RETURNING HEROES: A China International Search and Rescue Team member embraces his family at Beijing's Capital International Airport on January 27. The Chinese team accomplished its rescue and medical care task in quake-devastated Haiti and returned to Beijing (WANG JIANHUA)

Deadly Storms

The death toll rose to 20 on January 27 when freezing temperatures and record snowfalls continued to batter northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said.

Nine people in Altay Prefecture and 11 people in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture have died in the worst snow in six decades, said regional civil affairs department officials.

The blizzard and avalanche hit the northern part of Xinjiang this week, particularly in Altay, Ili and Tacheng. More than 1.5 million people have been affected, with more than 160,000 evacuated and 1,304 injured, officials said.

Friends Not Food

A proposed law that would be China's first on animal welfare prohibits the consumption of dog and cat meat, and sets penalties including a fine of up to 5,000 yuan ($735) and up to 15 days' detention for transgressors.

Those found guilty of selling the meat would be fined 10,000-500,000 yuan ($1,470-$73,500), according to a draft of the law that is being written by a panel of legal experts, the Beijing-based Mirror Evening News reported.

But the inclusion of such a ban into the law is not yet final. "There are still many difficulties to overcome before (legislators) include the article against consumption of dog and cat meat into the draft law," said Chang Jiwen, head of the panel and a law institute researcher under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Booming Lottery

Chinese lottery ticket sales reached 75.6 billion yuan ($11.1 billion) in 2009, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on January 27.

The figure was up 25 percent, or 15.2 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), from a year earlier, according to a ministry statement released at the national lottery ticket work conference in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

Sales helped to raise more than 24 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) for the nation's public welfare fund.

Sales in the booming southern province of Guangdong hit 8.3 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) last year, continuing its ranking in first place among all provinces and municipalities.

Receding Coastline

The sea level along China's coastal areas has risen over 70 mm over the past three decades, according to a report released by the State Oceanic Administration on January 27.

The report said that the average increase in sea level has been about 2.6 mm per year over the past 30 years, 0.9 mm higher than the world's average.

In 2009, the sea level along China's coastal areas rose 8 mm over that recorded in 2008 and reached its highest level in 30 years.

It has been estimated that the sea will rise 80 to 130 mm in the next three decades, said the report.

The continuous rising of seas could add to damage caused by marine disasters such as storm tides, coastal erosion, seawater encroachment and soil salinization, said Xu Sheng, Director of the National Marine Data and Information Service.