Suspected arson kills 7 in village

Seven people, including four children, were killed on Tuesday in a suspected arson attack, firefighters said. A fire was spotted at 3:45 am at a villager's home in Shicheng county in the city of Ganzhou, an officer with the city's fire department said. Among the dead were a family of six, including a couple and their four children, and an unidentified person who was believed to have started the fire, the officer said. Police are investigating.

Beijing

Preparatory work resumes for expo

Preparatory work for the Ninth China (Beijing) International Garden Expo is proceeding as scheduled, despite a fire that partly destroyed one of its main attractions, authorities said on Tuesday. The blaze on Monday, which destroyed part of Yongding Tower in Fengtai district, will not delay the event, which is scheduled to open in May. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

China and Arab cooperation urged

China and Arab countries should cooperate more in disease prevention and control, traditional medicine, medical education and vaccine production, said a joint statement on Tuesday. Issued after a China-Arab senior health officials' conference held in Beijing, the statement also said both sides agreed to hold such a conference every two years, with the next one scheduled for 2015.

Shandong

Plan for grave sparks opposition

The site of a mass grave from Japan's invasion of China in the 1930s might be used for property development, sparking opposition from local people, Jinan Times reported. The mass grave is located at Pipa Mountain in the suburbs of Jinan, Shandong province. From 1940 and 1945, when the Japanese Army occupied Shandong, many anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians were arrested and sent to the site, and most were tortured, killed and buried there.

Hainan

Super rice strain project under way

China will launch a special scientific research project to develop a new super rice strain, expected to produce a bumper harvest of 14.9 metric tons a hectare, Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said on Tuesday. The project, to be undertaken by agricultural scientist Yuan Longping, known as the "father of hybrid rice" for developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s, will realize its target within the next five to eight years, Han said in Sanya, Hainan province.

Marine Surveillance ships off islands

The State Oceanic Administration said on Tuesday that three China Marine Surveillance ships - the Haijian 50, Haijian 26 and Haijian 66 - are patrolling the waters near the Diaoyu Islands. A statement from the administration said that during the patrol, the fleet relayed the Chinese government's stance regarding the Diaoyu Islands to Japanese ships that illegally entered the waters and asked them to leave the waters immediately.

Guangdong

Briton suspected of bigamy

A Briton and his Chinese partner are being investigated in Guangzhou to assess whether the man should be charged with bigamy, New Express Daily reported on Tuesday. The pair, a 48-year-old businessman, identified by police only as Jerry, and a local woman, were investigated after the man's wife in Britain sought help from the police. The newspaper said the man has been married to his British wife for more than 20 years and they have four children in the UK, including twins.

Jiangsu

200 pig carcasses found in waterways

More than 200 dead pigs have been retrieved from the waterways of Changzhou, Jiangsu province, media reported on Tuesday. As of Monday, 113 pigs had been fished from rivers in the city's Tianning district, while another 100 decomposed carcasses were found in waterways in Wujin district, Changzhou Daily reported. Xu Hongfei, deputy director of the Changzhou Animal Inspection Bureau, said the pigs found in Tianning came from upstream on the Yangtze River, and those in Wujin were probably dumped by nearby pig farmers long ago but only found recently.

Xinjiang

Iron-fortified soy sauce donated

Thousands of pregnant women, women of child-bearing age and infants in Jeminay county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will receive free iron-fortified soy sauce for a year to help cure anemia. The soy sauce is being donated under a program organized by the China Development Research Foundation, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and condiment maker Shinho.

Hunan

Changsha to host minerals fair

China's first minerals and gems event will kick off on May 16 in Changsha, Hunan province. The event will welcome about 1,200 mineral and gem exhibitors from more than 50 countries and regions, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources. The five-day exhibition, jointly organized by the ministry and the Hunan government, aims to be the largest professional show in Asia for the sector, Jiang Jianjun, director of the ministry's department of international cooperation and technology said.

China Daily - Xinhua