Beijing - A mudslide in northern China which engulfed several buildings and a market after a dam at an illegally operated mine burst has killed up to 270 people, the official Xinhua news agency said Thursday.

Ten days after the disaster, 260 bodies have been recovered, while 10 people were still missing, rescuers were quoted as saying.

Investigations in the accident which happened at Tashan mine near the town of Linfen in Shanxi province focus on how the mine operators were able to build the unlicensed waste reservoir and operate for years without permits.

Taipei - Taiwan, putting aside long-standing political considerations, said Wednesday that it is adopting China's phonetic spelling system to prevent confusion in communications with foreigners.

The cabinet said Taiwan's local and county governments must use China's Hanyu Pinyin when translating place names and road names from Chinese into Roman alphabets.

Those who refuse to follow the order would not receive subsidies for transliterating place names from the central government.

"Hanyu Pinyin is being used by the United Nations and world libraries," Education Ministry official Chen Hsueh-yu said. "Adopting it can make it easier for foreigners to do business or travel in Taiwan."

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.

New Delhi, September 17: Zhai Zhigang has been named as China’s first “spacewalker” astronaut, who will be part of the country’s third manned space mission, which will last from September 25-28.

The other astronauts, who will be on board the spacecraft Shenzhou VII, are Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.

The most likely takeoff time for Shenzhou VII is 9:10 pm on Sept 25, according to the website China. com. cn.

Upon the spaceship’s entry into orbit a scheduled 582 seconds after liftoff, Jing will remain in the descent module while Zhai and Liu will move to the vacuum orbital module.

Zhai is expected to conduct a 40-minute spacewalk between Sept 26 and Sept 27, with Liu as his substitute.

Beijing, Sept. 17: A third child has died in China’s southeastern Zhejiang Province after consuming contaminated milk. The death toll till Tuesday was two, China's Ministry of Health said here on Wednesday.

Health Minister Chen Zhu told reporters on Wednesday morning that the first two deaths had occurred in northwest Gansu Province. They included a five-month-old boy who died on May 1 after his family refused further treatment and an eight-month-old girl whose family also refused an operation and removed her from hospital on July 22 on which day she died.

Both had suffered kidney failure.

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.