Some 5,594 companies, or 66.2 percent of those examined, violated environmental standards during the latest round of air pollution inspections, China’s environmental authority announced Tuesday.

The findings came after a month of inspections across 28 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and other nearby areas, which resulted in the discovery of problems including excessive emissions and insufficient pollution control equipment.

Inspectors reported the issues to the local authorities for further investigation, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said in a statement.

As of May 2, local authorities had shut down 131 companies and halted production at another 213 due to failure to meet environment protection standards.

Chinese enterprises were fined around 264 million yuan ($38 million) for violating standards in the first quarter of this year, the MEP said last month.

The ministry issued punishments in nearly 5,000 cases related to violations of environmental protection regulations and laws in Q1, up around 200 percent year on year.

In 224 cases, companies had to pay between 10,000 and 100,000 yuan per day after failing to rectify violations within the time frame set by the MEP.

The number of registered nurses in China reached 3.5 million at the end of 2016, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) announced Wednesday.

Guo Yanhong, senior official at NHFPC, released the figure at a press conference ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls on May 12.

Registered nurses make up 42 percent of the country’s healthcare professionals, Guo said, adding that China will launch a plan to retain nursing talent and motivate workers.

NHFPC will continue to provide improved nursing services to cope with the aging population and the increasing need for rehabilitation and hospital care, Guo said.

A total 12 people have died after a school bus crashed in a tunnel and burst into flames at Weihai, East China’s Shandong province, on Tuesday.

According to the city’s publicity department, 13 people were on board the vehicle when the accident took place at about 9 am.

Those who died at the scene included five South Korean children, six Chinese students and the bus driver, with the Chinese teacher on board badly burnt.

The children were aged between three and six-years-old.

No further details have been released at this time.

President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, has signed a decree that will release a regulation on military legislation.

The regulation took effect Monday.

Twelve people have been arrested on suspicion of using a live-streaming mobile app to spread pornography, authorities said Tuesday.

As part of the “Clean Internet 2017” campaign, China has increased efforts to address online pornography, according to the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications.

The public can provide information on individuals or companies suspected of violating pornography laws by calling 12390 or visiting shdf.gov.cn, the office said.