Briefs, February 3, 2013

More than 50 people have been killed on mainland roads in four major accidents since Friday, as hundreds of millions journey home for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. In Sichuan, a bus overturned on Friday, killing 11 people. In neighbouring Guizhou, 13 people died after an overloaded bus tumbled down a 100-metre slope, Xinhua reported. It said the crash in Congjiang county left another 21 people injured. On Friday in the northwestern province of Gansu , a coach failed to negotiate a bend, rolled down a slope and caught fire, killing 18 and injuring 34 others. Also on Friday, at least 10 people were killed in Henan when a truck carrying fireworks exploded and a section of elevated highway collapsed. Authorities yesterday blamed the collapse on "a serious accident caused by multiple human errors". AP

Outgoing premier Wen Jiabao says the country has drawn on the "visible hand" of the government too often. While intervention in the economy was necessary, as in the case of the financial crisis over the last five years, the government had also meddled in matters that it should not have, Wen told the State Council on January 23, according to an article in Communist Party magazine Qiushi. The premier did not elaborate. Wen said that excessive concentration of power without checks was the root of corruption, according to the article. Bloomberg