Beijing - European companies operating in China are "generally optimistic" about the business opportunities there despite the global economic turmoil that is also putting the brakes on China's growth, a survey released Tuesday found.

The reason is because the potential for growth in the Chinese market remains high, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said when releasing its annual business confidence survey.

"This year's survey reconfirms that the Chinese market is the most important emerging market for European businesses, and given the global slowdown, it might actually rise in significance," said Joerg Wuttke, president of the chamber.

Beijing - A Chinese court has sentenced to death two Taiwanese drug dealers convicted of trafficking heroin from Myanmar, state media said on Monday.

Chien Chih-Cheng and Chen Ming-Hsiung were among eight Taiwanese citizens sentenced last week in the south-eastern province of Fujian for their part in trafficking more than 12 kilograms of heroin, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Chien and Chen led a gang that bought 39 packets of heroin from Myanmar in early September and sold four of them for 400,000 yuan (60,000 dollars) in the southern city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, the agency quoted police as saying.

Beijing - Five people died on Sunday after a dispute at a video-game centre in south-western China escalated into a pitched battle involving at least 20 people, some armed with knives and batons, state media said on Monday.

Several youths got into an argument with the manager of the Milky Way Express games centre in the Nanping district of Chongqing city late Sunday evening, the official Xinhua news agency quoted city police as saying.

Beijing - A student in southern China is the latest intruder to discover that captive pandas are not as cuddly as they look, after he was savaged at a zoo in the city of Guilin, state media said on Saturday.

The student, identified only by the surname Liu, scaled a two- metre fence into the panda enclosure at Guilin's Qixing Park on Friday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Liu was attacked as he approached an 80-kilo male giant panda and required hospital treatment, including surgery, for serious bites, the agency said.

Beijing - Authorities in Beijing on Friday razed the home of a rights activist who has spent seven months in police custody since she was accused of injuring a worker in a dispute over plans to demolish the property.

The home of Ni Yulan and her family was demolished on Friday morning as part of a local government redevelopment plan in Beijing's Xicheng district, supporters including Ni's husband, Dong Jiqin, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Ni, 48, was arrested on April 15 when she tried to stop some two dozen people from knocking down a wall enclosing part of the yard outside their home, which they refuse to vacate for developers despite years of pressure and threats.

Beijing - An Air China plane returned to Beijing 10 minutes after take-off Thursday after a telephoned threat of a terrorist attack that later appeared to be a hoax, state media said.