Irish firms looking to expand their horizons after Brexit received a boost with the pledge that the Chinese are ready to do serious business.

Rescuers were searching for at least 91 missing people a day after a mountain of excavated soil and construction waste buried dozens of buildings when it swept through an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Sunday.

Superbugs thought to have spread from animals have smashed through the last line in antibiotic defences and pose a global threat, scientists say.

China will prosecute the leader of a “cult” on charges of rape, fraud, sabotage, and other crimes, state news agency Xinhua said, as the government deepens a crackdown on illegal religious movements.

Nearly one million people have been evacuated as Typhoon Chan-hom hit the Chinese coast south of Shanghai with winds of up to 100mph.

The Hong Kong authorities began destroying 15,000 chickens at a poultry market and suspended imports from mainland China after some birds were found to be infected with bird flu.

Rescuers are searching for 11 crew members of a cargo vessel that sank after it and a container ship were involved in a collision in waters near Hong Kong.

SAVED FROM SANTA

THE New Year: when a local authority’s thoughts turn to ... “I wonder how old this area is anyway. Maybe there’s an anniversary coming up”.

China’s new home prices in December jumped by the most last year even as the country’s biggest cities tightened property controls to moderate price gains.

A powerful typhoon that slammed into southern China with winds that blew cars off the road has caused more deaths, bringing the toll in Asia to at least 33.

There is a warning a super typhoon, moving towards Hong Kong and China, could cause serious damage.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated after a powerful typhoon thundered into southern China shutting down the financial centre of Hong Kong and sinking a cargo ship.

For a moment or two, the hype appeared to be justified. After a week of marvelling at a 14-year-old qualifying for the Masters, Tianlang Guan took out his driver yesterday and swiped his opening shot in the majors straight down the middle.

A row over censorship at a Chinese newspaper has turned into a political challenge for the country’s new leadership after a series of protests.

A video of a child being crushed by a minibus and ignored by passers-by has ignited a new bout of soul-searching in China with web users asking whether ethics are slipping amid rapid change.

Asset disclosure for Chinese officials is likely to be slowly phased in over time, a senior Communist Party leader said as the government grapples with the fraught task of rooting out corruption.

Hundreds of Tibetans demonstrated in a western China town today, calling for freedom from Chinese rule.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has called for efforts to stabilise weakening exports amid signs the country’s economy is weakening despite stimulus efforts.

A tanker truck filled with petrol has collided with a truck in southern China, setting off an explosion and a massive fire that left 20 people dead and 14 others hurt, including at least two with severe burns.

“When I came over here first, I was over and back between here and Ireland, and there wasn’t a lot to do as regards having fun.

China has a stake in helping eurozone countries get through their debt crisis, said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday, pointing to Europe’s importance as a market and hinting at more possible support for beleaguered exporters.

HEALTH authorities in south China said yesterday they were investigating a hospital medical team for mistakenly diagnosing a stillbirth and disposing of a baby that was alive.

A Chinese dissident writer who was freed this week after five years in jail for alleged illegal business activities said today that he had been wrongly imprisoned and subjected to treatment “beyond people’s imagination” while in custody.

Protesters have burned police and fire department vehicles in a violent outburst of anger against the treatment of migrant workers in southern China’s manufacturing hub, eyewitnesses said.

The world’s oldest panda has died in China at the age of 34.

Worried shoppers have stripped stores of salt in Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of China in the false belief that it can guard against radiation exposure.

Car sales are expected to keep booming in China next year as it consolidates its position as the world's largest market.

China has executed a serial killer convicted of murdering 11 people, including three police officers, over the course of nearly a decade.

China’s Red Cross made an urgent nationwide appeal for blood donors today after a sudden shortage halted some surgical operations.

TYPHOON Megi has caused the deaths of at least 10 people as it roared across the country’s north and now heads for southern China, authorities in the Philippines said yesterday.

Typhoon Megi has caused the deaths of at least 10 people as it roared across the country’s north and now heads for southern China, authorities in the Philippines said today.

Typhoon Chanthu sent debris flying through the air in southern China today, bringing rain that could aggravate the country’s worst floods in a decade.

More than 1,000 people have died or disappeared in severe flooding in China so far this year, and the heaviest rains are still to come, a senior official warned today.

Massive flooding in southern China has killed 132 people and forced 860,000 to flee their homes, and more storms are on the way, the government said today.

At least five men armed with knives burst into the dormitory of a vocational college in China today and slashed nine students, one of them seriously, sparking new fears in a country on edge over a series of shocking rampages, many of them at schools.

A Chinese court sentenced a man to death today for an attack on a school that left 29 children and three kindergarten teachers hurt last month.

A KNIFE-wielding maniac has attacked a class of Chinese four-year-olds, injuring 28 children in the country’s third such rampage this month.

Thirteen people were killed in a fireworks explosion in southern China, and more than 30 were injured.

A TYPHOON pummelled China’s eastern coast yesterday, toppling houses, flooding villages and forcing nearly a million people to flee to safety.

Police have rescued 33 children and 25 women who were kidnapped in southern China by a trafficking ring.