Briefs, December 10, 2012

Shanghai's government published a list of 45 countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter the city for 72 hours without a visa while in transit, from January 1, Xinhua reported. Norway was omitted from the list, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of reprisals for the country after jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 by the Oslo-based awards committee. Beijing offered a similar 72-hour visa-free policy last week, which also snubbed Norway. Staff Reporter

Thirteen people were killed and 10 injured when a tourist bus plunged into a ravine in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu county, local media reported. The bus veered off the road and fell into a ravine in a mountainous area of Jianshih township, Taipei's China Times reported. Most of the passengers were in their 50s or 60s. Xinhua