Chinese police detained at least 30 Christians belonging to an unregistered Beijing church as the congregation gathered Sunday for an Easter service, a church member said.

Almost all of the more than 150 Christians rounded up in Beijing when they tried to pray outdoors have been released, but church leaders remain under house arrest, a U.S-based rights group said Tuesday.

China's Liu Wen may not yet have the sizzling star power of Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, but she is leading a bevy of Asian beauties down the world's top catwalks — and onto global billboards.

China is slightly lowering its annual economic growth target, to 7 percent from 8 percent, the premier said Sunday, in a move that signals a shift in government priorities to put the breakneck economy on a more sustainable footing.

A sharp rise in the Chinese yuan would bankrupt businesses and leave workers jobless, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday in one of the strongest recent defenses of the country's forex policy.

China's leadership is promising to steer the economy in a new direction in its blueprint for the next five years that would empower consumers and narrow a yawning wealth gap but require politically contentious reforms.

A Chinese man in his 30s has died after a three-day gaming binge at an Internet cafe outside Beijing, during which he did not sleep and barely ate, state-run media reported Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing has refused to comment directly on calls for a so-called “Jasmine Revolution” in China but said nothing could shake the majority's desire for political stability and harmony.

Thick smog blanketing Beijing went “beyond” measurable pollution levels on Monday, the U.S. embassy said, as a Chinese official warned people to stay indoors and avoid outdoor activities.

An unexpectedly large number of drivers have applied to enter a lottery drawing that will be used this month to distribute license plates for new vehicles, making each participant's chances of winning dimmer.