SRINAGAR (India) - GOVERNMENT forces fired rubber bullets and swung batons on Tuesday at Muslims protesting the deaths of two young women whom locals say were raped and killed by Indian soldiers.

Thirty people were injured, including five who were hospitalised after being shot in Srinagar, the main city in the Indian portion of Kashmir, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to reporters.

BEIJING - THREE company executives were sentenced to prison for dumping arsenic-laced waste into a lake in southwest China, in a sign that industrial pollution is being taken more seriously.

BEIJING - CHINESE President Hu Jintao on Tuesday gave visiting US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner his stamp of approval, as Beijing pledged to work with Washington to battle the global financial crisis.

Mr Geithner met with Hu and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on the final day of a whirlwind visit aimed at winning Chinese cooperation on tackling the downturn, and reassuring Beijing that its massive investment in US bonds is safe.