The operators of a Cork nursing home have launched a novel scheme that they hope will be taken up nationwide whereby care home patients become penpals with school children.

China’s commerce minister took the unusual step of thanking foreign companies on national television today for donating earthquake aid, dismissing accusations spread on Chinese websites that they were doing too little.

McDonald’s has been hit with a lawsuit accusing the fast-food giant of failing to reduce fat in the cooking oil used in its French fries and other foods.