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GUANGDONG
Aussie spider invades
Quarantine officials in Zengcheng have seized a dangerous castaway - a venomous redback spider - in a shipment of metal frames from Australia, the Southern Daily reports. The spider, also known as Latrodectus hasselti, delivers a painful bite that can be lethal without prompt treatment.
Fetal gender tests seized
Customs officers at the Luohu border crossing in Shenzhen recently seized blood vials and documents for fetus sex identification tests that arrived from Hong Kong, China News Service reports. The haul included 12 fetus sex identification reports, 50 empty blood collection vials and 25 consent forms for the prenatal tests for possible new clients, China News Service reports. Such tests are legal in Hong Kong, but not on the mainland.
 
FUJIAN
Patient 'dismembered'
Fuzhou police have captured an unlicensed doctor who allegedly killed a patient by giving the wrong medication and then dismembered the body and thew it in a river, the Strait Metropolis Daily reports. The 39-year-old victim went to see the doctor at his clinic on January 30, but died after he was put on a drip. A river cleaner found two bags of body parts the next day.
Funds paid gambling debts
An official at a hydropower station in Longyan has been jailed for 23 years for using millions of yuan of public funds to repay his gambling debts, the Southeast Express reports. The man confessed that he lost 20 to 30 million yuan between 2009 and early 2012 in playing mahjong, using either public funds or borrowed money.
 
HEILONGJIANG
Clues left in wallet
A man in Harbin has received a suspended one-year jail sentence for withdrawing 13,000 yuan (HK$16,000) from two bank cards in a wallet he found on the street, the Xin News reports. The man guessed the password - the owner's birth date - for five bank cards in the wallet by checking the owner's ID card. He withdrew the money from two accounts at an automatic telling machine in October. The other three cards had no money in the accounts. He returned the money and was fined 20,000 yuan.
Mass deaths of pigeons
Disease control officials in Harbin are investigating the mysterious death of more than 800 pigeons at a landmark square in the city in the past month, the Life Daily  reports. More than 1,200 pigeons were raised by the square management department but 800 of them died in four batches since the start of last month.
 
HUBEI
Villagers save driver
Twelve villagers have been praised in Nanzhang county, Xiangfan for saving a driver whose pickup truck plunged into a two-metre ditch on a country road, the Hubei Daily reports. The 12 local residents ran to the ditch and pulled the driver out of the vehicle after hearing a loud bang about 50 metres from their homes. Doctors said the badly injured driver would have died were it not for the villagers' efforts.
Looming parking crisis
Political advisers in Wuhan have warned of an impending shortage of parking spaces in the city and said the pace of adding more should be quickened, the Chutian Jin Bao reports. Deputies of the municipal people's political consulting conference said at their annual session on Tuesday that the city had planned to build 70 public parking lots since 2010, but only eight had been added by mid-last year. A deputy blamed complicated approval procedures among various departments for the delay.
 
JIANGXI
Don't try this at home
A man in Nanchang remains in hospital after he stuck a toothbrush in his anus while trying to ease constipation, which caused a stomachache and bleeding, China News Service reports. Doctors had to remove the 20cm brush from his body on Tuesday after he was rushed to the hospital the night before, but they said the 61-year-old was still under observation since his rectum was injured.
Seven hurt as bus hits shop
Seven people were injured when a public bus in Fuzhou crashed into a shop on Tuesday, China News Service reports. The vehicle lost control after giving way to an electric bicycle, then collided with a car and four other electric bicycles, before hitting the shop, police said.
 
SHANDONG
Baking powder crackdown
Jinan police busted five restaurants for using baking powder containing aluminium to make steamed bread, China National Radio reports. The metal is a banned additive that can damage the nervous system and brain if consumed over a long period. A police officer said surprisingly high amounts of the chemical were found in spot checks of one restaurant in December. Four other restaurants were found making steamed bread containing up to 1 gram of aluminium per kilogram of dough.
Real death in staged one
A married man in Weifang allegedly killed a man so he could use the body in an elaborate plan to fake his own death, Iqilu.com reports. The man, who was detained by police with his mistress earlier this month, confessed that they used his minibus to hit a woman pedestrian and her boyfriend at night late last month. Both victims were knocked out. The couple let the woman go, but kept the unconscious man inside the vehicle, which they set on fire to give the impression that the husband had burned to death, and the two could flee.
 
SHANGHAI
Metro cheat loaded
A beggar caught trying to evade the fare at a subway station on Metro Line 3 was found to have more than 5,000 yuan in her backpack, which she and her grandmother earned over the past two days, the Jiefang Daily reports. The woman, in her 20s, was stopped by staff when she entered the station without a ticket. The two women left their hometown a few days earlier and had been begging on lines 3 and 4 after arriving in Shanghai.
Surrogate swindle
A woman has been arrested for swindling people of more than 400,000 yuan with promises of arranging illegal surrogate mothers in the name of her former employer, the Jiefang Daily reports. Yangpu district prosecutors said the suspect worked at an investment firm that was involved in the illegal surrogacy business in 2008 and left in 2011. She tricked two women with fake contracts and asked for surrogacy service charges after she started a new job. The deception was found out when a client checked with the former employer after she was told the surrogate mother had suffered a miscarriage.
 
ZHEJIANG
Left to die on road
A man in Yuhuan county was run over and dragged to death by a passing car after he fell down on the street and was ignored by passers-by over the weekend, Sina.com.cn reports. Surveillance footage showed four vehicles and 23 people passed by the 57-year-old man without offering assistance.
Wetland park planned
Fuyang city plans to build a national wetland park covering 50 sq km by 2020, Zjol.com.cn reports. The park will include several islands on the Fuchun River, according to a wetland protection plan.


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Around the nation: Aussie redback spider stowaway found at Guangdong port

A venomous redback spider has been found by Customs officers in Guangdong among a container of iron frames from Australia. Photo: SCMP Pictures

News

China Insider

Also: Quack doctor dismembers dead patient; Minibus driver kills man to fake his own death


Around the nation: Aussie redback spider stowaway found at Guangdong port

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Also: Quack doctor dismembers dead patient; Minibus driver kills man to fake his own death

Also: Quack doctor dismembers dead patient; Minibus driver kills man to fake his own death