Conference of Asian parties

China will host a special gathering of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, according to the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. With the theme, "Promote green development and build a beautiful Asia together", the conference will be held in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. Representatives from about 50 political parties from Asian countries are expected to attend the event.

Free treatment for ethnic children

Five Beijing hospitals are starting free operations and treatment on more than 150 children from ethnic groups diagnosed with congenital heart disease. In the program launched by China Charity Federation in February 2011, hospitals in Beijing and Guangzhou in Guangdong province have been dispatching doctors to monitor congenital heart disease among more than 200,000 children in areas including the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tibet autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Yunnan province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Plans to support universities

China on Wednesday unveiled a plan to support universities in its less developed central and western regions, as these institutions have fallen behind their peers in the country's richer coastal areas. The ministries of education and finance and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the plan to strengthen the faculties and facilities of universities in central and western China before 2020. Government authorities plan to inject 10 billion yuan ($1.62 billion) between 2012 and 2015 into 100 higher education institutions in those regions where bachelor degree programs are available.

Guangdong

Suspect caught after stabbing

Police caught a suspect who fled the scene of a multiple stabbing at 1:51 am on Wednesday. Six primary school pupils and a parent were stabbed in Maoming, Guangdong province, on Tuesday. Most of the victims suffered head wounds, according to China News Service. The incident took place in the city's Yangjiao township, Maogang district, at about 5 pm when the suspect, surnamed Liao, used a knife to attack the pupils who were going home. Liao, 32, a Baiwu villager, is said to have a history of mental illness, police said.

Zhejiang

Retrial begins in murder case

The Jiaxing Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang province on Wednesday began a retrial in a 1995 murder case, a development that might exonerate the five men who received heavy sentences for the crime 17 years ago. The defendant, Xiang Shengyuan was charged with intentional homicide after the police last year discovered that his fingerprints matched those collected in March 1995 at the homicide scene. Two taxi drivers were robbed and killed in the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on March 20 and Aug 12, 1995. Four men who were in their 20s received death sentences with a reprieve of two years, and another was given life imprisonment.

Call for visit to police hero

Netizens called for chief of the environmental protection bureau of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, to visit Zhang Guangcong, a 51-year-old policeman, who was hospitalized with pneumonia after saving a teenager's life from a filthy river. According to Metro Express, Zhang was sent to hospital on Saturday, two days after he saved a 14-year-old girl who tried to commit suicide by jumping into the heavily polluted river in Wenzhou's Jinxiang town. Doctors from No 3 People's Hospital of Cangnan county said contaminated water entered Zhang's lungs and caused pneumonia.

Shaanxi

Largest base for magnesium

Shaanxi province has become the largest industrial base for magnesium in the world, according to the provincial government. The annual output of primary magnesium in Shaanxi reached 316,700 metric tons last year, 45.4 percent of the output in China and 37.2 percent of global output. Magnesium is widely used in mobile phone casings, aircraft seat armrests and spacecraft. On Monday, the first electronic trading platform for magnesium and magnesium alloys in the Chinese mainland, Shaanxi E-Commerce Center of Magnesium, was put into operation.

Qinghai

Food poisoning sickens students

Dozens of students from multiple primary and middle schools in Qinghai province have been affected by food poisoning. As of 3 pm on Wednesday, more than 20 students from three schools in Hui-Tu autonomous county of Datong had been sent to a local hospital for treatment, sources with the county government said. Their conditions have not been released.

Chongqing

6 people indicted for sex scandal

Six people have been prosecuted for allegedly working together to blackmail government officials in Chongqing municipality with secretly recorded sex videos. Xiao Ye, Xu Sheqing, Yan Peng, Wang Jianjun, Zhao Hongxia and Tan Linling were charged with extortion on Monday, according to a statement issued by the Yubei District People's Procuratorate in Chongqing on Wednesday. The case was rendered to the Yubei District People's Court for a hearing. Investigators found that the group, led by Xiao, lured officials into having sex with women and secretly recorded their encounters in order to blackmail them from 2008 to 2009.

China Daily - Xinhua