Offensive odor origin found

Shanghai officials looking into complaints about an offensive odor said it likely emanated from a newly painted bridge. Residents in the city's Zhangjiang area began reporting a strange smell on Monday evening. The odor, which persisted for about two hours until 6 pm, was described as "gas-like" and some residents said it had made their tongues numb.

Sichuan

Bus stop signs going electronic

The bus company in Neijiang plans to install 30 electronic bus stop signs in the city's urban areas in the next three years, the West China Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday. The electronic signs will use GPS systems to monitor the buses, and will tell passengers how long it will take for the next bus to arrive. In Chengdu, the provincial capital, 4,000 electronic bus stop signs will be installed this year, taking the total number to 4,500.

Residents asked to avoid bridge

Police have stopped vehicles passing over a bridge in Sichuan after cracks were found on the bridge pier, according to a report from West China Metropolis Daily on Wednesday. Since 7 pm on Tuesday, vehicles have been restricted from driving through the Changjiang Bridge in Luzhou. At around 11 pm, experts arrived in the city and started to study ways to deal with the cracks.

Beijing

Day set for traffic safety awareness

China has set Dec 2 as the annual National Traffic Safety Day to raise public awareness about road safety, according to a statement released by the State Council on Wednesday. The safety of passenger buses and school buses will be the focus of the activities organized this year, under the theme "Civilized traffic, say goodbye to bad habits". In 2011, China had about 211,000 road accidents that killed 62,000 people.

Mother sent to labor center

A woman who visited her son in Beijing was sent to the re-education by labor center in her hometown because police believe she submitted petitions to authorities during her stay in the capital, according to a report in the Beijing Youth Daily on Wednesday. The police said that Zhao Meifu, 54, traveled to Beijing on four previous occasions to submit "illegal petitions" due to a land dispute with a neighbor, and they believe that she did the same last time.

Fake almonds found in China

Some snack companies have been importing apricot pits and knowingly mislabeling them as the popular American almonds for the past decade, according to an industry group. The Specialized Committee for Roasted Seeds and Nuts of the China National Food Industry Association is demanding that involved companies re-package products so that consumers know exactly what they're eating, the Beijing Times reported.

Guangdong

Shortage of art for rural children

While 92.6 percent of the rural children in Guangzhou are willing to receive extra-curricular art education classes, only 0.9 percent of them have frequent access to such classes, according to a survey co-conducted by the Guangzhou Children's Activities Center. About 260,000 rural children in Guangzhou have no way to receive art education outside schools, the survey said.

City takes lead in fighting corruption

Guangzhou has taken the lead in the southern province to introduce a pilot project in its Nansha district, asking all Party and government officials to report their properties and the employment status of their spouses and children. The pilot project, which aims to prevent and fight official corruption, is expected to cover the whole metropolis when it is proved effective in Nansha.

Henan

Bureau apologizes for cigarette butt

The finance bureau of Fengquan district in Xinxiang issued a public apology after one of his employees threw a cigarette butt out of a moving vehicle. On Oct 22, one of the bureau's employees driving a bureau vehicle along a street in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, was photographed by a local resident throwing a cigarette butt out of the window.

Hainan

Students injured after quake drill

Five students passed out and 17 were injured after an earthquake drill in an elementary school in Lingao county, Hainan province, on Tuesday. The school wrapped up the drill at 5 pm, and students swarmed into the school building's staircases, causing five students to faint due to lack of oxygen. The crowd then panicked and injured another 17 students in a stampede.

Jiangsu

Schoolboys fall to death from school

Two middle school students in Suqian, Jiangsu province, fell to their deaths from the fourth floor on a school building on Wednesday because of broken railings. The two boys, aged 15 and 16, were leaning against the railings in Suyu Experimental Junior High School when the railings suddenly broke. A student said that the school had known the railings of its buildings had quality problems before the accident.

Nanjing to host Christmas village

People in Nanjing will have the opportunity to visit China's biggest Christmas village this winter. The village, covering an area of 150,000 square meters, will be equipped with a Christmas post office and a fair providing food and specialties from many countries. There will be a Christmas tree measuring more than 20 meters high, considered to be China's tallest.

Shandong

Marine economy projects set up

Shandong plans to set up 100 marine economy projects and 30 pilot zones by the end of 2015 to boost the province's economic development, according to a statement released by the State Oceanic Administration on Wednesday. Recycling is an effective way to balance the booming marine economy and the fragile marine environmental protection, the statement said.

China Daily