Popular websites that play foreign flims and videos get tighter control, smog insurance is waved off in Beijing, and residents of Hangzhou are hungry for license plates.
China waves off haze insurance
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission announced an end to China's first haze insurance on March 18, saying it is not an insurance product, but more like gambling, the Beijing Times reported.
Chinese insurance giants Ping An Insurance and People's Insurance Company of China had planned to launch the insurance on March 25. The PICC Group had reportedly offered to pay people in Beijing 200 yuan ($32.24) to 300 yuan in compensation if they sufferered five consecutive days of air pollution exceeding 300 on the smog index.Beijing has not yet been struck by such heavy smog for five days in row, so the insurance is questioned.
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Chemical in wheat flour
Azodicarbonamide, a chemical also known as ADA that was reported last month to have been used by the fast-food chain Subway as a "dough conditioner," is also among the listed ingredients of many brands of wheat flour in China, Beijing News reported. The chemical is currently allowed to be used as a food addictive of wheat flour in China, but only in specified amounts. An expert with China's State Administration of Grain said the exact amount of ADA's usage in food cannot be tested at present, according to the report. Many countries forbid ADA to be added to food products.
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License fever in Hangzhou
Residents swarmed to get vehicle license plates in East China's Hangzhou city on Tuesday after the city announced that it will restrict the issuance of new car licenses from Wednesday, making it the sixth Chinese city to clamp down on car ownership in a bid to ease traffic congestion and combat air pollution.
A man reportedly planned to buy 200 vans before the new restriction, but could only buy 70 due to lack of stock.
According to a press statement, the city will restrict the number of plates issued every year to 80,000, among which 80 percent will be decided by lottery. The remaining 20 percent will be auctioned with a starting price of 10,000 yuan ($1,628) each.
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China's Hangzhou to restrict car ownership
Video websites to be restricted
Websites that play foreign TV shows and movies will reportedly face tighter control than before under the new State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television policy of "censor first, broadcast later".
Websites that broadcast video have been asked to monitor the content of film and TV shows before the programs are broadcast online, Jianghu English reported.
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University offers free breakfast to early birds
Zhengzhou University is providing free breakfast to students who rise early to exercise, Henan Business Daily reported on Tuesday. In order to encourage its students to exercise in the morning, the university launched its free breakfast project on Monday, that gives free breakfast to the first 150 students who get up early and run 800 meters.
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Hoping for mother's return, girl sets fire
A 12-year-old girl left behind by her mother set fire to her neighbor's house, thinking that her mother would be asked to return home to compensate for the damage, Chengdu Commercial Daily reported. The girl from Guang'an missed her mother, who had only returned to see her daughter once in the past 10 years.
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Three calls by same courier sparks brawl
A courier in Chongqing called three separate times on the same customer within 10 minutes to deliver three packages and triggered a fight. When the courier first knocked on the door, the customer descended seven stories of steps to carry his package back to the house. Then the courier knocked again for the second package, which was likewise retrieved, and then again for the third. The incident ended in a brawl between the two men, Chongqing Morning News reported on Monday.
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Kindergarten admits medicating kids
Hundreds of parents gathered at a kindergarten on Tuesday morning demanding to know if their children were given antiviral drugs. Nie Aiqin, head of Litian kindergarten in Qilihe district of Lanzhou, admitted that the kindergarten gave children the antiviral Ribavirin twice after a child was found in October to have hand-foot-and-mouth disease, a contagious viral infection.
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