Safety

Rescue teams set up for miners

Specially trained and equipped mine rescue teams, to be formed this year, will significantly reduce the number of fatalities, according to a leading emergency rescue expert.

The seven rescue teams, stationed across the country, are predicted to reduce mine fatalities by about an eighth by 2015, said Wang Jinzhong, deputy director of the emergency rescue headquarters at the State Administration of Work Safety.

Last year, 3,033 miners were killed in 2,072 accidents.

Police beef up hospital security

Police are getting tough on people who disrupt the daily operation of hospitals because such acts violate the Security Management and Punishment Law, the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Public Security said in a joint announcement on May 1.

The statement is part of an effort to better maintain order in hospitals and other medical institutions following a series of violent attacks on medical workers in recent months.

On March 23, an 18-year-old man stabbed a doctor to death and wounded three others in a hospital in Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang province.

Anyone who carries illegal flammable materials, explosives or other items controlled by the government into hospitals, or who insults or threatens medical workers, will be held legally accountable, according to the announcement.

The seven teams have been selected and upgraded from existing teams and are being given state-of-the-art training and equipment.

Energy

Consumption may be capped

An energy consumption cap, equivalent to no more than 4.2 billion tons of coal, may be set by 2015, an expert in the sector said.

A plan has been formulated following two years of talks with provincial-level governments and is awaiting State Council approval, Han Wenke, director-general of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, said. Han's institute under the NDRC, the top economic planner, drafted the plan.

China, one of the world's largest energy users, consumed the equivalent of 3.48 billion tons of coal in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent. Policymakers are trying to strike a balance between green and growth.

Entertainment

Film fest reels in contracts

The second Beijing International Film Festival, which featured Hollywood director James Cameron and a week of films from 54 countries and regions, ended on April 28 with a gala concert by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and other performers from around the world.

Li Chunliang, director of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio, Film and Television, termed the event a success after contracts worth more than 5.2 billion yuan ($837 million; 636 million euros) were inked during the festival.

Li said he was especially pleased with the public participation in the festival's carnival, which registered nearly 1 million turnstile entries at the park.