Media center to open for Party congress

A media center for the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is scheduled to be convened on Nov 8 in Beijing, will go into service on Thursday.

The media center, which will operate in the Media Center Hotel in Beijing, will deal with interview applications submitted by journalists from Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, from Taiwan and from foreign countries, as well as provide information services and technical support to the media.

Govt to tighten rules on non-local vehicles

Beijing will tighten its restrictions on non-local vehicles entering the downtown area starting on Thursday, one week ahead of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Between Nov 1 and 18, temporary licenses issued to passenger cars and cargo vehicles with out-of-town licenses will only guarantee a valid stay of three days within the areas inside the Fifth Ring Road, the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau said in a news statement.

Meanwhile, cargo trucks are banned from the roads inside the Fifth Ring Road during the period.

Cold snap to sweep through the country

China's central and eastern regions will experience temperature drops in coming days, while the southern parts will receive moderate to heavy rain, the national meteorological watchdog said on Sunday.

Strong winds caused temperatures in northeastern regions to fall by 6 to 10 degrees on Sunday. A blast of cold air is forecast to sweep across the central and eastern parts from Monday, the National Meteorological Center said on its website.

The center said that fog also shrouded parts of Hubei, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces on Sunday morning, reducing visibility to less than 1,000 meters.

Shanghai

Men suffer erectile dysfunction

Around 49 percent of Shanghai men older than 40 have experienced erectile dysfunction, according to a survey by the Shanghai Institute of Andrology.

The survey was published on Sunday, the annual Men's Health Day in China.

About 56 percent of men aged 40 or older reported that they no longer have an active sex life.

Yunnan

2 dead, 3 trapped in factory collapse

Two people were killed and three others are still trapped after a cement plant collapsed on Saturday in Yunnan province, local authorities said on Sunday.

The accident occurred around 3:30 pm at Pangwei Cement Plant in Midu county, the county publicity department said.

Seven other people suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Shandong

Province to become gold production center

The Jiaodong Peninsula in Shandong province is expected to become a world-class gold production base, a local gold producer said on Sunday.

Shandong Gold Group announced in a statement that the company will build a gold production center with an annual output of 100 metric tons on the peninsula, which has gold reserves totaling 2,300 tons.

The company plans to increase its production volume over the next eight years, targeting an annual production value of more than 100 billion yuan ($16 billion).

Shaanxi

Work begins on large high-speed railway

Construction began on Saturday on a major high-speed railway in China's western hinterland to promote local economic cooperation and development.

The 643-km-long railway line for passenger transport links Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, to Chengdu, Sichuan province.

The project will be completed in five years with an investment of more than 40 billion yuan ($6.35 billion). The travel time between the two cities will be shortened from 12 to three hours after the new railway opens.

Hunan

2 people arrested for smuggling wild birds

Two people have been detained for smuggling 618 wild birds, police in Hunan province said on Saturday.

A villager surnamed Wu in Hunan's Xiangtan township transported the wild birds on a bus earlier this month to a dealer surnamed Zhong in Guangdong province.

Police stopped the bus at a toll station in Hunan and seized eight cases containing 612 aquatic birds and six night herons.

Qinghai

Hospitals and schools rebuilt in quake area

Schools and hospitals have been reconstructed in Yushu after a devastating earthquake hit the area in 2010.

A total of 44 schools and 53 hospitals have been rebuilt in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province, at a cost of 2.8 billion yuan ($448 million), the local government said in a statement on Saturday.

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake jolted Yushu on April 14, 2010, killing 2,698 people and injuring more than 12,000.

Gansu

Seven dead after truck crash in Longnan

The death of a 4-year-old boy in a hospital on Saturday afternoon raised the death toll from a truck crash in Gansu province to seven, local authorities said on Saturday.

At about 5:10 pm on Friday, the truck, carrying nine students and three villagers, veered off a mountain road and plunged 200 meters down a valley in the Wudu district of Longnan.

Six of the students and one villager have died, a Longnan official said.

Zhejiang

Work stopped on chemical plant project

Work on a 55.8 billion yuan ($9 billion) chemical plant has been halted in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, after local residents' concerns about environmental pollution led to protests, authorities said on Sunday.

Strict emissions standards have been applied to the project, which is in Ningbo and is expected to produce 15 million metric tons of refined oil and 1.2 million tons of ethylene a year, the city's information office said in a statement. Hundreds of residents took part in the protests last week, authorities said.

Inner Mongolia

Smart-car challengers rev their engines

The fourth Chinese intelligent vehicle challenger will kick off on Wednesday in Ongniud Banner, the Inner Mongolian autonomous region.

More than 10 teams from across the country will showcase their sensor-controlled technology. Intelligent vehicles, or unmanned cars, combine advanced technologies such as Global Position System, environment sensoring, process computing and executive controlling.

China Daily - Xinhua