Smoking risks

One-quarter of Japanese women are aged 65 or over, official figures indicate, highlighting a looming demographic crisis.

A second man dies of pneumonic plague in remote north-western China, where thousands of people are quarantined.

There are 13 million abortions each year in China, highlighting a lack of sex education, according to a Chinese newspaper.

Five people convicted over a milk contamination scandal in China fail to get their sentences quashed on appeal, reports say.

Authorities have culled more than 370,000 birds in eastern China, as the virus resurfaces in Asia and the Middle East.