It was his grandmother and father who instilled the value of money in Dublin entrepreneur Brian Lee — he insists those life lessons serve him well to this day as his Freshly Chopped health food brand expands throughout the country.

BlackBerry sales fall short of estimates

Australia will get its fifth prime minister in eight years after the ruling Liberal Party voted out Tony Abbott in favour of long-time rival Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support.

Video games have long attracted both devotion and scorn. A new book explores this parallel universe many can’t resist, writes Noel Baker.

Divers have pulled three people alive from inside a capsized cruise ship in China and are searching for other survivors, state media said.

Six inmates led by a mob boss died by suicide at a prison in Taiwan after a failed break-out attempt in which they seized weapons and held a warden and guards hostage.

Two staff members of a Sydney cafe have revealed how they plotted to stab a gunman who held them hostage during a 16-hour siege in December.

Ten construction workers were killed and four others injured when scaffolding collapsed at one of Beijing’s most prestigious high schools, Chinese officials said.

BlackBerry’s turnaround is gaining momentum after demand for chief executive John Chen’s first major new device outstripped supply and the company reported a smaller loss than estimated.

BlackBerry has posted a loss of $207m for the second quarter just days after the embattled company launched a new phone.

A man with a knife killed three children and wounded five more and a teacher in a primary school in China, on the first day of a new term after the summer holidays.

Bad news: Discarded car batteries contain a potential source of lead pollution.

From religious extremists wielding knives in train stations to crowded buses being set on fire, attacks in public places in China have led to security fears on the mainland.

BlackBerry Ltd, pushing further into security services, has agreed to buy Secusmart GmbH, a provider of anti-eavesdropping technology whose clients include German officials such as Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A married couple from Kildare who allowed their rented home to be used as a brothel have been spared jail after a judge suspended their sentences.

A man in China's Zhejiang province checked into hospital after experiencing stomach aches and blood in his urine.

A man with a kitchen knife has killed a one-year-old boy and injured two other children in the southern Chinese city of Zhongshan near Hong Kong, police said.

But there's one catch - they'll have to listen to him sing.

Yellowbird’s legacy is a bright ray of light in the bleak Chinese political landscape, writes Melinda Liu.

The father of one of the victims of British-born gunman Elliot Rodger has pleaded with politicians to take action on gun control as the dead were honoured at a memorial service.

Gardaí arrested four people and brought them to Cork District Court yesterday on various charges arising out of the seizure at the weekend of €600,000 worth of cannabis plants growing at an industrial unit in South Link business park.

The gardeners used by organised gangs to tend to cannabis crops are often little more than “slaves” who usually have to live in squalid conditions.

A Chinese tycoon said he is serious about buying The New York Times and wants to work on “rebuilding its credibility and influence” by reforming its award-winning coverage of China.

Smartphone maker BlackBerry has abandoned its bid to sell itself and is replacing its chief executive.

BlackBerry Ltd, coping with the collapse of a $4.7bn buyout by Fairfax Financial Holdings, will raise $1bn in convertible bonds and seek a new chief executive officer for the struggling company.

A Chinese city plans to fine mothers who have a child out of wedlock, sparking criticism that the policy is discriminatory and could lead to an increase in abandoned babies.

MARCH

A Chinese farmer has faced a barrage of criticism after it emerged he keeps his 100-year-old mother in a pigsty.

A five-storey home that stood in the middle of a new main road in China has been demolished by authorities.

Chinese leaders may spare a politician’s wife the death penalty for killing British businessman Neil Heywood, fearing it might incite public sympathy, analysts said today.

China’s Chen Roulin successfully defended her Olympic women’s 10-metre platform at the Aquatics Centre tonight.

A farmer claims he has spent two years cycling from China to London to watch the Olympics.

China again wrote most of the headlines on the second day of Olympic competition at Wembley Arena.

A blind Chinese legal activist who was suddenly allowed to leave the country arrived in the US, ending a nearly month-long diplomatic tussle that had tested US-China relations.

A blind Chinese activist was hurriedly taken from a hospital today and boarded a plane that took off for the United States, closing a nearly month-long diplomatic tussle that had tested US-China relations.

A blind Chinese activist whose escape from a rural village set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington said today that he was at an airport waiting to leave for the United States.

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng said today the Chinese government has promised him it will investigate abuses he and his family suffered at the hands of local authorities.

The US and China have forged the outlines of a deal to end a diplomatic stand-off over legal activist Chen Guangcheng, with Beijing saying he can apply to go abroad for study and Washington saying he has been offered an American fellowship.

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study abroad, China’s Foreign Ministry said today.

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng now wants to leave China with his family, the US said today.

US officials have said they are still trying to help a blind Chinese activist who says he fears for his family's safety, and denied he was pressured to leave the American Embassy to resettle inside China.