Beijing

At least 29 people died, 35 were missing and more than 60 000 were evacuated after flash floods and landslides swept down mountainsides in two areas of south-central China, state media said on Wednesday. National flood-control authorities on Wednesday forecast more heavy rain and flooding this month.

Nude business promotions have been banned in China, with Beijing taking aim at naked shop models and restaurants where food is served on the bodies of unclothed women, state media said on Sunday. The ban comes amid the increasing use of nudity or near-nakedness to advertise businesses.

US Open champion Retief Goosen on Wednesday waded into the debate over women being invited to join men’s golf tournaments, saying they should be made to qualify like their male counterparts. The South African world number five said most male players think handing out sponsors’ invites to women is unfair.

Thomas Bjorn on Wednesday hit back at critics who branded him a choker after a dismal final round ruined a promising US Masters. The Dane, playing in his first major since throwing away the 2003 British Open in a final-round tragedy worthy of Hamlet, was third after three rounds at Augusta and just four shots off the pace.

A man in eastern China tried to divorce his wife who has the same Chinese name as the cancer-causing dye Sudan I, which has made headlines across China in a recent food scare, state media reported on Friday. The husband of Su Danhong, the same Chinese name for the harmful Sudan Red dye, came home one day and told her he wanted a divorce.

An explosion killed at least 29 people early on Thursday when a passenger bus hit a truck carrying more than six tonnes of explosives in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi, local police said. The double-decker bus collided with the truck, causing the explosives to detonate, as the bus driver was trying to overtake it.

United States-made audio players installed at Beijing’s international airport to scare birds off the runway have failed because of the "language barrier", state media said on Thursday. The machines play sounds of predatory birds, such as hawks, to shoo away birds that pose a danger to aircraft. But the pests were apparently unruffled by the "foreign" squawks.

Up to 20 people, including children, were killed in northern China when explosives stored in the home of a mine operator blew up near a school, local officials and state media said on Thursday. Local press reports said at least 20 children died and the Beixinzhuang elementary school was badly damaged in the Wednesday-afternoon blast.

Leading golfers, including world number three Ernie Els and sixth-ranked Sergio Garcia, have signed up for the ,3-million Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing. The event, which counts towards the European, Asian and Australasian tours, will be held at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pine Valley Golf Resort and Country Club from April 21 to 24.

It was billed as a chance for British Minister of Finance Gordon Brown to quiz China’s young elite about what they want from the future. And he got his answer — more Harry Potter memorabilia. In a lengthy question-and-answer session, Brown, currently on a three-day visit to China, chatted to about a dozen teenage pupils, all star English students.

A government agency’s ban on visitors bearing Lunar New Year gifts from entering its building to curb corruption has stirred ridicule from the public, state media said on Monday. Gift-giving is a long-practised tradition during the new-year period but in present-day China it has become a way to bribe government officials.

The world’s first newspaper made of gold has been published in south China, selling for 69&nbsp;000 yuan (about R51&nbsp;000) a copy, state media reported on Thursday. The one-off publishing event was launched by the <i>China Economic Daily</i> in the boom city of Shenzhen, the Xinhua news agency said.

China issued emergency regulations on Tuesday to counter an outbreak of the deadly spinal disease meningitis that has killed at least 16 people among 258 cases this month. The whole country has been affected with the exception of Fujian province in the south-east, Hainan in the south and the Tibet region.

China has ordered education authorities and schools across the country to ban beauty contests in schools, state media reported on Tuesday. "The ministry of education explicitly opposes holding beauty contests in primary and high schools," a ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

China is considering setting up a post office in Antarctica after several trial deliveries to the world’s southernmost continent, state media reported on Wednesday. The Beijing International Post Office plans to send an official to the Great Wall research station near the South Pole to investigate if there is a need for such a service.

The family of a newborn baby who last week became the poster child for China’s one-child policy has turned down a number of lucrative advertising contracts for diapers and milk formula, state media said on Monday. Zhang Yichi was declared China’s 1,3-billionth citizen when he was born to a huge media blitz in a Beijing hospital on Thursday.

Agencies in China’s Chengdu city are offering rented girlfriends to bachelors who need someone to show off to relatives during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, state press said on Wednesday. A hired girlfriend can cost as much as 300 yuan (about R200) a day.

A speeding taxi driver who ran a series of red lights trying to rush a heavily pregnant woman to hospital may face fines and have his licence endorsed, state media said on Thursday. Gao Haijun jumped several red lights on Sunday after an anxious couple asked him to take them to the closest delivery ward.

Modern Chinese couples spend 1 000 times more than their parents’ generation on lavish weddings and other expenses linked to starting a family, state media reported on Saturday. Twenty-five years ago, the shopping list of young couples planning to get married consisted of a wardrobe, bed and bedding, some candy and cigarettes.

An unidentified flying object (UFO) passed across the large north-western Chinese city of Lanzhou and apparently exploded in the suburbs, state media said on Monday. The unusual sighting of two bright trails of light, reported by several witnesses, took place on Saturday shortly before midnight.