http://192.168.2.6/english/20070301VOA.mp3

From the VOA News Center in Washington, I'm Frances Alonzo.

Investors dumped more Asian shares and emerging market bonds today after a large drop in China on Tuesday began a worldwide sell-off. Japan's Nikkei Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index both closed nearly 3% lower today, while the Philippine market plunged almost 8%. Shanghai stocks rebounded around 4% at today's close after a nearly 9% drop on Tuesday. In morning trading today the major European Indexes are down by 1.5% or more. Analysts are blaming the global sell-off on fears of a possible slowdown in the Chinese and US economies.

In other news, Iraqi police say a car-bomb blast in southern Baghdad has killed at least 10 people and wounded seven. Police say the explosion occurred today on a commercial street in the Bayaa neighborhood of the capital. Also, gunmen killed two brothers of a prominent Sunni Arab politician in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

North Korea asked South Korea to resume humanitarian projects as the two sides started their first high-level talks in seven months. The meeting in Pyongyang today came just weeks after North Korea agreed at six-nation talks in Beijing to begin to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for fuel oil and steps to normalize relations. At the opening of today's meeting, North Korea's negotiator suggested the two sides resume humanitarian projects. However, he did not specify, but experts say he may have been referring to South Korean transfers of food and fertilizer.

Japan and Russia have signed a wide range of agreements in conjunction with the meeting of their prime ministers in Tokyo. The accords are intended to boost Japanese investment in Russia and promote ties in business, energy, trade and investment. The Russian prime minister and the Japanese prime minister also agreed to begin talks on cooperating in nuclear energy.

India says it will boost its sluggish agricultural sector to ensure that the country's rising economy begins, brings, rather, more benefits to millions of poor people. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram promised Wednesday that the government will pay more attention to agriculture, which supports nearly two-thirds of India's billion-plus people. He says India's farm sector has grown at an average rate of less than 2.5% in recent years. That is way behind the overall economy, which is racing ahead at around 9%. Presenting the government's annual budget, Chidambaram said he hopes higher spending on the farm sector will serve twin objectives: boost the incomes of India's 115 million farming families and ensure that the country is self-sufficient in food.

"Agriculture must top the agenda of the policymakers and must hold the first charge on our resources"

The government has announced a slew of measures to raise farm production including cheaper credit, fertilizer subsidies and higher spending on irrigation and rural roads. Anjana Pasricha for VOA News, New Delhi.

And now to the latest news on China. An expert there on the country's energy says the country will have difficulty reaching its energy-reduction goals as long as its economic growth remains above 10%. Daniel Schearf has his report from Beijing.

China's booming growth has quickly made it the world's fourth-largest economy. It has also made the country the second-largest energy consumer in the world, and one of the most polluted. The government has vowed to cut energy intensity, a measure of the energy required for economic growth by 20%, and pollution by 10% by 2010. But China's National Bureau of Statistics says the country fell short of that goal last year. The Bureau said Wednesday that energy intensity fell by only 1.2% in 2006, far less than the targeted 4% per year. Yang Fuqiang is a Beijing head of Energy Foundation - a US-based private organization. Speaking to foreign journalists here Wednesday, he said China will not be able to reach its energy reduction goals unless the government slows GDP growth below the current rate.

"GDP have to be around 8 or 9%. If higher than 10%, there are no way to cut energy consumption." Last year China's economy grew by 10.7%, the fastest pace in 10 years despite repeated government efforts to slow it down. Daniel Schearf for VOA News, Beijing.

Sri Lanka's military says it has destroyed a ship suspected of transporting arms for the Tamil rebels. It comes a day after the militants shot helicopters transporting foreign diplomats.