A woman is killed for refusing to give her phone number to strangers, the public has doubts about a "watermelon office" which aims to help growers sell their fruit – and the police in Guangzhou tell a local woman she now lives in the US.

A woman pays dearly for refusing to give her phone number

The murder of a woman, which was apparently a result of her refusal to give her cell-phone number to strangers, has led to a massive outburst of anger online.

The woman was beaten to death at a McDonald's restaurant in Shandong province on Wednesday, China News Agency reported.

The local police said they have arrested six people - including a man surnamed Zhang and his two daughters and a son – who are allegedly "members of an evil religious group."

Former premier Wen gives geography lecture in school

Former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has given a geography lecture to students at a middle school in North China's Hebei province.

He told the students before the start of the class that he had "finally achieved a long-cherished wish."

Wen studied at China University of Geosciences from 1960 to 1968 and started his career working as a geological technician.

"Watermelon office" faces residents' suspicions

The microblog account "watermelon office," which was officially launched by Zhengzhou city government on May 28, has recently come under fire.

The Sina Weibo account was launched after the city government of Zhengzhou, capital city of Henan province, created a plan to help farmers sell their watermelons.

However, the public did not know that the city established such an office in 2006. Residents have raised questions, including – is it really necessary to open such a specialized office and - if yes - why do they not have a pumpkin office, eggplant office and other similar offices?

The city government responded to the comments, saying that it is a temporary office and it will be closed when summer ends.

Actor in sex scandal gets 6 months re-education in penitentiary

Actor Hauang Haibo, who was detained after he was caught with a prostitute in a Beijing hotel room, has been transferred for six months're-education inpenitentiary, after he was held for the maximum of 15 days, the Legal Evening News reported on Saturday.

Huang was detained on May 15, and his plight has become a trending topic.

Guangzhou woman in two places at the same time

The police in the city of Guangzhou have told a woman from a poor family that she had migrated to the US and her hukou, or household registration, had been cancelled, Guangzhou Daily reported.

The mother of He Jiahui – who is 19 - found the story absurd as the family plainly do not have the means to send their daughter abroad.

The mother said the local certificate issuing office said they had a file concerning a girl with that name, the same ID number and same address - living in Chicago.

The mother also suspects her daughter's personal information was illegally used to gain entry into the USA.

The local police said they will reissue He's hukou once they investigate the case and confirm various details.

Gaokao numbers rise by 3 percent

About 9.39 million students have registered to sit the national college entrance examination, the world's largest, on June 7. The number of candidates had increased by 270,000, or 3 percent, from the previous year, the Ministry of Education said on Friday. Success in the exam, known as the gaokao, is seen by many parents as important in deciding their children's career paths.

Chinese tourist abducted in Malaysia freed

The Chinese tourist abducted in April in Semporna of Sabah state, Malaysia, was freed on Friday, according to the Chinese Consulate in Malaysia.

An official from the Chinese Consulate in Malaysia told Xinhua that the Malaysian police informed them that the victim was freed at about 5:00 pm local time and had arrived in Sabah.