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SCMP Reporter

BEIJING
Blackmailer jailed
A 27-year-old Beijing man was sentenced to 11 years in jail for blackmailing his female cousin by threatening to release a video of the pair having sex, Beijing Morning Post reports. The cousin's husband paid the defendant 610,000 yuan (HK$749,000) before finally reporting the crime to police last year. Chaoyang District People's Court ordered the man to return the money and pay a fine of 11,000 yuan.
Train hits SUV
More than 200 passengers were stranded aboard a Beijing-bound train for four hours on Friday night after the train struck an SUV in Tongzhou district, Beijing News reported. The driver of the SUV survived and was taken for questioning. The passengers were eventually transferred to another train.
CHONGQING
Belching burglar caught
A thief was caught robbing a restaurant in Chongqing after consuming several beverages from the refrigerator and rousing a sleeping guard with his noisy belch, Chongqing Morning Post reports. The thief confessed that he had stolen 1,400 yuan in a previous burglary.
Sirens ignored, a child dies
A meningitis-stricken infant died in a police car while en route to hospital in Chongqing last week because drivers ignored the sirens and refused to give way during heavy traffic, Oriental Morning Post reports. The three-month-old boy's parents had attempted to reach the hospital by bus, but sought help from police when the child's condition appeared to worsen.
GUANGDONG
Villagers swindled
A 32-year-old farmer from a county in Yunfu was sentenced to 13 years for swindling more than 10 villagers out of 11.5 million yuan with a phony loan scheme, Nanfang Daily reports. The defendant promised the villagers he would pay them interest of up to 15 per cent if they lent him money to help his business. The man convinced his victims by showing them counterfeit land-use certificates and rented cars he said were his own.
Woman critically ill
A 43-year-old Guangzhou woman is in critical condition after suffering wounds to her head and arms during a knife attack in Haizhu district on Saturday morning, Information Times reports. Witnesses said the woman lost several teeth and two fingers fighting with the man. Police said they had ruled out the possibility of robbery as a motive.
GUANGXI
Fakes trigger heart attack
A 60-year-old Teng county farmer was so angry after receiving two fake 100 yuan banknotes that he suffered a heart attack and died, Southeastern Express reports. The man received the counterfeit banknotes in exchange for two chickens in the county market. He did not realise they were fake until he tried to break them later.
Man missing in blaze
At least one person was missing after a fire destroyed a 1,500-square-metre section of a farmers' market in Bama Yao autonomous county yesterday morning, Xinhua reports. Thirteen people were evacuated and it took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze.
HENAN
Seven killed in collision
At least seven people were killed and 19 injured when a truck collided with a bus in the Zhengzhou economic development zone, Xinhua reports. Two victims, including the bus driver, were pronounced dead at the scene while the others either died at or on their way to hospital. Police have detained the truck driver for questioning.
Looters bag spilled carrots
Looters made off with more than 19 tonnes of carrots after a vegetable truck overturned and scattered its cargo on to a Zhengzhou highway on Friday, Zhengzhou Economic News reports. The driver said he lost control in winter weather and would have to pay 38,000 yuan to cover the stolen carrots.
HUNAN
Detention over sex photos
A Xiangtan city man was detained by police for five days after sending sexually explicit photos of his mistress to her family, Xiaoxiang Morning Post reports. The man said he was trying to get back at her after she tried to end their relationship.
Marathon transplant
Doctors in Hunan s took more than four hours to transplant a kidney from an 11-month-old infant to an adult suffering from kidney failure, China Central Television reports. A Henan family chose to donate their child's healthy organs after the baby died of liver failure this month. It was not yet known whether the transplant was a success.
JIANGSU
Jail term for fake seeds
The chairman of a Jiangsu seed company was sentenced to nine years in jail by a district court in Lianyungang city for selling fake watermelon seeds to more than 70 farmers, Xinhua reported. The company's general manager was also sentenced to three years in jail with probation.
Workers' wages unpaid
Jiangsu authorities have prosecuted at least eight bosses this year for withholding workers' pay, Nanjing Daily reported. One contractor was sentenced to a year in jail with probation after fleeing in March without paying 170,000 yuan owed to 26 workers. Another 48 bosses are under investigation for similar offences.
SHAANXI
Debtor in hotline dodge
A 29-year-old Yulin man has been detained after failing to pay 640,000 yuan in gambling debts and transferring debt creditors' harassing calls to the police's emergency hotline, the Xian Evening News reports. The man said he thought the police would be able to stop the harassment. Yulin police say they received more than 100 calls in 16 days.
Poor migrant sent home
A 35-year-old construction worker was reunited with his father in Xian on Friday, 16 years after running away from his home in Gansu, the Xian Evening News reports. Police helped the man contact his family after he lost his ID card and was caught using someone else's at an internet cafe. The man told police he had not contacted his family earlier because he was ashamed that he had not become rich.
SHANGHAI
Car fumes kill five
Carbon monoxide poisoning was suspected in the deaths of five people found in a Pudong district car repair shop on Saturday, Xinmin.cn reports. The victims included a couple in their 20s from Jiangxi province, their five-year-old daughter and two male trainee technicians, ages 13 and 17. It is believed the group was sleeping in the building and one of trainees started his car in the closed shop to use the heater.
Early Lunar New Year offer
From yesterday migrant workers living in the Yangtze River Delta region were able to book group train tickets to return home for the Lunar New Year, the Xinmin Evening News reports. Shanghai Railway Bureau said tickets were available only to groups of six or more. They can depart from 24 stations in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Zhejiang.


China Digest, December 24, 2012

News

China

A 27-year-old Beijing man was sentenced to 11 years in jail for blackmailing his female cousin by threatening to release a video of the pair having sex, Beijing Morning Post reports.
