Society

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.

Enterprises in Beijing are advised to give their employees a wage rise of about 10 percent and no less than 5 percent this year, according to a living cost adjustment guide issued on Wednesday by Beijing Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security.

The guide is intended as a basis for employers and employees to collectively discuss wage adjustments this year, but is not obligatory.

For those enterprises that are not making money the wage rise can be less than 5 percent or even zero, but wages should not be below Beijing's minimum wage, which is 1,160 yuan ($179) a month.

According to the bureau, the guide, based on the government's goal of macro-control for this year, is a means for the government to redistribute social wealth. It also stipulates that executives should not get a rise unless staff members do.