Casting a cloud Heavy smoke caused by a fire, which broke out in a used car factory in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, on Tuesday, rises in the air. The fire was extinguished at around 3 pm. No casualties were reported as of press time on Tuesday. Photo by Xiao Jinbiao / for China Daily

Beijing

Wen seeks priority on job creation

Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday called for more efforts to expand employment, urging local governments to prioritize job creation.

Wen made the remarks at a conference held in Beijing to honor people who have made great contributions to boost the country's employment.

Wen said the employment situation has been essentially stable, citing 98 million jobs created in urban areas from 2003 to 2011.

However, he said, the nation will face a more complex and difficult employment situation in the days to come, which will require the government to make more efforts to boost employment.

Wen called for local authorities to implement more proactive employment policies and give more priority to job creation.

Local authorities should make efforts to create more jobs for college graduates, migrant workers, women, people from ethnic groups and those with disabilities, Wen said.

Streets to be closed for forum

Several key roads in Beijing will be cleared of traffic from Tuesday as the capital city rolls out the red carpet for African leaders attending a high-level forum in the city this week.

Beijing police on Tuesday announced temporary closures of the expressway to the Beijing Capital International Airport, Chang'an Avenue, and the east section of the Second Ring Road during July 17 to 21, and closures of several downtown roads around the conference venues on July 19 and 20.

A traffic police notice said all road closures will be announced two hours in advance.

Beijing will host the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on July 19 and 20.

6m people travel daily on railways

China's railways have handled six million passengers daily since the start of this month, when the peak summer travel season began, the Ministry of Railways said on Tuesday.

A daily average of 6.04 million passengers traveled by rail during the first 15 days of July, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The largest number appeared on July 7, when 6.5 million passengers took trains, according to the statement.

It said most of the passengers were students going back home for summer vacation, as well as people taking breaks from work to visit friends and relatives.

To cope with the travel rush, railway authorities have arranged additional trains and stepped up measures to ensure safe transportation, the ministry said.

Guangxi

Illegal immigrants turned back

Border police in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have captured more than 2,600 Vietnamese who attempted to illegally enter China in the first half of the year, police sources said on Tuesday.

A total of 2,606 stowaway suspects were intercepted in the first six months, representing a surge of 32.6 percent from the same period last year.

Most of the illegal immigrants were between 16 and 45 years old, and entered China to seek jobs, according to the police.

China's economic boom in recent years has brought a labor shortage in coastal areas like Guangdong and Fujian provinces, which have become a destination for illegal immigrants. About 46 percent are destined for these areas.

The other 54 percent of the illegal immigrants crossed the Chinese-Vietnamese border to harvest sugar cane in Guangxi, which accounts about 60 percent of the country's sugar output, the police said.

Shanxi

New system monitors gases

A monitoring system for greenhouse gas concentrations has been launched in North China's coal-rich Shanxi province as local meteorological authorities aim to better deal with climate change by using firsthand emission data.

It is the first such monitoring system that has been built among provincial-level regions in the country.

The system can monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, oxynitride and particulate matter in the air, and publish the data in a timely manner, a spokesman with the provincial meteorological administration said.

Construction of the monitoring system began in November, with an initial investment of 10.25 million yuan ($1.63 million).

It now operates a central monitoring station and three substations in the cities of Taiyuan, Datong and Linyi.

Hunan

Summer camping ruined by accident

Three people were hospitalized after the double-decker bus they were on overturned at an expressway section in Central China's Hunan province on Tuesday morning.

Firefighters in Xiangtan city said the bus with 59 people onboard overturned at 11:34 am on the Xiangtan section of the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway.

Sixteen of the passengers, all students and teachers from the Loudi City No 2 Middle School, had managed to get out of the vehicle when rescuers arrived.

A teacher suffered severe injuries, and two students suffered minor injuries.

The bus was rented by the school to take the students and teachers to a summer campsite. It ran into the rear of a car on the expressway before overturning.

Farmer's house collapses in blast

One person was killed and three others seriously injured when nitrate explosives stored in a residence in Hunan province went off on Monday night, according to local police.

The explosion occurred in a farmer's house in Chengbu county of Shaoyang city at 10:23 pm, collapsing the house and trapping four people inside, local police said on Tuesday.

The son of the house owner was found dead at the site, while the three seriously injured people were taken to a hospital, police said.

Residents living nearby were evacuated for fear of another collapse as the explosion has damaged adjacent buildings.

The incident is under investigation.

Shandong

Bus crash kills 1, injures 8

A van carrying 10 toddlers crashed into a sedan Tuesday afternoon in East China's Shandong province, leaving one child dead and eight others injured, the local government said.

The accident happened at 5 pm, when the van collided with a sedan at an intersection in the Rencheng district of Jining city, said an official with the district government.

The van is hired by a local kindergarten to take the children home after school, a preliminary investigation showed.

One child died after being sent to a local hospital. The injured, including three with serious injuries, are in stable condition, the official said.

The police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Hong Kong

City residents spend $4.59b on trips

Hong Kong residents making personal travel to the mainland spent HK$35.6 billion ($4.59 billion) in 2011, the city's Census and Statistics Department said on Tuesday.

Of all the trips to the mainland, business travel accounted for about 33 percent, while personal travel constituted 67 percent, the department said.

Hong Kong residents spent about HK$730 per trip, with an average of HK$1,000 for overnight trips and HK$290 for same-day trips.

Xinhua China Daily