Beijing

Most Chinese think CPI will rise: poll

People are feeling the pinch from rising prices, and a majority believe prices will rise this year, a poll shows. Around 75 percent of respondents said food prices have the largest impact on their lives, while 15 percent pointed to rising home costs and rent, according to a survey by the People's Daily Online. The poll shows 77 percent of respondents believe the consumer price index will rise by a large margin this year.

Jiangxi

Pollution cutswater supply

Water supplies to 60,000 people were cut on Monday because of pollution in the Jiangxi province. Around 10 am, an oily substance was seen floating near a water intake used by a water company on the Liaohe River, the environmental protection bureau in Yongxiu county said. An initial investigation blamed the pollution on an oil pipeline leak upstream. The pipeline has been shut down and water is being supplied to residents.

Guangdong

'Good Samaritan' regulation mulled

Legislators in Shenzhen are mulling a "Good Samaritan" regulation, proposing that people who perform heroic actions should be presumed innocent, even if their actions have negative consequences. The draft regulation says people who receive help should collect evidence to prove the helper was guilty of any wrongdoing, if they believe their rights were violated.

Shaanxi

Listed mill makes way for museum

A mill over 100 years old has been demolished to make way for a museum, China Youth Daily reported on Monday. The mill in Luanzhen township in Shaanxi province was using an ancient technique to extract oil from plants. Gao Rangrang, an oil extraction worker for more than 30 years, and his son were named as inheritors of the oil extraction technique by the provincial government. But the mill was demolished last year.

Reservoir project starts in province

Construction of a reservoir capable of holding 3.06 billion cubic meters of water began on Sunday in parched Shaanxi province. The reservoir, part of the Jinghe River Dongzhuang water control project, will cost 12 billion yuan ($1.9 billion). It is expected to be completed in eight years, said the provincial water resources department. The reservoir is the largest in the province in terms of storage capacity.

Yunnan

4,815 smuggled snakes captured

Police in Yunnan province have captured 4,815 snakes in a recent raid against smugglers, local authorities said on Monday. Forest police in Ruili city captured the snakes loaded in boxes in a vehicle from Myanmar around 4 am on Feb 22. They included oriental ratsnakes, cobras and vipers, with the animals weighing a total of 3.8 metric tons. Eating snake is popular in South China and raising snakes is a profitable business.

Guizhou

20,000 evacuated in factory blast

Five people were injured and about 20,000 evacuated after a chemical plant explosion in Guizhou province on Monday. The accident happened at about 10:20 am at a factory owned by Bestchem Corp in the provincial capital, Guiyang. A toluene and methanol leak was blamed for the blast, according to initial investigations. Environmental authorities said no harmful gases have been detected near the factory.

Tibet

Earthquake jolts autonomous region

A magnitude-5.4 earthquake jolted Gerze county of Ngari prefecture in the Tibet autonomous region at 1:11 pm on Monday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. Another earthquake measuring 4.1-magnitude occurred in the same area at 1:22 pm, with a depth of 3 km, the center reported. No casualties have been reported.

Switzerland

FIFA bans extended to 58 Chinese

FIFA, world football's governing body, has handed out bans to 58 players and officials found guilty in the recent Chinese match-fixing scandal. It has expelled 33 people from world football for life and 25 others will serve five-year bans for involvement in the domestic match-fixing and bribery cases, it said. All those banned were previously sanctioned by the Chinese Football Association.

China Daily-Xinhua-AP

(China Daily 02/26/2013 page2)