Gansu

17 punished for holes in highway

Seventeen people responsible for the construction of a substandard highway in Northwest China's Gansu province have been punished by the local government.

Seven officials from the provincial department of transport that oversee the Tianshui-Dingxi Highway project and five people from an institute in charge of quality supervision received administrative punishment, Ai Yude, an official from the Gansu provincial department of transport, said on Tuesday. Five people from a construction company received economic punishment, including a fine of 1 million yuan ($157,000), he said.

A large number of holes in the surface of the highway, which cost more than 8.7 billion yuan to build, were found a month after it was completed in May 2011.

Beijing

Govts urged to enforce bus rule

A circular was issued in China on Monday asking local governments to better implement the regulation on school bus safety management.

Issued by the Ministry of Education and another 19 departments responsible for school bus safety, the circular urged local governments to establish a school bus safety management system, set a reasonable transitional period and make detailed provisions in terms of school bus permissions, school bus drivers' qualifications and legal responsibilities.

The focus of the management work should be put on rural areas where schooling is beyond the reach of public transport and nearby schooling is not feasible, said the circular.

Shortage of physicians cited

Only one-sixth of medical students graduating each year become doctors, causing a shortage of general physicians, China Youth Daily reported on Monday.

China has about 78,000 registered general practitioners, which means there is less than one general physician for every 10,000 people.

The central government plans to increase the number to 150,000 by 2015, and hopes that by 2020, there are two to three qualified general physicians for every 10,000 people.

TV series honors Good Samaritan

A TV documentary series about the famous Chinese Good Samaritan Lei Feng will be shown on China Central Television starting on Wednesday, the 50th anniversary of his death, the People's Liberation Army's General Political Department said on Tuesday.

The documentary's production team from the PLA interviewed many friends and colleagues of Lei as well as many model citizens who performed well in learning Lei Feng's spirit.

Lei Feng was a PLA soldier known for his selfless service for the people. He died in the line of duty in 1962.

Sichuan

3 dead, 9 missing after torrential rain

Three people have died and nine are still missing after floods and mudslides in Sichuan province, authorities said on Tuesday.

Heavy rains in Siping township of Ya'an city triggered a flood that destroyed two power stations around 11:20 pm on Monday, according to sources with the Sichuan provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.One person has been confirmed dead and three others missing.

Another flood broke out around 11:30 pm in Dahua township of the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, leaving one dead and one missing, the sources said. Also in Ya'an, a mudslide damaged several houses on Tuesday, killing one and leaving five others missing.

Jiangsu

Official detained for stabbing woman

The son of a high-ranking police officer in Jingjiang, Jiangsu province, is under detention after stabbing a female neighbor several times on Friday, according to a statement from the Jingjiang Public Security Bureau, according to media reports.

The victim, named Zang, was severely injured but no vital organs were damaged. She was allegedly stabbed by Lu Jianbo, a civil servant and son of Lu Shengmin, the deputy political commissar of the Jingjiang public security bureau.

The day after the incident, the son of the victim posted a video of the attack, which began after Lu Shengmin's wife and the victim quarreled about an allegedly illegal housing addition with which Lu Shengmin may be involved. Lu Jianbo intervened and stabbed the neighbor.

Hubei

4 killed, 4 injured in road accident

Four people died and four were injured in a road accident on an expressway in Hubei province on Tuesday morning, local authorities said.

The pileup occurred around 8 am on Tuesday when a truck rear-ended a car, pushing it into another truck on the Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway in the city of Yichang, the police said.

Four passengers in the car died at the scene and the four people in the two trucks sustained injuries, the police said.

Yunnan

Railway connects China and ASEAN

Construction workers on Tuesday laid the last piece of a railway that will link Southwest China's Yunnan province with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The Yuxi-Mengzi Railway, with an investment of 4.5 billion yuan ($710 million), is expected to become operational later this year and will boost land transportation between China and the ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily 08/15/2012 page2)