China Chronicles December 23, 2012

• Death toll from China's building fire rises to 3

  THE death toll from a commercial building fire in northwest China has risen to three after a security guard's body was found, a local fire-fighting officer said today.
  The security guard went missing when he helped evacuate people in the the 14-story World Trade Building in downtown Yan'an in Shaanxi Province yesterday. The identities of two others were yet to be identified, said Jia Xueqi, an officer of Yan'an fire department.
  The fire broke out at about 4:30am yesterday, injuring 20 people aged from 7 to 51.
  Jia said that authorities will collect more evidence today to determine the cause of the accident.

• Getting up to speed with Guangzhou-Beijing bullet train

  The express train arrives in Beijing after traveling 2,000 kilometers in eight hours - a journey that previously took 20 hours - from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

• Poultry goods ban

  HONG Kong has suspended imports of poultry products from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the city's government announced yesterday. A spokesman said this followed notification of an outbreak of avian influenza H5 on a Schleswig-Holstein farm.

• Lhasa project

  THE government of Tibet's capital city has begun a seven-month, 1.2 billion yuan (US$196 million) project to help preserve Lhasa's ancient heart. China Tibetan News, citing the city government, said the project will update the Barkhor area's infrastructure.

• 2 dead, 20 injured in high-rise fire

  TWO people were killed and 20 injured when fire engulfed a commercial buildling in Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, yesterday.

  As of 9pm, two bodies had been retrieved by firefighters. The fire broke out in an 14-story office and hotel building at 4:30am. The injured suffered burns or minor carbon monoxide poisoning, said the city authorities.

• Coldest days since 1985 for Beijing

  TEMPERATURES in Beijing could plunge to their lowest in almost three decades during this weekend, weather forecasters said yesterday.

  They were expected to drop to minus 15 degrees Celsius in urban areas.

  Beijingers started to feel the freezing weather yesterday. This is caused by a cold spell from Siberia that arrived on Friday night, Wang Hua, chief forecaster of Beijing Meteorological Observatory said.

  Chen Dagang, a meteorological forecaster at the observatory, said the capital's lowest temperature in recent decades was minus 15.2 degrees Celsius, recorded in 1985.

  Wang said in Beijing's mountainous northern suburbs temperatures today could drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

  However, he said they would rise again in the capital on Monday.

  Yesterday, fewer people were on Beijing's streets, with Tian'anmen Square, usually a tourist hot spot, quiet.

  "Your hands go numb in just a few minutes. Cameras also work slowly due to the cold," said a woman surnamed Zhou, who works on the square.

  Most parts of the country, except the central and southwestern regions, will see temperatures fall by six to eight degrees over the next couple of days.

  Some parts of north and northeast China will witness a drop of 10 to 14 degrees Celsius, said the observatory.

  Yesterday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) kept its blue alert for cold weather, the least severe in a four level disaster alerts scale.

  Yesterday morning, temperatures in parts of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Fujian and Guangxi dropped by six to 10 degrees Celsius, while they tumbled by up to 16 degrees Celsius in parts of Liaoning and Jilin.

  The NMC also forecast snow for parts of Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Hebei while heavy snow for Shandong Province.

  Parts of south China and Guizhou Province will see sleet, while freezing rain will fall on west and central Guizhou, said forecasters.

• Online information bill to be deliberated

  A DRAFT bill on strengthening Internet information protection will formally be tabled for deliberation at a bimonthly session of China's legislature set to open tomorrow.

  Widely hailed by Internet and telecom experts and online commentators, the long-awaited move comes amid China's efforts to secure citizens' personal information from becoming prey to illegality.

  Behind China's surging online scam, fraud and identity theft in recent years has been a rapidly growing Internet sector and a lagged-behind law system for personal information protection, according to analysts.

  A public security ministry statement gave real cases as examples of how Internet information can be abused.

  On April 7, an Internet user surnamed Sun in east China's Wuxi City was shocked to discover that 47,000 yuan (US$7,537) was transferred out of his Internet bank account.

  The money all went to an unverified personal account with a popular online payment service. He spent the sum in buying Internet virtual currency in order to launder the money he illicitly obtained.

  It took time for police to ascertain the real identity of the suspect because no real name was provided in the online payment account registration.

  The suspect was finally apprehended in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

  "The lack of a sound law system to protect personal information in China is a serious problem," said Li Yuxiao, an expert in Internet management and law studies with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

  He said the country should quicken legislation moves to toughen the fight on infringement upon privacy.
  

• Workers shape snow sculpture in Jilin

  Workers shape a snow sculpture at Jingyuetan National Forest Park in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, today. Workers keep on working despite a bitterly cold day today.

• Fire rages through NW China office building, one missing

  FIRE raged through an office building in northwest China for a number of hours today, leaving at least one security guard trapped and 16 others hospitalized.

  The government of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, reported that the fire broke out in the 16-storey World Trade Building in the city's downtown at about 4:30 am.

  About 50 people staying at a hotel on the upper floors of the building were evacuated. One of the security guards who helped in the evacuation is missing, local officials said.

  Sixteen people were taken to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhalation of smoke, but no one was in a life-threatening danger, officials said.

  More than 460 firemen and police brought the incident under control after noon, officials added.
  The cause of the fire is being investigated.

• Fire rages through NW China office building, one missing

  FIRE raged through an office building in northwest China for a number of hours today, leaving at least one security guard trapped and 16 others hospitalized.

  The government of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, reported that the fire broke out in the 16-storey World Trade Building in the city's downtown at about 4:30 am.

  About 50 people staying at a hotel on the upper floors of the building were evacuated. One of the security guards who helped in the evacuation is missing, local officials said.

  Sixteen people were taken to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhalation of smoke, but no one was in a life-threatening danger, officials said.

  More than 460 firemen and police brought the incident under control after noon, officials added.
  The cause of the fire is being investigated.