News

Around Beijing

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-11 08:03

Community

College promotes recycling concept

Re-life, a student environmental union, was launched at Peking University on Sunday and is aimed at promoting recycling on campus.

With 70 percent of Beijing communities covered by one of 3,997 recycling stations, the union plans to help get more students involved, said Tang Yonghong, director of service transactions for the municipal commission of commerce, which is leading the capital's recycling push.

Re-life is already being run across Beijing's 25 universities and it is hoped it will include 100 colleges by the end of this year.

Community

Pregnant women plant saplings

About 200 pregnant women planted trees in Huairou district on Saturday in the hope that the saplings will grow up with their children.

The tree-planting activity, organized by Zhao Tianwei, who heads a local hospital, involved healthy mothers four to eight months gone. Their husbands dug the holes, while the women simply inserted the saplings.

Wish cards were tied to the saplings and some parents-to-be said they will bring their children to visit the plants in the future, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Crime

Migrants detained for using fake bills

A couple of migrant workers were detained on Saturday after they attempted to use the counterfeit cash.

The suspects, Chen and Li, received the bank notes - worth several thousand yuan - earlier this year and soon found out they were fake as they all have the same serial numbers.

However, a storeowner called police when he found one of the two concentrated on the change she received so much that she forgot the fast food, Beijing Times reported.

Police in Haidian district found the couple made notes on where they used the cash and urged potential victims in Shuangyushu to contact their local stations.

Crime

Dogs rescued from butcher, 2 eaten

Police and animal protection volunteers rescued six dogs from the clutches of an unlicensed butcher in Mentougou district last Friday. Two other animals had already been killed, skinned and cooked, Beijing Times reported.

Police found a man and two women beating two dogs with clubs after they had been hung on a wall facing a road. A nearby resident alerted authorities to the grizzly scene after hearing the animals' howls.

During interviews by officers, one of the women said they owned the dogs, although the rundown area is well known for the large number of strays abandoned by families relocated to new developments.

Policy

Drivers line up for license lottery shot

Applications for the next round of Beijing's license lottery on April 26 have hit almost 500,000, according to the automobile registration office on Saturday.

With just 17,600 plates up for grabs, however, it means hopefuls stand only a 30 to one chance of success, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The office received 491,671 individual applications by April 8, with 23,097 more from enterprises and public institutions, said a statement on the administration's official website.

Applicants can check the result of the next draw 25 minutes online at bjhjyd.gov.cn or one hour later by calling the 12580 hotline.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/11/2011)