Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, in a speech to be delivered later Sunday, is expected to discuss broadening relations with China in an attempt to forge better relations between the two countries.

Ma is to speak at Kinmen Island, a Taiwan-held islet off China's southeastern coast, while attending a rally to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kinmen Battle.

On August 23, 1958, China began to bombard Kinmen as it tried to recover Taiwan. Between August 23 and October 5, China is believed to have fired nearly half a million cannon balls on Kinmen, but failed to seize either the islet or Taiwan.

New Delhi, August 23 : Scores of Tibetan exiles on Saturday gathered in New Delhi, to protest against violation of human rights by Chinese authorities inside Tibet.

The protesters gathered at the historical site of ''Jantar Mantar'' in the Capital.

Swaying the Tibetan flag and shouting slogans like ''Free Tibet'' and ''Long Live Dalai Lama'' they tried to motivate the fellow protestors.

The police forcibly took away the four Tibetan exiles, who were sitting on hunger strike for the past few days, to the hospital.

Beijing  - Beijing will bid farewell to the Olympic family Sunday in what the closing ceremony organisers promise to be a "great, glittering party" for the record 11,249 athletes from 199 countries.

Few details of the three-hour show have been leaked. Italian music producer Georgio Moroder is known to have co-written with Chinese musician Kong Xiangdong the title song "Forever Friends".

This is due to be sung by nearly 70 pop stars from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries. Spanish tenor Placido Domingo is also due to perform a duet with Chinese soprano Song Zuying.

Beijing, Aug. 23 : The Air Pollution Index (API) in the Olympic host city has dropped by over 20 percentage points compared with the same period last year, said an official here on Saturday.

The API declined from around 80 points last year to about 56 during the Olympic Games in August, said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Bureau at a press conference.

Major air pollutants on average dropped 40 percent, with nitrogen oxide emission directly related to vehicles down by 61 percent, and inhalable particulate matters falling
40 percent, said Du.

After doing his bit in leading Jamaica to victory in 4x100 meters relay, Bolt stopped off at the 100m start-line on his victory lap and performed a forward roll over it. He did this right next to where the Australian, Steve Hooker, was preparing himself for a crucial jump-off in the pole vault. While Hooker took the Jamaican’s expression of jubilation in good spirits, the president of the International Olympic Committee did not seem to be very pleased with Bolt’s antics. He suggested earlier this week that Usain Bolt would do well in restraining his triumphal celebrations.    

Beijing - Tropical storm Nuri killed three people when it made landfall in southern China's Guangdong province, state media said Saturday.

The storm, which was downgraded to a strong tropical storm, made landfall in the province Nanlang Town, Zhongshan City, late Friday packing winds of up to force 10, or 
90 kilometres per hour, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the provincial meteorological station.