Australian league player denies biting opponent’s penis

Lavish weddings, fancy holidays and lunchtime wine on the public purse were among corrupt perks that have led China’s ruling Communist Party to discipline 2,290 officials so far in a crackdown aimed at addressing public anger.

Samco Agricultural Manufacturing in Limerick has signed a deal to bring its cutting-edge corn silage system to China.

At least 13 people have been killed and 43 injured in an explosion at a chemical plant in northern China.

The visit to Ireland of China’s pro-business vice-president Xi Jinping could mark the start of a significant increase in trade between the countries, but we must be ready to grab this golden opportunity with two hands, writes Dan Buckley

An explosion at a Chinese factory dormitory killed seven workers and injured one, the state news agency reported today.

China’s capital woke up to orange-tinted skies today as the strongest sandstorm so far this year hit the country’s north, delaying some flights at Beijing’s airport and prompting a dust warning for Seoul.

China declared a new food safety campaign today after contaminated milk products from an earlier scandal turned up repackaged in several places around the country, exposing weaknesses in the country’s promise to stop such problems from happening again.

Three dairy plant managers and one milk powder dealer in central China were arrested today for allegedly selling milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, shortly after the government launched a 10-day crackdown.

CHINA launched an emergency crackdown on contaminated milk products yesterday after they were found on sale again despite a massive scandal that poisoned hundreds of thousands of children in 2008.

China launched an emergency crackdown on contaminated milk products today after they were found on sale again despite a massive scandal that poisoned hundreds of thousands of children in 2008.

Unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres of winter crops, the Civil Affairs Ministry said.

China declared an official emergency today in eight provinces hit by a drought that has left nearly four million people without drinking water.

Lawyers for more than 200 families who claim their children fell ill or died after drinking tainted infant formula said today that they were turning to China’s highest court to sue the dairy firms responsible in a bid to receive higher compensation and lifelong treatment.

China says no other cases of bird flu have been detected in Beijing and neighbouring provinces after a woman died from the avian influenza in the capital.

China's State Council has tightened quality control regulations for the dairy industry - while authorities in Macau and Hong Kong report that several children have developed kidney stones from Chinese tainted milk.

China's health minister said today tainted milk formula had killed three babies and made 6,200 ill in a spreading scandal that prompted three additional companies - including the country's biggest dairy - to recall products.

CHINESE police arrested two brothers suspected of adding a dangerous chemical to milk that killed two babies and sickened more than 1,200 others.

Doctored baby milk has killed two children and poisoned hundreds more in China, it emerged today.

A Chinese milk company knew their product was contaminated with a dangerous chemical six weeks ago, but did nothing to remove it from shop shelves according to a major shareholder.

Remain calm, don’t fight back and try to send a text message to the police. That’s how Chinese police have advised people to respond if captured by terrorists during next month’s Olympic Games, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Stung by criticism of their pollution-ridden atmosphere, Beijing’s Olympic officials today promised the air would be clean in time for this summer’s games.

Chinese police have arrested two men suspected of stealing almost 51 million yuan (£3.3 million) from the bank where they worked as cashiers, state media said today.

Beijing plans to start building a second international airport after the 2008 Olympics, it is reported.

A northern Chinese province has closed 201 clinics in a crackdown on the illegal detection and abortion on female foetuses blamed for a worrisome imbalance in the numbers of male offspring.

Premier Wen Jiabao opened the annual session of China’s figurehead parliament today with promises of massive new social spending to placate the poor, restive countryside and said the sizzling economy will slow this year but should still grow by 8%.

The death toll from a massive methane gas explosion at a north China coal mine today rose to 87 with 21 workers still missing, the government said.

A coal mine blast in northern China left at least 54 workers dead and another 22 missing, the government said today.

An explosion tore through a mine in northern China today, leaving at least 123 workers missing, the government said.

A cave-in at a gypsum mine in northern China killed 27 workers and trapped 20 others, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today.

Seven priests of China’s underground Roman Catholic Church have been detained for attending an unauthorised retreat following the election of the new Pope, a US-based monitoring group said today.

FROM Beijing’s old official churches to underground congregations in the countryside, China’s Catholics were marking the burial of Pope John Paul II despite an official blackout on the ceremony.

A blast ripped through a fireworks factory in northern China, killing 29 people and injuring at least 141, state media reported today.

Hundreds of people have been advised to go into quarantine, after health chiefs announced a new cluster of 20 or more possible SARS cases in Toronto.

While China was confident about beating SARS, the outbreak worsened in Taiwan, and the US said it would back the island’s disease-fighting efforts by pushing its bid today for status in the World Health Organisation – something opposed by Beijing.

Six people in northern China have been jailed for inciting riots and using violence to stop anti-SARS work, state newspapers reported today, part of a government campaign to force compliance with disease-control restrictions.

The majority of the SARS outbreaks around the world are coming to an end, the World Health Organisation has said, as Singapore announced fears of a SARS outbreak at a mental hospital were unfounded, leaving it on track to declare its epidemic under control.

Scientists in Germany say an experimental drug for the common cold might also serve against SARS, while thousands of Chinese turn to the occult to ward off the disease as it enters China’s vulnerable countryside.

THE global death toll from SARS passed 500 yesterday after China reported five more deaths from an illness the government is trying desperately to stop spreading out of control in the countryside.

EUROPEAN Union health ministers have backed away from a proposal to screen travellers from areas affected by the SARS virus after taking advice from a senior UN health official.

At least 27 people have died in two explosions at a coal mine in the northern Chinese province of Hebei.

Two coal mine accidents in northern China have killed up to 15 people and left 11 trapped.