Briefs, January 20, 2013

The Beijing municipal government has invited residents to comment on draft pollution-control regulations in the wake of the capital's severe smog last week. The draft rules included closing some factories temporarily and controlling traffic movement at times of severe air pollution, the China News Agency reported. Drivers could be fined up to 3,000 yuan (HK$3,700) if their vehicles exceeded emission limits. The public feedback exercise will run until February 8. Beijing ordered government vehicles off the roads last Sunday after hospitals were inundated with patients complaining of heart and breathing ailments. Bloomberg

Candidates sitting for Taiwan's civil-service examination cried foul yesterday over questions about the mainland's government and politics. The exam asked candidates to identify Communist Party concepts, such as "scientific concept of development" and "three represents", and to answer "which mainland government agency shares the same personnel as a corresponding Communist Party organ", the Central News Agency reported. Taiwan's civil service agency said it announced in October plans to begin testing applicants on major global ideologies and cross-strait relations. Staff Reporter