The 600-year-old Forbidden City is striving to become one of the world's top museums.

City ruins from China's first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty (2100 BC-1600 BC) have been discovered in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said local sources on Thursday.

Starworld Hotel & Casino, the 23rd casino in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), opened here on Thursday.

China will establish a traditional Chinese medicine service network covering both urban and rural areas up to 2010, according to a government traditional Chinese medicine development plan.

Eleven people, including women and children, have been confirmed dead following an outbreak of suspected cases of gastroenteritis in four villages in Nigeria's northwestern state of Sokoto, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported on Thursday.

The Los Angeles City Council has approved an ordinance requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons in a bid to prevent gun sales to criminals.

The Finnish government on Thursday approved an immigration policy program, which is aimed at expanding its labor force by promoting the immigration of more workers to Finland in the near future.

Traditional treasures of the study, namely, the writing brush, ink stick, ink slab and a special-type Xuan paper, the essentials for traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting, have been applied to be included into the intangible cultural heritage of the world.

Most luxury hotels in the Pudong district of China's business hub, Shanghai, are refusing to provide condoms to their guests or install condom vending machines, says a local health official.

The biological father of the Malawian child that pop-star Madonna intends to adopt has come out to criticize the country's human rights groups who have teamed up to challenge the adoption in court.