A Chinese lawyer has been jailed for seven years in the third in a series of subversion trials demonstrating the ruling Communist Party's determination to silence independent human rights activists and government critics.

ENGLAND: Three men are being questioned on suspicion of theft after police spotted some sheep being transported through the suburbs in the back of a people carrier.

Police arrested the maverick founder of China’s largest online finance business on suspicion of fleecing 900,000 investors of $7.6bn (€6.9bn), in what could be the biggest financial fraud in Chinese history.

As a university student, Zhang Ching was captivated by the idealism and passion of the young teacher who taught her philosophy class.

Huge blasts at a warehouse for hazardous chemicals has killed at least 50 people and turned nearby buildings into skeletal shells in the Chinese port of Tianjin.

A former chief librarian at a Chinese university admitted in court to stealing more than 140 paintings by grandmasters in a gallery under his watch and replacing them with fakes he painted himself.

Rescuers fought bad weather yesterday as they searched for more than 400 people, many of them elderly Chinese tourists, missing after a cruise boat capsized on the Yangtze River.

Ireland’s James McGee defied cramp and missed opportunities to defeat Zhang Ze and qualify for the main draw of the US Open.

Yin Min held the ashes of her son and wept as she marked 25 years since he was killed in the crackdown by Chinese tanks and troops on protests at Tiananmen Square.

Beijing is blanketed in heavy security today, the 25th anniversary of the bloody military suppression of pro-democracy protests centred on Tiananmen Square.

China detained another activist amid intense efforts to suppress commemorations of next week’s 25th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

A Tibetan mastiff puppy has been sold in China for almost €1.4m, a report said, in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever.

Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and his wife have paid more than $1.2m in fines for having three children in violation of China’s strict family planning rules.

Chinese authorities have been challenged by the European Parliament to halt the systematic killing of political prisoners and the harvesting of their organs for profit.

Irish interest at the Carlton Irish Open in Baldoyle ended last night when Chloe Magee went out to Chinese-American Beiwan Zhang in straight sets.

Chinese film director Zhang Yimou is being sued by two lawyers for breaking China’s one-child policy, in what they are calling a protest against rich people flouting the rules.

A man got his arm stuck down a toilet while trying to retrieve his wedding ring.

Chinese authorities suspect the woman who gouged out a six-year-old boy’s eyes was his aunt who later took her own life, state media said, adding a surprising twist to a gruesome case with conflicting details.

Chinese authorities suspect that a woman who gouged out a six-year-old boy’s eyes was his aunt who later killed herself.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it, according to the legendary investor Warren Buffet.

A young Chinese woman who has been living in Ireland for almost eight years, is facing deportation — all because of a shopping day-trip to Belfast.

A woman who became a symbol for the groundswell of opposition to China’s labour camp system scored a rare victory in an appeal for compensation in a case that generated a huge public outcry.

A Beijing woman had allegedly been using a fake baby bump to get a seat on the train.

A Chinese school only has one teacher and one pupil.

World stock markets rose today after talks over Greece’s financial crisis ended with an agreement on how to reduce its debt load.

Miguel Angel Jimenez gave himself another chance to become the European Tour’s oldest-ever winner when he began the UBS Hong Kong Open with a five under par 65 today.

WORKS by Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), top selling artist at auction in the world last year, will come under the hammer at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in Oct 5-9.

China sentenced the wife of fallen Politburo member Bo Xilai to death yesterday but suspended her execution — setting the stage for a possible final purge of Bo himself in a scandal that has shaken Beijing ahead of a leadership transition.

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.

A Chinese court will deliver a verdict on Monday in the trial of ousted politician Bo Xilai’s wife, accused of killing a British businessman.

The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai lured a British businessman to a hotel in Chongqing, where she got him drunk and fed him poison, one of China’s highest-profile murder trials in years heard.

The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai lured a British businessman to a hotel in the south-western mega-city of Chongqing, where she got him drunk and fed him poison, according to testimony today in one of China’s highest-profile murder trials in years.

China made badminton headlines for the right reasons as Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei produced a world-class performance to claim Olympic gold at Wembley Arena.

Chinese prosecutors are charging the wife of former Chinese politician Bo Xilai and a family aide with the murder of a British businessman.

Phil Mickelson struggled from the off for a second straight year at the US Open as his opening drive was lost high up in the branches of a tree.

The 14-year-old set to become the youngest player in US Open history this week practised with Masters champion Bubba Watson yesterday.

Paul Casey has been forced to withdraw from the US Open through injury, with 14-year-old Andy Zhang taking his place in San Francisco.

Pao

In the Year of the Dragon, Amy Chua profiles four Chinese powerhouse women who bucked tradition to get rich — very, very rich

A bus taking primary school pupils home has slipped off a country road into an irrigation ditch in eastern China, killing 15 children and highlighting continuing safety problems in the country’s school transport system.

TWIN girls with a single body and two heads have been born at a hospital in China.

A high profile Chinese author is planning to spend €150,000 on plastic surgery to make himself look like William Shakespeare.