Court accepts ex-inmate's appeal

A higher people's court has accepted the appeal by a former laojiao inmate who demanded compensation and an apology from the government, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. Tang Hui, the mother of a rape victim, was sentenced to 18 months in laojiao - re-education through labor camps - in Hunan's Yongzhou city last year for repeatedly petitioning. Her daughter was kidnapped, raped and forced into prostitution in October 2006.

Beijing

Medicines put on reimbursement list

Medicines that help people quit smoking are expected to enter the drug reimbursement list in Beijing, the latest move by the capital to fight lung cancer and encourage people to stop smoking. The Beijing health authority said over the weekend that it will soon also offer residents of the city's Shijingshan and Fengtai districts free lung cancer screening, as cancer is the No 1 killer of Beijing residents.

Guideline issued on cancer treatment

A clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, a kind of blood cancer, was issued on Sunday by the Chinese Society of Hematology under the Chinese Medical Association. The guideline highlights some Chinese characteristics in the treatment of the cancer, in order to improve treatment outcomes for the disease in China. The disease occurs in all age groups but most commonly in the middle-aged and elderly.

Rainstorm alert issued in south

China's meteorological authority on Sunday issued a blue alert - the lowest level in a four-color warning system - for rainstorms in the south. From Sunday to Monday morning, regions in southern China's Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Taiwan will be swept by heavy rain or storms depositing rain up to 80 millimeters deep, the National Meteorological Center said in a statement. Guangdong and Guangxi will experience downpours from 100 to 130 mm within 24 hours, the center said.

Henan

Firework workshop blast kills three

An explosion at an unlicensed fireworks workshop in Henan province killed three people and injured three others on Sunday, local authorities said. Police suspect the blast was caused by illegally stored gunpowder, according to the Runan County publicity bureau. The workshop owner's wife and daughter and one of their neighbors were killed in the accident, while three others, including the workshop owner, have been hospitalized, the bureau said.

Bureau spent $46,000 on liquor

The Songxian county government criticized its land resources bureau after it was found to have consumed 3,000 bottles of liquor at banquets over a two-year period. The bureau spent 283,800 yuan ($46,000) on 3,000 bottles of "specially ordered" liquor in August 2010 and the bureau's name was printed on the logos of the liquor bottles, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Sichuan

Non-stop route to Europe launchs

The first non-stop air route from China's western area to Europe opened on Sunday, as an Air China flight took off from Chengdu to Frankfurt at 1:30 am. The route will operate three flights per week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Each flight from Chengdu to Frankfurt will take about 10 hours.

Jiangsu

Kindergarten sold unhealthy clothes

A kindergarten has been accused of selling unhealthy clothes to its students on military training courses. The Nanjing Normal University Kindergarten sold hats, shirts and trousers containing excessive levels of methanol to the students for 70 yuan ($11) each. The methanol level in the clothes was 97 milligrams per kg, higher than the normal level of 75, China National Radio reported on Sunday.

Hubei

Principals fired for dereliction of duty

Three primary-school principals were dismissed for dereliction of duty in "free lunch" projects. Zhu Meiping, deputy head of the education bureau in Hefeng county, said on Saturday that one of the primary schools was wasting too much food, and the other two schools were probed for misusing the funds for the "free lunch" project, according to the Changjiang Times.

Student takes doctor hostage

A college student held a female doctor hostage on Saturday after he had a dispute with the family of an elderly woman he struck with his bicycle. The student, a freshman at a university in Wuhan, clashed with the woman's family at a hospital because he could not afford her medical expenses from the accident. He took the doctor hostage at knife-point but later surrendered to police.

Guangxi

School milk makes 400 students ill

A quality watchdog is investigating a case in which more than 400 students felt dizzy, had headaches and diarrhea after drinking milk provided by a primary school last week, China Central Television reported on Sunday. Thirty-five students in Du'an Yao autonomous county were hospitalized, but their conditions were not severe. All 15,000 boxes of milk bought by the school were within the expiration date, and the school had given some 4,000 boxes to students.

Taiwan

Thousands protest nuclear project

About 10,000 people took to the streets in Taipei on Sunday to protest against further development of nuclear power on the island. The demonstration was launched by an environmental protection organization to protest the construction of a new nuclear power plant. Protestors held banners and flags with slogans such as "No Nuclear Power" and "We Don't Want Another Fukushima" at the demonstration.

China Daily - Xinhua