IN BRIEF

School bus rules stir debate

A proposal to give school buses preferential treatment on the roads has been widely lauded as China works on ways to improve school bus safety after several deadly accidents.

The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council said it has received more than 7,000 comments since it began soliciting public opinion on a set of school bus regulations on Dec 11. Experts believe that giving privileges, like those given to fire engines and ambulances, to school buses can raise people's awareness of school bus safety.

Tourism

Record year for capital tourism

Beijing's tourism sector had its best year on record in 2011, with a total of 200 million domestic travelers and 5 million tourists from overseas,.

The number of domestic tourists rose about 15 percent from the previous year. The number of foreign tourists broke the 5-million mark for the first time, posting an annual increase of 6 percent. Tourism revenue topped 300 billion yuan ($47.6 billion; 37.2 billion euros) for the first time, up 16 percent year on year.

Crime

Children saved from gangs

Over the past nine months the government of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has tracked down and rescued more than 1,300 vagrant Xinjiang children who were recruited by criminal gangs in other parts of the country, authorities say.

Most of the children are between the ages of 10 and 18 and were forced to steal by criminal gangs after being lured into leaving their hometowns for larger cities to take up jobs.

While some of the rescued children were returned to their homes, others were placed in government-run shelters to receive schooling.

Weather

Water level remains low in lake

China's largest freshwater lake will be subject to droughts and will shrink periodically due to water resource projects and rapid urbanization.

The water level of Poyang Lake remained low from 2001 to 2010, compared with a decade earlier. Dry weather is the main reason the lake has been shrinking, but the many water resource projects have added to the problem.

China Daily