The Paralympic Games ended on Wednesday night with a colorful closing ceremony evoking scenes of the Yellow River and also a handover program by 2012 Games hosts, London.

International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven praised the Beijing Games, calling them the "greatest Paralympics ever".

More than 4,000 athletes from 147 countries and regions competed in 20 sports, shattering 279 world and 339 Paralympic records.

260 dead in Shanxi mudslide

The massive mudslide in Shanxi Province caused by an overflowing iron ore waste dump has now claimed 260 lives.

Police have detained several people in the case, which has so far found the accident was caused by negligence.

The waste dump was built in violation of regulations and had few safety inspections.

Russia plane crash, kills 88

Eighty-eight passengers and crew were killed when a Russian Boeing 737-500 crashed near the Ural mountains east of Moscow.

The plane, operated by Russia's national airline Aeroflot, was on a domestic flight from Moscow and ploughed into wasteland while trying to land in a Siberian city.Investigators will fly to Moscow to establish the cause of the crash.

Typhoon Sinlaku forces evacuation

Twelve people are dead and 10 missing after Typhoon Sinlaku, the 13th tropical storm to hit China this year, battered Taiwan.

Local authorities on Wednesday put the island's total agricultural loss at 714 million New Taiwan dollars (US $22.2 million).

The storm also forced more than 460,000 people to be evacuated in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on the mainland.

IN-DEPTH

Contaminated milk claims 4 lives

Four babies have died and 6,200 are ill after drinking milk contaminated with melamine.

The infants developed kidney stones after drinking milk from Sanlu Group.

So far five officials, including the mayor, have been sacked in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province where Sanlu Group is based.

Melamine is a chemical normally used in making plastics but was mixed in the milk to make it appear it was rich in protein.

Officials have found 22 companies out of 109 have also added melamine to their milk products and have ordered those products taken off the shelves.

Chinese banks have stakes in Lehman

At least three large Chinese commercial banks have disclosed their exposure to investment bank Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy this week.

China Merchants Bank Wednesday said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it holds $70 million of Lehman Brothers bonds.

According to Xinhua, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest State-controlled commercial bank by assets, holds $151 million in bonds issued by, or linked to, Lehman Brothers.

Meanwhile the US government has injected $85 billion into American International Group Inc or AIG.

Paralympics highlights

This week, the Paralympic stars shone, wtih Canada's Chantal Peticlerc winning her fifth gold of the games in the women's 1500m wheelchair race, to add to her astonishing collection of 21 medals, 14 of them gold.

South Africa's sixth place overall was largely down to swimmer Natalie Du Toit and sprinter Oscar ‘Blade Runner' Pistorius, who won 8 golds between them.

Meanwhile host China ended on top with 89 golds, after visually impaired runner Qi Shun won his country's first marathon gold at the Paralympics in world record time.

MORE NEWS:

Beijing-Tokyo forum

Japanese politicians have assured China that their relationship will not be affected after the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

The remarks were made during the 4th Beijing-Tokyo Forum that was held earlier this week, sponsored by China Daily and Tokyo-based Genron-NPO.

The two organizers see the forum as a long-term mission to promote multi-layer dialogue between Japan and China.

The forum is aimed at keeping the momentum of China-Japan cooperation going in areas like trade, security, disaster relief and environmental protection.

China names spacewalker astronaut

Zhai Zhigang, a reserve for the Shenzhou V and VI missions, is poised to become China's first spacewalker.

Shenzhou VII is likely to take off at 9:10 pm on September 25.

As part of the mission, Zhai will retrieve a piece of lubrication material placed beside the gate of the orbital module.

Former Chinese basketball star dies

Before Yao Ming, there was Mu Tiezhu.

The former basketballer died on Sunday in Beijing after a heart attack. He was 59 years old.

Two cm taller than Yao at 2.28 meters, Mu was a household name in China when he led the national team to its first Asian championship title in 1977.

 

Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing current affairs shows and documentaries.

 

 

Dylan Quinnell is a freelance journalist and photographer from New Zealand who has worked in TV, print, film and online. With a strong interest in international affairs, he has worked in Denmark, Indonesia and Australia, covering issues like the EU, indigenous people and deforestation. Dylan is in Beijing on an Asia New Zealand grant working as a copy editor for the English news department.