Seventeen coal miners have died after being trapped by a gas explosion in north-western China, state media reported.

Police in China’s restive western region shot dead 13 assailants who rammed a truck into a police building and set off explosives in an attack that also wounded three officers, state media said.

Attackers crashed a pair of vehicles and hurled explosives in a suicide attack on a busy street market in the capital of China's volatile north-western region of Xinjiang, leaving dozens dead and injured.

A man attempted to sneak his pet turtle past airport security by disguising the animal as a hamburger.

Violent incidents have spread this week in a tense minority region of western China.

Riots in a troubled far western region of China have killed 27 people and left at least three injured, state media says.

The local government in China’s restive northwestern region of Xinjiang has said that a clash between authorities and assailants left 21 people dead in what it described as an act of terrorism.

At least 34 people were injured when a strong earthquake jolted China’s far-western frontier early today, shaking buildings and cutting off electricity in the remote mountainous area.

At least 12 people have been killed in riots in north-west China, state media reported.

Ten coal miners have been killed in a gas explosion inside their shaft in north western China.

Chinese authorities are tightening security in the western region of Xinjiang just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the country’s worst ethnic violence in decades.

China sentenced four more people to death for involvement in ethnic rioting last year in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang, a state news agency said.

The execution of British citizen Akmal Shaikh by China sparked a diplomatic war of words between London and Beijing today.

A BRITON who was due to be executed in China this morning was only told of his fate yesterday, his supporters said.

A British man sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling received a fair trial, officials said today.

CHINA sentenced three more people to death yesterday for murders committed during riots in the far western Xinjiang region in July, bringing to nine the number of people facing execution for the unrest.

CHINA sentenced six people to death yesterday over deadly July riots in its restive Xinjiang region, delivering on a vow of harsh retribution over the ethnic unrest.

China’s official news agency said a man was given the death sentence for his role in a factory brawl linked to deadly riots in China’s western Xinjiang region.

Chinese security forces uncovered a bomb-making operation in the volatile western region of Xinjiang, foiling plans to carry out attacks including suicide bombings, police said today.

Hundreds of Hong Kong journalists, lawmakers and residents marched today to protest against the alleged police beatings of three reporters covering recent unrest in western China, and demanded a government investigation.

A court in western China’s Xinjiang region sentenced three people to up to 15 years in prison today in the first trials over a series of mysterious syringe attacks that led to mass protests against the local government.

CHINA has warned that anybody convicted of attacks with hypodermic needles containing harmful substances or contaminated by drug use will face harsh penalties.

Hundreds of Chinese protested against deteriorating public safety today after a series of mysterious syringe attacks further unnerved residents in the western Chinese city of Urumqi where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.

CHINA’S state news agency says a plane has been hijacked in the restive western region of Xinjiang, which was rocked by ethnic riots last month.

A plane scheduled to land in China’s western region of Xinjiang was diverted to southern Afghanistan by a bomb threat, state media said today.

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.

The United States and China have ended two days of high-level talks with few concrete results but hopeful that connections forged among senior officials will help them work together better to fix the world’s toughest problems.

The Chinese government has acknowledged for the first time that police killed 12 people during July 5 unrest in western China but put the blame squarely on rioters, saying they stockpiled weapons and planned synchronised attacks on targets across the city of Urumqi.

Chinese police killed 12 people during July 5 rioting in the western city of Urumqi, a senior official said – a rare acknowledgement by the government that security forces opened fire in the worst ethnic clashes to hit the region in decades.

CHINA has raised the injured toll from ethnic clashes a week ago to 1,680 – one more bit in the trickle of information the government has released on the unrest in the far west, though much remains unknown.

THOUSANDS of people poured into bus and train stations to leave Urumqi city yesterday after deadly ethnic unrest, as many mosques were ordered shut for the main Muslim day of prayer.

CHINA’S top communist leaders vowed to maintain stability in the west of the country in their first public comments yesterday on the ethnic riots that killed more than 150 people.

Traffic and shopping resumed in Urumqi today after days of ethnic violence in the western city killed at least 156 people.

China's president abruptly cut short a G8 summit trip early today as bloody ethnic tensions worsened in the country's oil-rich Xinjiang territory.

THE government imposed a curfew last night in the capital city of western China after mobs of Han Chinese armed with cleavers roamed the streets looking for Muslim Uyghurs who had earlier attacked people in the country’s worst ethnic violence in decades.

Mobs of thugs roamed the streets attacking the vulnerable in Xinjiang’s capital today as riots that left more than 150 people dead degenerated into communal violence.

Police fired tear gas to try to restore order today as hundreds of Han Chinese armed with clubs marched through the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, smashing shops and knocking over food stalls run by Muslims.

Ethnic Uighurs clashed with armed police today in a fresh protest in Xinjiang, where at least 156 people have been killed and more than 1,400 people arrested in western China’s worst ethnic violence in decades.

VIOLENT street battles killed at least 156 people and injured 828 others in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit China’s western Xinjiang region in decades, and officials said yesterday the death toll was expected to rise.

Ethnic violence in the capital of China’s volatile Xinjiang region killed 140 people and injured 828 after Muslim protesters rioted and clashed with police, officials said today.

Chinese state media said 140 people were killed and more than 800 hurt in violence in the country’s western Xinjiang region.

Explosions rocked a county in western China, killing at least two people amid tightened security following an attack last week before the start of the Beijing Olympics.

China has stepped up its already-tight Olympics security in the wake of the suspected Islamic terrorist attack that killed 16 policemen.

The Olympic torch started its journey through China's restive west amid tightly controlled crowds and heavy security as authorities sought to prevent displays of defiance.