Beijing Bites

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-16 13:36

Beijingers get vaccine

More than 400 clinics will o

ffer the A/H1N1 vaccine from today until Dec 13, the Beijing Evening News reported.

Only Beijing residence permit (hukou) holders aged 3 and above are eligible. The Beijing Center for Disease Control asked elderly people not to conceal health conditions in order to receive the vaccine.

Illegal station explodes

An illegal acetylene gas station exploded while filling cylinders with gas, killing one and injuring another on Friday, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.

The newspaper said the explosion happened at 9:30 pm on Friday. One man was killed instantly. A 20-sq-m makeshift hut in the yard also collapsed.

The newspaper said the owner of the gas station has been detained for investigation.

Drink driving death

One man was killed and five others injured when a Volkswagen Jetta crashed into a truck at Jiuxianqiao, Chaoyang district on Saturday, the Beijing Times reported.

The driver of the Jetta died immediately and its five passengers were all injured. The newspaper quoted insiders as saying that they had all drank alcohol.

Traffic police said the incident is under investigation.

60% fail army physical

The medical tests for applicants hoping to join the People's Liberation Army ended recently with only 40 percent making it through to the next round, the Beijing News reported yesterday.

The newspaper said more than 6,000 Beijingers applied to join.

Near-sightedness and overweight problems were the two biggest reasons for failure.

New highway to link cities

The second expressway between Beijing and Shijiazhuang will start construction next year, the Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday.

The new expressway will significantly ease traffic on the current expressway, where jams are regularly seen on the Beijing section.

Expo recruits at job fair

Almost 30 companies and organizations offered more than 500 positions to university students in Beijing at a job fair at Tsinghua University on Saturday.

Many positions were engineer-related roles, for the environment, transportation, construction and gardening.

There were also numerous Shanghai companies in the fair as the city steps up preparation for the World Expo next year.

Warm beds for parents

A Malaysian woman has donated 1,000 yuan for temporary housing to parents lodging in the underground stairwell of the Beijing Children's Hospital.

After reading METRO's report on Friday about poor parents visiting Beijing to have their children treated but lacking enough money to afford accommodation, Sharine Wan paid to provide five grown-ups and one sick child with a rented apartment for 10 days.

Faulty appliances

Thirty-one electrical appliances were classed as dangerous and taken off shelves in Beijing, the city's industry and commerce bureau said on Saturday.

The bureau recently performed a quality check on electric appliances in the consumer market and found 31 caused electric shocks. A total of 21 were Guangzhou brands.

A coach rolls over near Shilihe bridge Saturday evening. The coach turned on its side before crashing into two cars. Driver Liu Li, 53, is accused of drunken driving.

Elderly smoker dies in fire

A woman in her 90s died of suffocation after her cigarette set her clothes alight on Saturday, the Beijing Times reported.

The newspaper said the lady had been smoking, but fainted after her clothes caught fire. She died of suffocation before the ambulance arrived.

It was reported that a friend of the old woman's daughter was also in the room but did not spot the fire due to poor eyesight.