Environmental census under way

China on Tuesday launched its fourth census on the country's environmental-protection industry in an effort to prepare scientific data for the nation's policymakers, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The census will cover the manufacturing and operation of environmental protection products, resource recycling and environmentally friendly products in 2011.

Services related to the environmental-protection industry, including the operation of environmental-protection facilities and the construction of environment-related projects, will also be included in the census.

Country to name nameless islands

China is planning to name the country's nameless islands and islets, according to an official newspaper with the State Oceanic Administration.

The administration has also ordered provincial authorities to complete a local island census and compile information with names and locations of the islands and islets by the end of April 2013, the newspaper said on Tuesday.

As of the end of last year, China had given official names to 1,660 islands and placed marks, such as stone tablets, on these territories, the newspaper said. The naming and marking of another 1,664 islands will be completed by August next year.

Marine zonal plans approved for coast

The State Council has approved marine zonal plans of eight major coastal regions for the 2011-20 period in order to effectively protect the environment of the sea.

"Marine functional zoning provides a legal basis for effective protection of marine environment and rational exploitation of marine resources," the approval documents said.

The documents showed the eight regions' planned sea reclamation areas, which were approved by the State Council. These include 16,100 hectares in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 33,350 hectares in Fujian province and 50,600 hectares in Zhejiang province.

Publications to promote China

The State Council Information Office and 11 central government departments on Tuesday jointly launched a series of publications featuring "Scientific Development in China" to help the world better understand today's China. The series includes 20 books, eight picture albums and nine television feature films.

Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the office, presented the series to the Beijing Language and Culture University and other institutions involved in overseas publicity work.

Cui Xiliang, president of Beijing Language and Culture University, said the series could be used as materials for Mandarin-language textbooks.

Inner Mongolia

Former boss given death penalty

A court in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region sentenced to death a former president of a State-owned gold and silver company, North News reported.

Song Wendai, president and chief manager of Inner Mongolia Qiankun Gold and Silver Refinery, was found guilty of corruption and embezzlement of public funds, according to the verdict from the Intermediate People's Court in Bayannur city.

Song embezzled public funds and property worth 65 million yuan ($10.4 million) and misappropriated another 21 million yuan to run his own business.

Gansu

Students treated for food poisoning

Thirty-four pupils were hospitalized with suspected food poisoning in Northwest China's Gansu province, a teacher and a doctor confirmed on Tuesday.

The students, from Duanjiatan Primary School in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, were sent to the Gansu Provincial People's Hospital after they became ill and vomited during class on Monday afternoon, a teacher with the school said. The teacher also said all of them had lunch in a small restaurant near the school on Monday.

Thirty of the students were released from the hospital and returned home late Monday night. The remaining four were still being treated.

City wall collapse injures three

Three people were injured, one seriously, when part of an ancient city wall in Gansu province collapsed on Monday morning, the Lanzhou Evening Post reported on Tuesday.

The section of wall that fell around 7:30 am was in the western part of the old town in Huanxian county, Qingyang city, and measured about 20 meters wide and 7 meters tall.

Three people were buried in the collapse. Houses and cave dwellings of families living under or around the wall were also damaged.

Hunan

Seven killed in mining accident

Seven people suffocated in a poorly ventilated manganese mine in Central China in the country's latest fatal mining accident, local government reported on Tuesday.

Six miners descended, without approval, into the closed manganese mine in the city of Yongzhou, Hunan province, early on Monday morning to maintain the shaft, according to an initial investigation report issued by the local work safety authorities.

The miners fell because of a high concentration of carbon dioxide inside the mine, but two managed to escape and reported the accident. Three miners on the ground rushed into the shaft to rescue their colleagues, only to suffocate themselves because they did not have proper protection, the report said.

China Daily - Xinhua