The US space agency has said it wil

The US space agency has said it will allow Chinese scientists to attend an astronomy conference in California next month, reversing an earlier ban.

Nasa put the earlier ban down to a misinterpretation of its policy on foreign nationals.

Chinese officials had called the rejection of Chinese scientists' applications a form of discrimination.

The event for scientists who research planets beyond the solar system will be held at Ames Research Center.

The bar on Chinese scientists, revealed earlier this month, was prompted by new counter-espionage legislation restricting foreign nationals' access to Nasa facilities, Nasa spokesman Allard Beutel told the BBC.

The conference will be attended by US and international researchers who work on Nasa's Kepler space telescope programme.