Society

Around China: Man held for spreading terror info

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-10 08:29

1 Beijing

Man held for sending terrorizing messages

Beijing police arrested a suspect, surnamed Li, for spreading terror information on Aug 6, the police said in a statement on Monday.

The 35-year-old suspect, from Central China's Henan province, allegedly sent a total of 200 short text messages to randomly selected mobile phone numbers with the same content of threatening to bomb the Beijing Capital International Airport since December 2009, the police said.

Li, who worked in a Beijing logistics company, was arrested on Aug 6 after sending 40 text messages on Aug 4 and 5, according to the statement.

The police said Li acted out of a desire to take revenge on society.

Aftershock sets cash registers ringing

A film that tells the story of an earthquake that devastated a Chinese city in 1976 has raked in a record 532 million yuan ($79.4 million) at the Chinese mainland box office as of Sunday, the film's distributors said on Monday.

Aftershock, directed by Feng Xiaogang, became the highest-grossing Chinese-made movie in less than three weeks after its national premiere on July 22. It surpassed the takings of The Founding of a Republic, which earned 420 million yuan, a statement from Huayi Brothers Media Corporation said.

2 Guangdong

Contractor vanishes with workers' pay

The building contractor of a key construction project in Shatian town in Dongguan city of Guangdong province vanished without trace, leaving three unfinished apartments and more than 100 unpaid workers, Nanfang Daily reported on Monday.

The workers, who gathered at the construction site, received nothing after the township government ordered the contractor of the Guangxi Metallurgy Construction Company on Aug 5 to clear 4 million yuan ($591,268) in arrears accumulated over a period of six months. It is the sixth time since July 8 that the township government has urged the contractor to fulfill his obligations.

Traffic offenders can pay fines in kind

Traffic offenders can choose to direct traffic instead of paying fines in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, according to a new plan drafted by the municipal traffic department.

Two hours on guard can offset 100 yuan ($14.8) in traffic fines and the rest may be deduced by analogy, Guangzhou Daily reported. Eight out of 13 drivers who violated traffic signals last Friday chose to direct traffic rather than pay fines, a local police officer said.

3 Shanghai

14 weather satellites to be launched

China plans to launch 14 meteorological satellites over the next 10 years, Yang Jun, director of the National Satellite Meteorological Center, said on Sunday.

The next-generation weather satellite FY-4 is scheduled to launch in 2015 and will replace the current FY-2 satellites, he said.

The FY-4 satellite is expected to help predict weather disasters and changes with more accuracy, he said.

China Daily - Xinhua