Washington, August 30: Almost 10 per cent of elephants have been killed in Congo's troubled Virunga National Park by armed groups, soldiers, and poachers, allegedly driven by rising Chinese demand for ivory.

Surveys carried out in the 1960s found 2,889 elephants in the park. By 2006 that number had dropped to 400. Just two years later, it's estimated there are as few as half that number.

Hong Kong  - A surge in Macau's population spurred by the boom in its casino industry is bringing increasing growing pains to the Chinese territory, government officials said Friday.

According to official statistics, the population of the former Portuguese colony, already the most densely populated place in the world, rose by 4.98 per cent in the 12 months ending in June and now stands at 551,900.

The Statistics and Census Bureau forecast the population would continue to grow by 4.6 per cent a year and reach 644,000 residents by 2011.

Government experts said the rise is because of an increase in imported labour flooding Macau to man its casinos and hotels and not an increase in births.

Hong Kong - China's Olympic gold medalists were given a heroes welcome Friday when they arrived in Hong Kong for a three-day programme of sell-out events and celebrations.

The 100-strong delegation of athletes and medalists were met by Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang and more than 100 cheering schoolchildren.

The delegation includes gymnast Yang Wei and diver Guo Jing-Jing, who was quizzed by journalists on her arrival over rumours that she would be moving to Hong Kong.

A report in a Chinese newspaper claimed Guo, who won four gold medals at the Beijing Summer Games this month, is to marry a Hong Kong resident and would obtain her residency, allowing her to compete for Hong Kong in 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Beijing - China on Friday confirmed that two police officers were stabbed to death and five others were injured during the latest in a series of attacks in the restive Central Asian region of Xinjiang.

The officers were "investigating a previous case" when they were ambushed by attackers who were hiding in a cornfield on Wednesday night in Xinjiang's Jiashi county, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying.

Police were investigating the attack, the agency said without giving any further details.

Beijing, Aug. 29: Shanghai will open the world's third-tallest skyscraper to the public tomorrow, 14 years after the project began.

Total investment in the 101-story, 492-meter-high landmark project, located in Pudong's Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, amounts to over eight billion Yuan (1.16 billion U. S. dollars).

According to Xinhua, its owner, Minoru Mori, Japan's biggest private real estate developer, has said that the building has been completed on time and will be called the Shanghai World Financial Center.

Beijing  - Two Chinese paramilitary police were killed in a clash with Uighurs in the restive Central Asian region of Xinjiang, leading to the arrest of at least 20 people, Uighur activists said Thursday.

Two officers were seriously injured and several others were hurt in the clash that occurred Wednesday in Xinjiang's Jiashi city, about 100 kilometres east of China's westernmost city of Kashgar, Dilxat Raxit of the German-based World Uyghur Congress said in a statement.

More than 20 Uighurs were detained after the clash, Raxit quoted witnesses as saying.

A hospital employee in Jiashi county confirmed the clash had taken place but declined to give details on the number of casualties while local police refused to comment.