Seventeen people were killed and three were left seriously injured when a long-distance bus overturned and plunged down a deep ravine in China, state media reported.

AUTHORITIES in China rescued 30 workers with severe learning difficulties used as slaves in illegal brick factories, in the nation’s latest case of labour abuse.

An explosion at a coal mine in northern China killed at least 15 people.

Flood water kept rescuers from reaching 33 miners still trapped in a Chinese coal pit today.

Nine workers have been pulled to safety after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China, according to reports on state TV.

Rescuers were scrambling today to save 153 workers trapped after a flood swept through a coal mine in northern China, the country’s work safety agency said.

AT least 123 people were trapped underground yesterday after water gushed into a coal mine in northern China, a government agency said.

At least 92 people died and 16 are still missing after an underground explosion at a Chinese coal mine.

A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China today, killing 31 people and trapping 82 others nearly a third of a mile under ground, government authorities said.

POLICE in China have begun reuniting parents with children who were abducted by child traffickers.

Rescuers blasted through mud and debris today to try and reach 27 miners trapped after a massive landslide buried an iron ore plant and several homes in south-western China, leaving 26 people dead and dozens missing.

Rescuers wearing headlamps and oxygen backpacks carried dozens of miners to safety today after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China killed at least 74.

A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northern China today, killing at least 73 miners and trapping dozens in the still-burning shaft, an official said. It was the country’s deadliest coal mine accident in more than a year.

RESCUERS shovelled and hammered at debris yesterday searching for survivors buried under sludge, mud and mining waste in northern China after a landslide that killed at least 128 people, but hopes of finding anybody alive were fading.

Rescuers hammered at debris today searching for survivors buried under sludge in northern China after a landslide that has killed at least 128 people, but hopes of finding anybody alive were fading.

The death toll after a torrent of sludge, mud and mining waste ploughed into buildings in northern China has risen to at least 34 people, with hundreds more feared trapped in the rubble, state media reported today.

A state news agency said 21 workers are dead after an accident at a coal mine in northern China.

Hundreds of children have been sold to Chinese factories as slave labour, reports said today.

The death toll in a massive gas explosion at a coal mine in China rose to 105 today after more bodies were recovered, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

A gas blast at a mine in northern China killed at least 40 people today, with another 74 missing, state television reported.

Rescuers recovered more bodies today from a central China coal mine, bringing the death toll to 20, as thick smoke hampered efforts to reach 10 others trapped inside the mine, state media reported.

A gas explosion in a Chinese coal mine killed 19 miners and left seven missing, a government news agency said today.

Six Chinese children aged six to 10 have died of carbon monoxide poisoning after fumes from a generator seeped into their bedroom at a boarding school.

All 34 miners trapped when a fire broke out in a northern Chinese coal mine were confirmed dead after rescuers found the remaining eight bodies today, state media reported.

An underground explosion and flooding from a rain-swollen river have left at least 64 Chinese workers dead and seven others missing in separate disasters, state media reported today.

An explosion in a Chinese villager’s home has killed at least 47 people in a coal mining area that has suffered a series of deadly blasts blamed on mishandled explosives.

An explosion in a Chinese villager’s home has killed at least 43 people in a coal mining area that has suffered a series of deadly blasts blamed on mishandled explosives.

An underground flood trapped 44 miners in a coal mine in northern China, and nine mine managers were detained after apparently trying to conceal the scale of the disaster, the government said today.

An explosion at a hospital in northern China killed at least 15 people today, the government said.

The death toll in a flood in a northern Chinese coal mine has risen to 23 and five miners remained missing, the government said.

A blast at a state-owned coal mine in northern China killed 23 workers and caused 53 others to be poisoned with carbon monoxide, the government said today.

A GAS explosion at an illegal coal mine in central China killed 19 workers, the official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday.

A gas explosion at an illegal coal mine in central China killed 19 workers, the official Xinhua News Agency said today.

A mysterious blast in a residential area of a northern Chinese city killed nine people, and police suspect a resident was illegally storing coal-mining explosives in his home.

A gas blast at a coal mine in northern China killed 20 people, the government said today, shortly after an unrelated mine explosion left 30 dead and 20 missing.

An explosion in a northern Chinese coal mine caused a massive cave-in that killed 16 miners and trapped another 11 miners below ground, the government’s Xinhua News Agency reported today.

Explosives stored at a coal mine manager’s house blew up in a town in northern China, killing him and at least 10 other people, including two students at a nearby school, news reports and police said today.

An appeal by four elderly Chinese women forced to become sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two was rejected today by a court in Japan that said the current government wasn’t responsible for the atrocities committed by wartime rulers.

A stampede at an elementary and middle school in rural China killed one child and injured 25 people.

A ferryboat carrying 65 people capsized in northern China today, leaving 12 people dead and 36 missing.

A cache of homemade explosives blew up in a village in northern China, killing 16 people and knocking down 16 houses, the government said today.

New York: The euro fell against the dollar for the first day in four on speculation the European Central Bank will signal its currency’s 22% surge in the past year threatens the region’s economic recovery.

Travellers should avoid Toronto, Beijing and China’s Shanxi province because of Sars, the World Health Organisation said today.

Rescuers have found 60 bodies of miners killed in a weekend explosion at a coal mine in northern China and 12 others are missing, the official Xinhua News Agency has said.