei - Taiwan's pro-independence groups rallied tens of thousands anti-China and anti-government supporters in Taipei Saturday to protest President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China policies and the island's economic downturn.

"Opposing toxic China, defending Taiwan," the protesters shouted as they marched along the streets of the capital's bustling centre from five directions towards the Presidential Office, where they staged a demonstration against the Ma government.

Beijing - Asian and European Union leaders on Saturday committed their 43 nations to agreeing new goals on climate change by the end of next year.

The 16 Asian and 27 EU leaders issued a joint statement saying they planned to finalize a post-Kyoto Protocol deal on climate change goals to 2012 at talks in Copenhagen scheduled for December 2009.

New targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions would build on the December 2007 climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, they said, calling on developed nations to show "strong leadership".

Beijing  - Asian and European Union leaders on Saturday called for the international community to act quickly and decisively at a conference on responses to the global financial crisis next month in Washington.

"We have all understood that it would not be possible simply to meet and have a conversation," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said of the planned summit on the crisis on November 15.

New Delhi, Oct 25 : Chinese nuclear physicists have developed a new treatment for cancer that uses heavy ion beams to kill malignant tumours more than 2.1 cm below the skin''s surface.

Zhan Wenlong, the leading nuclear physicist in the country, has claimed that heavy ion beams score over light ion beams, such as gamma rays and X-rays used in traditional radiotherapies.

High ion beams can accurately moderate the amount of radiation and minimize the damage done to healthy cells, reports China Daily.

Bangkok - Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered a nationwide ban on the sale of three snack products imported from China and Malaysia after they were found to contain excessive levels of melamine, reports said Saturday.

The banned items included Chinese-made Hajuku brand strawberry cream stick biscuits, Chinese-made Koala chocolate cream biscuits and Malaysian-made Julie's peanut cream crackers, all of which contained more than the safety limit of 2.5 milligrams per kilogram, Thai News Agency reported.

FDA secretary general Pipat Yingseri ordered retailers to remove the items from their shelves nationwide.

Melamine is typically used as a bonding agent for particle board, and as a pesticide.