Ousted politician Bo Xilai recanted a confession of bribery when prosecutors alleged he used his wife and son to help collect more than €2.9m in illicit funds as he stood trial in China’s biggest political scandal in decades.

A US citizen sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for what North Korea has described as hostile acts against the state started life at a “special prison” today, state media said.

An American detained for nearly six months in North Korea has been sentenced to 15 years of “compulsory labour” for unspecified crimes against the state.

A Cork-based architecture firm has beaten stiff European and international competition to land the tender to design a major new twin-tower 40-floor mixed-use development to be built in the north-eastern Chinese city of Dalian.

Extremely high pollution levels shrouded eastern China for the second time in two weeks today, forcing airlines in Beijing and elsewhere to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting government warnings for residents to stay indoors.

DES BISHOP is moving to the other side of the world.

Four Irish seafood companies have pooled their resources to set up Jade Ireland Seafood Ltd, a joint venture with an office based in Shanghai, China.

Seafood companies Atlanfish and Rockabill Shellfish have joined forces to target exports to China with their new brand Atlantic Gold.

Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and will face corruption and other criminal charges.

Firefighters fought for three hours to put out a blaze today at a major petrochemical refinery in the north-eastern Chinese city of Dalian, the second fire in two months at the facility, police and the company said.

Strong waves caused by approaching tropical storm Muifa are threatening to hit a chemical plant in China, raising fears of a toxic chemical spill, the state media news agency said today.

NEXT THURSDAY is the first day of the 4,709th year of the Chinese calendar.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in China today for talks with leaders, amid growing energy co-operation between the neighbours.

A STRONG delegation from Cork will take over the Ireland pavilionat the World Expo in China tomorrow to promote the city on the world stage.

THE first details have emerged on the cause of China’s largest reported oil spill as environmentalists urged the government to do more to warn locals of potential dangers.

The first details emerged today on the cause of China’s largest reported oil spill as environmentalists urged the government to do more to warn locals of potential dangers.

CHINA’S largest reported oil spill emptied beaches along the Yellow Sea as its size doubled yesterday, while cleanup efforts included straw mats and frazzled workers with little more than rubber gloves.

Foreign Minister Micheal Martin will meet with Irish business leaders in China today as part of a five-day visit to the country.

Minister for State Billy Kelleher was in China today for the start of a week-long trade visit involving 13 Irish companies and high-level political and business meettings in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Cengdu.

The floodlit cream shells of the famed Opera House dimmed today as Sydney became the world’s first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

Three more Chinese brands of eggs containing melamine have been identified as a local authority admitted that officials knew about the contamination for a month before it was publicly disclosed.

A Chinese company has issued an apology to consumers in Hong Kong, where food safety regulators found excessive levels of the industrial chemical melamine in eggs sold by the firm.

THE MD-82 plane that crashed in Madrid is part of the MD 80 series commonly seen in Irish airports. The aircraft series is regarded by industry watchers as having a good safety record.

Chinese rescuers were using boats and helicopters to search for 17 sailors missing at sea after a North Korean cargo ship sank off China’s northern coast today.

BEIJING defeated Hong Kong in a thrilling men’s All-China Gaelic Games football final at the weekend, denying the champions a unique double three-in-a-row.

An airliner that crashed in northern China exploded seconds after take-off and “broke into flaming fragments” before plunging into an ice-covered lake, killing 54 people, but investigators found no evidence of terrorism, reports said today.

A Chinese woman killed in Northern Ireland was identified by dental records from her homeland, it emerged today.

A Chinese woman murdered in north Belfast has finally been identified two months after she was killed, police confirmed today.

Volkswagen AG, the biggest foreign carmaker in China, said it plans to open three new factories in China, part of its €5.9bn expansion to double production in the world’s third-biggest automotive market.

Chinese activists have been forced to leave their homes and placed under watch by authorities two days before the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, a human rights group said today.

Gas leaking from a ruptured pipe in north-eastern China killed seven people and sent 41 others to the hospital, government newspapers and a local official said.

Rescuers are today searching for survivors after a Chinese plane carrying 112 people crashed into the sea near its destination in the port city of Dalian.

An airliner with 112 people on board crashed into the sea off the north east coast of China tonight after the captain reported a fire in the cabin.

A Chinese airliner with 112 people on board crashed into the sea off the north east of the nation tonight.

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin travelled to China today for a holiday and medical treatment based on traditional Chinese medicine.