Eleven elderly people were killed when an angry resident set fire to a nursing home in north-eastern China today, local authorities said.

Claims that Chinese-made drug capsules containing powdered remains of dead babies are being smuggled into South Korea are to be investigated again.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was in China today on a visit to a school - his second appearance in the country this year.

FOR 33 men found alive after 17 days trapped deep in a copper and gold mine, the toughest challenge now may be preserving their sanity during the months it may take to carve a tunnel big enough for them to get out.

Rescuers reinforced a lifeline to 33 miners trapped deep underground today, ready to keep them supplied with food, water and medicine during the four months it may take to dig them out.

Police say a man suspected of being mentally ill stabbed a pedestrian to death and injured 11 other people in north-eastern China before officers shot and killed him today.

Seven construction workers were killed when a lift fell 14 storeys at a building site in north-eastern China.

Patients leapt from the windows of a four-storey hospital in northeastern China to escape a fire that killed at least 39 people, the government said today.

China is considering building a dam to reduce the impact of a river-borne toxic spill expected to arrive in a Russian city early next week, a government newspaper said today.

RUNNING water was restored in the Chinese city of Harbin yesterday after a chemical spill forced a five-day shutdown, but officials warned it was not immediately safe to drink.

A series of explosions rocked a chemical plant in north-eastern China today.

Flooding and landslides in areas throughout China have killed 536 people over the past two weeks, forcing the evacuation of 1.4 million and making this one of the deadliest summer rainy seasons in a decade, the government said today.

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

A fire swept through a department store in north-eastern China today, killing 51 people and injuring dozens more.

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.