WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama is 'deeply concerned' over the sentencing of two US journalists by North Korea and his government is using 'all possible channels' to obtain their release, The White House said early on Monday.

'The president is deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release,' White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters.

BEIJING - CHINA on Monday strongly condemned the honour given to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Paris, saying it was a 'grave interference' in Sino-French ties.

TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S exports in May fell 31.4 per cent from a year earlier, but the rate of slowdown eased, in a sign the vital overseas marketplace might be improving, the government said.