China Chronicles April 26, 2012
- Nine dead, 36 injured in expressway accident
NINE people were killed and 36 others injured, including eight seriously, in an expressway accident in southwest China's Yunnan province late yesterday night, local authorities said today.
The bus slammed into the guardrail and fell off the highway around 11:30pm when it was heading to Tengchong County from the provincial capital of Kunming.
The bus, which was supposed to carry 44 people, had 46, including two children, onboard when the accident happened.
Investigation is underway.
- 9 dead, 36 injured in SW expressway accident
Nine people were killed and 36 others injured, including eight seriously, after a coach veered off an expressway section in southwest China's Yunnan Province late last night, local authorities said today.
The 44-seat sleeper coach had 46 people on board including two drivers, when the accident happened in Nanhua County, Chuxiong Prefecture, at around 11:30 pm yesterday.
Local authorities confirmed that there were two toddlers under three years old on the coach.
The source said the coach owned by Baoshan Transportation Corp. was en route from the provincial capital of Kunming to Tengchong, a scenic spot in Baoshan City bordering Myanmar, when it bumped on the expressway guardrail on a viaduct linking two expressways and plunged by over 10 meters to the ground.
Rescuers delivered all the injured to a hospital. Only one of the passengers was uninjued in the accident.
An investigation into the accident is under way.
iPad-controlled superyacht almost does away with deckhands
One insider predicts tablet or smartphone control as trend for high-end vessels. Just make sure they're waterproof
By CNNGo staffAdastra unveiled in Zhuhai
Acclaimed for its iPad remote control system, Adastra was launched at McConaghy Boats' Zhuhai shipyard in early April.Sailors around the world have been admiring the US$15-million superyacht, Adastra, which launched in Zhuhai two weeks ago.
Hailed as the first made-in-China superyacht, the futuristic, three-hulled vessel -- whose name translates as "to the stars" -- belongs to 62-year-old Hong Kong shipping tycoon Antony Marden and is the brainchild of U.K.-based boat designer John Shuttleworth, who spent more than five years crafting the design.
The 42.5-meter yacht contains one en suite master cabin, two guest cabins, a lounge area, a dining area, a galley, and a bar on the aft deck. Adastra can accommodate as many as nine guests and six crew.
Despite the unusual structure and luxury interiors, Adastra's iPad-control system is what everybody is really talking about.
More luxe yachts to be iPad-controlled
Although remote access is by no means news to the yacht industry, Adastra pushes the tech to a new level.
According to Adastra’s builder McConaghy Boats, the captain or crew can control all propulsion, navigation and onboard support operations of the 49-ton vessel through an interface on iPad from up to 50 meters away.
The Australia-headquartered boat builder, who was recently involved with James Cameron’s Marina Trench-exploring submarine, Deepsea Challenge, spent the past four years on the construction of Adastra in its shipping yard in Zhuhai.
“In practice, most functions would happen onboard the vessel,” said Stephen Oliver, general manager of McConaghy Boats China, “but this allows the captain or other crew to roam freely on the vessel whilst maintaining full control.”
More on CNNGo: 10 outrageous yachts for hire -- if you're filthy rich enough
For Oliver, tablet or even smartphone remote control is a trend for luxury yachts.
“What is smart about this vessel is the degree of control and the ease of the user interface using iPad,” he said. “Certainly, high-end vessels will continue this growth.”
Round-the-world sail in plan
Adastra is currently completing a series of sea trials, but Antony Marden is already masterminding an epic voyage.
"I've been planning to go exploring for a long time and it looks like it's now going to happen," Marden told South China Morning Post, revealing his plan to take Adastra around the world next Christmas.
"I wanted a big motorboat to go around the world in and the trimaran is perfect,” Marden told the Hong Kong-based newspaper. “It's easily driven and I'm used to sailing them.”
More on CNNGo: A life of luxury, totally made in China
Marden’s Magellan-dream also explains why Adastra can reach extraordinarily high speed and long range.
The superyacht can sail 6,437 kilometers nonstop and has a top speed of 17 knots. That’s more than enough for Marden to voyage from New York City to London on a single tank of fuel at a speed which is twice as fast as an average cruiser.
- Buddhist relic handled with care
Workers carefully move a case containing a parietal bone relic, believed to be that of Buddha Sakyamuni, during a ceremony in the Hong Kong Coliseum yesterday. The Buddhist treasure, sent from Nanjing in east China, is believed to be the only remains of Sakyamuni after he was cremated more than 2,500 years ago. The Buddha's parietal bone is one of the most precious of Buddhist relics, and will be open for public worship until April 30. The parietal bone of Sakyamuni was said to have remained after the Buddha's nirvana. It was unearthed in 2008 when archaeologists unexpectedly discovered a crypt in the ruins of the Changgan Temple built in the Song Dynasty during excavation work at the Nanjing Grand Bao'en Temple.
- Buddhist relic handled with care
Workers carefully move a case containing a parietal bone relic, believed to be that of Buddha Sakyamuni, during a ceremony in the Hong Kong Coliseum yesterday. The Buddhist treasure, sent from Nanjing in east China, is believed to be the only remains of Sakyamuni after he was cremated more than 2,500 years ago. The Buddha's parietal bone is one of the most precious of Buddhist relics, and will be open for public worship until April 30. The parietal bone of Sakyamuni was said to have remained after the Buddha's nirvana. It was unearthed in 2008 when archaeologists unexpectedly discovered a crypt in the ruins of the Changgan Temple built in the Song Dynasty during excavation work at the Nanjing Grand Bao'en Temple.
- China set to get tougher over illegal foreigners
China is to crack down on foreigners illegally entering, living or working in China, a senior police officer said yesterday.
Vice Minister of Public Security Yang Huanning was delivering a report on the administration of entry-exit, residence and employment of foreigners to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature.
Yang said the crackdown will include improving visa policies, strengthening border controls, repatriating illegal aliens, and setting up repatriation locations in regions that have large numbers of such foreigners.
Yang said it was difficult to manage foreigners illegally entering, living or working in China, as there were no detainment locations for them and a lack of police staff who spoke a foreign language.
"Some foreigners refuse to provide their real identities, and some foreign embassies and consulates in China are inefficient in verifying identities," Yang said.
Most illegal foreigners are from neighboring countries, said Yang, adding that language training, housekeeping and labor-intensive industries were the main sectors employing them.
Police last year investigated more than 20,000 incidents in which foreigners illegally entered, lived or worked on China's mainland, double the number in 1995, Yang said.
Almost 600,000 foreigners lived in China for more than six months in 2011, compared to only 20,000 in 1980, while 220,000 foreigners were employed on the mainland last year, compared to 74,000 in 2000.
A draft law on exit and entry administration was submitted to lawmakers for its second reading on Tuesday.
The draft stipulates harsher punishments for people who enter or exit China illegally.
Yang said China will issue more green cards and ease restrictions for visa-free entry to encourage more talented individuals from overseas to work in the country.
"We will increase the eligibility quota for green cards and consider extending the applicable scope for duty-free entry an! d multip le-entry visas in order to make China more competitive in soliciting foreign investment and talent," Yang said.
By the end of 2011, 4,752 foreigners were given a Permanent Residence Card, or the Chinese equivalent of a green card.
Ordinary visas will be granted to foreigners who enter the country to work, study, visit relatives, travel or conduct business, as well as to those who fall under the "talent introduction" category, according to the draft law.
Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said last month that China will make greater efforts this year to resolve visa and residency permit issues for foreigners.
China will introduce favorable policies for foreigners in relation to social insurance, taxation, medical services, education for their children and academic funding, Yin said.
- China set to get tougher over illegal foreigners
China is to crack down on foreigners illegally entering, living or working in China, a senior police officer said yesterday.
Vice Minister of Public Security Yang Huanning was delivering a report on the administration of entry-exit, residence and employment of foreigners to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature.
Yang said the crackdown will include improving visa policies, strengthening border controls, repatriating illegal aliens, and setting up repatriation locations in regions that have large numbers of such foreigners.
Yang said it was difficult to manage foreigners illegally entering, living or working in China, as there were no detainment locations for them and a lack of police staff who spoke a foreign language.
"Some foreigners refuse to provide their real identities, and some foreign embassies and consulates in China are inefficient in verifying identities," Yang said.
Most illegal foreigners are from neighboring countries, said Yang, adding that language training, housekeeping and labor-intensive industries were the main sectors employing them.
Police last year investigated more than 20,000 incidents in which foreigners illegally entered, lived or worked on China's mainland, double the number in 1995, Yang said.
Almost 600,000 foreigners lived in China for more than six months in 2011, compared to only 20,000 in 1980, while 220,000 foreigners were employed on the mainland last year, compared to 74,000 in 2000.
A draft law on exit and entry administration was submitted to lawmakers for its second reading on Tuesday.
The draft stipulates harsher punishments for people who enter or exit China illegally.
Yang said China will issue more green cards and ease restrictions for visa-free entry to encourage more talented individuals from overseas to work in the country.
"We will increase the eligibility quota for green cards and consider extending the applicable scope for duty-free entry an! d multip le-entry visas in order to make China more competitive in soliciting foreign investment and talent," Yang said.
By the end of 2011, 4,752 foreigners were given a Permanent Residence Card, or the Chinese equivalent of a green card.
Ordinary visas will be granted to foreigners who enter the country to work, study, visit relatives, travel or conduct business, as well as to those who fall under the "talent introduction" category, according to the draft law.
Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said last month that China will make greater efforts this year to resolve visa and residency permit issues for foreigners.
China will introduce favorable policies for foreigners in relation to social insurance, taxation, medical services, education for their children and academic funding, Yin said.
- 5 sentenced for cheating top civil exam candidate
FIVE people, including two officials, in northern China's Shanxi Province were handed prison sentences yesterday for their roles in falsifying a civil servant candidate's physical examination records.
The Jiao District People's Court of Changzhi sentenced Zhao Bo, former vice director of the city's human resources and social security bureau, to 11 years for taking 100,000 yuan (US$15,900) to disqualify candidate Song Jiangming to ensure that the runner-up candidate would be recruited.
Song, though taking the top rank in the written examination and job interview for the local environmental protection bureau's civil service test, was eliminated at the last minute over claims that he had not passed the blood test. He was recruited by the bureau after the truth was learned.
Follow-up investigations showed the results of Song's blood test were tampered with in order to disqualify him.
The court also sentenced Ji Xinrui, a former local human resource official, to 18 months after he was convicted of taking a bribe of 17,000 yuan for the same purpose as Zhao.
Jia Zhihong, the father of the runner-up candidate and the man who offered the bribes to Zhao and Ji, was jailed for 18 months with a respite of two years.
Han Yumei and Yang Wenfang, who handled candidates' physical exams at a local hospital, received sentences of one year and six months, respectively, each with a respite of a year, after they were found responsible for altering Song's blood test results as Zhao had required. Zhao, Ji and Han have appealed.
Civil servant jobs have become highly sought after. The annual National Public Servant Exam, which includes an aptitude test and a written policy essay, attracted 1.33 million applicants in November 2011 for 18,000 vacancies.
- Dereliction of duty eyed in capsule scandal
AUTHORITIES have begun an investigation into possible dereliction of duty among law-enforcement and safety supervisors amid a scandal involving contaminated medicine capsules.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate has sent investigators to northern China's Hebei Province and eastern China's Zhejiang Province, where they will join local investigators to find out if government employees ignored their responsibilities and allowed the contamination to occur, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The SPP asked local procurators to uncover any dereliction of duty in relation to the incident, in which industrial gelatin containing high amounts of chromium, a known carcinogen, was used to produce drug capsules, Xinhua said.
The Ministry of Public Security said Sunday that it has confiscated 77 million capsules made from industrial gelatin, arrested nine suspects, detained 54 others and shut down eight capsule-manufacturing factories in Hebei, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces.
Meanwhile, a man who triggered wide controversy when he said "it's safe and fine to take six chromium-laced drug capsules a day" while posing as a Ministry of Health expert admitted he was just a doctor.
Sun Zhongshi, 70-plus, said he only wanted to mitigate widespread panic over the drug capsules. But people said he was endorsing the blacklisted pharmaceutical companies that used the tainted capsules.
The ministry soon pointed out that Sun wasn't an official with the ministry. Sun said later that he was a consultant with a website affiliated with the China Hospital Association, a non-government organization, Nanfang Daily reported.
Sun made the comments on April 19. "Six capsules a day is just a little sum. Don't take it too seriously and exaggerate its hazards," he said.
Despite the online personal attacks he endured, he insisted he was right and that he had never spoken for any one of the nine involved pharmaceutical companies, the paper reported.
"I have been a doctor for 5! 0 years. I just want to relieve people's worries," Sun said. "You can show your disagreements, but please don't abuse me with malicious words."
Many people started avoiding all drug capsules after the industrial gelatin was exposed to be used by well-known pharmaceutical companies. The tainted capsules contained excess chromium, a heavy metal that can cause kidney and liver damage and lead to cancer.
- Hebei details crackdown to fight 'severe' pollution
AUTHORITIES in northern China's Hebei Province hauled more than 80 enterprises into court last year for causing environmental pollution, including the Hebei branch of China Mobile, the world's largest cell phone carrier by users.
The provincial environmental authorities fined the involved companies a total of 8 million yuan (US$1.27 million), with half fined more than 200,000 yuan, officials said.
The Tangshan-based Sanyou Group's Dongguang Pulp Co drew the biggest fine - 500,000 yuan - followed by China Mobile's Hebei branch, and Hebei Jiutian Medicine and Chemical Industry Co, China News Service reported.
Yin Guangping, vice director of the Hebei Environmental Protection Administration, said that nearly one third of the water in the province was inferior due to increasing illegal chemical dumping, more chemical leaks caused by traffic incidents and work-safety incidents.
"The environmental pollution is severe in the province and the major pollutants are of high concentration," he said.
The province's environmental authorities plan to launch a 100-day campaign in June to examine oil processors, chemical manufacturers and heavy metal plants to ensure the sources of clean water won't become tainted.
- Brabus, Mercedes, SL, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
- Ford, Focus RS, Luk Keng, Hong Kong
- China to issue more green cards to woo overseas talent
CHINA will issue more green cards and ease restrictions for visa-free entry to encourage more talented individuals from overseas to work in the country, a senior security official said today.
"We will increase the eligibility quota for green cards and consider extending the applicable scope for duty-free entry and multiple-entry visas in order to make China more competitive in soliciting foreign investment and talent," said Yang Huanning, Vice Minister of Public Security.
The number of foreigners who stayed in China for at least six months rose to 600,000 in 2011 from less than 20,000 in 1980, according to Yang.
By the end of 2011, 4,752 foreigners were given a Permanent Residence Card, or the Chinese equivalent of a green card.
In another sign of the country's efforts to attract talented individuals from overseas, a new visa category titled "talent introduction" was added to a draft law on China's exit and entry administration.
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