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.

Nicky Butt has accepted the offer of a three-month contract with Hong Kong outfit South China.

FORMER Newcastle and Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt could be set to come out of retirement after accepting an offer to train with Hong Kong side South China.

A PREGNANT woman in south China was beaten and forced to have an abortion just a month before her due date because the baby would have violated the one-child limit, her husband said yesterday.

A pregnant woman in south China was beaten and forced to have an abortion just a month before her due date because the baby would have violated the one-child limit, her husband said today.

NOTHING projects American global air and sea power more vividly than supercarriers.

MAY I request your readers’ assistance in relation to a remarkable Irishman whose biography I am writing.

Harry Redknapp has denied reports that Tottenham have submitted a bid for Newcastle defender Sebastien Bassong, although admitted the defender is a player he is interested in.

South China 2 Tottenham 0

ALMOST 10,000 Uighurs involved in deadly riots in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region went missing in one night, an exiled Uighur activist has said yesterday, calling for an international investigation.

Thaksin Shinawatra will demonstrate his softer side today by donating Manchester City's match fee for an exhibition fixture in Hong Kong to the victims of the China earthquake.

Claudio Ranieri leapt to the defence of embattled Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson in Hong Kong today – and the Italian insists the Swede can lift the Blues into the Premier League’s top four.

Manchester City have arrived in Hong Kong for the second leg of their end-of-season Asian tour.

Manchester City will join Italian club Juventus to face Hong Kong treble winners South China in two exhibition matches in Hong Kong next month.

David Beckham netted twice from the spot but the Los Angeles Galaxy’s three-match Asian tour ended on a losing note with a penalty shoot-out defeat to a South China Invitational side at Hong Kong Stadium.

Fulham 4 South China 1

SKIPPER Steven Gerrard is confident Rafael Benitez’s summer spending spree will see Liverpool mount a concerted title challenge this season.

Chinese doctors separated a set of twin girls who shared parts of their hearts, livers and intestines, state media reported today.

A crocodile shot to death in south China during a search for a missing nine-year-old boy was found to contain the child’s remains, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl was bitten to death by a tiger at a south China zoo after posing for a picture with the animal, state media said yesterday.

A six-year-old girl was bitten to death by a tiger at a south China zoo while posing for a picture with the animal, state media said today.

A tour bus in the wrong lane on a road in south China ploughed into another oncoming bus, killing 13 passengers and injuring 75.

The death toll from Tropical Storm Prapiroon rose to six in south China today as the storm weakened further into a tropical depression but continued to drench an area where 400,000 people had been evacuated.

Tropical Storm Prapiroon left five people dead in south China, official media reported today, as high winds and heavy rain lashed an area where 400,000 people had earlier been evacuated.

Surging demand for fuel in China’s southern province of Guangdong, an export-oriented manufacturing centre, has led to severe shortages of petrol and diesel, prompting officials to impose rationing, news reports said today.

A BUS was swept away by fast, muddy flood waters in south China, the latest in a string of disasters across the country where 536 people have died in floods and landslides this year.

Chinese researchers have completed a first round of testing on an experimental SARS vaccine and declared it safe.

A man in south China broke both his legs and an arm when he fell to the ground after a fast-rising kite pulled him 16ft into the air, the official Xinhua News Agency said today.

CHINA is the market of the future for Irish business, Tánaiste Mary Harney stressed yesterday.

China increased its precautions against the twin health threats of Sars and bird flu today as it entered its peak travel period ahead of the Lunar New Year.

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was likely that a major SARS outbreak in China could be prevented because the country is well prepared to tackle a re-emergence of the disease.

AT least 32 people were killed, five missing and 116 injured as Typhoon Dujuan slammed into southern China, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) experts in southern China were yesterday continuing their hunt for clues to the origin of a mysterious and deadly flu-like illness that has killed more than 80 people worldwide.

A man suspected to be suffering from the new pneumonia virus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was today being treated in a Dublin hospital.

SUSPECTED cases of a mystery bug that has spread across three continents have been reported in four European countries while there are confirmed ones in a further two.

A MAN suspected of suffering from a mystery bug that has killed nine people in three continents was being treated last night in a Dublin hospital.

Investigators have found 77 bodies after pumping out a south China tin mine that flooded, but the remains of other miners killed in the accident may still be buried, a Government spokeswoman said today.

More than 70 miners have been killed in a south China tin mine that flooded, the Communist Party’s leading newspaper confirmed today, after days of official denials.

Rescuers working round the clock to reach 21 miners trapped in a flooded Chinese coal mine say hopes of finding them alive are fading.