THIS COLUMN doesn’t share that much with William Goldman, the acclaimed screenwriter responsible for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men and the Princess Bride.

USA 101 China 70

A BIG hi there to everyone back home! Sorry I haven’t written before, but it’s been all go here.

French fighter jets bombed two rebel-held towns in the Central African Republic today, forcing rebels to pull troops out of one of them after fighting with government forces, officials said.

Two weeks ago China basketball star Yao Ming broke his left foot while playing for the Houston Rockets of the NBA, provoking hysteria among Chinese fans fearful the 7’ 6” centre will miss September’s World Championships. Michael Moynihan found out Yao was bred to carry the hopes of the nation from communism through to the free market.

YAO Wenyuan, the final surviving member of the Gang of Four that terrorised China during the violent 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has died aged 74, the government announced yesterday.

India confirmed its first case of Sars today, a man who contracted the deadly virus after visiting Hong Kong and Singapore.

At least 25 people have been killed and more than 200 injured by a freak storm that rained egg-sized hail down on central China.

Four Chinese academics and two other people convicted of using the internet to spread material from the banned Falun Gong movement have been jailed for terms of up to 12 years, a human rights organisation says.