Across China: Yunnan

Four of family dead

Four children from an extended family in southwest China's Yunnan province were confirmed dead and two other members of the same family were in critical condition yesterday in an apparent poisoning case, the local government said. The four dead, all male, were cousins aged from 18 months to 14 years, said a spokesman of the Menghai county government in Xishuangbanna.

The boys' only guardian was their grandmother, 73-year-old Chen Yongzhen, he said.