Look out below! A 34-meter-high water tower in the Hunan Hangtian Hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, falls to pieces after a directional blasting on Tuesday. The demolition was made to make way for the construction of a new outpatient building. Photo by Di Lu / for China Daily

Beijing

Publishing sector needs further reform

A senior Party official has stressed systematic reforms for the country's publishing industry to make the sector more internationally competitive.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks on Wednesday while visiting the 19th Beijing International Book Fair.

Reforms in the industry have provided strong momentum for the development of the cultural sector, Li said, urging further work to promote the development, innovation and global competitiveness of the industry through reform.

Li called for efforts to establish a modern enterprise system in the sector, as well as for more support and encouragement for publishers that wish to expand their overseas markets.

Flight turns around after threat

An Air China flight returned to Beijing Capital International Airport after receiving a threatening message, the company said on Wednesday evening.

Flight CA981 returned to Beijing for the sake of passengers' safety, Air China said on its micro blog, without offering further information about the incident.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 1 pm on Wednesday for New York.

Drones to survey China's coastline

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are to be deployed along China's coastline to undertake remote-sensing marine surveillance, an official said on Wednesday.

The project also includes the construction of 11 UAV bases run by provincial maritime authorities, according to Yu Qingsong, a division chief of the State Oceanic Administration.

No further details on the scale or the schedule of the project were provided, but Yu said at least one drone will be stationed at each base.

Rules issued for local reshuffles

The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has issued operation rules to ensure fair and clean reshuffles in local legislatures and governments, according to a statement released by the department on Tuesday.

The Party's internal elections at the provincial, city, county and township levels, which concluded in July, have proved transparent and democratic, and a sound atmosphere should be continued in the reshuffles in local legislatures, governments and political advisory bodies in order to guarantee a smooth and healthy transfer of power, according to the statement.

The reshuffles should adhere to a string of rules that ban improper practices, the statement said.

The department and the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection will send special teams to supervise elections nationwide, it added.

Xinjiang

Coal mine tragedy claims 6 lives

Six miners were killed and six others injured in a coal mine accident in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Tuesday, the region's mine safety authority said on Wednesday.

The accident took place at around 6:20 pm on Tuesday at the Hongxing Coal Mine in Changji city. Details of the accident remain unknown.

Rescuers have discovered six bodies, and six injured miners have been rushed to a hospital, said an official with the region's coal mine safety supervision bureau.

Taiwan

Maritime drill set for Taiwan Straits

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan will conduct a joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise on Thursday, according to a statement issued by the Maritime Safety Administration on Wednesday.

The drill, to take place in the waters between Xiamen and Jinmen on the Taiwan Straits, will consist of multiple scenarios, including rescue operations for overturned fishing boats and ferry collisions, the statement said.

Both sides have sent professional search-and-rescue teams, as well as maritime professionals from the cities of Xiamen and Jinmen, to participate in the event, the statement said.

Gansu

New State-level SEZ gets a 'go'

The State Council has approved the establishment of a State-level "new area," a type of Special Economic Zone, in northwestern Gansu province, the fifth of its kind in the country.

Lanzhou New Area, located in Qinwangchuan Basin in the north of the provincial capital of Lanzhou, will serve as an industrial platform and growth engine to boost the economic development of China's northwest, said an official with the city government on Wednesday.

Covering an area of 806 sq km, the Lanzhou New Area has attracted 90 investment projects so far, with a total volume of 70.7 billion yuan ($11 billion), according to statistics released by its management committee.

Yunnan

Landslide disaster kills 5, injures 3

Five people have been confirmed killed and three others injured in a landslide that hit Southwest China's Yunnan province on early Wednesday, rescuers said.

The landslide occurred at 5 am in Xinzhai village of Xuanwei city, trapping eight people.

Three people who were pulled out of the debris in the morning suffered minor injuries.

They were sent to a local hospital for treatment.

Rescuers found the bodies of the remaining five at around 2 pm.

An investigation into the disaster is under way.

Xinhua China Daily

(China Daily 08/30/2012 page2)