Briefs | Police hunt man accused of killing 9

Police in eastern China have launched a manhunt for a man accused of fatally stabbing his estranged wife and eight other people. The official Xinhua News Agency said the attacks occurred Saturday in Longshan County in Hunan province, southwest of Shanghai. It said four other people also were injured. A news website in Hunan, rednet.cn, said yesterday some 400 police officers were mobilized to find the suspect, identified as Wang Wensheng.

Landslide in Yunnan kills 3

A Chinese state news agency says rescue workers are searching for eight people missing after a landslide that killed three others in the country’s mountainous southwest. The Xinhua News Agency said the disaster at about 7 p.m. on Saturday evening buried a road in Funing County in Yunnan province. Xinhua said some 200 rescue workers using excavators and sniffer dogs were searching for eight people who were unaccounted for.

State firms to take on global cruise giants

China is looking to secure a stake in the country’s USD8 billion cruise industry with a joint venture between two state firms. China Communications Construction Co., and CTS (HK) Group Corp., announced Friday that they will work together to offer cruises from the southern resort of Sanya.   The joint venture will build its fleet through merger, acquisition and other cooperative agreements. A maiden voyage from Sanya to the Xisha Islands is expected some time this year. The anticipated cruise itineraries will differ from those offered by existing global cruise giants operating in China, with the aim to establish Sanya’s Phoenix Island as one of the world’s largest cruise ports. The number of people taking cruises in China has grown at an annual rate of 34 percent over the past decade and is expected to hit 4.5 million annually by 2020.