TimesOfIndia: Four Russians convicted for selling missile tech to China
4 Dec 2007, 0530 hrs IST,AFP
MOSCOW: A Moscow court, on Monday, sentenced four Russians between 5 and 11 years in a prison camp for selling missile technology to China, news agencies reported.
The four men were found guilty of providing China with dual-use technology that could be diverted to build missiles, a Russian news agency reported.
Igor Reshetin, a member of the Russian academy of aeronautics and president of an export firm, and three accomplices were convicted on several charges including money-laundering and embezzlement.
Russian prosecutors said the four men received more than USD two million for the technology between 1998 and 2003.
TimesOfIndia: 'Chinese President agrees to visit Japan next year'
4 Dec 2007, 0538 hrs IST,AFP
BEIJING: China's President Hu Jintao has accepted an invitation to visit Japan in early 2008, which would mark the first visit by a Chinese head of state in a decade, a Japanese spokesman said on Monday.
The invitation was extended over the weekend by visiting Japanese foreign Minister Masahiko Komura amid dramatically improving ties between the two long-time rivals.
"President Hu Jintao expressed his wish to visit Japan sometime early next year," Japan's foreign ministry spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba said.
Hu made the statement during a meeting with Komura on Monday, the spokesman said.
Komura's audience with Hu came after the two sides, on Sunday, wrapped up the largest high-level bilateral meeting between the Asian power since they re-established diplomatic ties in 1972.