Rescue Underway in Shanxi's Wangjialing Coal Mine
Nearly 1000 rescuers are currently operating at the state-owned Wangjialing coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province which was flooded by underground water on Sunday (Mar 28th). 261 workers were in the mine when the accident occurred, 108 were lifted to safety but the 153 others are still trapped in the shaft. The poor underground conditions make the rescue operations more difficult and rescuers are also facing the threat of poisonous gas.

Guangzhou Bans Loop-Hole For Developers
At a meeting organized by the Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau, an unwritten rule that led developers to use land before getting proper permissions was publicly denounced. More from our reporter Chang Zhifeng:
A real estate developer recently found that his construction plan did not meet regulations concerning a quota of public facilities. To tackle this issue, he was advised to actually use more land and simply pay the penalty which is considerably lower then changing the whole plan. Wang Dong, the Director General of the bureau said no such practice will be allowed in the future:
"This case is typical. Before it worked, paying money would have allowed the real estate developers to gain the property rights. But now penalties can not be used to trade property rights."

Chinese Festival of Arts Scheduled to Commence in May in GZ
The 9th Chinese Arts Festival shall kick off on May 10th in Guangzhou. 65 dramas will be staged, all competing for the Wenhua award, which was founded by Ministry of Culture to recognize the professional stage performing arts. Audiences will also be able to see eight foreign dramas during this festival amongst which the Italian opera "Turandot"invited to inaugurate Guangzhou's new Opera house.