IN BRIEF

Beijing

Philippines' foreign secretary to visit

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano will pay an official visit to China from Wednesday to Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced on Monday. During the visit, Cayetano will meet with Chinese leaders and talk with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. The two sides will exchange views on China-Philippine relations, China-ASEAN relations and regional and global issues of common concern.

State Council shuffles officials

The State Council, China's Cabinet, announced the appointment and removal of several officials on Monday. Sun Yao was appointed vice-minister of education. Ni Yuefeng was named deputy head of the General Administration of Customs. Yang Xiaowei was appointed deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, to replace Wang Xiujun.

Five are punished for school bullying

Five students have been placed in administrative detention and fined after a video of them bullying a schoolmate went viral on the internet. In the video, the victim was standing in a toilet, while the bullies forced him to touch excrement. School uniforms worn by the students indicated that the incident happened at a middle school in the city's Yanqing district. Police said on Monday that the video was taken on Thursday. The seven students involved in the case also extorted more than 100 yuan ($15) from the victim and physically abused him, the police said.

Hubei

Political adviser investigated

Liu Shanqiao, vice-chairman of the Hubei Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is under investigation for severe violations of discipline, the country's top anti-graft watchdog announced on its website on Monday. Liu, 61, a native of Suizhou, was elected to his current position in 2013, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Liu worked as mayor and Party chief in several cities in the province from 1994 to 2012.

Hunan

Emergency action begins for flood

China issued a Grade IV emergency response, the lowest in the country's emergency response system, on Monday because of rainstorms and the threat of floods across the province. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China National Commission for Disaster Reduction have sent teams to assist in affected areas. Hunan has been battered by rain and floods since Thursday. As of 8 am on Monday, six people had died, another one was missing and 11,000 had been evacuated, according to the local government. Flooding also damaged about 40,000 houses and caused 3.27 billion yuan ($478 million) in direct economic losses.