Beijing - It was the biggest Paralympics in the 60-year history of sport for disabled athletes. As with the summer Games, Beijing has set a new benchmark which the London organizers in 2012 will find difficult to beat.

The venues, the first-class support for competitors and the record number of spectators have received much praise from among the more than 4,000 athletes who took part.

German cycling gold medallist Michael Teuber, who also competed in Athens four years ago, spoke of "another dimension" for the Paralympics and a "milestone" for disabled sport, with support and provisions for competitors second to none.

Beijing - China's biggest stock market followed global losses with a 3-percent plunge on Wednesday, led by falls in banking and real-estate shares.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, lost 2.90 per cent to end the day at a 22-month low of 1,929.05 points.

The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index fell by 1.89 per cent to close at 559.95 points.

The Chinese health Ministry had reported the death of one more infant on Monday. The authorities however failed to give any details about the death.

Earlier last week, one infant had died from kidney stones in the northwest Gansu Province of Xinhua. Due to the expanding food safety scandal in the country, nearly 500 babies have been reported sick by the tainted formula within a period of few days. Out of these nearly 102 belong to northwest region of Gansu alone.

According to a report published by Xinhua news agency the second infant died due to the contaminated infant milk powder, manufactured by the Sanlu Group, based in the northwest region of Gansu province. The police had so far arrested two traders for selling up to 3 tonnes of contaminated milk.

Beijing  - The death toll in a mudslide in northern China rose to 259 Tuesday, one week after a dam burst at an illegal mine, burying a market, an office building and several houses in mud.

Beijing - Chinese authorities evacuated about 460,000 people at the country's eastern seaboard ahead of Tropical Storm Sinlaku, local media said Monday.

About 30,000 fishing vessels were recalled to their harbours in Fujian province, the state-run news agency Xinhua said.

Sinlaku, which had hit Taiwan over the weekend, weakened on its path towards the Chinese coast and brought winds of up to 126 kilometres per hour and heavy rainfalls in Fujian and the neighbouring Zhejiang province.

However, it was still hard to predict where and when the storm would make landfall in China.

Beijing - Two brothers were arrested in a scandal over contaminated baby milk in China, as a second infant died, state-run media said Monday.

At least 430 babies fell ill with kidney stones and two died after being fed with contaminated baby milk produced by the Chinese dairy San Lu.

The brothers, who are among 19 suspects detained in the wake of the scandal, are accused of having delivered 3 tons of toxic milk per day to San Lu from their private milk collecting station, the Xinhua news agency said.

The older brother confessed to having spiked the milk with the banned chemical melamine to increase the milk's protein content. He said he lost money because San Lu repeatedly rejected his milk because of quality problems.