Around the nation: Chinese beggar's income buys him two flats in Beijing
Also, boy sparks bomb scare with prank on neighbours, and woman charged for killing husband's gambling buddy
PUBLISHED : Monday, 02 March, 2015, 7:32pm
UPDATED : Monday, 02 March, 2015, 7:32pm
The man was detained for feigning disability to beg in the Beijing subway. Photo: 163.com
BEIJING
Rags for riches
A 47-year-old man has been detained for feigning disability and begging in the subway, Beijing Youth Daily reports. The man said he earned 20,000 yuan (HK$25,000) a month by dressing shabbily and sitting on the ground, dragging himself across the floor with his hands, and the money helped him buy two flats in Beijing. He said he used to earn only 2,000 yuan a month as a migrant worker.
Druggies doubled
Beijing police have arrested more than 1,500 drug addicts so far this year, double that for the same period last year, the Beijing Evening News reports. This year, police cracked down on more than 300 drug trade cases and seized 80kg worth of drugs.
GUANGDONG
Family's killer found
A man suspected of killing a family of three in Shenzhen last month was arrested in Shanxi province and taken back to the city on Saturday, the Shenzhen Evening News reports. A relative had found the couple and their eight-year-old son lying dead in a pool of blood in their flat in Luohu district on February 24. Police found the victims' belongings in the suspect's home in Yangquan city, Shanxi.
Circuit court in session
China's first circuit court, located in Shenzhen, heard its first case yesterday. The First Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court will hear 16 of the more than 500 cases it has received; more than 400 cases were from Guangdong residents. The court is aimed at raising judicial independence and cutting interference by local party officials. It will act as Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan provinces' final appellate court, sharing the supreme court's power of final adjudication.
HEILONGJIANG
Highway tragedy
Four people died and many others were injured when a coach carrying 57 people crashed into a road divider and fell on its side in Hailun on early on Sunday morning, Hljnews.cn reports. The driver lost control of the bus along the Hegang-Harbin expressway because of slippery road conditions.
'Bad friends' punished
The Ningan people's court has ordered three men to compensate the family of their 23-year-old friend who drowned in a river in July, Dbw.cn reports. The victim was drunk and, although a non-swimmer, took up a bet with his friends that he could swim in the river. The trio later tried to rescue their drowning friend but failed, and the man's parents sued them. The court said the men should pay the victims' parents 10 per cent of the amount demanded.
HENAN
Heroic deed covered up
A woman in Puyang confessed that she made her children lie to police because she did not want to be held responsible for the death of the 24-year-old man who drowned after saving two of her children, Henan Business Daily reports. College student Meng Ruipeng died in a lake in Qingfeng county's Xizhaolou village on Thursday after pulling two drowning children, aged four and seven, to shore. The woman left the scene with the children before police came, and later coached the children to say that Meng was coincidentally also in the water with them at the time.
Taking it out on the kid
A 27-year-old woman in Xiangcheng county has been arrested for killing her neighbour's three-year-old daughter, Dahe Daily reports. The girl's body was found in a cornfield on January 11 after she went missing on December 25. The woman told police she strangled the girl to death when the child entered her home shortly after she had had an argument with her husband.
JIANGXI
Mining blast kills three
Three miners were killed in an explosion in a coal mine in Jingdezhen on Saturday, with another still trapped in the pit, Jxnews.com.cn reports. The accident occurred as the miners were working underground in the state-run Yongshan coal mine in Leping township. Its cause is being investigated.
Corrupt official jailed
The people's court in Fuzhou city's Linchuan district has sentenced Liao Xiaochang, director of the Communist Party central committee's organisation department in Nanfeng county, to six years' jail for abusing his power, Jxnews.com.cn reports. Liao took bribes of more than 360,000 yuan between 2006 and last year, selling posts to more than 30 local officials and offering projects to developers and businessmen.
JILIN
A neighbour's prank
An elderly couple in Jilin city called police on Saturday after they found a box in front of their fifth-floor flat with a note saying "Be careful, bomb inside", Xwh.cn reports. All residents in the building were evacuated and an explosion-proof vehicle and bomb disposal robot were sent to the scene. Police later found only a paper ball in the box. It was apparently a practical joke by a 12-year-old boy living on the fourth floor of the building.
Drinking to fame
A man in Siping has posted online a video clip of himself downing two 380ml bottles of feminine wash and two bottles of iodophor-containing disinfectant, Xwh.cn reports. The man said he was trying to break the record of another man in the province who became an internet celebrity after he posted a video of himself drinking various chemicals.
SHANGHAI
Wrath of a wife
A 47-year-old woman has been charged for stabbing to death her husband's gambling buddy, Shanghai Television reports. The woman said the man got her husband addicted to gambling and would cover up for him whenever she tried to get her husband to return home. She stabbed the man in his left armpit in October after he refused to help her locate her husband who was out gambling.
Burglars busted
Police have busted a gang of six burglars who have broken into more than 50 flats downtown since they arrived in Shanghai on January 10, People.com.cn reports. The gang broke into properties in the Pudong New Area, Baoshan, Yangpu, Hongkou and Jiading districts by scaling drainpipes and gaining access through balconies or air-conditioner frames.
YUNNAN
Evening earthquake
A 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck Lincang city's Cangyuan county at 6.24pm on Sunday, China News Service reports. The China Earthquake Networks Centre said the quake occurred at a depth of 11km. No deaths had been reported by yesterday afternoon, but more than 20 people in Mengding township of Gengma Dai and Wa Autonomous County suffered minor injuries. The number of buildings damaged and economic losses caused by the quake is still unknown.
Tourists fall, revenues rise
Yunnan province's tourism industry generated total revenue of 265 billion yuan last year - more than 26 per cent higher than that in 2013 - although the number of foreign tourists fell for the first time in recent years, Yunnan.cn reports. The number of foreign tourists dropped 0.46 per cent last year because of the rising cost of travelling to China. Tourism is one of Yunnan's pillar industries, accounting for over 20 per cent of the province's gross domestic product.
