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/ 15 December 2005
At least 10 people died when a hospital in north-east China’s Jilin province caught fire on Thursday, forcing desperate people to jump from the building to escape the flames, state media and officials reported. The fire started at the City Centre hospital, Liaoyuan city’s largest, at about 4.30pm local time.
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/ 10 December 2005
The death toll in a massive coal-mining accident in northern China rose to 90, as the country’s Cabinet ordered the establishment of a special commission to investigate, state television reported on Saturday. A mixture of airborne coal dust and colourless, methane-laden gas known as fire damp ignited to cause the blast on Wednesday.
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/ 7 December 2005
Asia has become a happy hunting ground for many golf stars who are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars — and in one case, millions — just to turn up. While officials refuse to discuss figures, Colin Montgomerie reportedly pocketed 000 in fees at last week’s UBS Hong Kong Open — more than his 000 dollars for winning the event.
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/ 7 December 2005
Divers have been recruited to search the flooded shafts of a northern Chinese coal mine for 42 missing miners, the government said on Wednesday. Rescuers have been working for days to locate the workers, who were trapped in an underground flood last Friday at the privately owned Sigou Coal Mine.
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/ 5 December 2005
A city of more than half a million people was forced to cut off its water supply as a toxic slick slowly moved down one of China’s large rivers towards the Russian border, state media said on Monday. The taps were turned off Sunday in Jiamusi, home to 550 000 people, as the potentially lethal chemical pool approached along the Songhua river.
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/ 4 December 2005
Forty-two miners were trapped for a second day on Sunday in a flooded mine in central China, as more than 200 rescuers raced against the clock to pump out water to save them, state media said. The miners have been trapped since shortly before midnight late on Friday when the Sigou mine suddenly flooded, according to the Xinhua news agency. The mine is located in Shisi township, Xin’an county, Henan province.
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/ 3 December 2005
Simon Yates of Scotland fired a course-best nine-under-par 61 to lead the UBS Hong Kong Open as records tumbled on Saturday. European Order of Merit champion Colin Montgomerie was just two shots back as play continued in the ,2-million co-sanctioned tournament.
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/ 3 December 2005
The United Nations Security Council’s decision to organise a briefing on Myanmar casts the spotlight on the reclusive generals whose disregard for human rights has made the country a pariah state.. The decision came after an Asian human rights watchdog group released what it called the most comprehensive report on torture in Myanmar, accusing the generals of ”brutal and systematic” abuse of political prisoners.
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/ 3 December 2005
Sixteen workers were killed and 42 others remained trapped in two separate coal mine accidents in China, state media reported on Saturday, as the toll from a massive mine blast in the northeast rose to 169. The accidents were the latest disasters to strike China’s mines, which are considered the most dangerous in the world, especially in recent years as demand for raw materials has escalated to help fuel rapid economic growth.
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/ 2 December 2005
Tiny Laos is often seen as sparking little interest in a dynamic Asian region, but 30 years after the communists took power, it is at the heart of a struggle for influence among its neighbours. Chinese investments, the daily traffic of people along the border with southwestern China’s Yunnan province and the rising number of Chinese vehicles in Laos show Beijing has a keen eye on the Laotian market.
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/ 30 November 2005
China’s central government on Wednesday blamed managers of a north-eastern mine for a huge explosion that killed at least 150 people, saying obvious signs of danger emerged days before the blast. As rescue efforts wound down, the government’s work-safety watchdog turned its focus to the cause of the blast.
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/ 29 November 2005
The death toll from an explosion at a coal mine in north-eastern China rose to at least 146 on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency said. Three miners were still listed as missing, nearly two days after the Sunday night cave-in at the state-run Dongfeng coal mine, near Qitaihe city in Heilongjiang province.
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/ 29 November 2005
Officials declared water safe for drinking on Tuesday in a northern Chinese city where supplies to 3,8-million people were shut down for five days after a pollution scare in a nearby river, but residents remained wary about taking their first sips. Russian authorities are bracing for the toxic spill to reach the border within days.
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/ 28 November 2005
An explosion at a coal mine in remote north-eastern China killed 134 workers and left another 15 trapped underground, China News Service said on Monday, amid frantic rescue efforts to find survivors. A total of 221 miners were underground when the cave-in occurred.
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/ 28 November 2005
Eighty-eight miners were killed and another 36 remained trapped underground after an explosion on Sunday at a coal mine in China’s north-east Heilongjiang province, state press said on Monday. Xinhua news agency said a rescue team of 269 people was involved in the search for those still trapped.
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/ 27 November 2005
Zhang Xuping and his family dashed out of their home as soon as they felt the ground shaking. Minutes later, their neighbour was killed and buildings near them collapsed as a strong earthquake rolled through their village in central China. The quake killed 15 people and injured more than 450 others in two provinces.
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/ 27 November 2005
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has visited Harbin in the country’s north-east and ordered local leaders to restore running water to 3,8-million people who spent a fourth day without supplies after a benzene spill in a nearby river. Beijing has also apologised to Moscow for the toxic chemicals flowing toward Russia.
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/ 26 November 2005
At least 14 died, hundreds more were injured and thousands of houses collapsed when an earthquake measuring 5,7 on the Richter scale hit near a popular tourist spot in east China on Saturday, officials said. The epicentre was near the city of Jiujiang, home to 500 000 people and a scenic spot for centuries.
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/ 25 November 2005
Environmental experts on Friday warned the slick of cancer-causing benzene moving along China’s Songhua river could pose a long-term risk to human health, contaminate the food chain and damage the region’s fragile ecosystem. As the 80km-long highly toxic column moved into Harbin, capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, analysts said dangers would remain for years.
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/ 25 November 2005
There’s only one place in Wong Yiu-keung’s heart — and that’s for late martial arts legend Bruce Lee. He dedicates most of his time to running the Bruce Lee Club, Lee’s only fan club in Hong Kong, while he has put his family, friends and career on the sidelines to organise the city’s first festival dedicated to the kung fu hero.
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/ 24 November 2005
An 80km-long slick of highly toxic benzene flowed along the icy Songhua river into one of China’s biggest cities on Thursday, contaminating water supplies for up to four million people. The carcinogenic chemical reached the outskirts of Harbin at about 5am on Thursday, authorities said.
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/ 21 November 2005
The upset of the year in the season’s most gripping final came to the rescue of a troubled ATP Masters Cup which was rocked by high-profile withdrawals and complaints over the playing surface. David Nalbandian’s shock, come-from-behind win over hot favourite Roger Federer in a pulsating five-setter drew a line under the farcical early days when five big names dropped out.
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/ 20 November 2005
Tennis chiefs announced on Sunday that they were replacing the third set in doubles matches with a tie-breaker, brushing off objections from top players. The third set will consist of a first-to-10 tie-breaker to speed up play. There will also be no advantage played in the first two sets, with games decided by the first point after deuce.
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/ 18 November 2005
Five days ago, David Nalbandian was packing his things for a fishing trip in his native Argentina. Now he’s one match away from a place in the Masters Cup final. Nalbandian has found some great form since his late call-up to replace the injured Andy Roddick, taking Roger Federer to three sets before whitewashing Guillermo Coria and Ivan Ljubicic.
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/ 17 November 2005
Russian Nikolay Davydenko hopes to take advantage of a depleted field after making it to the semifinals of the season-ending Masters Cup. Davydenko will be the highest-ranked player in the semifinals behind two-time defending champion Roger Federer.
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/ 16 November 2005
World number one Roger Federer has given his support to Andre Agassi after the United States veteran was criticised for his early withdrawal from the Masters Cup tennis tournament. Federer, the only top-five player left in the season finale after Agassi and Rafael Nadal added their names to the injury list, said the eight-time Grand Slam champion deserved credit for turning up.
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/ 14 November 2005
Andre Agassi lost 6-4, 6-2 to Nikolay Davydenko and then pulled out of the Tennis Masters Cup on Monday, less than an hour after second-ranked Rafael Nadal withdrew with an injured left foot. Agassi lasted one hour and 14 minutes against Davydenko and then told reporters he had to withdraw after aggravating an ankle problem.
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/ 9 November 2005
With 1 000 days to go before Beijing holds the 2008 Olympics, confidence is high the games will be a sporting extravaganza that will showcase the country’s arrival among the world’s leading nations. Aside from the smooth running of the event and the expected strong performance of its athletes, China is working hard to ensure the games fully reflect the nation’s political and economic rise.
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/ 9 November 2005
China warned on Wednesday a bird flu outbreak in northeastern Liaoning province had not yet been controlled and could become a ”disaster”, mainly due to the use of fake and shoddy poultry vaccines. ”In Heishan county, Liaoning province, the epidemic is still serious,” said Agriculture Minister Du Qingling, two weeks after poultry started dying from the bird flu there.
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/ 9 November 2005
World number one Tiger Woods says his mother’s Buddhist beliefs and his father’s combat experience with the Green Berets during the Vietnam War are fundamental to his success on the golf course. The 10-time major winner said his intense powers of concentration and fierce competitiveness on the golf course are a result of his Thai mother’s Buddhist influence and his father’s special forces’ tour in Vietnam.
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/ 9 November 2005
Cuba will be looking to put the Russian Federation in its proper place as the boys from the Caribbean seek to regain their place atop amateur boxing’s pecking order at the world championships in China from Saturday. The Cubans have sent four reigning Olympic gold medalists to the China slugfest led by Odlanier Solis, who has stepped up a division after also winning the heavyweight gold in the last world championships.
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/ 8 November 2005
Chinese number one Zhang Lian-Wei believes the presence of Tiger Woods at this week’s HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai will advance the spread of golf in China by a decade. The self-taught Zhang says the 10-time major winner will massively boost interest in the game in the world’s most populous nation.