Briefly

Rescued soldier returns to Jinmen

A soldier from Jinmen rescued in Fujian province in March returned home after the Chinese mainland completed an investigation into his identity. The soldier, surnamed Hu, was one of two people from Jinmen rescued from a fishing boat after its engine failed in Quanzhou's Weitou Bay on March 18. The other person, surnamed Wu, who was confirmed to be an ordinary resident, returned to Jinmen on March 23. Hu remained held by the mainland for further investigation over doubts about his identity. He returned to Jinmen accompanied by family members and a legislator from Jinmen. Hu had been taken good care of by mainland authorities and his family members had visited him during his stay on the mainland.

Former legislator charged with graft

Zhang Xiulong, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People's Congress, has been indicted on suspicion of accepting bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Wednesday. Following the completion of investigations by the National Commission of Supervision, the people's procuratorate of Changde in Hunan province filed Zhang's case with the city's intermediate people's court, the top procuratorate said. Prosecutors accused Zhang of taking undue advantage of his various positions in Guangxi to seek profits for others, illegally accepting a particularly large sum of money and valuables in exchange. They had informed the defendant of his legal rights, interrogated him and listened to defense counsel's arguments, the top procuratorate said.

649m yuan allocated for disaster relief

Funding of 649 million yuan ($91 million) has been allocated to support flood response and disaster relief efforts across China, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. The central government funding, which was allocated on Tuesday, will support typhoon and flood responses, as well as disaster relief, in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, and also in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Chongqing municipality, the ministry said. The funding will be used to assist them in work such as repairing damaged water facilities, as well as investigating and eliminating safety hazards, it said.

Xinhua