Society

Carrefour in Tongzhou New City of Beijing July 2011.

The capital is to raise 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) during the next decade to tap the diverse potential of 42 underdeveloped suburban towns, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

By the end of 2015, 5 billion yuan is expected to be in place, including 500 million yuan from the municipal government and the rest from the China Development Bank Capital Co, State-owned and private enterprises, social security funds and overseas capital.

The cooperation of public and private funds will highlight the advantages of combining government-sponsored undertakings and privately-financed projects, said Xiao Huili, director of the commission's township economics department.

As well as providing work and talent for the emerging towns, the investment will also provide new bases for industries that are no longer suitable for the city and ease the enormous population pressure facing the capital, Xiao said.

Six people were killed and at least 18 others were injured in a bus accident that occurred on Saturday in the city of Xinzhou in North China's Shanxi province, according to provincial government sources.

Local police received word at 1:40 pm Saturday that a tour bus carrying 35 people overturned on a road in Xinzhou's Ningwu county, the sources said.

The injured have been sent to a local hospital for treatment. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The Red Cross Society of China has announced that it will suspend operations in one of its fundraising groups and hire auditors to investigate the branch's alleged misuse of donations.

According to a statement posted on the charity's official website late Friday, the charity will invite auditing institutions to check revenues and expenditures for the China Business System, a group founded in 2000 by the China General Chamber of Commerce with the approval of the Red Cross Society.

The China Business System primarily engages in charity fundraising in China's commercial sector, as well as organizing emergency relief efforts. Funds raised by the group are channeled directly to the Red Cross Society.

The charity will also ask the China General Chamber of Commerce to set up an investigatory committee to probe the group and investigate claims of misused funds.

Authorities in Shanghai have refused to relax the city's strict family planning policy despite calls to allow all couples the right to have a second child, the Oriental Morning Post reported.

Shanghai People's Congress deputy Hu Min called on the local Population and Family Planning Commission to allow "well educated" families to have a second child regardless of if they have any siblings.

Hu said encouraging people to have more offspring could help alleviate the problem of the city's aging population.