IN BRIEF

Beijing

Air pollution fakers exposed

Authorities carrying out air pollution inspections recently found a number of companies faking monitoring data. The Ministry of Environmental Protection reported four cases in which automatic monitoring equipment malfunctioned or where companies interfered with data collection, according to the ministry's website. The inspection teams have been conducting on-site checks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and nearby areas, where smog has raised widespread concern.

10 live-streaming apps, sites closed

The Ministry of Culture has shut down 10 online streaming apps and websites in a campaign against illegal online content. The 10 include a streaming app called Qianshu. At a news conference on Wednesday, the ministry said it had punished 48 operators and 31,371 presenters, and terminated contracts with 547 presenters.

Inner Mongolia

Prehistoric cliff painting found

Archeologists recently found a cave painting of human handprints that they dated to the Paleolithic Era. It has been proposed that the painting, in Alxa Right Banner, was part of a primitive religious ritual. It is composed of 14 handprints of a brownish-red hue, with coloring made from a combination of germanium powder, animal blood and water.

Shanxi

6 workers die in coal mine flood

Six miners died and five were rescued from a flooded coal mine, the rescue headquarters said after the rescue operation ended early on Wednesday. The five survivors are receiving medical checkups and treatment. Eleven miners were trapped when the flood occurred at 11:40 pm on Monday in the coal mine in Qingxu county.

Guangxi

Three killed in rented house

Three people were killed after an intruder apparently broke into a rented house, which was said to be a midday child-care center, the Guilin police said on Wednesday. The killings happened at around noon on Wednesday. A teenager and two adults were killed. Two children were found with injuries and have been sent to the hospital. A suspect has been detained by the local police.

Jilin

12 detained over Indian medicine

Police have detained 12 people for smuggling and selling Indian-made treatments for hepatitis C and cancer, authorities said on Wednesday. Customs officers in Changchun obtained information in November that five online stores may have been involved in smuggling and selling medications made in India, according to the authorities. After a four-month investigation, more than 160 police officers seized 303 cases of medicines with an estimated street value of more than 13 million yuan ($2 million).

Xinhua - China Daily