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/ 22 October 2007
A fire erupted at a shoe factory in south-east China, killing 37 people in the latest industrial accident to hit the world’s fourth-largest economy, officials and state media said on Monday. The blaze at the Feida workshop, located near the city of Putian in coastal Fujian province, broke out at 9.50pm local time on Sunday and was extinguished an hour later.
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/ 16 October 2007
Lupeol, a compound in fruits like mangoes, grapes and strawberries, appears to be effective in killing and curbing the spread of cancer cells in the head and neck, a study in Hong Kong has found. An experiment with mice showed lupeol worked most effectively with chemotherapy drugs and had almost no side effects.
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/ 16 October 2007
Two men widely tipped as future leaders of China gave glimpses of their agenda on Tuesday, promising gentler, more environmentally sound growth. But Shanghai Communist Party boss Xi Jinping and his counterpart in Liaoning province, Li Keqiang, fended off or avoided questions about their own political futures.
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/ 12 October 2007
A South China tiger has been caught on camera by a hunter-turned-farmer, the first confirmed sighting for 30 years of a subspecies experts had feared was extinct in the wild, the Xinhua news agency said on Friday. Zhou Zhenglong took more than 70 snaps of the young tiger lying in the grass near a cliff.
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/ 11 October 2007
China is to relocate at least four million more people from the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area in the next 10 to 15 years to protect its ”ecological safety”. Senior officials who have defended the project as an engineering wonder now warn that areas around the dam are paying a heavy environmental cost.
Typhoon Krosa crashed into the Chinese coast on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of 1,4-million people, after killing five in Taiwan as it lashed the island with heavy rain and high winds. The typhoon made landfall near the borders of densely populated Zhejiang and Fujian provinces in south-east China at about 7.30am GMT, packing winds of up to 126kph, before weakening.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen turned the Formula One title battle into a three-way fight to the last race in Brazil on Sunday with victory in China after championship leader Lewis Hamilton skidded out. Hamilton’s double world champion teammate and closest title rival Fernando Alonso finished second with Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa third.
McLaren’s championship leader Lewis Hamilton took pole position on Saturday for a Chinese Grand Prix that could make him Formula One’s first rookie champion. The 22-year-old Briton will line up alongside Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen on the front row for Sunday’s race.
Teenager Zhu Xiaotong’s home a few hours’ drive outside Beijing is a world away from the acrid air and snarling traffic jams that have come to dominate China’s energy-hungry capital. Cherry tomatoes, capsicum and spring onions rise up from a little garden patch that forms the centrepiece of her family’s brick courtyard home.
Lewis Hamilton’s bid to become Formula One’s first rookie world champion remained on track on Friday after stewards cleared him of blame for a collision in Japan last weekend. ”No penalty is imposed upon him,” they said in a statement. The 22-year-old McLaren driver met stewards at the Chinese Grand Prix to review video footage of a collision during the rain-soaked Fuji race.
Formula One stewards are investigating Lewis Hamilton’s Japanese Grand Prix victory after complaints about the championship leader’s erratic driving behind the safety car last weekend. ”New evidence has emerged and the stewards are looking into it,” a spokesperson for the International Automobile Federation said.
North Korea has agreed to disable its Yongbyon reactor and other nuclear facilities by the end of the year, throwing the ball into the hermit country’s court to turn its promises into action. In an agreement which won praise from United States President George Bush, the isolated state will in return get aid equivalent to one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil
A suspended bus company manager may have sparked a fierce bus blaze that killed 27 and put another 11 passengers in hospital, the official Xinhua agency said late on Tuesday. The bus, with 38 people on board, was heading downtown when the fire erupted just after 5pm local time.
A solid defence and clinical efficiency in front of goal allowed Germany to triumph 2-0 over a desperate Brazil to become the first back-to-back winners of the women’s World Cup on Sunday. German midfielder Simone Laudehr’s headed goal in the dying minutes sealed the win, after evergreen captain Birgit Prinz had coolly slotted home a crossed ball.
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/ 30 September 2007
The United States put their goalkeeping row behind them with a 4-1 win over Norway to claim the World Cup’s third spot on Sunday. With controversial ‘keeper Hope Solo axed for her outburst over the semifinal loss to Brazil, the two-time champions turned on the style with three goals in 14 second-half minutes.
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/ 30 September 2007
Talks aimed at reining in North Korea’s nuclear programmes ended on Sunday to allow delegates to return to their home countries to discuss a ”nuts and bolts” joint statement with their governments. Under an accord reached in February, North Korea must disable its atomic facilities and make a complete declaration of all its nuclear programmes.
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/ 26 September 2007
China’s huge Three Gorges Dam hydropower project could spark environmental catastrophe unless accumulating threats are quickly defused, senior officials and experts have warned. Dam officials warn that areas around the dam are paying a heavy, potentially calamitous environmental cost.
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/ 23 September 2007
Ruthless defending champions Germany and the top-ranked United States stormed into the Women’s Soccer World Cup semifinals on Saturday, leaving North Korea and England to rue missed chances. The Germans beat the Koreans 3-0 in Wuhan with Kerstin Garefrekes pouncing in the 44th minute.
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/ 21 September 2007
The world’s largest toy maker, Mattel, apologised on Friday for damaging China’s reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch. Mattel has come under scrutiny following the recall of about 21-million of the toys in a span of five weeks.
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/ 20 September 2007
Under President Hu Jintao, China has emerged as an increasingly polished diplomatic actor, but its foreign performances are often marred by the failure of a rickety bureaucracy to meet international expectations. Accompanied by a throbbing media soundtrack about a ”rising China”, Beijing’s go-between role in crises from Darfur to North Korea has drawn criticism from Western powers wanting tougher steps.
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/ 19 September 2007
Tropical storm Wipha lost much of its punch as it roared ashore over densely populated eastern China on Wednesday but continued to rake the region with heavy rains and high winds. The former typhoon had sparked the evacuation of more than two million people.
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/ 19 September 2007
Typhoon Wipha made landfall in eastern China on Wednesday, knocking out power and water supplies to tens of thousands of residents, but promptly lost strength as it travelled inland. Officials said it was too early to assess damage on the coast, but there were not immediate reports of casualties.
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/ 18 September 2007
China, the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, will need 3 400 new airplanes worth about $340-billion over the next 20 years, United States aircraft maker Boeing said on Tuesday. The forecast marks a dramatic increase from an earlier prediction by Boeing of 2 900 aircraft in the period from 2005 to 2025.
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/ 18 September 2007
China’s most populous city, Shanghai, and outlying areas were bracing for Typhoon Wipha on Tuesday, relocating hundreds of thousands of people to safer areas. The typhoon, a storm packing winds of more than 180km/h was expected to make landfall in east China around midnight, after gale-force winds and driving rains have first swiped northern Taiwan.
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/ 17 September 2007
South Africa’s Sasol, the world’s largest maker of oil from coal, is in talks with Chinese oil major Sinopec on coal liquefaction projects. China, the world’s top coal producer and consumer, is encouraging coal-to-liquid projects to reduce its dependence on imported oil.
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/ 15 September 2007
A Chinese journalist jailed while working for the New York Times was released on Saturday, ending a controversial prison term that highlighted the country’s tough media controls. Zhao Yan, looking noticeably thinner, was greeted by a small group of family and friends, including his daughter and sister, when he emerged from prison.
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/ 15 September 2007
Shanghai, a city which Taiwan has threatened to bombard in the event of conflict, held a major air raid drill on Saturday, a sign that China still views war as possible with the self-ruled island it claims as its own. The drill was scheduled for the same day as a rally in Taiwan where the ruling party aimed to mobilise one million people to support Taiwan’s bid for United Nations membership.
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/ 13 September 2007
Children turned on parents, students denounced their teachers and Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed: ”To rebel is justified” — the Cultural Revolution was a defining, if terrifying, experience for many Chinese. This turbulent period provides the social backdrop that shaped the formative years of rising political stars like Li Keqiang, Li Yuanchao and Xi Jinping, who lived through the chaos.
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/ 11 September 2007
A television reporter claims to have discovered China’s answer to the Loch Ness monster, state press reported on Sunday. Local journalist Zhuo Yongsheng shot footage of six "seal-like" creatures in the north-eastern Tianchi Lake, which local legend has long said is home to Loch Ness-style monsters.
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/ 11 September 2007
Chinese officials straining to stifle protest ahead of a key Communist Party congress have been paying to have troublesome petitioners held in violent squalor in a secretive Beijing prison, many complainants said. Eight petitioners told Reuters of being held in the prison with dozens of others who had come to the capital to press grievances.
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/ 9 September 2007
Taiwan was flushed with pride on Sunday as favourite son and world famous director Ang Lee took the Venice film festival’s top award for his steamy thriller Lust, Caution, just two years after winning with Brokeback Mountain.
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/ 8 September 2007
China blasted planned meetings between Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian and African allies this weekend. Chen was scheduled on Sunday to meet leaders from Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Malawi, São Tomé and PrÃncipe, and Swaziland — an apparent attempt to cut into rival China’s growing influence in the region.