Beijing

Legislators review draft laws

China's top legislators will review several draft laws on mental health, special equipment safety, tourism, and environmental protection during a session scheduled from Aug 27 to Aug 31.

The upcoming bimonthly session was announced after Monday's meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which was presided over by Chairman Wu Bangguo.

Legislators will review, for the first time, draft laws on special equipment safety, tourism and amendments to the Environmental Protection Law.

They will continue to review draft amendments to the Civil Procedure Law, the Law on the Popularization of Agricultural Technology and the Mental Health Law.

Temporary residents decrease

Despite the increase of Beijing's population in 2011, the number of temporary residents in the municipality dropped by 600,000, the Beijing News reported on Monday.

According to the latest data released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Beijing had 8.25 million temporary residents by the end of 2011, down 600,000 from the previous year.

The population in Beijing broke the 20 million mark in 2011, reaching 20.18 million, of which 12.77 million were permanent residents, according to the bureau.

Hebei

Teacher invited to coastal resort

A woman who has taught in a small village for 26 years was among a group of regular workers and better-known people who were invited by State authorities earlier this month to vacation in the coastal resort of Beidaihe, Hebei province.

Xu Yunling, who has been teaching in a school in Sunzhuang village in Biyang county, Henan province, since 1986, told Henan Business Daily that she was surprised that an ordinary teacher such as her would receive an invitation from the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.

Together with Xu, 62 experts and outstanding workers were invited to the resort, including Jing Haipeng, an astronaut on the Shenzhou spacecraft.

Chongqing

Family of 12 killed in crash

Twelve people of the same family have been killed after their van crashed into a truck on Monday in a suburb of Southwest China's metropolis of Chongqing.

The head-on crash, which happened at 12:30 pm at a bend in a road that links the districts of Hechuan and Beibei, also left the truck driver critically injured, according to an official from the local traffic police department and a statement on the website of the State Administration of Work Safety.

The 12 people aboard the van were on their way back home after a family trip, said the official. He added that the heavy rain that hit the city earlier Monday might have been one of the causes of the accident.

Anhui

Eight dead after ferry sinks

Eight people died and rescuers are searching for five others still missing after a ferry sank in the Yangtze River in East China last week.

The latest death count was announced by the State Administration of Work Safety on its website on Monday.

The ferry carrying 22 people and 10 vehicles sank in a Yangtze section in Ma'anshan city, Anhui province, on Thursday. At least nine people survived the accident.

The wreckage of the ship was salvaged on Sunday but the cause of the accident has not yet been determined.

Guangxi

Man shot dead in Nanning

A man was shot dead early Sunday morning in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to local media reports.

The shooting happened under the Baisha Bridge near the hospital affiliated to the Guangxi Medical University in the city's Qingxiu district, according to a report on the provincial news portal gxnews.com.cn.

The report said the man was shot in the head, citing an unnamed policeman at the scene. The case is under further investigation.

Hong Kong

Airport traffic sets records

Passenger and aircraft traffic at Hong Kong International Airport set monthly records in July, Airport Authority Hong Kong said on Sunday.

In July, the airport handled more than 5 million passengers, up 0.5 percent over a year earlier, and 29,880 aircraft movements, a 3.4 percent increase year-on-year, the authority said.

The growth in passenger volume was driven primarily by Hong Kong residents' traffic, which rose 6 percent over the same period last year.

Shandong

Sentence for gang leader upheld

The Shandong High People's Court on Monday upheld a death sentence for gang leader Nie Lei.

The court rejected Nie's appeal for a lighter penalty. Nie was tried along with 31 other gang members at the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court, in March.

The gang leader was convicted on several counts, including intentionally injuring others and running a Mafia-style gang. Their crimes led to the death of two people and 22 others being injured.

Dad gives his son a sailing challenge

He Yide, a 4-year-old boy and son of "Eagle Dad", may become the world's youngest sailing competitor when he participates in the Qingdao International Sailing Week in Shandong province.

His father, He Liesheng, who calls himself "Eagle Dad", caused controversy in China after uploading a video of his son running almost naked in a -13 C blizzard over the Spring Festival holiday in New York.

He Yide was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was born as a premature baby. In an attempt to improve the child's health, his father created a strict training schedule and rigorously adhered to it.

Sichuan

Mahjong winner gets 200,000 yuan

Jing Daiju, a 33-year-old woman from the city of Qionglai in Sichuan province, was crowned champion of the 2012 Sichuan Mahjong Competition, which ended on Saturday.

Jing won 200,000 yuan ($31,700). The runner-up, Wang Chao, a 24-year-old woman from Sichuan's Santai county, won 50,000 yuan.

The competition lasted three months and drew more than 300,000 participants from different parts of the province.

China Daily-Xinhua