BEIJING - CHINA must push job creation as an even higher priority in setting economic policy, the government said on Tuesday, laying down rules for employers and officials to discourage potentially volatile sackings.

The directive from China's State Council, or cabinet, was issued on the government website, and is Beijing's latest step in a campaign against faltering growth, rising joblessness, and signs of growing discontent.

HONG KONG - THE badly decomposed remains of a third suspected immigrant have washed up in Hong Kong, police said on Tuesday.

Marine police officers pulled the man from the sea on Monday, hours after the grisly discovery of another body on a beach in the north-east of the southern Chinese territory, police told AFP.

KATMANDU - THE personal assistant of Nepal's prime minister was shot and wounded outside his apartment and remained hospitalised on Tuesday.

Shakti Bahadur Basnet was shot by a group of attackers as he got out of his car on Monday night. He was rushed to a hospital and was still being treated, a police statement said.