Strong storms predicted

Strong rainfall will continue to pelt South China, the National Meteorological Center forecast on Saturday. The NMC said the strong rainfall will sweep areas of the region’s central and western swathes, as well as the southern parts of Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. The center also warned of sleet and snow expected to hit areas of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Meanwhile, snow will cover Heilongjiang province, northern areas of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, northwestern Gansu province and the southwestern areas of the Tibet autonomous region, the NMC forecasted. Fourteen suspects have been detained for looting ancient tombs in Beijing’s Haidian district, police said on Saturday. The suspects were caught at the scene on Dec 1. Police said they had dressed as construction workers and sneaked into a construction site to dig into tombs believed to exist under the site. Police also found ancient copper coins and silver hairpins in a car belonging to the suspects. Cultural relics departments confirmed the existence of four ancient tombs under the construction site. Beijing will increase non-residential garbage disposal fees from Jan 1 to reduce the capital’s garbage production, the Beijing Commission of Development and Reform said. The charge for non-residential household garbage will rise to 300 yuan ($50) per metric ton — a major increase from the current 25 yuan, which was set in 1999. The commission said the new policy would have a significant impact on enterprises that produce a lot of garbage and emissions. Authorities are mulling over whether to raise the Beijing subway fare from the current 2 yuan, which has long been the country’s lowest. Fares may be adjusted in rush hours to ease passenger congestion, according to a working draft released by the city’s government on Friday. Beijing’s 2 yuan fee, which allows passengers to ride any line and transfer, is lower than it was in 2007, when it was returned to 2 yuan after it was hiked to 3 yuan in 1999. The draft did not specify by how much the fare may be increased or when the revision might be made. Beijing currently has 456 kilometers of subway lines in operation that carry 10 million passengers a day.