Summary：BeijingFree lunch provided for village's elderlyA village in Badaling has been providing free lunches since Jun...

Beijing

Free lunch provided for village's elderly

A village in Badaling has been providing free lunches since June last year to its 15 residents aged over 75, Beijing Daily reported on Wednesday. The free lunch program, jointly funded by the town and village authorities, is provided for elderly residents who live alone.

Passengers' leap delays subway

Three passengers jumped onto subway lines at Dongdan Station on Line 1 on Wednesday, forcing a train driver to apply emergency brakes. The incident, which occurred around 1:20 pm, caused staff to shut off power in order to stop the train, which resulted in delays to several following trains. The three people were taken into custody by police.

Festive gifts to combat pollution

When Chinese-Americans visit China during next year's Spring Festival holiday, they are expected to bring anti-PM 2.5 masks and air purifiers as gifts, World Journal, a Chinese newspaper based in North America, reported. The price of air purifiers in the United States is only about 70 percent of that in China.

Sichuan

Cattle thief caught after one month

After a one-month manhunt, police in Xuanhan county arrested a man who stole 18 cattle from farmers in Dongguan, Guangdong province, over four months. After the thief, surnamed Chen, stole the cattle, one farmer lived in his cowshed for three months and many others took their cattle to their houses to safeguard them, Western China Metropolis Daily reported.

Metro apologizes for expelling guide dog

Chengdu Metro has apologized after an employee refused to allow a guide dog to enter a subway station in the city on Tuesday. When Chen Yan, a blind piano tuner from Beijing, tried to take the subway at Tonghuimen station in the city, an employee asked her for the birth, adoption and domestication certificates for her dog. As she had none of the documents, Chen had to leave.

Shaanxi

Couple donate 27,000 books

The former chief of the Shaanxi Provincial Press and Publication Bureau and his wife have spent nearly 700,000 yuan ($115,000) donating 27,000 books to the library, primary and high schools and a university for senior citizens in their home city of Hancheng over the past 17 years. Gao Yingjie, 81, and his wife Chen Xiuying, 77, lead a simple life, with Gao often wearing a sweater bought 20 years ago, Huashang Daily reported.

Guangdong

Junk barrier set up to deter burglars

An elderly woman in the village of Shanglang in Foshan has spent several years building a "junk castle" around her house, Beijing Youth Daily reported. Chen, the house owner, said she built the barrier to deter thieves after they entered her house several times and stole gold necklaces.

Ex-official probed over bribes

A former politics and law commission official in Shenzhen was placed under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes and patronizing prostitutes, Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday. Surnamed Wang, the former official under the Shenzhen city Party committee, allegedly sought bribes in May 2007 from a local company.

Man in prison for detention and rape

Zhang Yin, a 50-year-old man with mental health problems, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday after he forcibly detained two homeless women in his home and forced them to have sex with him, during which one of them died, according to Nanfang Daily. A local court said Zhang committed the crimes of rape and illegal detention and his actions also constituted the crime of death by negligence.

H7N9 found in samples at market

Three samples from two live-poultry markets in Longgang district, Shenzhen, tested positive for the H7N9 bird flu virus on Tuesday, the Guangdong provincial health and family planning commission said on Wednesday. One sample was taken from a cutting board, one from chicken excrement and another from a feather-plucking device.

Hubei

Students jailed for gaokao offence

Two university freshmen in Wuhan have been sentenced to 10 months in prison for illegally producing and selling electronic equipment for cheating on the gaokao, or college entrance examination, chinanews.com reported on Wednesday. Police in Jingmen said on Tuesday that 15 people have been detained after a six-month investigation.

Express railway line on track

The Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu express rail line will be fully operational this month when the section between Chongqing and Lichuan opens. It will take just eight hours for passengers to travel from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, to Chongqing when the line opens on Dec 28, halving the present journey time, according to railway authorities in Wuhan. The journey from Wuhan to Chengdu will be shortened to 10 hours, they said.

Shanghai

Aging problem confronts city

Shanghai's population is expected to reach 30 million by 2030, with 7.85 million aged 60 or above, according to a report by the Institute for City and Population Development on Wednesday. In 2010, the city had 588,000 residents aged 80 or above. That age sector is expected to increase to 1.1 million by 2030.

Musical encourages blood donation

The hit musical I Will Be With You, which highlights the need for blood donations, will start a second run on Thursday, according to the Shanghai Blood Administration Office. The musical is part of the city's efforts to encourage more young people to donate blood.

Zhejiang

Laundry detergent essay wins award

A 13-year-old boy in Ningbo won an award at a science and technology innovation contest for his paper on how to efficiently use laundry detergent, Modern Gold Newspaper reported on Wednesday. Fang Liangyu, a pupil at Cixi Experimental Primary School, became interested in the subject one day when he saw his mother washing clothes. He spent two days conducting tests and wrote an essay of about 3,000 words with more than 10 diagrams to report his results.

Shandong

3 killed in Jinan apartments blaze

A fire that engulfed two apartments in a residential building in Jinan killed three people and caused the evacuation of more than 300 residents early on Wednesday morning, chinanews.com reported. The fire broke out at 1:14 am. One person died in the fire and two others were killed after they fell trying to escape from the building, the report said.

Yunnan

Wetland protectionregulation ready

A wetland protection regulation will be implemented in the province in 2014. The regulation states that any activities in the wetlands, including scientific expeditions, specimen collection and filming, must be approved by the wetland protection authorities. Those who contravene the regulation face fines ranging from 5,000 yuan ($824) to 50,000 yuan.

Jiangsu

'Safe haven' receives first infant

A "safe haven" for abandoned children in Nanjing received its first baby on Tuesday, the day it opened. At about 6 pm, a guard from the Nanjing Children's Welfare Institution found a baby boy less than 7 days old in the haven. The person who abandoned the baby left no message. The infant appeared to be fine and workers at the institution were checking to see if he has any health problems.