Beijing

Fleet continues islands patrol

Chinese marine surveillance ships continued regular patrols of territorial waters off the Diaoyu Islands on Thursday, the State Oceanic Administration said. The patrol on duty consisted of three ships. China has strengthened law enforcement in waters surrounding the islands since September after the government announced boundary lines for the waters off the Diaoyu Islands and their islets.

Limits placed on room sharing

The Beijing government put restrictions on the number of people who can live in leased houses. It said the average living space in leased houses should be at least 5 square meters and each room can accommodate no more than two people. However, people who are fostering, supporting or maintaining others are exempt from this provision. The rules came after recent reports of many tenants sharing one leased room.

Shaanxi

Graduate cycles 1,200 km home

A 22-year-old woman cycled more than 1,200 kilometers from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, to her home in Jiangxi province. It took her 16 days to complete the journey that stretched over five provinces. Liao Jingwen, who has just graduated from Xi'an International Studies University, chose to ride home to bid farewell to her university life. The journey from Xi'an to Yichun started on June 28 and ended on July 13.

Hebei

Official fired after luxury wedding

Yue Shuwang, Party chief of poverty-stricken Pingdingbao township, Hebei province, was fired on Thursday over his daughter's extravagant wedding, local authorities said. After news of the wedding spread over the Internet, an investigation by local authorities found that he spent 200,000 yuan ($32,400) on the wedding banquet and received 1 million yuan in gifts. Yue was ordered to return the gift money.

Guangdong

Car towing fees standardized

Charges for towing away crashed vehicles will be standardized in Guangzhou following criticism they were exorbitant. The new charges were published on the price bureau's website on Thursday. The notice was published after the bureau received a number of complaints. One company charged the owner of a crashed vehicle 60,000 yuan ($9,800) to tow his car after a traffic accident in February 2011.

Labor market shows decline

Job offers fell in Guangdong province in the first half of the year, Nanfang Daily reported. Nanfang Talent Market, the biggest job market in Guangdong, organized 159 job fairs from January to June, a 4 percent decrease year-on-year. The number of employers attending the job fairs reached 24,500, a 15.8 percent fall from the previous year. More than 538,000 vacancies were on offer, a 9 percent reduction.

Policeman held in drug crackdown

A senior traffic police officer was detained in a crackdown on drugs and pornography in nightclubs in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on Friday. The officer, surnamed Qiu, is a deputy detachment director of the Guangzhou Baiyun district traffic police. He was allegedly found taking drugs in a VIP room when police arrived early on Friday morning. Qiu, 36, was among the 233 suspects detained during the operation. Guangzhou police said Qiu is being investigated.

Gansu

Sensors to help monitor grottoes

Caretakers of ancient Buddhist grottoes in Gansu province hope that newly installed sensors will help protect the caves by detecting subtle environmental changes. The devices will start monitoring changes in temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide density and other conditions in the Bingling Temple Grottoes near Yongjing county this month, said Shi Jingsong, head of an institute in charge of protecting the grottoes.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily USA 07/19/2013 page2)