China Bans New Internet Cafes for a Year

China currently has about 113,000 Internet cafes and bars but they have now put a ban on giving planning approval to any new Internet Cafes/Bars for this year

This is due, they say, to the large increase in internet addiction and juvenile crime across China

"It is common to see students from primary and middle schools lingering in Internet bars overnight, puffing on cigarettes and engrossed in online games," Xinhua quoted NPC deputy Yu Wen as saying in a separate report. The new law is part of a wide range of stricter regulations to help reduce juvenile crime. Minors have already been banned from internet cafes after a report last year stated that 13 percent of the 18 million internet users under 18 were addicts. Internet cafes that have already received planning approval have until June 30, 2007 to get up and running other wise the new law will apply to them also. If young children are spending all night in internet cafes, why can't the parents do something about it and not wait for the law to step in?