Independent schools are relying on a surge in applications from foreign students as they try to beat the recession, according to official figures published today.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that a new strain of bird flu that has killed 22 people in China is “one of the most lethal” flu viruses so far, and that it is more easily transmittable from poultry to humans than an earlier strain that has killed hundreds around the world since 2003.

Politicians in Hong Kong have fiercely opposed a plan to donate money to Sichuan to help with earthquake relief efforts, citing concerns that the local government would misuse the funds.

Richemont, the owner of the website Net-a-Porter and jewellery brands Cartier and Jaeger-LeCoultre, has allayed fears of a slowdown in the luxury goods sector with full-year net profits up 30 per cent, well above expectations.

A failing student who offered his University of Bath professor £5,000 in cash in a bid to pass his degree has been jailed for 12 months.

'I am a businessman': desperate Yang Li took along imitation firearm

As well as the hottest new sports cars, new environmentally-friendly concept cars have been shown at the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show.

China drives up Hermès sales

A solicitor who has reached the final stages of this year's MasterChef has confessed that he rarely cooked before joining the fiercely competitive BBC One show.

Britain's Peter Wilson won gold at the Al Ain World Cup on his return to competitive shooting.

China is struggling to get its estimated 100 million religious believers to banish superstitious beliefs about things like sickness and death, the country's top religious affairs official told a state-run newspaper.

Panda experts say Tian Tian was showing signs that were not 'conducive to mating'

Chinese aid workers managed to reach remote areas of south-western China today giving a much-needed boost to rescue efforts following a powerful earthquake on Saturday which has left more than 200 people dead and thousands badly injured.

Rescuers struggled to reach a remote, rural corner of southwestern China on Sunday as the toll of the dead and missing from the country's worst earthquake in three years climbed to 203 with almost 1,000 serious injuries.