649 firms shut down, suspended over pollution

The China Post - China's environmental watchdog has shut down or suspended 649 firms and given dozens of others a deadline to clean up their act, state media said on Tuesday amid growing concern about pollution ahead of the 2008 Olympics. Full Story

Beijing firm fined for selling pirated Hollywood movies

The China Post - A Chinese court has fined a Beijing firm for selling pirated copies of movies made by six Hollywood film studios, but rejected their demand for an apology, state media said Tuesday. Full Story

China's power growing as Bush ignores Asia: Armitage

The China Post - U.S. President George W. Bush is so preoccupied with Iraq he is neglecting Asia and allowing China to take a greater leadership role, a former senior U.S. official said in remarks published Monday. Full Story

90% of downed China officials 'had mistresses': investigators

The China Post - Chinese anti-graft investigators have found that 90 percent of the country's most senior officials brought down in corruption cases in recent years had kept mistresses, drawing a link between sex and misconduct. Full Story

Chemical leak in China sends 158 to hospital

The China Post - Nearly 160 people were treated in hospital on Monday after toxic gas escaped from a pharmaceutical factory in southwestern China and seeped into a neighbouring clothes workshop, official media reported. A porcelain tank of bromine smashed when workers in a suburb of Chongqing were trying to move it, spilling 25 kg (60 lbs) of the highly volatile liquid, the Xinhua agency said. Full Story

Manila gets US$2 mil. military aid from China

The China Post - China will give the Philippines about US$2 million worth of "non-lethal" military equipment to carry out development projects in areas where communist and Muslim rebels operate, officials said on Monday. Full Story

HIV infections soar to record high in Hong Kong

The China Post - HIV infections soared to a record high in Hong Kong in the second quarter of 2007 and government doctors said they found a worrying cluster of new infections among homosexual men. The government reported 111 new HIV infections between April and June this year, up from 91 in the first quarter. Full Story

Chinese primary school headmaster jailed for rape

The China Post - A Chinese teacher who raped two elementary school girls and harassed another four has been jailed for 14 years and six months, Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Li Jianguo, 49, headmaster of a rural primary school in Chenggu county in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, was convicted of crimes committed from October of last year to May 2007. Full Story