The Shanghai Municipal Government launched its microblog Shanghai City on China's popular Twitter-like microblogging service Weibo.com on November 28.

The microblog, which is maintained by the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government (IOSMG), acquired more than 30,000 followers in the five hours following its launch.

According to IOSMG, the blog's posts will mainly concern new policies and regulations, as well as practical information related to activities in Shanghai. The microblog will also allow the municipal government to interact with ordinary citizens, who will be able to provide feedback on issues of public concern.

Water Conservation

China has spent 4.55 billion yuan ($713 million) on conservation work to preserve the source of the Yellow, Yangtze and Lancang rivers, a local conservation official said on November 30.

The ecological conservation program, initiated in 2005, possesses a budget of 7.5 billion yuan ($1.15 billion) and aims to halt degradation of the environment in the threeriver region in northwest China's Qinghai Province. The investment has funded grazing bans, pasture conservation projects, inhabitant resettlement and artificial weather control.

Stricter Rules

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Affairs are now soliciting public opinion on new rules that will require domestic charitable foundations to hire accounting firms to audit their financial statements and publish reports, according to a joint statement issued by the two ministries on November 29.

Under the new rules, domestic charitable foundations' annual financial reports, as well as details of their financial situation during management reshuffles must be subject to auditing by accounting firms. These requirements will also apply to certain donation programs, such as campaigns that account for more than 10 percent of the donations a foundation receives or fund raising related to natural disaster relief.

The new rules, expected to come into effect on January 1, 2012, also lay down specific qualifications that accounting firms must fulfill to be eligible to audit foundations.

Fire in HK

Nine people were killed and more than 30 others were injured in a fire that lasted over seven hours in downtown Hong Kong on November 30.

The blaze started at around 04:40 a.m. local time in Mong Kok on the Kowloon Peninsula, and then spread through the neighborhood. It was not extinguished until 12:28 p.m. local time.

In December last year, a similar fire broke out in the same area, causing several injuries and burning several hawker stalls to the ground.

Shops at the site suffered serious financial losses as they had been stocking up for the upcoming holiday season. Mong Kok is one of the most densely populated areas in Hong Kong and is known to tourists for its traditional markets and small shops.

TCM Breakthrough

Chinese scientists have devised a new herbal remedy for aplastic anemia, a potentially fatal blood disease. The bone marrow of sufferers stops producing blood platelets and red and white blood cells.

The new treatment has been proved to significantly reduce patients' risk of infection and bleeding. The herbal granules, jointly developed by specialists from 16 medical institutions, effectively relieves anemia and enhances patients' natural immunity. In addition, the new drug has not shown any of the side effects that are common in the prevalent Western treatments for the disease.

Specialists said further research is needed to fully establish the remedy's safety, but given successful safety trials the new drug will be in clinical use within three years.