A 71-year-old grandmother has become a local celebrity in China for her valiant efforts to control traffic at a busy pedestrian crossing.

WELSH side Ospreys could suffer a Magners League points deduction as the fallout continues from their request to postpone a rescheduled match with Ulster.

Soldiers blew up wooden houses and other debris today in a lake formed by China’s deadly earthquake to speed the flow of water into a diversion channel and ease the threat of flooding for more than 1 million people in the sprawling disaster zone.

DUBLIN-based Treasury Holdings yesterday announced a €1.2 billion joint venture to develop a 900-acre island site off the coast of China.

THE World Health Organisation lifted its travel warning against Beijing yesterday, giving a clean bill of health to the capital of the nation where the SARS outbreak began.

Struggling to contain Sars, Beijing officials sealed off a third hospital today, closed college dormitories and ordered 4,000 people who might have been exposed to the killer virus to stay at home under quarantine.

A six-year-old Singaporean girl is believed to be the youngest person admitted to Mensa.