According to the Ministry of Public Security, Chinese police closed 194 illegal gun factories in an intensive crackdown on illegal production, storage and possession of weapons and explosives from June to September last year. The police also ordered the closure of 482 factories and shops that illegally produced or sold explosives.

Water drops

CHINESE hydrology experts have denied that last year's serious drop in water levels in China's longest river, the Yangtze, are connected with the Three Gorges hydroelectric project. The Yangtze River hydrology bureau attributed the drop to lower rainfall on the upper reaches and serious drought along the river. Yangtze water levels hit a record low in 2006, while its tributaries dropped 30 to 60 percent below average levels.

Penny anti crime

A MAN in Guangdong Province has been sentenced to four years in jail for robbing two pupils, though he got only 0.5 yuan (6 US cents). A district court in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong, found Li Fushou, 20, forced two pupils to enter a small alleyway on March 29, 2006, demanding each pay 20 yuan as a fee to join a gang, or he would beat them. Li said he robbed the pupils as he was small in stature.

Bribery sentence

A SENIOR political adviser in the government of northwest China's Gansu Province has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for taking bribes. The sentence was handed down at the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing Municipality on Monday. Zhu Zuoyong, 65, vice chairman of the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body, was charged with taking bribes worth 1.7 million yuan (US$218,000) from April 1994 to September 2004, the court heard.

Teachers beaten

PROSECUTORS in Dengzhou City in Henan Province, have detained three men and investigated another three for beating up five middle school teachers and a driver in a local police station without reason on Saturday. Authorities said the six were security assistants the police station hired, and none of them are police officers. Higher authorities also suspended Wu Qifang, director of the police station, from his post.