A Chinese court sentenced ousted senior politician Bo Xilai to life in jail yesterday after finding him guilty of corruption and abuse of power, a term that gives him little chance of staging a political comeback.

As show trials go, the drama featuring Bo Xilai, the once-swaggering, media-savvy former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief of Chongqing, veered anomalously into improvisation.

It’s been so hot in China that people are grilling bacon and eggs in frying pans on manhole covers, or even directly on pavements sometimes heated up to 60C.

Deposed politician Bo Xilai will go on trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power within weeks, wrapping up a festering scandal that China’s new leaders want disposed of as they cement their authority.

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.

GOOGLE has become a “political tool” vilifying the Chinese government, an official Beijing newspaper said yesterday, warning that the US internet giant’s statements about hacking attacks traced to China could hurt its business.

THE Chinese military accused the US yesterday of launching a global “internet war” to bring down Arab and other governments, redirecting the spotlight away from allegations of major online attacks on Western targets originating in China.

The Chinese military today accused the US of launching a global “internet war” to bring down Arab and other governments, turning the tables on allegations of major online attacks on Western targets originating in China.

Armed police will patrol schools in China’s capital after a farmer attacked schoolchildren with a hammer, then burned himself to death in the third classroom assault in as many days.

Health officials in China today confirmed the country’s second mainland swine flu case in a week – a student who recently returned from Canada – and stepped up screening for domestic travellers.

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy has been infected with the H5N1 virus, the Chinese health ministry said yesterday — the fourth reported bird flu case this month.

Six Chinese suspects went on trial today accused of making and selling the industrial chemical at the centre of a tainted milk scandal blamed for killing six children and making nearly 300,000 others sick.

A high-speed passenger train came off the tracks and crashed into another train in eastern China today, killing at least 66 people and injuring more than 400, a state news agency reported.

China urged its citizens to be “calm” and “rational” as nationalistic protests against French supermarket Carrefour spread today to more cities across the country.

Record-breaking rainstorms in China left 22 people dead, 142 injured and six missing, state media reported today, in the latest weather disaster to hit the country.