strokenet_data/valid.zh2-en.en

New Questions Over California Water Project
Critics and a state lawmaker say they want more explanations on who's paying for a proposed $16 billion water project backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, after a leading California water district said Brown's administration was offering government funding to finish the planning for the two giant water tunnels.
Critics said the government funding described by the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District on Thursday could run counter to long-standing state assurances that various local water districts, not California itself, would pay for Brown's vision of digging twin 35-mile-long tunnels to carry water from the Sacramento River south, mainly for Central and Southern California.
The $248 million in preliminary spending for the tunnels, which have yet to win regulatory approval, already is the topic of an ongoing federal audit.
On Wednesday, state lawmakers ordered a state audit of the tunnels-spending as well.
On Thursday, state spokeswoman Nancy Vogel said that despite the account of the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, no money from the state's general fund would be used finishing the current planning phase of the twin tunnels.
However, opponents of the tunnels and a taxpayer group were critical Thursday, and Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, one of the state lawmakers behind this week's audit order, asked the state Thursday for clarification.
"It's a shell game," said David Wolfe, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association's legislative director.
I think it comes back to the audit (request) yesterday: There are way more questions here than there are answers.
The tunnels project is endorsed by Brown and by some politically influential water districts and water customers in Central and Southern California.
Supporters say the tunnels would benefit the environment and offer Californians a more secure water supply.
Opponents say they fear the state will use the tunnels to divert too much water from the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay, harming Northern California and further endangering native species there.
Metropolitan and other water districts slated to get water from the tunnels have yet to commit to paying for them, out of uncertainty whether the massive spending would really bring them enough water to make the cost worthwhile.
The same water districts also announced this year they would not pay to complete the current preliminary work on the tunnels unless the project first won regulatory approval.
On Thursday, a monthly report published by the LA-based water district on the tunnels project said, "the state has indicated that any additional funding needs to complete the planning phase will be provided by state or federal sources."
After all that local water districts had spent on the project, including $63 million from his water district, "This is to be expected" that the state would use government money to close out planning, said Bob Muir, spokesman for the LA-based water district.
He referred further questions to Vogel, the state spokeswoman.
Vogel said the state intended to pull money to finish the tunnels planning from user fees for an existing, half-century-old water network, the State Water Project.
Tunnel opponents, however, point to a measure state lawmakers passed in 2009 that they say bars the state from spending money on the tunnels until the water agencies that would benefit commit to paying for them.
"Project contractors pledged to pay for this project and they've used financial gimmicks to get around this obligation," said Patricia Schifferle, an environmental consultant and longtime opponent of the proposed tunnels.
It raises questions as to where this money was suddenly found.
Business Groups Appeal to China Over Cybersecurity Law
A coalition of international business groups has appealed to China to change proposed cybersecurity rules they warn will harm trade and isolate the country.
The letter to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is signed by 46 groups from the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America, reflecting the global scale of concern the rules might limit or cut off access to China's market for information security products.
Signers include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the European Services Forum and groups from Japan, Korea and Mexico.
The proposed rules would require providers to show Chinese authorities how security products work and to store information about Chinese citizens within the country.
The latest letter, dated Wednesday, says that might make data theft easier and reduce access to Chinese customers.
Tianjin chemical blast: Deadly disaster marked one year on
Zhang Mengfan says the public deserves to know what happened in the Tianjin blasts
China's leaders may want muted commemorations to mark the first anniversary of the massive chemical blast that killed 173 people, but not everyone agrees.
John Sudworth reports from Tianjin.
Almost anywhere else in the world the anniversary of a disaster of this magnitude would present a moment of national soul-searching.
But not in China.
While a memorial service to some of the dead firefighters is being held in the city of Tianjin, elsewhere the tributes are being muted.
The Communist Party-controlled media is being told what it can and cannot say and some survivors, as well as family members of the dead, are being warned not to speak to the foreign press.
But 23-year-old Zhang Mengfan won't stay quiet.
"On this anniversary there should be a way for the public to know what happened," he tells me.
I don't want silence.
On 12 August last year, Mr Zhang was a radio operator with a military fire brigade, stationed just a kilometre from the epicentre of the explosions.
"The call came in at 10:53 that night and we started to despatch my teammates," he says.
It would have taken them 10 minutes to get to the scene.
Other crews from elsewhere in the city were also arriving to tackle the large fire in a chemical storage depot.
All of them would have been oblivious to the fact that large quantities of volatile and toxic substances were being illegally stored, way beyond permitted amounts and without proper management.
The fire had started when a batch of nitrocellulose - a chemical used in nail polish - had been allowed to dry out and then ignited in the summer heat.
It then spread to a huge stockpile - 800 tonnes - of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
The resulting explosions shattered the windows and brought the roof in at the fire station where Zhang Mengfan was waiting by the radio for reports from the scene.
Those reports never came in.
"When I saw the mushroom cloud I fell into a state of desperation," he tells me.
I knew what it would mean for my friends.
Of the 26 firefighters sent to the blaze from his unit that night, eight never came back.
Many of the others suffered serious burns and other injuries.
The biggest of the two large explosions was measured as a seismic event, with a blast wave that was felt many kilometres away.
The total cost of the damage was put at more than $1bn, including the 300-plus buildings that were destroyed.
A total of 173 people lost their lives - 104 of them firefighters.
Eight bodies have never been found.
An official government enquiry has laid the blame squarely at corruption, political connections and official collusion that allowed corners to be cut and safety systems to be overridden.
The storage depot should never have been built so close to residential buildings in the first place.
More than 100 officials and company executives are facing some kind of disciplinary or criminal investigation.
So while the government can point to the progress that has been made - the thousands of homes repaired and the residents compensated - those lingering sensitivities remain.
The disaster has exposed the cracks in a system where rapid economic growth is a priority and the lack of independent oversight is a fact of life.
The bravery and sense of duty that night cannot be doubted and yet alongside the image of the firefighter as hero, there is the other uncomfortable picture.
That of the firefighter as victim, sent without proper knowledge into an avoidable, man-made catastrophe.
Zhang Mengfan has now left the fire service but will attend the memorial service in Tianjin.
He will be carrying in his heart a message for his dead comrades.
What I want to tell them most is this: I've been to visit your parents and they are fine.
Leave your parents to me.
I am a member of your family now.
I will fulfil your filial duty.
Cold spring could affect Scottish grouse shooting season
Scotland's grouse shooting season will begin later, with cold weather hitting bird numbers this year.
Several estates have postponed shooting as many of the early chicks did not survive the cool spring conditions.
Marking the start of the season, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) said grouse shooting sustained more jobs than the Edinburgh festivals.
But animal protection charity OneKind called for an end to the "brutal slaughter" of the birds.
The organisation's director Harry Huyton said: "The effort which goes into maintaining a rich supply of game birds for shooting is huge and invariably involves some extremely controversial practices."
It is not surprising the public is turning their back on this so-called sport and calling the government to account on a cruel, unnecessary practice which is enjoyed by a very small minority of people in Scotland.
But landowners insisted they were committed to conservation and that grouse shooting was vital to the rural economy.
The SGA's chairman, Alex Hogg, said the industry supported 8,800 full-time jobs per year in remote areas and was a "rich seam of employment" in uncertain times.
He said: "Compared to many other European countries, Scotland does not have an embedded 'hunting' culture and chunks of the population don't know the impact the shooting seasons have to the country, economically."
Mr Hogg said the number of full-time jobs relying on shooting exceeded the posts created by the Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe, Tattoo and Hogmanay combined.
He added: "There are real concerns for employment in rural Scotland at the moment, particularly in oil and gas, so gamekeepers and their families want to see the industry grow.
We want to work with the Scottish government to make sure hard working people can continue to rely on these posts in future.
RSPB Scotland believes that eight golden eagles have been killed illegally around grouse moors
Many gamekeepers acknowledge that grouse shooting is not universally popular, but the SGA said the industry had made "significant strides in terms of best practice."
The opening day of the grouse shooting season is traditionally known as the "Glorious Twelfth."
However, the sport remains controversial and the management of grouse shooting moors has been linked to the persecution of raptors by some wildlife bodies.
On Thursday, RSPB Scotland said eight tagged golden eagles had disappeared in the Monadhliath mountains, south-east of Inverness, in less than five years.
The wildlife charity believes they were killed illegally around grouse moors and their satellite tracking tags destroyed.
Scottish Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the reports were "very disturbing and disappointing."
Ms Cunningham has ordered officials to analyse the evidence of about 90 surviving and missing eagles with the tags, to determine if there is a pattern of suspicious activity.
The Scottish Moorland Group accused the RSPB of trying to whip up anti-shooting feelings ahead of the grouse season and said there was no clear evidence of the birds having even died in the Monadhliath area.
Rio Olympics 2016: Bryony Page wins trampoline silver for Great Britain
GB's Page wins silver in the trampolining
Bryony Page became the first British woman to win an Olympic trampoline medal by claiming silver in Rio.
Page, 25, was beaten to gold by 0.425 points as Canada's Rosannagh MacLennan won a second successive Olympic title with a score of 56.465.
World champion Li Dan of China took bronze, while Britain's other finalist, Katherine Driscoll, came sixth.
I can't believe I've won an Olympic medal.
I'm just so happy," said a clearly emotional Page.
I had no idea it was a medal but my performance was the best I could have done, that is why I was so happy, that all the training and hard work had paid off.
I am so happy I got to share the final with Kat, one person would have been history and we got two.
Prior to winning Olympic silver, Page's highest career finish in an international event was fifth at the 2015 World Championships in Denmark.
Trampoline made its Olympic debut in 2000 and this is the first time British women have reached the final.
Reaction to the medal.
Team GB's Nathan Bailey, the only male entrant in the men's trampoline on Saturday, was ecstatic.
Two-time Olympian gymnast Hannah Whelan was quick to heap praise on Page's achievement.
Page secured a first class honours degree in Biology at the University of Sheffield.
Rio 2016: Fiji fans celebrate winning rugby sevens gold medal
A 12-year-old boy runs past sugar cane fields on a half-mile journey to the nearest television set in order to watch the game
Extraordinary scenes of celebration have erupted after Fiji won its first-ever Olympic medal.
Banks closed, shops shut and revellers took over the streets of Suva dancing, singing and cheering.
Fiji claimed the gold medal after defeating Great Britain 43-7 in the rugby sevens final at Deodoro Stadium.
Thousands of people across the island nation had stopped what they were doing to watch the history-making match.
Fiji celebrates as the country wins its first ever Olympic medal
Many supporters dressed in Fiji colours and rugby jerseys, carrying the national flag to cheer on the team.
At the final whistle blew, excited revellers took to the streets cheering and dancing.
"Some people even stopped their vehicles on the busy streets of Suva and got out with Fiji flags to join the celebrations, not paying much heed to the slight traffic jam they cause," the Fiji Times reported.
The celebrations will definitely continue into the weekend and the week ahead.
League of Ireland Premier Division: Finn Harps 0-5 Derry City
Aaron McEneff netted two first-half penalties for the visitors at Finn Park
Derry City have moved up to second in the Premier Division thanks to a thumping 5-0 derby win over Finn Harps.
Aaron McEneff put the Candystripes in control with two first-half penalties, both given for fouls on Lukas Schubert.
Nathan Boyle fired home early in the second half and Schubert hammered in the fourth before Keith Ward's late lob completed the Finn Park rout.
Derry go a point ahead of Cork City and the teams meet at the Brandywell on Monday night in a crunch encounter.
It was Derry's first win over their north-west rivals in three meetings this season and they were rarely troubled by a disappointing Harps side.
McEneff tucked away the opener on 17 minutes after Ciaran Coll's challenge on Schubert, although the foul appeared to be outside the box.
There was no doubt the second spot-kick, with former Candystripes midfielder Barry Molloy bringing downing Schubert and McEneff making it 2-0 three minutes from the break.
Boyle produced a clinical finish from a Dean Jarvis cut-back eight minutes after the restart.
City keeper Gerard Doherty had a quiet night but he made a fine save to deny David Scully in the host's best opening of the game.
Schubert flicked the ball past Coll before blasting in after 83 minutes and it was soon followed by Ward's clever chip over Harps stopper Richard Brush.
It was Derry's biggest win of the campaign and perfect preparation for the showdown with Cork.
Probe after mass failure of Inverness College UHI course
An entire class of 20 students may have failed a Higher Media course run by Inverness College UHI.
Most of those on the course were 17 and 18-year-olds hoping to use their mark from their studies to go to university.
Inverness College UHI said quality assurance processes were in place, adding that the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) was investigating.
A spokesman for the SQA said the nationally-available 2016 Higher Media assessment had "performed as intended."
Twenty students signed up for the Inverness College UHI-run and marked course.
Many of the students were young people in rural areas who received tuition online, but also had to make frequent visits to the college in Inverness from where they lived in places such as Lochaber.
A father of one of the students said that, following postings by his daughter on social media about her no award for her work, at least 10 others had come forward to say they had also been given a no award for their course work.
He told BBC News Scotland online that about five other people who sat the same course at Inverness College UHI last year had also been in touch to say the same thing had happened to them.
The situation meant his daughter not being able to secure a place at the University of Glasgow, but she will be able to take up an offer from another university because of qualifications she gained at school.
But her father said there were others who did the college-run media course who were less fortunate and were now "in limbo" and unsure if their course work would be re-examined and then given a mark that would allow them to take up university places.
Inverness College UHI is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Diane Rawlinson, principal and chief executive at Inverness College UHI, said: "We take exam results and student success very seriously."
This is evidenced by the excellent HMIE report we received earlier this year as well as the year-on-year improvements to attainment levels we have achieved in both Further and Higher education.
As we do every year, we are undertaking a review of all published results, comparing them against those projected for each student.
In the case of this particular course, the usual quality assurance processes were in place and the awarding body verifier recently reported 'significant strengths in the delivery and management of this award' and confirmed that 'assessment judgements were consistent with the national standards set'.
SQA are currently investigating this matter at our request.
A spokesman for the SQA said: "We are happy that the 2016 Higher Media assessment performed as intended and it provided candidates with the opportunity to show their understanding of the subject.
Many candidates performed strongly and we saw a slight increase in the A-C attainment rate compared to the same qualification last year.
It was designed in line with past and exemplar papers and according to our course and assessment specifications.
Brothers jailed for samurai sword 'bloodbath' in Kilmarnock
Jason Bryden was attacked with a samurai sword, knife and nunchucks
Two brothers have been jailed for killing a man with a samurai sword after a drugs-related robbery in East Ayrshire turned into a "bloodbath."
The victim, Jason Bryden, 38, was repeatedly stabbed during the attack at his home in Kilmarnock on 5 July 2015.
At the High Court in Glasgow, James Clark, 36, was jailed for a least 22 years after being convicted of murder.
His brother John, 38, was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
Jailing both men, judge Bill Dunlop told the brothers that they had carried out "a merciless, relentless and savage attack."
He rejected any suggestion that Mr Bryden had been laying in wait for them armed with a samurai sword.
Judge Dunlop added: "You together planned to gain illegal access with at least one knife and nunchucks.
Jason Bryden may have been a drug dealer but he was a son, a father and a friend.
He was butchered by you.
After both men were jailed, Det Insp David Moran, who led the investigation, said: "The violent and terrible actions of John and James Clark caused the death of Jason Bryden."
To be taken at the age of 38, in such horrifying circumstances, is a heartbreaking situation that the family has been forced to endure.
The court previously heard the brothers, from Kilmarnock, had decided to rob Mr Bryden of a gold bracelet which they had given to him in exchange for drugs.
The pair, who were high on drink and drugs, went to his home after masking their faces with scarves and arming themselves with a knife and martial arts nunchucks.
The sword used in the killing is believed to have belonged to the dead man.
Neighbours said they could see the Clarks attacking Mr Bryden as he sat on a sofa by the window and could hear him screaming.
Prosecutor Richard Goddard told the trial: "This was a sustained, frenzied attack on this man."
Afterwards, the scene of the killing was described as a "bloodbath."
In addition to the stab wounds, Mr Bryden suffered blunt force trauma during the assault.
He died in Kilmarnock's Crosshouse Hospital three days later.
Both brothers denied the killing.
In evidence, James Clark, who has 38 previous convictions including one for attempted murder, said: "I didn't mean it. It was an accident."
John Clark, who has 23 previous convictions, said he only got involved to help his brother whom he claimed was being attacked by Mr Bryden.
Man jailed for shaking and killing his baby son
David Sinclair admitted killing the child at his home in East Kilbride in 2012
A man who shook and killed his baby son in a fit of rage because he would not feed has been jailed for seven years and three months.
David Sinclair shook four-month-old Joshua in a "momentary loss of control" at their home in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, on 6 December 2012.
The cause of death was only discovered after a case review by medical experts.
Sinclair, 34, was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
Jailing him at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Bracadale told Sinclair: "You assaulted your baby son by shaking him, causing the injuries which killed him."
You must have known at the time you had shaken him, but you did not disclose that.
It was only after extensive medical investigations you admitted what you had done.
Your wife believed in you.
She now feels she had been misled by you and can no longer support you.
Lord Bracadale described the effects of Joshua's death as "catastrophic" for all concerned and added: "Nothing can bring Joshua back."
The court previously heard that that on the day the child died, Sinclair and his wife Kirsty had gone swimming with Joshua and then shopping in East Kilbride.
At 17:30 Kirsty Sinclair went out to meet her mother and sister.
Just 11 minutes later she received a phone call from Sinclair, who sounded "shocked."
He told her: "Joshua isn't breathing properly, come home right away."
He then hung up and dialled 999.
The infant was rushed to Hairmyres Hospital where he died.
Initially the cause of Joshua's death was unascertained, but the case was reviewed by a team of medical experts who discovered evidence of trauma in the eyes and brain which could only have been caused non-accidentally, close to the time of death.
One of the experts, Dr Peter Richards, consultant paediatric neuro-surgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, said: "This would be compatible with him having suffered a shaking injury involving handling at greater force than encountered in everyday life."
Defending QC, Ian Duguid, told the court that Sinclair was "extremely remorseful" for his actions.
Rio Olympics 2016: Chloe Tutton appears to question Yulia Efimova
GB's Tutton misses 200m breaststroke bronze
Great Britain's Chloe Tutton appeared to criticise controversial swimmer Yulia Efimova's presence in Rio after the Russian finished ahead of her in the 200m breaststroke.
Efimova, who was allowed to compete after appealing against a doping ban, took silver with Tutton fourth.
"I would've preferred it to have been a completely clean Games," the 20-year-old Welsh swimmer said afterwards.
I couldn't help who was here.
I'm not happy with it, but that's how it is.
Efimova in second place didn't even know she was in the games until three days ago.
I don't want to see people taken out of the sport, but I don't think that's quite right.
She shouldn't have been in the race and a 20-year-old from Britain should have had a medal.
Rie Kaneto won Japan's seventh gold medal at Rio 2016 to beat Efimova into silver.
China's Jinglin Shi won bronze, just six one-hundreths of a second ahead of fourth-placed Tutton.
Her British team-mate Molly Renshaw, 20, finished sixth.
"Being fourth is a bit gutting, no matter who is in front of you," Tutton added.
It's a great experience and I'm a bit disappointed to come fourth.
I'm so close to a medal and that would have been a dream.
But just to get into the final is a great experience that I'll take on with me for years to come.
It was a bit gutting but it will make me tough in the long run and it just makes me more hungry for a medal so hopefully next time I'll get closer.
Tutton finished just 0.01 seconds outside the British record in the women's 200m breaststroke final
'Everyone should have a second chance' - Efimova
Efimova, who said she was tired of answering questions about her doping past, defended her right to compete at Rio.
She was banned for 16 months in 2013 after traces of an anabolic steroid were found in her system.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that athletes cannot be banned from Rio on the basis that they have been previously sanctioned.
CAS considered my appeal and I won.
If someone dislikes it and has a different opinion, they can go to CAS," she explained.
I am not for doping and I have never used it.
The second case was completely not my fault.
Everyone should have a second chance.
When you drive and you are just issued a ticket, no-one puts you in jail.
Ben Proud powers to 50m freestyle final
Earlier, Ben Proud set a British record to reach the men's 50m freestyle final.
Commonwealth champion Proud, 21, swam a time of 21.54 seconds to qualify fifth fastest for Friday's final (02:44 BST Saturday).
Your delegation is pushy and rude
India's sports minister, Vijay Goel, has been a conspicuous presence at Rio's Olympic Games, frequently spotted in the stands cheering on Indian athletes and taking selfies after their events.
But he and his large entourage have apparently raised the ire of Olympic officials with unruly behavior, repeatedly trying to push their way into competition zones without the proper credentials and responding rudely when checked, the Press Trust of India reported.
Vijay Goel, pictured in July, has defended his behaviour.
On Wednesday, Olympic organizers threatened to withdraw Goel's accreditation if the behavior did not improve, sending a warning letter after he and his entourage tried to enter restricted areas in the gymnastics venue and the arena where fencing and taekwondo is held.
"We have had multiple reports of your Minister for Sports trying to enter accredited areas at venues with unaccredited individuals," Sarah Peterson, continental manager of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee wrote in the note.
When the staff tried to explain that this is not allowed, they reported that the people with the Minister have become aggressive and rude and sometimes pushed past our staff.
"Should our protocol team be made aware of further examples of this type of behavior, the accreditation of your Minister for Sports will be cancelled and his privileges at the Olympic Games withdrawn," the letter continued.
The leader of the Indian delegation called the matter "a non-issue being made an issue" and Goel himself said he had done nothing wrong, chalking it up to a "misunderstanding."
He tweeted, "To my knowledge, we have been following all rules & regulations.
We are committed to the spirit of Olympics & back our Indian players.
Otherwise it's been a gloomy Olympics for India, with zero medals so far.
Bummed-out fans on social media noted that Michael Phelps now has as many medals - 26 - as India has won in its history.
Several prominent contenders have already been eliminated, including shooter Abhinav Bindra who won a gold medal in Beijing in 2008.
He placed fourth this time.
What a waste of money and opportunity," author and columnist Shobhaa De said in a sardonic tweet.
But some bright hopes remain, with competitors foraging ahead in boxing, golf, tennis, track and field and, yes, badminton.
The lone Indian woman gymnast, Dipa Karmakar, will compete in the vault finals on Sunday - showing off her fearsome double revolution "Vault of Death," the Produnova, attempted by few other gymnasts.
For a country of 1.25 billion people, India's low medal count has always been a source of consternation.
Analysts say that there are myriad reasons for this.
The national obsession is cricket, which is not an Olympic sport.
India has not invested heavily in infrastructure and training for Olympians - Karmakar's first vault was made from parts of an old scooter.
Parents have historically emphasized academics over sport.
And the sports' governing bodies have been dogged by corruption.
The International Olympic Committee suspended the Indian Olympic Association for violations of its charter in 2012 because they had elected leaders with pending criminal charges.
In Sochi, India's three winter Olympians were not even allowed to compete for their country, carry the flag or wear the insignia.
They competed as independents.
Injuries force turbulence-rocked Boston-Sacramento JetBlue flight to land in South Dakota
A JetBlue plane was forced to make an unexpected landing Thursday evening after 22 passengers and two crew members were injured during turbulence, reports CBS Sacramento.
Flight 429, from Boston to Sacramento, landed in Rapid City, South Dakota shortly before 7:30 p.m. local time.
The airline says the injured were transported to a hospital for evaluation.
JetBlue says it sent personnel to assist the injured, and a replacement aircraft was flown to Rapid City to take the rest of the passengers on to Sacramento.
DEA's missed opportunity on medical marijuana
The answer sadly is: unlikely.
And this is a missed opportunity that could further delay potential therapies to countless people.
Up until today, there has been only one federally approved source of research-grade medical marijuana, at the University of Mississippi.
In a bit of seemingly positive news today, the DEA also announced it will now allow other places to apply for permission to do the same.
The hope is that marijuana available for scientific study could grow in both amount and diversity.
While this will be hailed as a victory for research, it will largely be symbolic, because no matter how much marijuana is available, if access is still difficult, it hardly matters.
Imagine a product that is in high demand but kept behind a locked door.
In response to the demand for the product, someone makes a baffling decision to make more of it but still never unlocks the door.
Marijuana is that product, and its Schedule I designation is that locked door.
That is the predicament of medical marijuana.
Because marijuana is a Schedule I substance (meaning that by definition it has "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse"), there are significant hurdles to getting the door unlocked.
Potential researchers typically go to the DEA first, as it grants the license to begin scientific research.
Even if a license is granted, to study a Schedule I substance, institutions must have heavy-duty safes and high-grade security systems installed, which can be expensive.
There is also the more subjective consideration of getting approval from your academic institution to do the research on a Schedule I status substance in the first place.
Even if individual faculty members want to do that research, the university leadership may not want the hassle or the potential fallout of bad press.
This happened at the University of Arizona when Dr. Sue Sisley was let go after trying to pursue a medical marijuana trial.
Sisley eventually had to find private funding for her project, and just in April, seven years after the study was initially proposed, hers became the first DEA approved medical marijuana trial for post-traumatic stress in veterans.
Then, after years of bureaucratic hurdles, it is the National Institute on Drug Abuse that has held the final key to the lock.
Today, it is the biggest federal public funder of marijuana research and has been the sole supplier of the marijuana itself.
Even if more medical marijuana will now be freed up for research, the institute will still have to approve any studies it funds.
The problem, however, is that last word in its name: "abuse."
According to Dr. Donald Abrams at the University of San Francisco, whom I interviewed for my documentary "Weed," the institute has a primary mandate to study substances for potential abuse rather than as a medicine.
Abrams makes an important point.
Even if a study does cross all the hurdles described above, the door may stay locked if the intent is to study the benefits of medical marijuana as opposed to the harm.
Consider this: A quick (and admittedly non-scientific) search through the U.S. National Library of Medicine pulled up 1,434 papers on medical marijuana over the past five years.
That same search revealed only 57 papers on medical marijuana benefits.
The vast majority were research into the harm of marijuana, such as "Bad trip due to anticholinergic effect of cannabis," "Cannabis induced pancreatitits" and "Marijuana use and risk of lung cancer."
That imbalance paints a highly distorted picture.
The road to medical marijuana research is paved with surprises and hypocrisy nearly everywhere you look.
While the DEA continues to dig in on Schedule I status, deeming no medical benefit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services simultaneously holds a patent on cannabinoids for a wide range of medicinal purposes.
The DEA continues to place marijuana alongside heroin and LSD as drugs with high abuse potential even though the DEA's own former chief administrative law judge, Francis Young, disagreed with this.
In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume.
For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response.
By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death.
Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.
By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.
Again, that was from a judge with the DEA itself.
And yet nearly 30 years later, little has changed.
Whether we realize it or not, we all accept a certain amount of hypocrisy in our daily lives.
Maybe we don't always have the energy to call it out or we are too speechless and dumbfounded that no one else seems to have noticed.
With regard to the hypocrisy of federal medical marijuana policy, however, it is worth summoning the stamina to relentlessly present the facts.
The lives of patients -- such as that of Charlotte Figi, whose seizures abated with the use of medical marijuana, and so many others -- depend on it.
That a plant could provide so much benefit and still remain behind these locked doors is worth speaking up about.
Bloody Beetroots: Donald Trump 'a blonde Berlusconi'
The Bloody Beetroots is known for electronic dance music
The musicians say Trump's dominance of the media is similar to Berlusconi's
"You know, we used to have Berlusconi in Italy and to me, Trump looks like a blonde Berlusconi," Rifo, who is the founder of electro-dance punk formation, The Bloody Beetroots, told CNN.
The Republican presidential nominee and the Italian media mogul turned politician are both known for their larger than life personalities, their skills in capturing the attention of the press and shaping narratives in the media.
As the Bloody Beetroots, Rifo is known for his electronic dance music and has collaborated with artists from the legendary Sir Paul McCartney to electro-pop singer Greta Svabo Bech in the 2013 song, "Chronicles of a Fallen Love."
Rifo was born in the Italian town of Bessano del Grappa outside Venice in 1977, which is around the time punk rock was born, and the numbers "1977" are tattooed across the musician's chest.
"English is not my main language so I don't understand everything about your world," Rifo said from behind a black mask, which he is known for.
I try to explore and I've been trying to improve my understanding of your culture.
Rifo urged Americans to watch "Videocracy," a documentary which explores Berlusconi's monopoly over the Italian media.
The documentary is about "how Berlusconi used to drive Italy crazy," Rifo said, adding that Trump has had a similar effect on America.
"You see the way a man can completely invert the system and curve everything ... for his wants," he said.
Trump, to me, looks like something that is not good for this country.
Two Turkish sailors jailed over £500 million drugs bust
Two Turkish men convicted of smuggling £500 million worth of cocaine on board a ship in the North Sea have each been jailed for at least 20 years.
Mumin Sahin and Emin Ozmen were found guilty after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow after three tonnes of the Class A drug were discovered inside the MV Hamal about 100 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.
The 2015 seizure is said to be the biggest single cocaine haul ever recovered at sea in Europe.
Mumin Sahin and Emin Ozmen have been jailed for their role in a huge drug deal
The massive haul of drugs found on the boat is one of the biggest in British history
The drugs were found hidden in a specially-adapted secret hold in the Tanzanian-registered tugboat, which was sailing from Istanbul to Tenerife and then to the North Sea.
It was stopped by the Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset and Border Force cutter HMC Valiant.
Sahin, 47, was sentenced to 22 years while Ozmen, 51, was handed down a 20-year term at the High Court in Glasgow.
Judge Lord Kinclaven told the men the quantity of drugs was 'not only significant but massive' and drugs trafficking had a 'devastating impact' on people and communities.
He said: 'You were involved in a most serious operation of commercial scale involving the transportation of cocaine by ship, in an operation which crossed international and indeed intercontinental boundaries.'
He told the ship's captain Sahin, he was 'not at the top of the drugs tree' but had played an important role in the offence, while second captain Ozmen's role was 'to some extent a lesser one'.
Officers boarded the Hamal following a tip-off from French customs body DNRED, and once it was docked in Aberdeen they drilled through a steel plate into a secret compartment to find 128 bales of cocaine weighing 3.2 tonnes, with an estimated street value of £512 million.
MV Hamal was boarded by the Royal Navy last year.
Three tonnes of cocaine was onboard
Tonnes of the Class-A drug were crammed in the ship's ballast tank when it was raided
The ship went from the Bosporus to South America before being stopped in the North Sea
The entry to the space was found under a wardrobe in one of the crew's quarters, with the opening cemented over.
Sahin and Ozmen were found guilty of being concerned with the carrying and concealing of cocaine on the ship between February 20 and April 23 last year, and of being concerned in the supply of cocaine between April 21 and April 23.
The men, both first offenders who have worked in the shipping industry since leaving school, continue to maintain their innocence but accept the jury's verdict.
Charges against four other men were found not proven.
Sahin's lawyer, Jonathan Crowe, said the married father-of-two was a 'glorified mule'.
He said: 'Someone who was involved in the transportation of the drugs.'
Someone who was able to captain a boat.
In regard to the drugs hierarchy, Mr Sahin is certainly not at the top of the drugs tree but somewhere further down.
The sheer amount of cocaine on the ship meant they had to be removed by a crane
Police spent days going through the boat before the drugs were divided into these boxes
Sahin was approached about captaining the Hamal in February 2015, the court heard.
Mr Crowe said he is 'devastated' about missing out on milestones for his daughter, nine, and son, 13, and 'just wants to go home to Turkey'.
Both men have not seen their families since being taken into custody in April 2015 as their families struggle to get visa approval.
Ozmen's lawyer, Di Moore, said he is 'desperate' to see his family but knows that will 'remain impossible' for the foreseeable future.
Speaking following today's sentencing, Scotland's Crown Agent prosecutor David Harvie said: 'The international drugs trade does not respect borders, and those of us whose job it is to dismantle it are working ever-closer together to ensure we stay one step ahead.
'Scotland's reach in pursuing criminals is on a truly global scale and in this case we have dealt a substantial economic blow to organised criminals.'
Drugs were packed into every cavity in the boat, including under the floors
This package of contraband was found hidden in the ship's laundry room by officers
Mr Harvie added:'The Hamal was identified after an intelligence tip-off from French authorities, and swift co-operation from the Attorney General in Tanzania where the ship was registered allowed it to be boarded.
'Our investigation then stretched from Guyana, who provided access to crucial shipping records, to Spain, who gave us crucial information on the ship's stop-offs in the Canary Islands.
We also worked with colleagues in Denmark, Norway and the United States to piece specific elements of the evidence together.
Despite strong intelligence that the Hamal was carrying a large volume of drugs, it could not be boarded in international waters by the UK authorities without the permission of the Tanzanian government - something they had never previously granted.
Sue Patten, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) International Justice and Organised Crime Division, said: 'Acting quickly and precisely, the CPS criminal justice adviser in Tanzania was able get permission from the Tanzanian authorities to board the boat within 24 hours of receiving the intelligence.
Under international maritime law, the UK cannot board a vessel in international waters which is under the flag of a foreign state unless that state gives specific legal permission to do so.
Without the swift actions of our criminal justice adviser, there was a high risk that the vessel may have escaped and we would never have been able to bring these men to justice.
Photographer Brian Romeijn captures the decaying 'Orient Express' train
Rotterdam-based photographer Brian Romeijn snapped these photos of an abandoned train in Belgium
Images show the train's rusting exterior, torn seats, dust-covered windows and compact engineer's room
It has gained a reputation as an Orient Express carriage, but it belonged to Belgium's national operator
An urban explorer has captured these remarkable photos of the decaying remains of a passenger train that was once one of the finest ways to travel.
With their glory days long gone, the train carriage and locomotive have been left to rot at a train yard in Belgium, where they have become a popular attraction for photographers and adventurers.
Rotterdam-based photographer Brian Romeijn, 40, snapped these eerie images, which show the abandoned train's rusting exterior, torn seats, dust-covered windows and floors and compact engineer's room.
The train carriage and locomotive have been left to rot at a train yard in Belgium, attracting urban explorers
Those trains were a symbol of luxury when they operated under that legendary name from 1883 to 2009.
The locomotive was used by Belgium's national rail company around 50 years ago.
After 126 years on the rails, the last train service operating under the Orient Express name was from Strasbourg to Vienna in December 2009, bringing an end to a celebrated history.
The Orient Express famously operated between Paris and Istanbul.
When it started in 1883 - run by La Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits - it was known as the Express d'Orient.
It became the Orient Express in 1891 and by the 1930s operated scheduled services throughout Europe.
It's not to be confused with the privately run Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.
Very few Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits luxury carriages still exist.
This snap shows the compact engineer's room, where equipment is rusting, gauges are still installed and wires are exposed
Romeijn said the engineer's room was 'kind of claustrophobic and the noise of the engine must have been tremendous'
The abandoned locomotive and carriage have become a popular attraction for photographers and adventurers
After visiting the forgotten train in Belgium, Romeijn told MailOnline Travel: 'I really could feel how it must have been used in its heyday.
Wealthy gentlemen with high hats are joined by ladies in beautiful dresses on their journey.
Make-up artist Katelyn Galloway transforms into Arrested Development's Buster Bluth
Her impressive make-up skills, reviews and transformations have earned the Texan YouTuber Katelyn Galloway an army of fans.
But her latest transformation, into Buster Bluth from Arrested Development, is pretty incredible by anyone's standards.
In a three minute video uploaded to her Kiki G YouTube channel, Ms Galloway slowly and steadily transforms herself into the hapless, hook-handed character.
She even uses some audio from the show at the end of the clip, in an eerie albeit brilliant tribute.
The talented make-up artist begins her video as her regular blonde, female self.
Then, via clever use of time-lapse photography, she slowly morphs into the balding, bespectacled 'motherboy' that is Tony Hale's Buster Bluth.
Ms Galloway does this by the likes of coloured contact lenses, shading and contouring around the nose and eyes, as well as painting Buster's face onto her head.
Clever ways: Via clever use of time-lapse photography, she slowly morphs into Tony Hale's Buster Bluth
She also takes on the personality and mannerisms of the cult TV character over the course of the video, tucking in her chin appropriately.
The clip, shared on YouTube, has been viewed more than 45,000 times, and commenters have been quick to laud the make-up artist's skills:
'You are extremely talented,' one person wrote underneath Ms Galloway's post.
She also takes on the personality and mannerisms of the cult TV character over the course of the video, too
'I love how you stay in character while you're doing these,' someone else added.
Vlogger Katelyn Galloway had previous viral success with her transformation into Parks and Recreation character, Ron Swanson.
She has told her YouTube followers that she hopes to create weekly make-up transformations in the near future.
You can visit Katelyn Galloway's website here.
Lancashire father banned from children's school after wearing T-shirt with swear word
A father-of-two has been banned from his children's school for turning up at their sports day in an offensive T-shirt.
Craig McBeth, 36, from Burnley, in Lancashire, says he 'accidentally' wore the top with the slogan "Let's get out there and t**t it'.
But despite apologising when he realised his error and turning the T-shirt inside out, the next day he discovered he was barred from the school grounds.
The single father, who had been a governor for four years at Park Primary School, in Colne, Burnley, was unable to pick up his kids because of the ban and the staff even called social services and the police.
Craig McBeth, 36, from Burnley says he was barred from the school grounds after wearing this offensive T-shirt to his children's sports day
Mr Burnley has accused head teacher Sarah Midgely of overreacting.
He said he is being unfairly punished for mistakenly putting on the T-shirt in a rush before going to watch his two children compete.
The dad, who has now quit as a school governor, said: "It was a mistake, and an oversight on my part.
I was not thinking about sports day and rushing when I put it on.
Towards the end of the event we were having a father's race and the head teacher noticed my T-shirt and said it was not appropriate.
I apologised and turned it inside out and thought that was the end of the matter.
But the 36-year-old said he received an email from the chairman of governors later that evening asking him to meet with the head the next day, but he did not see the need after he had already apologised.
"The headteacher then phoned me and said I was barred from the school premises," added Mr Burnley,
I found out after the sports day some of the parents went on Facebook and made a fuss about it and that got a lot of people interested.
Any right-minded person would think this was an overreaction.
Mr McBeth, who is the editor of an online magazine called Love Mini, said he believed he could not even pick his children up on the last day of term, because of the ban.
But this prompted a phone call from the school and social services.
The t-shirt had a picture of Craig Charles's character Lister from the cult BBC comedy Red Dwarf with one of his iconic lines -'Let's go out and t**t it.'
He commented: "I told them I was not there because they had banned me from the school.
I then got a phone call from social services asking why I had not picked my daughter up.
The school also called the police because I did not pick up my daughter for about 40 minutes.
Mr McBeth claims he was told he is no longer permitted to come on to the school premises and the prohibition will continue until further notice.
He says he was also warned he could face a fine of £500 if found trespassing.
Sarah Midgley, headteacher at Park Primary School, said this matter is now closed
Sarah Midgley, headteacher at Park Primary School, said: "I can confirm that Mr McBeth has resigned and is no longer a governor at our school.
This matter is now closed and I'm looking forward to getting back to normal school life in September.
Burnley councillor Joe Cooney said the school had clear policies and guidelines.
"We all have to bear in mind when you take on these roles such as a councillor or governor you are held to a higher standard and unfortunately this time he has not met that standard," he said.
Councillor Jonathan Nixon added he did not think the school should have banned him and the situation had been blown out of proportion.
Mr Nixon added: "He was stupid to wear the T-shirt and he apologised at the time."
Lancashire Police confirmed they were called by the school, but did not attend.
65% of Venezuelans want to oust Maduro, the question is if they are willing to fight for it
Two out of three Venezuelans want to revoke President Nicolas Maduro, but the question seems to be whether or not they are willing to fight for it.
The day after the National Electoral Board announced that there is "no time" for the recall vote to take place this year - securing Chavismo's grip of power until 2019 - people in Caracas went about their day as if nothing had happened.
"I didn't hear the news because I was watching the Olympics and how Michael Phelps won two more medals," said Rafael Deyan, a 36-year-old office clerk taking a break in Altamira Square on Wednesday.
Altamira Square, located in the east of Caracas, was the epicenter in early 2014 of fierce riots protesting against Maduro's regime.
Yet now, when the opposition needs to apply more pressure than ever to make the referendum happens this year, people across the country are not showing the same energy.
"I want a referendum, but I won't protest for security reasons," said Deyan.
Others, more informed, are willing to mobilize in the future but admit Venezuelans are less motivated.
Electoral board president Tibisay Lucena's comments prove that the government is hindering the recall process.
I will protest whenever the opposition calls for a protest, but I know that some of my friends are scared," Roberto Reyes, 60, told Fox News Latino.
So on top to the many barriers the government has raised to delay the referendum, the opposition now faces another challenge: motivating people to go out to the streets and protest.
Until recently the referendum initiative had plenty of support - people moved in unprecedented numbers during the collection of signatures phase.
But when it comes to protesting against the government's maneuvers to block the effort, turnout at rallies have been ostensibly low.
"Some people are focused in making food lines, while others are scared after the many arrests and deaths in 2014," said Cipriano Heredia, a lawmaker for the opposition.
After Lucena announced that the next step in the referendum process - gather yet more signatures countrywide - would have to wait until October, those opposed to the socialist government claim President Maduro and his acolytes are just trying to discourage Venezuelans, making them believe that a vote this year is all but impossible.
According to the Constitution, if the referendum were to be held in 2017, Maduro could be forced out of office but he would be allowed to name a successor.
If he were ousted this year, however, he is mandated to call for a general election.
The U.S. Department of State addressed the issue in a statement Thursday afternoon, calling on the Venezuelan authorities to guarantee the exercise of the constitutional rights of the Venezuelan people.
"The remaining steps for the realization of the Presidential Recall Referendum need to be pursued clearly, concretely and without delay, and thus contribute to the quick and effective resolution of the current political, economic and social difficulties in the country," it read.
Luis Salamanca, a political analyst who was a member of the Electoral Board between 2006 and 2009, said change is not likely anytime soon.
"I think that there will not be a referendum this year, unless the social unrest and protests grow much more," he told FNL.
He said that in his view Lucena and the government are breaking the law, but they may ultimately achieve their goal if people don't protest loud enough.
The opposition has called for a big rally on Sept. 1st in Caracas to demand a speed-up of the process so the recall can take place this year.
We want people from all over the country to mobilize to the capital city on that day.
The government will feel the pressure," Heredia said.
But Salamanca thinks that the situation can't wait that long.
"They should have a quicker and stronger response to Lucena's announcement because it practically kills the referendum," the expert told FNL.
Congressman Heredia admitted that some parties inside the opposition are pushing to make the rally sooner, but other groups prefer to have more time to organize.
The opposition has to be careful now.
If people get discouraged by the situation there is a risk of low turnout in the second round of signature petition," said Salamanca.
The referendum process has to count with the support of 20 percent of the country's electorate, close to 4 million people, in order to be activated.
Salamanca and other analysts are confident that even if the recall takes place on 2017, Chavismo will be hurt.
But some are not that optimistic.
Our party wants political change this year.
"If the government closes down the electoral path, we will have to explore other legal options," Heredia told FNL.
Premier League 2016-17 previews No19 West Bromwich Albion
Guardian writers" predicted position 14th (NB: this is not necessarily Alan Smith's prediction but the average of our writers" tips)
Last season's position 14th
Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker) 1,000-1
Until last week it looked like a case of new season, same old West Bromwich Albion: 2016-17 would be another campaign of comfort - or stagnation depending on how empty the glass is - under the ever-pragmatic Tony Pulis.
But then Jeremy Peace sold his 88% stake in the club to Guochuan Lai and Pulis, the archetypal safe pair of hands, was immediately made the bookmakers" favourite in the ever unpleasant market of first manager to be fired.
The landscape has undeniably altered in the Black Country - and not just at The Hawthorns, but a few miles north-west in Wolverhampton, too, where new Chinese owners wasted no time in relieving Kenny Jackett of his services.
Pulis, however, has been given reassurances by Lai that his job is not in immediate threat, and the entrepreneur has also stated his desire not to alter the club culture.
"I have no wish to change the club's ethos or embark on an unsustainable spending spree," he said upon taking over.
I want to be a good owner and to invest in this club for the long term.
First and foremost, our goal is to ensure that we remain in the Premier League and then beyond that, I would like to see the club establish itself in the top half of the division.
I believe it is the best league in the world and I want to take this club as far as possible.
Such is Pulis's record, the first aspect should not be too problematic.
The next aim is to break into the top half of the table, but it will be important for the new owner and an increasingly divided fanbase hoping for a quick shoot up the table to realise that is an increasingly onerous task because of the recent ground made up by other mid-table sides.
To progress from last season's 14th-place finish will certainly require more of an edge up front.
Only Aston Villa, tailed off at the bottom, scored fewer goals and it is worth recalling that at Christmas Albion were averaging fewer than a shot on target per 90 minutes, by some stretch the division's worst.
They failed to score in 13 of their 38 games and found the net more than once on only nine occasions.
Of their 10 victories, not one was by more than single goal and seven finished 1-0.
Predictably, a dozen of their sparse total of 34 came from set pieces.
Little wonder disgruntled reactions were common at The Hawthorns, perhaps most notably after a diabolical 0-0 draw with Villa in late January, when the visitors looked the more likely.
On the flip side, only the top six had better defensive records - though no other club could claim to regularly line up with four centre-halves.
Those defenders are often underappreciated, not least Jonny Evans, who is said to have Arsenal chasing him following their latest injury crisis.
The Northern Ireland international enjoyed a fine European Championship and it would take a hefty fee for Albion to sell.
Ben Foster is dependable in goal and they are well stocked in midfield.
Darren Fletcher, much like Evans, displayed plenty of evidence that he would still be capable of performing at a higher level at 32, and Claudio Yacob is underrated.
Irritatingly for all parties the long and winding tale of Saido Berahino's future remains unresolved.
Bids from Stoke and Crystal Palace were rejected under Peace's ownership but the former remain keen and Mark Hughes is happy to be patient.
After last season was close to a write-off, it makes sense for all concerned for a move to go through.
The striker is undoubtedly talented but with, as Pulis mentioned more than once, people dragging him one way and pulling him the other it has long been evident the relationship is unworkable.
Albion are insistent upon signing a replacement before letting the former England Under-21 international go but their £15m move for Diafra Sakho broke down days before the takeover, with the club stating he had passed his medical and everything was agreed but he had a back injury that would have meant missing the start of the season.
It places a lot of pressure on the Venezuelan Salomón Rondón, who showed brief flashes of promise last season but needs to improve on his return of nine goals, especially if Rickie Lambert continues to be as ineffective.
The decision to release Victor Anichebe and Stéphane Sessègnon also looks odd in retrospect.
Pulis has been notoriously slow to promote young players throughout his career and the sight of three teenagers - Jonathan Leko, Sam Field and Tyler Roberts - in the final game of last season, a 1-1 draw with Liverpool, is unlikely to become the norm.
He will return to the tried and tested but Leko is worth keeping an eye on.
The 17-year-old attacking midfielder made five appearances in total last season, becoming the first player born in 1999 to appear in the Premier League, and is also highly rated in the England underage system.
Matt Phillips, a £5.5m signing from Queens Park Rangers, will provide pace but he is the sole new player entering the opening weekend of the campaign.
It is not wild to suggest the end of the window could be a hectic one.
"All over," Pulis told the Express and Star last month about where needs to be strengthened.
Every position that you look at.
The back players, midfield players and front players, we have to strengthen.
The targets have been there, we know what we want.
Getting them is proving more difficult than envisaged, mostly due to uncertainty during the takeover process.
The season could be defined by how they start, with seven eminently winnable games before a daunting run of Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Leicester from mid-October.
By that point the pressure on Pulis will have eased or become insurmountable.
And, who knows, maybe even Berahino will have found a new club.
Tata Steel UK rescue deal closer after trustees back pension changes
The pension trustees behind Tata Steel UK have said the scheme can be restructured without entering the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), boosting the prospects of a rescue deal for the company.
The British Steel Pension Scheme has liabilities of £15bn and a deficit of as much as £700m by some measures, making it a serious obstacle for a rescue deal for Tata Steel UK and the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales.
Tata Steel is increasingly confident about securing the future of its UK business, which employs 11,000 people, after talks with the business secretary and the Pensions Regulator.
The company plans to merge its European operations, including the UK business, with those of ThyssenKrupp, the German conglomerate.
However, the deal is conditional on the British Steel Pension Scheme being restructured and the government providing financial support.
Allan Johnston, chair of the pension trustees, said the scheme could avoid falling into the PPF if the benefits for workers were modified.
Although it is well-funded compared with other schemes, with the deficit narrowing to £300m on some measures, Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp are keen to keep its liabilities under control.
Johnston said the trustees accepted it "would not be realistic" for the joint venture or any buyer of Tata Steel UK to take on responsibility for funding the current and future deficit.
Modifying the benefits of the scheme was a more attractive option than it entering the PPF, he added, where workers would have to accept reduced terms.
Tata Steel sources have warned it could still sell Port Talbot.
The company has consistently refused to guarantee the future of the steelworks since talks began about the future of its UK business in March, and this has been used as a bargaining chip in talks with the British government.
Koushik Chatterjee, executive director of Tata Steel Europe, said the Indian conglomerate wants to make its steel business "more sustainable."
Speaking at the sidelines of Tata Steel's annual meeting in India, Chatterjee said talks to restructure the pension scheme were progressing, but he insisted the scheme is well-funded.
"We are discussing with various stakeholders, including the British government and other stakeholders like the government of Wales and so on," Chatterjee said, according to the Times of India.
There is a recognition that pension has a certain impact in a commodity business like steel, so we have to find a structural solution, which does not impact the business going forward.
The pension trustees" willingness to cooperate in talks to restructure the scheme will be welcomed by Tata Steel.
The potential changes to the scheme include shifting how the annual inflation-based increase in benefits is measured from the retail price index to the lower consumer price index, as well as limiting future increases in pension payments to the minimum required by law.
Johnston added: "The trustee and its advisers have provided Tata Steel, the government and the Pensions Regulator with compelling evidence of the scheme's ability to pay modified benefits indefinitely and on a low-risk basis outside the Pension Protection Fund.
Our investment strategy has meant that the scheme's funding position has not been affected by recent falls in gilt yields in the same way as many other UK pension schemes, and we remain confident of the scheme's ability to provide modified benefits as proposed on a self-sufficient basis.
Corn, wheat and soybean futures prices delivered mixed performance at Chicago Board of Trade on November 11.
Market analysts held that the corn futures price declined on decreasing trading volume, while foreign countries' increased imports of soybeans from the U.S. drove up the soybean futures price.
A traffic accident in which a coach fell into a gorge took place in Crimea on August 11, leading to 5 deaths and 13 injuries.
It is learned that there were a total of six children in the wrecked coach, and one of them was pronounced dead at the scene.
The injured have been sent to a local hospital for emergency treatment, with three children and four adults being seriously injured and remaining in a critical condition.
Preliminary investigations showed that the accident location is very easy to have traffic accidents due to the steep slopes and sharp turns, which limit drivers' view of the road.
After an 11-day rest, Chongqing Lifan Team will fight against Beijing Guoan, a powerful force with a long history under the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL), in CSL's 22nd away game tonight.
Chongqing Lifan Team's head coach Zhang Wailong said he was very confident in this game as he had carefully studied Beijing Guoan Team during the break, and the whole team is well prepared before the game.
Beijing Guoan had a fierce battle with Guangzhou Evergrande on August 9 and began preparing for the new game on the second day after returning from Guangzhou on August 10, leaving no time for them to have a rest.
The "China Economic Forum - Nordrhein-Westfalen Joins Hands with China 2016" event will be launched in Dusseldorf, Germany, from September 13 to 16.
The sponsor exclusively licensed Chongqing Morning Post in Chongqing to court entrepreneurs in Sichuan and Chongqing to study, exchange, inspect and look for new business opportunities in group in Nordrhein-Westfalen, the economic hub of Germany.
After wrapping up their inspections in Dusseldorf, members of the delegation will also head for Aachen, Brussels, Cologne and Frankfurt to conduct study tours.
During the forum, Chongqing Morning Post will also launch a "Picture exhibition on the achievements of urban development in Chongqing" to put on display the city's economic development achievements in recent years.
The economic and trade contact between Nordrhein-Westfalen and China has developed rapidly in the past few years, with the trade value reaching EUR 35 billion.
As the preferred destination for Chinese enterprises to enter Germany, Nordrhein-Westfalen has attracted more than 800 Chinese enterprises to invest there, and the local government expected Chongqing entrepreneurs to go to this popular region for investment to feel the local investment environment.
Li Jing, president of the province's Higher People's Court, served as the presiding judge of this case, Wang Jin, chief procurator of the Provincial People's Procuratorate, appeared in court to support the process of indictment.
It is learned that this is the first time for president of the Provincial Higher People's Court and chief procurator of the Provincial People's Procuratorate to appear in court at the same time to perform their duties in accordance with law since the provincial judicial reform and even the establishment of the provincial higher court and the procuratorate.
Before the trial, Li Jing carefully reviewed the file materials, wrote records of the file review and guided the collegiate panel to draw up the trial outline and scheme.
Wang Jin reviewed records of the original judgments in accordance with law, interrogated Huang Peng and listened to the views of the defenders. Wang Jin also made a supplementary collection of the related evidentiary materials and a trial plan.
As the case is significant, it should be submitted to the judicial committee for discussion pursuant to law, and the verdict will be announced in a selected time.
It is understood that trial of the case is an important measure for the province to further promote reform of the judge quota system, the judicial accountability system and the trial-centered litigation system, and implement requirements for court presidents and chief procurators to take the lead in presiding judges and case handling.
Yo-Yo is the childhood memory of many people, but have you ever seen it show different patterns?
In just a few minutes, he showed multiple ways to play Yo-Yo, which was so amazing.
It is learned that Yo-Yo is more than a sport but also one of the hardest and most entertaining hand acrobatic sports with the most patterns in the world.
You can rotate the small ball by spinning it and change the rope tying method to show various novel patterns in the air including ferris wheel.
With the development of Yo-Yo sports, activities and competitions in relation to Yo-Yo were launched across the country. This sport, which could help exercise fingering and mental creativity, has also become a fitness means favored by teenagers.
A parent was held in administrative detention for beating a school bus driver after his child missed the bus for being two minutes late
The parent of a student insulted the school bus driver and the teacher on the bus and beat the driver out of impulse after his child missed the school bus for being two minutes late.
The driver felt that he was wronged and called the police. The Ezhou police placed the parent with alleged beating behavior under administrative detention.
Mr. Xiao is a school bus driver of a kindergarten in Wutonghu New Area of Liangzihu District, Ezhou City, Hubei Province. At about 8:00am on August 7, Xiao drove the bus to pick up children in a village in the new area.
"The rain is so heavy today, and we're two minutes late. Can't you wait us for a moment? Why do you drive off? You're so irresponsible!"
Mr. Gong met teacher Zhang after getting off the bus and came into conflicts with her again, leaving an unhappy end.
Mr. Xiao's hands bled and his head was scratched by an umbrella. He also showed symptom of headache.
"I'm only a driver and will drive according to the prescribed time and route, and it is not my fault to drop Xiaoming."
Mr. Xiao felt that he was wronged and reported the incident to the school bus company he belongs to. After discussion with leaders of the company, he decided to call the police.
Due to pressure from the police, Mr. Gong surrendered himself to the Wutonghu police station of the Liangzihu branch of the Ezhou Municipal Public Security Bureau on August 10.
Meanwhile, dens and stores involving production, marketing, repair, modification and assembly of motorcycles and electric bikes will be eliminated.
It's noteworthy that the police will place riders of motorcycles and electric bikes who gather at bus stations, subway entrances and other public places to wait for, pick up and attract passengers under administrative detention without exception on charges of disturbing order at public places.
The custody business had achieved an average annual growth rate of 52.89% in the past six years, covering fund, insurance, trust, bank financial management, pension, cross-border investment, social welfare, transaction payment and many other sectors.
Huang Runzhong, head of the Secretariat of the China Banking Association, said asset custody has become an important link connecting the money market, capital market and real economy. It is also an important institutional arrangement to guarantee financial security.
Along with rapid development of China's direct financing market and wealth management market, the asset custody market has played an increasingly important role.
Data from the report on development of China's asset custody industry in 2016 showed that the ratio of assets under custody to deposits reached 62.74% at the end of 2015, versus 17.11% at the end of 2011.
The ratio of assets under custody to total deposits of financial institutions is often used to measure the status and function of the custody sector.
It's noteworthy that China's asset custody mechanism is defective presently. Many sectors have failed to strictly enforce the custody mechanism, or even failed to be placed under custody.
The absence of asset custody mechanism is one of the major reasons to explain the outbreak of risk events in P2P online lending, private equity funds and other sectors.
The report proposed to realize the "complete custody" model, which covers the entire institution and features all assets and complete processes, in a push to better guarantee financial security and maintain investors' interests.
Currently all P2P platforms will draw huge amounts of loan loss provisions, the value-added tax of which is not deductable as assets after the reform of replacing business tax with VAT.
Shenzhen recently held a special training on finance and tax for the Internet finance industry, with finance and tax experts offering suggestions to the city's Internet finance enterprises.
The numerous problems faced by the city's Internet finance enterprises in finance and tax were thrust into the spotlight during the training session, which was hosted by the Shenzhen Internet Finance Association and co-organized by the Shenzhen Certified Tax Agents Association.
"As cases of absconding with funds occur frequently in the industry, P2P platforms' drawing of hue loan loss provisions has undoubtedly become an important means to stabilize investors' confidence."
Hu Mianpeng, President of the Shenzhen Junhexin Finance and Tax Service Agency, said that if enterprises don't pay the loan loss provisions they have drawn, they need to pay a considerable amount of added-value tax.
"But if P2P platforms negotiate with insurance enterprises to purchase the specific product launched by the latter, it could be used for VAT deduction, and then the enterprises' costs will be reduced."
Hu advised that the Shenzhen Internet Finance Association could negotiate with insurers to make a forward-looking attempt in the pilot city of the Internet finance program.
Something new has been seen in the Chinese A-share market presently - the stock index bounced back to 3,000 points amid a widespread bearish sentiment. Behind this, retail investors' sentiment remained subdued, while foreign investors have increased their holdings of A shares for seven consecutive months.
"I'm less confident in the stock market above 3,000 points, and feel jittery about the expansion of new share issue", elder stock investor Mr Chen told journalists of Wuhan Evening News.
Core changes of the market become the lingering volatilities surrounding the A-share market after the abnormal fluctuations in 2015, with many issues pending. Money supply in the market remained weak, making it very hard to earn money.
An Everbright Securities report indicated that as a whole, the investment sentiment remained subdued in July, with new funds from individuals being on the decrease.
The decrease of transaction settlement fund balance in the securities market in July was smaller than that in June, while the net bank-securities transfers stood at negative RMB 66.6 billion.
As for the number of new investors, there were about 310,000 new investors each week in July, which still stayed at a low level.
Northbound Trading Link (NTL), which has seen continuous net inflow of foreign capital, recorded a net capital inflow of RMB 8.7 billion in July, higher than the previous month.
Foreign investors' increased holding of A shares also implies the growing attraction of the current A-share market.
For retail investors, the Shanghai Composite Index fared well thanks to the continuous inflow of funds to the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect for a long time.
There are a few changes deserving attention in terms of operation: 1) changes expected to be brought by launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect; 2) the catalysis effect arising from announcement of interim reports and third-quarter reports.
Currently Singapore has become the city's third largest overseas destination for cross-border RMB settlement, second only to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Implementation of these pilot policies has created a good financial service environment for construction of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) strategic interconnection demonstration project and promoting inland area opening-up and development.
As the application situation changes every year, the settlement threshold and scale are likely to vary from the previous year.
The administrative measures also stipulated that under the rating-based settlement publicity mechanism, applicants who have got the qualified rating need to make publicity before settlement.
Units and individuals who falsify in the process of policy implementation will be disqualified for application in the same year and the next five years, and the settlement will be cancelled as well.
When the public security organ investigated the case, four relevant parties, namely, two former cooperation companies, the chairman of one of the two companies and the jointly-established hotel company, signed an "agreement" over problems in the case.
During performance of the agreement, the two parties brought each other to court again, petitioning the court to affirm invalidity of the "agreement".
Recently, the People's Court of Hailar District, Hulunbeier City, Inner Mongolia, ruled on the case.
Inner Mongolia Hulunbeir Zhongwei Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. and Zhongqing Ganglian (Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd. jointly developed a real estate project - Hulunbeir Shiji Tianlun Hotel.
Mr. Dong once acted as chairman and legal representative of the hotel company after its establishment with joint contributions by the two companies.
Zhongqing Ganglian (Beijing) and Shiji Tianlun Hotel agreed that Mr. Dong would apply for withdrawing the case with the public security organ after performing the obligations prescribed in the agreement, and they will no longer hold Mr. Dong and other related personnel responsible for legal liabilities.
After Mr. Dong fully performs the agreement, Zhongqing Ganglian (Beijing) and Shiji Tianlun Hotel will announce a waiver of rights to hold Zhongwei Real Estate Development, Mr. Dong and other related persons liable for criminal and civil responsibilities.
According to the "agreement" signed on April 24, 2014, the four parties agreed to reach an agreement over fund embezzlement and appropriation by Mr. Dong and his subordinate staff.
The agreement mainly prescribed the amount of funds Mr. Dong should return and the return time as well as the equity transfer and legal representative change of Shiji Tianlun Hotel Company.
In October 2015, Zhongwei Real Estate Development and Mr. Dong, two parties of the agreement, brought the other two parties, namely, Zhongqing Ganglian (Beijing) and Shiji Tianlun Hotel Company, to court.
The defendants replied that the public security organ's judicial audit came to the conclusion that Mr. Dong and the accountant embezzled and appropriated over RMB 29 million of funds.
In February 2014, Mr. Dong got in touch with Zhongqing Ganglian (Beijing), and the two parties signed the "agreement" after negotiations at the public security organ's meeting room.
Mr. Dong pleaded guilty, expressed confession and threw himself on the mercy of the court. He also returned the RMB 5 million of Shiji Tianlun Hotel Company.
The entrusted agent of the plaintiffs said Mr. Dong learned after consulting legal specialists that it was controversial whether or not the "borrowing" behavior could be criminalized.
The "agreement" was signed provided that Mr. Dong was convicted of the embezzlement crime, in contravention of the Twelfth Article of the Criminal Procedural Law.
Giving criminal sanctions and equity transfer fall into different legal scopes, and the duo can't be confused and traded. What's more, equities can't be used to exchange for "impunity". The "agreement" covers illegal purposes in legal forms.
The plaintiffs opined that it is the national public power of public security organ, procuratorate, court and other national legal authorities to give criminal sanctions, which is not bound by private appointments.
The agreement signed by the two parties on April 24, 2014 violates the compulsory provisions of the national laws and regulations and infringes the social and public interests.
Therefore, no matter whether Mr. Dong constitutes a crime, the agreement on "a waiver of rights to give criminal sanctions on the opposite side" has no legal effect.
The entrusted agent of the defendants deemed that the "agreement" is the civil understanding reached between criminal suspects and victims in the process of criminal proceedings.
The "agreement" is signed and performed to recover the victims' financial losses to the greatest extent and reduce the criminal punishment on criminal suspects, which are not illegal purposes nor contrary to compulsory provisions of laws and regulations.
It was Mr. Dong's real intention to sign the "agreement", which was legal and effective after being signed and sealed by all the parties concerned.
The defendants thought that the "crime of position encroachment" and the "crime of funds misappropriation" are public-prosecuted cases, and it should be decided by the public security organ whether or not the case should be withdrawn, rather than the reporter.
The agreement is just an appointment, under which the victims would apply with the public security organ for withdrawal of the case after Mr. Dong fulfilled the agreement, which is not in conflict with the exercise of national public power to give criminal sanctions.
Meanwhile, the court held that the liability for breach of contract is beyond the scope of ordinary civil agreements, and validity of the agreement should be reviewed in the process of criminal proceeding.
After receiving the alarm, the Yu County Government and the Yangquan Municipal Public Security Bureau immediately started formulating an emergency response plan and set up a command to clarify missions and jobs, expound work measures, fulfill job duties and make a comprehensive plan.
Currently the public security organ is still further investigating other alleged irregularities of the gang members.
The plaintiff deemed that there are multiple faults and mistakes in the two hospitals' diagnosis and treatment for the plaintiff. The plaintiff claimed a compensation of RMB 833,815 from the two hospitals and brought them to court.
If all disputes are sued and filed separately, it will increase litigation exhaustion of the public and extend the time needed to settle medical disputes.
Nordrhein-Westfalen State Interior Minister Ralf Jager said the police of the state will take all actions within the scope of their competence and functions in a bid to prevent teenagers from being brainwashed by religion extremism.
The German special police arrested a terrorist suspect in Mutterstadt, Rheinland-Pfalz on August 5, and suspected the man had connection with a senior member of the ISIS.
The Interior Ministry of the state said intelligence sources had it that the new season of the Bundesliga, which will kick off at the end of August, may face terrific threats.
Deborah Lee James, Secretary of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), said on August 10 that the USAF will see a shortage of 700 fighter pilots by the end of this year, and the figure is expected to grow to 1,000 in a few years.
James said that the USAF plans to raise the retention bonus of unmanned aerial vehicle pilots from US$25,000 each year to US$35,000.
What bothers the USAF is that airline companies offer generous remunerations to poach pilots.
James said that it is imperative for the government to raise bonuses for air force pilots as the airliners "are expected to recruit more pilots".
Both James and David Goldfein, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, want to improve the living quality of pilots.
Goldfein sighed that the shortage of pilots is a "crisis", and that "the U.S. is not naturally endowed with air dominance, but get it in battle."
Goldfein said although the current pilot shortage has not yet affected the country's operations in Iraq, Syria and Libya, these military operations have affected pilots' decisions to stay or leave.
There were some wrongdoings when the police carried out searches and arrests, including retaliatory law enforcement and connivance of police's irregularities against the law enforcement regulations.
With release of the report, the Baltimore Municipal Government agreed to negotiate with the Department of Justice to conduct a series of reform in the police system in the upcoming few months.
Sometimes, the police would arrest citizens over unreasonable reasons, for instance, "I don't like what they said".
In one case, a senior policeman asked his subordinate staff to "cook up something" to stop and interrogate a young black man.
On April 12, 2015, Grey, a 25-year-old African American, was arrested in Baltimore for illegally carrying knives.
This incident brought howls of outrage among black people over the police's abuse of violence and racial discrimination. Several violent protests were launched by black people at the end of April 2015.
The report was widely deemed as being "tough and incisive", but what it reflected seemed to have become part of the local black people's life.
Maro who worked in the catering industry before retiring told Associated Press that he had been harassed many times by police in the past few years.
On August 10, Void, who is 45 years old, told reporter that he was once suspected by the police of involving in drug trafficking.
The police didn't find any cash or drug in his pocket, but Void was still arrested.
"He used an interphone to knock my head", said Void while showing the scar left on his scalp.
According to the report, the police team comprising 2,600 people in Baltimore has received offensive training for a long time, leading to a mental state that "we are against them" when facing African Americans.
Currently the U.S. Department of Justice is in talks with the Baltimore Municipal Government to reach an agreement over reform of the city's police system.
The agreement covers police training, data collection, perfecting supervision and improving the relationship between police and the public.
Rawlings-Blake, black woman mayor of Baltimore, said the municipal government is expected to earmark US$5 million-US$10 million (around RMB 33.195 million-RMB 66.39 million) to implement this plan.
According to Xinhua News Agency, data released by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on its website on August 11 showed that a total of 41 officials at the provincial and ministerial level and more than 1,100 cadres at the department and bureau level were punished by the discipline inspection and supervision departments in the first quarter of 2016.
A total of 330,000 cases were put on record across the country, and 336,000 officials were punished, among them 14,000 were transferred to judiciary authorities on suspicion of committing a crime.
Among the 90 cadres under the direct management of the CPC Central Committee who are involved in cases being closed or under investigation on suspicion of disciplinary violations, 42 were transferred to the judiciary authorities on suspicion of committing a crime.
Both the headcount of people having received punishment under the Party disciplines or the government disciplines and the number of punished cadres under the centralized management are the highest in the years since the reform and opening-up.
It is worth noting in the data that talk and letter inquiry have become important ways to deal with problem clues, amounting to 42,000 pieces (times).
Time-honored U.S. retailer Macy's said on August 11 (Local Time) that it will shut down 100 stores next year (2017), accounting for around 15% of the total.
The provincial government will launch a special inspection to ensure wellbeing of the 4.79 million disabled people in the process of realizing well-off life.
Involving one-fifth families across the province, the disabled represent a special social group that has a large number as well as big influence and requires special care.
Statistics of the latest household survey showed that there were 218,000 disabled people earning less than RMB 6,000 each year across our province, while the actual employment rate of urban and rural disabled people who were able to work differed greatly from the social average.
On the whole, the per capita income and realization of well-off life of disabled people's families remained far behind the provincial average.
A spokesperson said the three suspects allegedly recruited members for ISIS locally from January to June last year, and one of them was suspected of providing funds and logistical support for the extremist organization.
The German police confirmed that they had raided Dortmund, Duisburg and Hildesheim.
German authorities have not yet made public the nationalities and identities of the three terrorist suspects, nor stated when to arrest them.
At around 8:30pm, she slid from a two-storey-high inflatable chute, while a young woman was standing at the foot of the chute.
Xiao Han failed to elude and ran into the woman. She cried out that her left leg hurt so much, and was later sent to the rest room by workers.
Xiao Han was sent to a hospital after her mother Mrs. Wu arrived, and was diagnosed with tibial fracture on her left leg.
Mrs. Wu contacted the person in charge of the water park, who came to hospital later and gave RMB 800 sympathy money. The responsible person said that the park bears no responsibility for the incident, which was unacceptable to her.
A reporter from Chutian Metropolis Daily visited the water park, and Mr. Lin, who was responsible for dealing with the incident, said he was on duty at the time of the accident.
According to his investigation, the security guard found no abnormalities on the slide at the time of the accident when Xiao Han cried out that her foot hurt. The security guard immediately helped her walk out of the pool and brought her Yunnan Baiyao.
Mr. Lin said Xiao Han told the security guard that her foot was sprained two days ago, and he didn't know how she had bone fracture.
The park stipulated that minors should enter the park with company of adult guardians, who should be fully responsible for the minors' safety.
The park shall not be held responsible for any safety accidents that took place due to personal reasons or poor care of the guardian, and a related notice was posted inside the park.
In view of this, lawyer Chen Liang from Hubei Dianheng Law Firm said that the park should be held responsible for the accident in terms of management no matter whether Xiao Han developed bone fracture after running into other people.
Even though the park posted the notice, it allowed Xiao Han to enter the park without company of a guardian, which could be deemed a wrongdoing.
"Party members and cadres are strictly prohibited from holding and joining in any 'graduation dinner' or 'teacher appreciation banquet' under any names except for those held by their relatives, and are forbidden from driving their children to school with official cars, as well as other bad practices."
During this summer vacation, more than 800 Party members and cadres at the rank of section chief in Pucheng County received notice to reiterate discipline requirements from the county-level discipline inspection bureau.
Russian President Putin criticized Ukraine on August 10 for attempting to make trouble and damage situation in Crimea with "terroristic means".
The Russian Federal Security Service said on August 10 that they had successfully stopped the series of terrorist attacks planned by the spy agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea recently.
At a media session held in Moscow on August 10, Putin slammed Ukraine for playing a "dangerous game", saying that currently it makes no sense for Russia and Ukraine to hold a peaceful dialogue over the situation in East Ukraine.
The statement said that Ukraine didn't sent staff to plot terrorist attack in Crimea, and no staff of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry was arrested there.
Ukrainian Chief of the General Staff and Press Secretary Seleznyov lambasted the practice of Russia as "provocation".
The website of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a statement, saying that Ukraine condemns terrorist acts that are carried out in all forms, and denied the adoption of terroristic means in Crimea.
Poroshenko said that the "absurd" accusation by Russia turned out to be an "excuse", with a view to imposing more military threats on Ukraine.
The Donbass region covers Donetsk and Lugansk in East Ukraine, and Ukraine and the West identified that Russia has been supporting the folk armed forces in this region since explosion of the Ukrainian crisis.
Russia, however, denied such saying, reiterating that no soldiers from the regular Russian troops had participated in the combat operations in East Ukraine.
According to Russian media, given the tense situation recently, Crimea has strengthened security measures in important infrastructure facilities and heartlands while intensifying regulation of the border areas of Ukraine.
The approval of the second batch of private banks peaked nationwide recently. Chongqing, Sichuan and Hunan successively set up their first private-funded banks.
The reporter learned from the competent department that the private bank preparation scheme of Shandong Province obtained approval of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in principle, while Lanhai Bank is expected to become the first private bank in Shandong Province.
The reporter recently learned from the competent department that our province's private bank preparation scheme was greenlighted by the CBRC in principle, and was just one step away from being approved.
Lanhai Bank is in this preparation scheme and is expected to become the first private bank in Shandong Province based on the experience that "each province is approved to set up one private bank".
Both the competent department and the initiating enterprises didn't give any details of the preparation scheme, including whether it differs from what's indicated in the notice.
The notice once indicated that the setup of Lanhai Bank should be filed with the CBRC for approval, and there may be adjustments in the process of application, examination and approval, which leads to uncertainties and risks.
The emergence of private banks will push the existing banks to change their development mode, which will sharply boost the efficiency of overall financial allocation.
Canadian police took action in Strathroy Town, Ontario, on August 10, shooting dead a suspect who attempted to make a terrorist attack.
CBC Television reported on August 11 that the police got the information on August 10 that a man called Aaron Driver sought to make bombs to launch terrorist attack.
Driver attempted to detonate an exploder when police raided his residence, then he was shot dead by the police on the spot.
Yesterday (August 11), the heavy rainfalls concentrated in the Hetao region of Inner Mongolia, Northeast as well as the southern and northern parts of South China.
The eastern and northern parts of Northeast, the Hetao region as well as the middle and southern parts of North China had heavy rain; most of South China saw moderate-to-heavy rain, and some regions had torrential rain.
For the northern region, the Hetao region of Inner Mongolia, North China and Northeast will have moderate-to-heavy rain.
Some places in the above-mentioned regions will see short-time strong rainfall, thunderstorm, gale and other severe convection weather, with the strongest rainfall intensity topping 70mm per hour.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office yesterday (August 12) sent nine prosecutors to guide the Taoyuan office of the Taiwan investigation bureau to launch a search, and the two persons arrived at the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office to reply the arraignment at 11:00pm.
Li Yunqiang, who came first, looked relaxed and waved to his supporters with smile, while the follower, Zhangzhaoliang, appeared nervous and put on a strained smile. Both of them didn't speak.
Li Yunqiang said that he hired a total of six assistants, and all of them were paid by his wife, Sun Yijie, who was head of the service department. Both the deposit book and seal were also kept by his wife.
At 10:00pm, Sun Yijie, who had been pregnant for four months, was released on bail of NT$200,000.
Japanese police said on August 10 that a man who was dedicated to stealing suitcases of customers splashing out in shopping has been arrested and prosecuted.
Several suitcase theft cases have happened to foreign tourists in the express train bound for Kansai International Airport, Osaka, since last October, and police immediately strengthened their vigilance.
In April this year, the police successfully made an arrest of the thief when he was preparing to steal the suitcase of a Taiwanese tourist.
According to police investigation, this man carried out a total of 18 thefts from customers splashing out in shopping in Japan, involving a total case value of around JPY 4.2 million (approximately RMB 275,000).
A reporter asked that one Chinese fishing boat reportedly collided with a foreign cargo vessel at the waters about 70 kilometers northwest to China's Diaoyu Island today and both China and Japan sent official ships for search and rescue of the personnel overboard.
Currently six Chinese sailors have been saved, while official ships of the two countries are striving to search and rescue the other sailors.
According to the newspaper, many people would look forward to Perseids in midsummer evenings every year.
Reporters of Dahe Daily learned yesterday from the planetarium of the Henan Province women and children's activities center that the Perseids will reach its maximum from 9:00pm tonight to 1:30am on August 13 this year.
According to introduction of Li Defan, director of the planetarium, due to impact of gravitation from Jupiter, the peak flow of the Perseids will be higher than that of the previous years, which is expected to reach 150 meteors per hour.
Perseids is one of the three major meteor showers in the Northern Hemisphere, and is most suitable for observation.
"The view of meteor showers needs a place which is far away from light pollution in the urban area and has a starry sky."
Li Defan said Perseus is a well-known constellation in autumn's starry sky and will arise in the northeast in the evening of August 12, with meteors seemingly radiating from the Perseus to different directions.
Beijing will encounter showers or thunderstorms today (August 12), but the weather will remain hot. Citizens should take proper precautions before going out.
The highest temperature will hit 31℃ in Beijing during the day today. There will be showers or thunderstorms, but the sultry weather will continue.
Weather experts reminded that citizens should not take a lot of sports during sultry weather, and should drink more water to prevent heatstroke.
The drainage system of the Forbidden City has been precisely measured, designed and constructed when it was built.
Ground of the Forbidden City complies with characteristics of the geographical conditions in Beijing, appearing higher in the north and lower in the south while higher in the middle and lower on both sides. In addition, it is on a little down slope.
The elevation of the Gate of Divine Prowess to the north and the Meridian Gate to the south stands at 46.05 meters and 44.28 meters, respectively, generating a difference of about two meters in ground height. This slope has created advantages for natural drainage so that the ponding could drain slowly.
The Forbidden City's drainage system is very huge. The reserved ancient rain gutter measures more than 15 kilometers in length, while the subdrain is as long as nearly 13 kilometers.
All draining canals inside the Forbidden City lead to the Inner Golden Water River, which connects with a 52-meter-wide moat outside the Forbidden City, and is linked to the Outer Golden Water River and other water systems in Zhongnanhai.
Staff of the Forbidden City have replaced the damaged components in time in the overhauls and checks in a bid to guarantee a smooth drainage in rainy days.
The role of the two major foundations, which served as a message transmission pipeline across the Straits and between Taiwan and countries like the U.S. and Japan in the past, is believed to be more important before Chairperson and senior executives of the Straits Exchange Foundation were nailed down.
Chiu Chui-cheng made the remark when answering questions raised by reporters in the regular press conference of the Mainland Affairs Council yesterday afternoon.
He said that the Mainland Affairs Council has attached much importance to research results of the related think tank on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, and will take them as a reference for "governance".
Yet, currently the top priority of Taiwan authorities is to carry out "sound official communication and interactions", in a push to maintain the existing mechanism across the Straits.
Chiu Chui-cheng added that public power issues, in particular, still need to be addressed through the dialogue and negotiation mechanism between public power and the authority for the best interest of Taiwan and the public.
In addition, as for co-launch of the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum, Chiu said urban communications and benign interactions across the Straits could help enhance understanding, and boost development of urban economy, education, culture and tourism.
The Mainland Affairs Council will keep a close eye on development of the communication, strengthen contacts with local governments and provide necessary assistance.
The reporter learned from China Railway that the bridge of the Beijing-Shenyang high speed railway across the Changchun-Shenzhen Expressway had a successful closure on August 12.
The Beijing-Shenyang high speed railway across the Changchun-Shenzhen Expressway is as long as 760 meters, and features complicated construction technology and high technical requirements. It is a dominant project of Liaoning section of the Beijing-Shenyang high speed railway.
All construction units and the vast railway builders have carried out construction in a scientific and innovative manner since the project was commenced in July 2014, ensuring the project to proceed safely and smoothly.
Closure of the bridge has laid a solid foundation for construction of the Beijing-Shenyang high speed railway to progress smoothly.
The Beijing-Shenyang high speed railway extends from the railway terminal in Beijing, and passes Chengde in Hebei Province as well as Chaoyang and Fuxin in Liaoning Province. It measures 698 kilometers in length.
"Even though there is a more than four-meter drop between the river and the bridge, water will flow over the bridge in the case of flash floods."
Jin Mingsheng, Deputy Town Chief of Luoerling Town, Huoshan County, made the remark while gesturing by the Xiangshui River on August 10.
"In the flood more than one month ago, the dam on one side of the river collapsed, with massive stones and washings rolling into the river.
We're now planning to infill the dam with cement, and the flood prevention bank will be solid enough to withstand the worst flooding in 50 years."
"Workers are moulding, and the project can be basically completed in another month", said Jin Mingsheng.
"Take this flood prevention bank for example, the dam may collapse at any moment when flood hits, and the flood would rush into houses of residents living along the bank. Now we use cement to infill a solid dam so that we could transfer residents along the bank with ease in the case of flooding in a bid to reduce property losses."
One of my hobbies is to buy, appreciate and collect books, and the collection of the initial issues of magazines is a growing special category in my study room.
Comrade Deng Xiaoping made the South Inspection Speech in the spring of 1992, pushing the new round of reform and opening-up to carry out in full swing in the country, and the cover of this magazine has well reflected the historical background of the year.
In the upper part of the cover, Comrade Deng Xiaoping is seen leaning forward to make strategic planning for the reform and opening-up campaign, highlighting his determination and last-ditch demeanor as a great man.
Beneath the cover, it is the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which was under construction against the rising sun, and citizens are seen hustling for their work.
What I collect is the initial issues of magazines published during the country's two times of publication resumption after its founding. They reflect that Chinese workers are always in the forefront of the times, contribute to social development and lead progress of the times.
Data showed that currently Shennongjia receives around 700,000 visitors each year, while professional statistical analysis found that it is inadvisable for Shennongjia to receive more than 800,000 visitors each year, which may damage resources and environment of the scenic spot.
It is predicted that the number of visitors from home and abroad to Shennongjia will surge after it is inscribed to the World Heritage List, while Shennongjia made an early warning against the visitor number rather than blindly pursuing growth in the tourist number and income, which is laudable.
It is a necessary measure to protect the ecological environment of Shennongjia, and also a sustainable tourism road to realize the harmony between man and nature as well as man and resources in scenic spots.
After being made World Heritage, Shennongjia has become the first heritage site in China and the second across the world to obtain three major honors, namely, the World Heritage, the Man and Biosphere Reserve and the World Geopark.
In addition, Shennongjia forms the watershed between the Yangtze River and the Han River, and covers a total of four water systems, namely, Xiangxi River, Yandu River, Nanhe River and Duhe River.
The proverb that "Mountain foot and top always see different seasons - midsummer against spring or autumn against winter, with the four seasons being difficult to distinguish" has highlighted the unique and typical climatic features of Shennongjia.
Thereout, Shennongjia's practice of promoting sustainable tourism to protect ecological environment rather than pursuing overexploitation is worth learning and referring to by other World Heritage scenic spots.
Shennongjia stands out as the 50th World Heritage of our country, and China has become the second biggest country in terms of the number of World Heritage it secures. We shall strive to make the 50 World Heritages glow and pass them on to the future generations.
For the time being, many heritage sites have been found "taking the application seriously but making light of preservation and protection, taking the exploitation seriously but making light of management", turning the World Heritage into a cash cow.
Obviously, if the application for World Heritage is viewed from the economic perspective, a heritage will be taken as a "golden bowl", while its future will look grim no matter how good it is now.
There are many past experiences to learn from at home and abroad; for instance, six World Heritage sites in China received yellow card warning at the Session of the World Heritage Committee held in 2010 mainly due to the change of ecological environment after overexploitation.
Tang Jiagui, deputy chief of the animal management department at Chongqing Zoo, told the reporter that if a female panda gives birth to twins in the wild, it would usually choose to feed the stronger one but neglect or turn down the weaker one.
Now the baby pandas need to be fed every six hours, while they have to be separated when being fed, or else, their mum "Lan Xiang" will react defensively.
Ramos, a former Philippine president and a special envoy to China, wrapped up his visit to Hong Kong and returned to the Philippines by Philippine Airlines at around 1:00pm today (August 12).
Ramos made a statement before leaving Hong Kong, saying that he had a friendly and happy meeting with his old friends in Hong Kong, and they discussed how to advance peace and cooperation between the two countries as individuals.
He also euphemized that even though it was not an ice-breaking visit, it could bring a turnaround to the Sino-Philippines relations.
Ramos indicated in the statement that Fu Ying and Wu Shicun attended the meeting as individuals to have informal discussions.
China has expressed its welcome to Ramos' will of paying a visit to Beijing as a special envoy to China.
Ramos said that the Government of Philippines is willing to have a formal talk with the Chinese Government on issues of common concern at the right time.
Ramos also emphasized at the sum-up press conference that no concrete issues about disputes arising from the South China Sea were discussed during the meeting.
Ramos: We didn't cover the concrete issues about the South China Sea, except for the fair fishing rights, which we also mentioned in the statement.
Ramos also joked that even though it was not an ice-breaking visit to Hong Kong, it could bring a turnaround to the Sino-Philippines relations.
Ramos: Former Interior and Local Government Secretary Alunan said that this visit to Hong Kong was originally for the purpose of ice breaking, but it seemed that there was no ice to break in the summer in Hong Kong.
As for time of the next meeting, Ramos said it will be decided by the President Duterte as well as development of the situation. It will be held in September at the soonest, but the candidates have not been nailed down yet.
According to the announcement, Niger's capital Niamey and the Tillaberi region were severely affected by the flood, with rainstorm causing damages to massive infrastructure facilities including farmland, roads and bridges.
As part of the efforts to cope with the disastrous situation, the Nigerien Government allocated 326 tons of emergency relief food to aid people afflicted by the natural disaster, and planed to provide financial and technical support to the disaster-hit area.
Continuous rainfall and severe thunderstorms have dominated Yunnan in the first ten days of August.
The main urban area of Kunming saw several times of single-point heavy rainfall in early August, and the average rainfall stood at 82mm in the city, 48% higher than the same period in the past.
Yet, throughout the year, the average rainfall of Kunming by early August was still slightly smaller than that of the previous years.
At around 4:30pm on yesterday (August 11), a total of 39 regions in Yunnan received early warnings against meteorological disasters, and most of them were yellow warnings against thunderbolt.
The rainfall sustained across much of Yunnan, while some regions had thunderstorm, short-time strong rainfall, hail, gale and other severe convective weather.
Rainfall in the main urban area of Kunming decreased compared to the day before yesterday, and was not strong. The weather got warmer.
According to forecasts of the provincial meteorological observatory, the showery weather will sustain in Kunming in the coming three days, while the temperature will basically remain unchanged at between 17℃ and 26℃.
The municipal government approved it recently, requiring all related districts and counties as well as units to implement it to fully guarantee the life and property security of people along the river.
The "Chinese style of crossing roads" can be seen everywhere for a long time, and people have become accustomed to the phenomenon that pedestrians jaywalk and climb over railings recklessly.
The traffic police department will start capturing such traffic irregularities with the help of e-police from next Monday (August 15).
The e-police will take a total of three pictures of the pedestrian who touches the virtual induction coil, and the information will be entered into the "Road traffic offense system" after being reviewed and verified by man to penalize the two above-mentioned irregularities.
It is only when all traffic participants abide by the traffic laws and regulations that the urban traffic order problem could be fundamentally addressed.
The U.S. plans to test the THAAD system in 2017 over claim to intercept DPRK's missiles
ITAR-TASS quoted James Syring as saying that they had tested the Air Defense Advanced Mobile System (ADAMS) of the U.S. for intercepting short- and medium-range missiles in a few years.
"The system has passed all these tests, and now we plan to test the long-distance effect of these weapons."
As for the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system by the U.S. in South Korea, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition.
We requested the U.S. and South Korea to immediately stop deploying the THAAD antimissile system, never take actions to lead to complicated regional situation and never do things detrimental to China's strategic security interests.
Windows of three neighbors were broken, and two great-grandmothers who came to dissuade him were pushed to the ground.
Recently this furious man was brought under control by police of the Nancheng police station in Anlu City in a timely manner.
After receiving report, police of the Nancheng police station in Anlu City took decisive measures to subdue Xiao Ming to prevent him from hurting the innocent.
Police investigations showed that Xiao Ming's parents have all been aged above 60, and the family rarely dealt with others, and thus the possibility of being induced by others to go whoring could be eliminated.
The police found through investigations that Xiao Ming was overly elated, and what he said and did was different from ordinary people. They learned after inquiring his family members that Xiao Ming has become indoorsy since one year ago, refusing to contact or communicate with others.
Police suspected that Xiao Ming's abnormal behaviors were due to mental disturbance caused by his long-term staying at home. Anlu mental health center diagnosed that Xiao Ming had developed mental disease.
Currently Xiao Ming has been sent by the related departments to the mental health center to receive free treatment.
The latest statistical data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) showed that Germany had received a total of 240,000 refugees in the first seven months of this year, a sharp decrease from the number expected.
A large number of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa flooded into Germany in 2015, and more than 1 million refugees were registered in Germany in the year.
On August 11, WirtschaftsWoche quoted Weise, head of the BAMF, as saying that only 240,000 refugees have entered Germany year to date, far smaller than expectation.
Despite the drop in the number of refugees flooding into Germany, the BAMF still has an arduous task. Currently there are still around 500,000 asylum applications left unprocessed.
Even so, an increasing number of refugees have filed lawsuits against the BAMF, and some of the asylum applicants have waited for more than two years.
By the end of 2015, nearly 2,300 cases against "nonfeasance" of the BAMF had been filed.
Bank of Russia said that the growth was mainly attributable to reassessment of the market expectation on the country's economy.
The international reserves of Russia include foreign exchange reserves, gold reserves as well as the reserve positions and special drawing rights (SDRs) in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The international reserves of Russia are jointly controlled by the Russian government and the central bank of Russia, and are mainly used for dealing with economic risks.
The international reserves of Russia have been on the decline in recent years amid the downward economic pressure faced by the country due to the Western sanctions against Russia, coupling with the dropping international oil prices.
Hollywood blockbusters, which are well made, star-studded and hyped, have been featured in the film market in recent years. It seemed that all people are discussing them, and go to cinema to watch them together.
Then is it truly as we thought that blockbusters always rock the cinema and make a bundle of money?
Undoubtedly, the production costs of Hollywood blockbusters have been surging year by year, and the growth is even far beyond that of the inflation rate.
Data from Chart 1 showed that the number of Hollywood films, which were produced during the decade from 1995 to 2004 and cost over US$100 million, totaled 60.
While the figure surged to 197 during the 11 years from 2005 to 2015.
The sharp increase in film production number indicates a rising production cost on average, which has aroused alert of the industry.
Famous directors Spielberg and Lucas once criticized such phenomenon in a forum activity, saying that if this continues, the industry would "implode".
Among these 29 films, the highest proportion of marketing costs to total costs stood at 40%, while the lowest even reached as high as 24%.
The average costs of physical copy, production of audio and video products and transport reached US$67.8 million for each film.
It is very important to make a correct estimation of the number of copies and audio and video products to be made, especially in the DVD market that adopts the marketing policy of accepting goods return.
In 2005, DreamWorks made 5 million DVD copies of Shrek 2 but found a poor sales market, which made the company fail to realize its income target of the quarter as a result.
An average amount of US$36.6 million needed to be taken out from these 29 films for revenue sharing and compensation among directors, producers, scriptwriters, protagonists as well as other cast and crew.
For Hollywood studios, the revenue sharing mechanism could help them reduce financial pressure in the early stage, while it turns out to be an incentive for the cast and crew.
Among these 29 films, profitable ones shared 9% of income on average and one even shared as much as 18%, while films that suffered losses also shared around 5% of income on average.
It is noteworthy that the cast and crew would ask for share the "revenue" rather than the "profit".
Under operation of the tricky accounting system of Hollywood, some films that could have made a bundle may eventually turn out to be in the red.
For instance, a report revealed about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2010 indicated that Warner still claimed two years after distribution of the film that it lost US$167 million in the film, making profit sharing an empty talk.
Hollywood also needs to pay a certain amount of bonus to the union formed by various working staff, while these 29 films paid an average of US$11.76 million for that.
In addition, the operating costs of Hollywood Pictures would also be shared by films, while these 29 films shared an average of US$14.83 million.
After deducting the sales tax and gains shared by cinemas, the film company could receive 53% box office sales of the North America and 41% of the world, amounting to around US$169 million.
After an average marketing expense of US$98 million for distribution was deducted, there was only around US$70 million left.
These 29 films each generated an average income of US$134.3 million from distribution of home audio and video products.
After deducting the average marketing expense of US$21.9 million and production cost of US$30.5 million, the net income stood at US$81.9 million on average, which topped the income list. Its profit rate was much higher than that of theatrical distribution.
Paid TV channels created US$14.6 million of income on average for these films, a little bit more than the US$13.3 million created by free-to-air channels.
Among these 29 films, about half generated less than 1% of income from video on demand (VOD), and even films released after 2011 only generated 4.1% of income from this business.
Hollywood still took a relatively conservative attitude toward VOD when building the distribution system of these blockbusters.
As for derivative development, these 29 films generated an average income of US$11.5 million by authorizing derivative development.
Yet, almost two thirds of the derivative development income came from the top two super blockbusters, and only one third of them earned more than US$1 million from this.
Apart from the sources of income mentioned above, these Hollywood blockbusters still had bits of income from aircraft broadcast and music, which averaged at US$2.7 million at most for each film.
Surprisingly, Stephen's statistics showed that these 29 Hollywood blockbusters generated US$14.8 million of profits on average, while the profit rate only reached 3.7%.
If the long revenue recovery process is taken into account, this profit rate could hardly beat the inflation.
Films with costs in the lowest range between US$100 million and US$125 million delivered the worst performance in profitability, and only one third of them earned money.
However, three quarters of the films with costs in the highest range of above US$200 million made profits.
Core prompt: In 2014, Durant renewed his seven-year US$60 million contract with Nike by signing a ten-year contract worth US$300 million.
Durant, who once played for Oklahoma City Thunder in NBA, will go to the Golden State Warriors in the next season.
He earned US$36 million from advertising endorsement alone in 2015, while his salary in the club was as high as US$20 million.
In 2014, he renewed his seven-year US$60 million contract with Nike by signing a ten-year contract worth US$300 million.
Besides, he also established partnerships with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, icy cold drink brand Sparkling Ice and yoghurt ice cream brand Orange Leaf.
As the world's number one tennis player, Djokovic has generated nearly half of his income from tournament bonuses.
He won the Wimbledon Championships and the U.S. Open in 2015 as well as the Australian Open and French Open in 2016, achieving his Career Grand Slam. The total tournament bonuses amounted to US$21.8 million last year.
He signed a five-year advertising endorsement contract with Uniqlo in 2012, which became his main source of income beyond the field.
He became the advertising celebrity of Peugeot in 2014, and forged partnerships with adidas, SEIKO and ANZ Bank.
Japanese media said that Japan's foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, left for the Philippines to pay a visit on August 11 and held talks with Rodrigo Duterte, president of the country, to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Both Japan and the US are eager to keep close touch with the Philippines in the fields including economic cooperation with the intention to prevent the Philippines from swinging to China.
According to the report of the website affiliated to Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Aug.11, Kishida will hold talks with Duterte and Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Perfecto Yasay, in Davao, a city in the south of the Philippines. This is the first talk held between a cabinet member of Japan and Duterte.
Kishida specially went to Davao City, base of Duterte, instead of Manila, the capital, so as to hope to confirm cooperative relationship with the Philippines on the issue of the South China Sea.
Kerry, on the second day after participating in a relevant conference of the ASEAN held in Laos in late July, met with Duterte in Manila. Both sides reached a consensus on the issue of respecting the arbitration ruling on the South China Sea.
Duterte told Kerry that "the arbitration ruling will constitute the base when any negotiation is conducted."
Kerry indicated at that time that $32 million would be offered to the government of the Philippines as assistance. It is probable that for the second time, Kishida will express the intention to offer assistance to the construction of the North-South commuter rail in Manila during the talks on August 11.
According to the report, the reason why both Japan and the US are eager to keep close touch with Duterte is that the Philippines is intensifying its effort to enhance the bilateral negotiation with China.
The US and Japan have been strengthening their cooperation with the Philippines. In 2014, the US and the Philippines signed a new military agreement, which, in fact, again permitted the American troops to station in the Philippines 25 years later, the report said.
Huang Xingguo and his party came to the environmental monitoring site at the scene of August 12 Accident to conduct an on-site observation of the surrounding environment and understand the monitoring data.
Since September 5 last year, particular pollutants in the air have not been detected and sea water quality has reached the national first-class sea water standard. Soil sampling test results indicate that there is no prominent difference in comparison with environmental background value.
Since March this year, monitoring has been conducted weekly. The monitoring results show that the environmental quality is safe and controllable, which is sufficiently affirmed by the experts from the Ministry of Environmental Protection who came to Tianjin to inspect the work.
The men's single gold medal of the table tennis at the Rio Olympics has made Ma Long realize the grand slam of his personal career.
Like spending a decade in grinding a sword, Ma Long candidly admitted that he was glad to realize his dream and paid a compliment to Zhang Jike, saying Zhang is both an opponent and brother and has become his model and motive force.
Though Ma Long rose to fame during his juvenile time, yet he is a late bloomer. Having experienced the men's single that made him to lose the luck to take part in the London Olympic Games, he finally won his first men's single gold medal of Olympics in Rio at the age of 28.
When interviewed after the match, Ma Long said that the gold medal is a "very good result" achieved in her career of so many years. "I'm very pleased to realize the dream of winning a gold medal after I have played table tennis for so many years."
The photograph shows the K210 train bound from Guangzhou to Ningbo. The conductor is introducing to foreign passengers Hangzhou special local products, for example, West Lake silk umbrellas, and talking about related knowledge of the G20 Summit.
With the G20 Summit in Hangzhou around the corner, the discussion about the preparation for this summit in Hangzhou is beginning to warm up on the Internet accordingly.
On August 10, president of the Philippines, Duterte again criticized Goldberg, US ambassador to the Philippines, for interfering in the internal affairs of the Philippines.
In this April, during the presidential campaign in the Philippines, on the pretext of the issue of human rights, Goldberg found fault with Duterte. Both sides continuously elucidated their own viewpoints and the speech conflict was intense.
Duterte expressed his strong dissatisfaction with Goldberg's interference in the presidential election and even threatened to sever the relationship with the US after he is elected as president.
On the 5th day of the month, Duterte raked up old stories and again expressed his dissatisfaction with Goldberg, criticizing the latter for interfering in the internal affairs of his country.
A press spokesman of the president of the Philippines once said that the president did not forget the suffering brought about by US-led Western colonists.
At the end of July, when US Secretary of State Kerry visited the Philippines, the masses gathered outside the US Embassy to the Philippines and held a mass rally. Carrying placards, they demanded that "American troops go away from the Philippines".
With a splendid civilization and numerous people, China stood at the forefront of the world development for several centuries. Now the country has become the second largest economy in the world.
Speaking of the word, we realize that it not only implies too much meaning but also carries rich contents.
Without doubt, the proposition of setting up cultural self-confidence is based on the sufficient identification of their own culture value as well as the firm confidence in its vitality on the part of the CPC and the Chinese people.
Many people have realized that in Xi Jinping's series of talks, articles, speeches and interviews, famous quotations from ancient Chinese books and records as well as classics are found everywhere, manifesting highly cultural self-confidence and arousing the widespread resonance all over the world.
Facts have proved that along with the rise of contemporary China, the influence and attraction of the Chinese culture is increasingly being strengthened.
The Chinese modern history of over 100 years has already told us that all the road, theory and system are rooted in the culture.
Of course, for a time, we learned from Western countries about their implements, systems and cultures and kept rethinking in this process.
After a long-term exploration, we have found that the firm confidence in China's modernization derives from the "spiritual gene" of the Chinese nation.
In Xi Jinping's speeches and investigations, the discussions on excellent traditional Chinese culture including Confucianism are beyond count.
In the 18th collective study of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, Xi Jinping all the more emphasized that China's today is just the development of her yesterday and the day before yesterday.
He also said that for several thousand years, the Chinese nation has taken her civilization development path different from those of other countries and nations.
We have not occasionally blazed the socialist road with Chinese characteristics, which is determined by the historical inheritance and cultural tradition of our country.
In 2010, China's GDP stood second in the world. However, China' achievements are more than economy.
Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has attached more prominent importance to the construction of a powerful socialist cultural country, dedicated to initiating a new "golden age" of cultural development.
Either excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture or advanced socialist culture is demonstrating unprecedented vitality.
In spite of the fact that the Chinese culture is time-honored and has vigorous development momentum, it cannot be denied that its current influence and function are far from reaching its due height.
Though China has experienced a lost time in the past few hundred years, yet now she has returned to the world stage in a more powerful manner.
While accepting a reporter's interview, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek bluntly said that the Chinese culture has made a lot of contributions to the world.
Just as Simsek said, today's China is making contributions to the world in a brand-new way.
Recently, the Jiangning area has witnessed a new round of real estate price rise. In the latter half of the year, several developers of purely new commercial residential buildings entered the market for the first time, intending to charge the high price of 30,000 yuan per square meter.
And the initial average price of Country Garden Century City adjacent to Jiangning is 7,088 yuan per square meter. At present, the commercial houses in the first phase have been sold out.
In transportation, at present, the Jiangning area boasts Metro Line 1, Metro Line 3 and Arport Line S1.
Up to now, Country Garden Century City has accommodated scheduled buses to Xiaolongwan Metro Station and Pharmaceutical University Metro Station for proprietors. In the later phase, with the increase of proprietors who will live in the buildings, the number of scheduled buses to metro stations will be increased.
In addition, Country Garden Century City has the transportation facilities such as double high-speed rails and Lukou Airport.
In business, Jiangning is divided into seven business areas, such as Dongshan, Jiulong Lake, Baijia Lake, University Town, Sanshan, Chalukou and Heding Bridge, which are not far away from Country Garden Century City.
Outlets in the eastern suburbs has an integrated planning area of 400, 000 square meters, planning to permit over 240 international fashion brands to be stationed. At present, over 100 such brands have entered there.
Outlets in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing is jointly run and managed by The TOC Company with the top-notch development management experience of Outlets and The Outlets Development Company, which copies American Outlets in one-to-one proportion. Thousands of customers come here for shopping weekly.
At present, the houses in the initial phase of Century City have been sold out. People are eagerly queuing up in lines for purchasing new delicately-decorated houses with housing area of 80 to 265 ㎡ each. Only 300 customers in the city can enjoy the extra 2% discount. Early registration means early selection of houses.
Another thing worth attention is that the range of the preferential railway tickets for college freshmen is between their homes and their universities. Otherwise, they cannot enjoy the preferential policy.
At the same time, a freshman, on the strength of his or her letter of admission, can only purchase a student ticket once. Those who have bought their tickets had better choose to alter the tickets if their journeys change instead of returning their tickets directly.
If they really need to return their tickets and ask for refunds, they can ask staff members to indicate that the tickets have been returned so as to ensure to purchase student tickets again.
Only a college entrant himself or herself can purchase a preferential railway ticket via his or her letter of admission. Other people accompanying him or her are not entitled to enjoy the discounted price.
"Though females are playing more and more social roles, quite a number of them lack the speech right equivalent to that of males in family and society at large."
The expert said that hence quite a number of females have the feelings of depression and anxiety to different degrees and the high-incidence age-bracket of such diseases is from 30 to 40.
Of course, in addition to the increase of the base number of patients, the increase of female patients stems from people's high attention to psychological health.
According to Xu Xiangdong, facing mental problems, many people in life adopt the attitude of "dogged resistance" or avoidance toward psychological pressure.
At the same time, due to the lack of understanding of depressive disorder and anxiety ailments, common citizens erroneously think that patients are in a fit of pique instead of giving them timely understanding and emotional support, which is also the main reason for a lower outpatient rate.
"Today, with people's getting a proper understanding of psychological health and paying attention to mental health, many patients and their family members can face the disease in a right manner."
Xu Xiangdong said that as a result, more and more patients are willing to enter hospitals to accept the help of professionals.
On August 11, local time, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a talk with his Ugandan counterpart in Kampala, capital of Uganda.
When jointly meeting the press with Kutesa after holding talks, Wang Yi indicated that whatever the international and regional vicissitudes, African countries have always been China's closest good brothers and China has always been the most reliable friend of African countries.
Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China is a country that has dispatched the largest number of peacekeepers to Africa. Now, over 2,400 Chinese peacekeepers are implementing peace-keeping missions in 7 African task areas including South Sudan and Mali.
In the past two years, the Chinese side has twice proposed to hold related conferences on the issue of South Sudan, actively supported the effort of the mediation by IGAD and put forth a China initiative for several times.
The Chinese side supports friendly African countries to strengthen the construction of the ability to maintain stable national defense. In addition, China has offered assistance to relevant African countries and regional organizations such as the AU through bilateral or multilateral channels, supporting their peace-keeping activities in Darfur, Somalia and other places.
China has actively taken part in the anti-piracy and escort operations conducted by the UN in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia.
Since 2009, China has dispatched a total of 23 escort fleet and convoyed over 6,000 vessels to and fro.
China always supports and helps Africa to find solutions to problems by itself while some Western countries impose their schemes on Africa.
China maintains that eradicating poverty is the key to avoiding conflicts and crisis. Therefore, China is dedicated to strengthening friendly exchanges in Africa so as to help Africa to realize sustainable development in a real way.
Kutesa reiterated that on the issue of the reform of the Security Council, the Ugandan side firmly supports the Ezulwini Consensus, which is a common stance of the AU.
At the same time, the Chinese side also understands and supports Africa, advocating that priority should be given to rectify the historical injustice African countries have suffered.
After returning to the local police station, the policeman first of all offered a bowl of mung bean soup to the old man and told the latter to drink it up for fear that he might suffer heatstroke due to being exposed to the scorching weather for a long time.
Afterwards, the policeman patiently talked with the old man. At last, he knew that the old man surnamed Chen is 86 years old, a villager of the village of Nanzhai, Xiazhang Town. Due to his old age, the old man was not sober enough so that he could not find his home as he was wandering.
Photograph: After receiving his salary on that day, 25-year-old Gao Xiong (right) is ready to purchase a garment for his sweetheart at a clothing store
At dusk on August 9, a group of scaffolders working in high-altitude environment were quietly sitting on the steps of Optical Valley Pedestrian Street to have a rest.
Also called daily-salary workers, the scaffolders employed by their boss received their salary on the site after completing their work that day.
The city with more and more high rises cannot do without the efforts made by the scaffolders. Their work, which seems to have no technical content, is very dangerous.
On the morning that day, wearing work clothes and safety helmets, with wrenches in their waists and bolt guns in their hands, they shuttled on the steel frame outside buildings.
While talking, Xiong Guoyin from Huangpi took out 1500 yuan, his three days' pay, saying that he was going to send the money to his wife.
It is known that each of the daily-salary workers can earn 300 yuan to 500 yuan a day according to his labor intensity.
An experienced scaffolder deals with about 120 steel tubes every day, each of which weighs 8 kg. In other words, each scaffolder does with steel pipes weighing as much as 1000 kg a day.
With the construction duration coming to an end, Master Wu who is over 50 years old was counting his money, saying that he could endure the hardship in order to let his family lead a better life. Speaking of his family, he chuckled.
Tomorrow morning, the Municipal Public Security Bureau will hold the activity of soliciting opinions from citizens on the improvement of the traffic environment on the square of the railway station.
However, as a window showcasing the image of Xi'an to the outside world, there are still a lot of unsatisfactory phenomena as far as the traffic environment around the railway station is concerned.
At 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, the Municipal Public Security Bureau of Xi'an will solicit opinions from citizens and conduct on-site interactive communication with them.
The interested citizens who cannot conduct the on-site communication can dial the hot-line specially opened at the branch bureau of public security of the station.
Known as the sternest anti-corruption law in the history of the Republic of Korea, the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act will come into force next month. According to the law, the expenses per capita of a civil servant who accepts a banquet shall not exceed 30,000 Korea won (approximately RMB 181 yuan)
According to the report by Yonhap on August 10, this stipulation poses a challenge to many first-class Korean restaurants that were originally going to exclusively entertain political figures and senior civil servants.
Quite a number of restaurants have to adjust the standard of table money and promote more inexpensive set meals. Some restaurants have closed down or switched to other industries once and for all.
Many Korean restaurant bosses are worried about their future business because of the law, Yonhap reported.
In Insadong of Seoul, a restaurant which has been doing business since 1969 is often patronized by political figures, government officials, media reporters and merchants.
The boss of the restaurant told the reporter from Yonhap that for many years they have been proud of offering luxury food and private dining environment to customers.
In the past ten years, the restaurant has offered high-specification set meals. However, "in order to satisfy the upper limit of table money set by The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, we will have to change the tradition of several decades, which is really a difficult decision."
"Charcoal Fire Barbecue Village" mainly offers beef barbecue. According to its general manager, the price of "Han-u" (Korean beef), a signature dish of the restaurant, is over 50,000 Korean won.
"We predict that from October on, the sales volume will greatly reduce so we are considering replacing Han-u in set meals with imported beef."
Located in Jongno district, Seoul, the restaurant which was well-known for the patronage by political VIPs such as former presidents Roh Tae-woo and Lee Myung-bak closed down last month.
The boss of the restaurant said that as partial Korean government departments have been moved to Sejong, the restaurant's volume of business has suffered a great shock. It is estimated that after the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act takes effect, the number of guests will be even smaller.
Before long, the restaurant will divert to engaging in Vietnam rice noodles and the per capita dining standard is around 10, 000 Korean Won (RMB 60 yuan).
According to the prediction of the Korean Catering Service Industry Association, in the first year after the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act is put into force, the income of hotel industry in S. Korea will reduce by 4.15 trillion Korean Won (RMB 25 billion yuan) year on year.
Facing the possible economic loss, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at a cabinet conference on the 10th day that what is important is to reduce its negative effects as far as possible while sticking to the core part of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
She said, "Once the law is put into force, the social transparency and fairness will be more or less improved and the efficiency in economy will increase, too. Therefore, the economic growth of S. Korea will speed up."
While driving vehicles in our daily life, we often go through tunnels, sometimes even super-long tunnels or tunnel groups. So, whether tunnels are safe is important to us.
Meanwhile, it is stipulated that no unit or individual shall destroy, damage, illegally occupy or take advantage of highway tunnels and their subsidiary facilities.
If traffic needs to be closed or a carriageway is occupied for a long time due to the maintenance project, except for emergency situation, the management and maintenance unit shall issue to the public the information of construction and traffic control together with the traffic police department 15 days ahead of time.
Many drivers have encountered the situation in which traffic jams took place in tunnels. Some drivers are accustomed to smoking cigarettes in a tunnel to kill time.
When a highway tunnel is experiencing traffic congestion in the form of vehicles queuing, the traffic police department should take measures such as preventing vehicles from entering, guiding and diverting the traffic according to specific situations and issue the information of traffic jam in a timely way.
When a traffic accident takes place, it is imperative to carry out traffic control immediately to keep secondary accidents from happening through measures such as patrol and propaganda.
The public security organ can designate the route and the time for vehicles loaded with dangerous chemicals to pass or prohibit such vehicles from passing according to the requirements of the safety protection of highway tunnels and the technical conditions of highway tunnels and issue the notice to the public.
According to chinanews.com on August 12, Sheng Laiyun, press spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said today that the surveyed urban unemployment rate in Liaoning is higher than the national average level. Since its economy is experiencing adjustment, the interior pressure is rather big.
Today, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference with regard to the operation of national economy in July 2016.
Judging from the over-all situation, since the international economy is under deep adjustment, its recovery is relatively slow, which will bring about a large pressure on China's import including the import of Liaoning province.
Domestically, as China is in the critical period of structural adjustment, the contradiction between the surplus of traditional industries and the inadequacy in the growth of market effective demand is rather acute and the throes caused by the adjustment of traditional industries are still being released.
Therefore, in this new round of adjustment, it is the price of the products of heavy and chemical industries that is undergoing the deepest adjustment, thus inevitably bringing downward pressure on the economy of Liaoning.
During the 12th Five-Year Plan, due to the development of urbanization and the expansion of the real estate, the development of infrastructure in Liaoning was sound and the base of its real estate was fairly high.
After entering the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan, since its original base number was high, in terms of data manifestation, this round of adjustment has much more been reduced than other region.
Sheng Laiyun summarized that the economic adjustment of Liaoning has its special economic reasons, including not only the influence of cyclical factors, but also that of structural factors and even that of base effect and that generally it is in the process of adjustment.
Sheng Laiyun also revealed that since its economy is being adjusted, the fact that the urban unemployment rate of Liaoning is higher than the national average level indicates that its interior pressure is rather big.
According to the observation of the data in the recent two months, there is an indication that the economy of Liaoning will be stabilized and the index reduction degree is becoming narrow.
We believe that through the joint efforts of all aspects, the economy in the northeastern region including Liaoning will display the vitality of the former old industrial base for the second time.
More than 20 Taiwan compatriots from the Taiwan Self-driving Travel Association started their self-driving tour in the city of Ningde, Fujian, on the early morning of August 12 to experience the natural landscape featuring "mountains, sea, rivers and islands" in the city.
Before departure, many Taiwan compatriots said to the reporter of the China News Service, "We are warmly looking forward to this self-driving travel."
In the journey lasting four days and three nights, Taiwan self-driving tour lovers will conduct a self-driving experience of scenic areas or spots such as Yangjia Stream and the beaches in Xiapu, the Taimu Mountain in Fuding and the Baishuiyang Geological Landscape in Pingnan.
Taiwan media will follow this self-driving travel to take photos of the scenic areas in Ningde and bring them back to Taiwan for promotion.
According to Qiu Yu, the self-driving tours of Taiwan in the past were mainly conducted on this island and it is hoped that through this activity the popularity of Ningde in Taiwan will be upgraded.
Between Fujian and Taiwan, there are eight ocean passenger shipping routes, seven direct passenger air routes and four unfixed air routes. Of the passenger volumes of the ocean routes and air routes between Taiwan and the Mainland, the shares of Fujian-Taiwan routes are over 98% and 10%, respectively.
"Now it is convenient to come to Fujian and the motor vehicles from Taiwan can also reach Pingtan, which has broken through the limitation of earnest money. The number of Taiwan people who come to the Mainland to take self-driving travels will surely increase and I will vigorously promote such activities after I return to Taiwan".
Qiu Yu said that the self-driving tour market from the Mainland to Taiwan has a lot of potential and that at present the Association is actively conducting coordination with Taiwan authorities.
This means that they are likely to change the present diagnosis mode of cancers to realize the sharing of information resource with top international cancer diagnosis institutions so as to provide individualized treatment schemes for cancer patients.
In the face of the grave challenge and a lot of new cases, the pressure of doctors is mounting every day while the introduction of cognitive technology is likely to realize the cancer medical transformation in China.
Now the IBM Watson tumor solution scheme introduced by Chinese hospitals is developed by IBM and is being put into "training" by the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, which ranks first in the US.
According to IBM, as the representative of the "fundamental transformation in calculation paradigm", IBM Watson has the ability to deal with a sea of knowledge and self-study, which at present has the capacity of reading and understanding natural language.
At the same time, it can also link authoritative research and clinical guidance. In addition, it can continuously "study" as time goes on.
It is reported that the ground receiving station will be of great help for Chongqing to further make use of polar-orbiting satellites to develop remote sensing monitoring and service after its completion.
It will be conducive to further improving the timeliness of the monitoring of disastrous weather in Chongqing and the business products of ecological environment monitoring.
At the same time, to comprehensively apply the real time data of multisource satellites will be more beneficial to developing the monitoring work in the aspects such as surface temperature, urban heat island, water body changes, land utilization and ecological changes.
Lin Heming said that this year Shanghai delegation includes the representatives from non-governmental and sports sectors and that both sides will continue to boost and expand city to city exchanges.
With regard to the exchange across the Straits, mayor of Taipei, Ke Wenzhe indicated that based on "mutual recognition, mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual cooperation," the government of Taipei is willing to endeavor to try all affairs that can increase the kindness between Taiwan and the Mainland.
According to the related introduction, the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum, called "double city forum" by both sides, has been held by the two cities in rotation since 2010.
The site where the fire accident happened is located in the workshop on the third floor which is directly opposite to the gate of the enterprise. There is no sign of clear burning or sootiness on the outer wall.
At about 10 o'clock this morning, a factory building of an enterprise in the Qilu Chemical Industry Park in Linzi District caught fire. According to the preliminary investigation, the fire was caused by a circuit fault.
According to a reporter, since the fire was controlled in a timely way, this fire disaster has caused neither casualties nor serious property loss.
The place where the fire accident happened is located in the workshop on the third floor which is directly opposite to the gate of the enterprise. There is no sign of clear burning or sootiness on the outer wall. Since firefighters are still working on the spot, the dangerous situation has not exterminated completely. The reporter cannot enter the workshop to look into the situation.
"The fire disaster happened at about 10:00am and was put out at about 10:30am. It is the snifting valve inside that triggered the fire."
On the scene, a sweating firefighter told the reporter that the loss caused by the fire disaster is not serious.
On the morning of August 9, before the beginning of the auction, Mr. Liu, a citizen, came to the auction site to wait, with his auction number in his hand.
Mr. Liu told the reporter of Qilu Evening News that he had got the message of the auction of governmental cars from the Internet a long time before and examined car condition ahead of time. He has his own psychological expectation toward the final deal prices of these cars.
"Governmental cars, in most cases, are in active maintenance and in a good condition. If the price is suitable, I'd like to purchase a second-hand car to make do with it."
On the scene, in addition to bidders, there are the staff members from some municipal authorities in the city of Heze conducting on-site supervision as supervisors.
According to Xiao Lei, all the 45 cars at this auction have been auctioned in excess of their auction starting prices with the total starting price being 998,500 yuan and the total transaction price 2,626,000 yuan. This total transaction price is a little higher than the anticipation price of the auction company.
On August 11 local time, in the men's 200m individual medley final of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Chinese player Wang Shun won a bronze medal with a personal time of 1.57.05.
On the same day, Wang Shun not only finished the competition against his idols, but also ranked third with a personal time of 1.57.05, thus obtaining the first Olympic medal in his sports career.
Wang Shun's two idols are Phelps and Lochte. Phelps has obtained his 4th gold medals in Rio while Lochte, due to his poor performance, has ended in ranking fifth.
After the event, Wang Shun's excitement is effusive, "This medal is a bit unexpected and this feeling is too inconceivable and too wonderful."
In fact, during this match, the prospect of Wang Shun was not promising. However, on the strength of the sprint of the last 50 meters, his ranking rose from the 7th to the 3rd all the way. "I only wanted to try my best to do every swimming action well."
Maduro said that at the first phase, five passes on the border line between the two countries would be opened for pedestrians to leave and enter the country.
He hoped that through this decision, the economic and trade exchanges with Columbia would be resumed so as to improve their bilateral relationship.
Santos said that the boundaries between the two countries will be opened in a gradual way. In addition, special certificates will be issued to the residents living on the border line between the two countries to let them pass conveniently.
He pointed out that security is the most thoughtful issue of the both sides and that the two countries would establish an anti-cross-border crime center to crack down on the serious smuggling and drug trafficking behaviors on the boundaries between the two countries.
On August 19 last year, Venezuela said that Columbian paramilitaries shot and injured three military men of Venezuela's national guards and one civilian of Venezuela who were searching for smugglers in the territory of Venezuela which is adjacent to the border between the two countries.
In order to thoroughly implement the directive spirit of Premier Li Keqiang about taking care of left-behind children, we actively respond to the call of the Party and the League to provide caring service for rural left-behind children and their families.
We will continue to hand on the loving heart to wage more series of activities of paying attention to left-behind children.
On the night of August 10, JD.com released its financial report for the second quarter in 2016, chinanews.com reported on August 12.
On that day when the result was announced, the share price of JD.com, Inc. went up accordingly, surging by 4.65% to $24.60 and closing at $23.41.
The financial report indicates that during the second quarter, JD.com realized non-GAAP profit, with net income reaching RMB 391.4 million yuan.
According to the data aggregated by Yahoo Finance, the previous average expectation of 15 analysts in the Wall Street is that the diluted non-GAAP earning per ADS (American Depositary Share) of JD.com in the second quarter is -0.03 US dollar.
The financial report said that the diluted non-GAAP earning per ADS of JD.com in the second quarter is 0.04 US dollar, far above analysts' expectation.
After the delivery of the financial report, famous international investment banks such as Citibank and Deutsche Bank have provided "buy-in" recommendation one after another.
Judging from the conference call of investors and the research report of investment banks, analysis agencies have shown their strong interest in upgrading JD.com's profitability. They not only recognize the achievements made by JD.com at present but also are optimistic about its long-term future development at the same time.
In its research report, Citibank said that the vigorous growth of JD.com in operating profit margin and the gross margin of self-operated business has embodied the advantage of JD.com's core business, which will exist for a long time to come.
In addition, the aggressive layout made by JD.com in supermarkets is the important reason for the active response from capital market.
At the telephone conference of investors in the second quarter, JD.com's top executives repeatedly stressed the progress made by JD.com in the field of supermarkets, which triggered the positive attention from investors.
By June 30, 2016, JD.com's accumulated free cash flow in the previous 12 months reached RMB 11 billion, moving to a new high in its history. Its cash reserve reached 43.4 billion yuan, increasing by 72% year on year.
"According to our company's internal prediction, in the coming five years, we will still maintain a strong cash flow. Therefore, JD.com Group is not short of cash."
Besides, with regard to the supermarket war that is about to break out, JD.com is dedicated to further optimizing customers' experience.
On the one hand, JD.com has begun to provide customers with value-added service including precise push by trying personalized algorithm.
At the same time, by actively joining hands with its strategic partners such as Yonghu and Wal-Mart, JD.com conducts in-depth cooperation on the side of supply chain so as to provide more diversified products for consumers.
In addition, JD.com has further strengthened the optimized screening of the merchants on its platform to ensure the quality standard of the platform commodities.
After China's movie box-office records experienced a continuous decline, the number of moviegoers reduced by 15% in July.
EntGroup said that from April to June, the income of China's box office fell by 10%, the first decline in five years.
Take Wanda Cinema Line, the biggest theater chain in China, as an example. The box office turnout in the second quarter increased by only 12.8%, far lower than the amount of increase in the first quarter, which was 61.4%.
As the second largest economy in the world, China is gradually reducing the degree of dependency on manufacturing industry and exportation while continuously enhancing the development of service industry.
At present, China has 31,627 silver screens while the number of silver screens owned by the US is 39,000. Yet the decline at the box office this year may postpone the process of overtaking the US in this regard.
According to Former Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf, the Chinese Dream is recognized by the young in the Arabic world.
CRI Online (the reporter is Hu Pingping): The recently-held Karamay Forum themed with the Silk Road Economic Belt has offered a powerful platform for the direct cultural exchanges between China and the countries along the Silk Road.
As a participant to the forum, Former Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf paid high attention to the cultural exchanges between China and Egypt, thinking that there is something in common between the Chinese civilization and the Islamic civilization.
Meanwhile, Issam Sharaf said that the Silk Road Economic Belt proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping has built a bridge not only for cross-cultural dialogue but also for various civilizations to learn about each other.
He is warmly expecting that in the future more and more Chinese enterprises will strengthen the exchange with Egypt in the fields including the investment in the cultural industry.
According to the news released by the Harbin Frontier Inspection Station on August 12, recently, the station assisted the police in Harbin in repatriating a Russian man who illegally resided in the city.
The reporter learned the matter from the Harbin Frontier Inspection Station. The Russian man was suspected of acting indecently towards a woman in a university in Harbin and was later detained by Harbin police after the woman reported the case to the police.
The Harbin police meted out the penalty of 5-day detention to the Russian man in accordance with the law. At the same time, a decision of forbidding him from entering China within five years has been made.
On the morning of August 12, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce held a press conference on the 2nd China-ASEAN Industry and Commerce Forum.
Yu Fachang said that since the implementation of the reform of the commercial registration system, with the substantial growth in total number of enterprises and the reinforcement of the awareness of trademark and brand on the part of enterprises, the country has got remarkable achievement in the construction of trademarks and brands.
In 2015, the number of patent applications across the country reached 2.876 million, standing first in the world for 14 years on end.
According to the statistics made by China, the bilateral trade volume between China and the ASEAN in 2015 reached 472.2 billion US dollars and the accumulated two-way investment amount reached 156.5 billion US dollars.
China has been the largest trade partner of the ASEAN for seven years in succession and the ASEAN has become the third largest trade partner of China for five years successively.
Since the beginning of the second half year, the A-share market has rallied. However, recently the Shanghai Composite Index has fluctuated around 3000 points, indicating the decline in investors' risk appetite.
In the bond market, since June, due to the influence of multiple factors such as fundamentals and investor sentiment, the bond market has taken on a trend of improvement.
Driven by the real estate cycle in the first quarter of this year and influenced by the investment rally in real estate and the improvement of facility investment, the economy has entered phased recovery.
Secondly, since the second quarter, with the weakness of the American economy and the influence of Britain's exit from the EU, the Fed has begun to slow down the pace of raising interest rates.
The asset prices of emerging markets benefit from the loose expectation rally brought by the slow interest rate hikes of the Fed. It is better to actively grasp the investment opportunity of stock market and bond market under this environment.
But judging from a short-term perspective, the further downward movement of the long-term interest rate requires phased risk exposure and the downward movement of capital interest rate.
At the same time, it is also imperative to see that having experienced the big bull market of bonds for two years, the yield rate of the fixed income market this year is hard to reach the level two years ago and the fluctuation range will increase at the same time. So on the whole, yield curve takes on a flat feature.
According to the introduction, as an emerging catering category, Chaoshan beef grew up in Guangzhou and Xiamen. From the beginning of this year, it has shown up prominently in Shanghai and Beijing.
It is understood that since its opening, a Chaoshan beef restaurant has been recognized by consumers, of whom the most exaggerated addictive diner ate the dish for 13 times within 20 days.
As a senior catering expert, Wang Huaping expressed that the introduction of the favorite food of southerners to the north does not mean eating "rare food". Instead, Wang thinks that this is a practice of taking advantage of an opportunity.
On Aug.12, 2016, the Wormhole VR Experience Store which was originally located on the second underground floor in the western zone of the shopping center in Longhu Changying Celestial Street in Beijing finished changing the site. The new address is the atrium in the eastern zone of Changying Celestial Street.
It is known that this removal is the brand-new layout of virtual reality recreation places conducted by Wormhole. The new store still retains the most popular amusement facilities of Wormhole.
It is understood that the man surnamed Wan lives in the city of Hami. He usually idles about and has no formal work. Therefore, he haunts around various supermarkets and marketplaces and watches for chances to commits theft.
At the beginning of 2015, in the auto accessory store across the Jinkuang family area of Hami Overhaul Factory, Wan, taking advantage of the absence of the owner surnamed Zhao, stole a Samsung G3509 handset placed on the computer desk in the store by Zhao.
At the end of December, at an auto tyre mending store, Wan, seeing the victim working outside the store, entered the store by stealth and stole 600 yuan in cash. At last the owner caught him and called the police.
After trying the case, the People's Court of Hami City ascertained that with the intention of illegal possession, Wan, by taking secret measures, stole others' property for ten times with the theft value reaching 15,582 yuan. His behavior has constituted the larceny.
Mushahid: Cultural identity is the base of the prosperity and development of the Silk Road Economic Belt
The Karamay Forum of Silk Road Economic Belt brought down the curtain on Aug. 11.
This forum is not only a direct dialogue about economy and trade, but also an exchange that has expanded to the cultural field from this base for the first time and has made remarkable achievements.
Mr. Mushahid Hussain, Pakistani senator and chairman of the Parliament Coordination Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, fully affirmed the role play by the cultural industry sub-forum of the forum.
Zhao Baige, chair of the expert panel of the RDI think tank program at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences also sang high praise for the leading part played by the development of the cultural industry in boosting the construction of the One Belt and One Road Initiative.
She pointed out that both the dialogue and exchange between the Chinese civilization and the Islamic civilization and the economic and trade contact between Chinese and foreign cultural enterprises are based on the cultural mutual trust and cultural identity between countries and regions.
We are very supportive of the cultural intercourse between China and countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Egypt, hoping to create a more prosperous Silk Road Economic Belt by way of the influence of culture.
It is known that the Cultural Sub-forum of Karamay Forum with the theme of Silk Road Economic Belt was sponsored by the China Huaxia Cultural Heritage Foundation.
In addition, the China Huaxia Cultural Heritage Foundation puts forward a suggestion of adding Chinese annotation to the introduction of the world cultural heritage in Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Egypt, and will continue to follow up the project.
Li Shigui, secretary of the Party committee of Jiangning District, Nanjing, said at the district's 13th Party congress that Dongshan should strive to be a pacesetter in terms of economic development, social governance innovation and Party building, so as to make itself a first-rate sub-district.
"Immediately acting in the spirit of the Party congress is the primary task for Dongshan in both current and next stages."
The head of Dongshan said that in the next five years, Dongshan will stick to innovative development, increase and boost growth engines, as well as promote the steady growth of its economy.
It will reinforce the R&D Park's role as the major battlefield for economy, focus on strategic emerging industries like smart power grids, electronic communication and new materials industries with investment invitation as a core, in a bid to promote the expansion of new industries and the innovation of service model.
The sub-district will adhere to green development and attach importance to the improvement of city quality amid ecological civilization construction.
It will also rev up the greenization of production and consumption modes and take advantage of the central government's environmental inspections to focus on the treatment of water, air, dust, straw, as well as other pollution sources to facilitate industrial sustainability.
The head also noted that Dongshan is set to underscore the construction of the area around the Nanjing South Railway Station as an economic hub to boost its influence based on the robust growth of normal and development-type economy.
The sub-district vows to proceed with sharable development and offer more public services in the five years ahead.
It will better prop up employment, highlight maker space's role as a driver of employment and launch incentive policies for the companies providing more-than-designated positions.
By improving fundamental education, providing more equal and higher-quality public healthcare services and adjusting the standard and scope of four special relief services, Dongshan aims to make the public happier.
Hunan Provincial Environmental Protection Department Orders Yiyang Government to Improve Datong Lake's Water Quality
The 82.67-square-kilometer Datong Lake at the center of Dongting Lake has been suffering from agricultural and household wastewater pollution, as well as breeding enterprises' blind pursuit of economic benefits in recent years.
The primary school districts of Rencheng District and Confucius High-tech Zone have been unveiled in recent days, making "school district homes" a hot topic among Jining residents again.
Especially, those who plan to buy homes in the near future attach more importance to the school districts of the real-estate projects they are in favor of, as well as the problem that where their kids will study in the future.
On the morning of August 11, a journalist of Qilu Evening News found in a survey conducted among some real estate projects in the urban area that the property consultants of those projects have learnt the division of the school districts and introduced it to their customers.
"Our community belongs to the school district of Yongfeng Street Primary School. It will be convenient for property owners to send their kids to the school."
A staff at the sales office of a real-estate project called "Taibai International" told the journalist that the staff of the office have learnt the division of the primary school districts of Rencheng District after it was unveiled and have actively publicized the information and explained to their customers.
Zhongyin Joyful City also made active preparations after the school districts of the High-tech Zone were unveiled.
"Our real-estate project belongs to the school district of the primary school of Chong Wen School and the first phase will be delivered at the end of this year."
In addition, some new real-estate projects in Jibei New Area have been included into some school districts as well. For instance, the school district of Jining Experimental Primary School's Renxing department has covered projects like Sino-German Park City, Dejian Graceful Home and Ruihu One.
Furthermore, Zhongyin Joyful City, Linghua Noble Garden, Jiuxi Swan Castle, Zuoan Lido, Oulong Shengyuan, Hailiang Mansion, all of which are located in Confucius High-tech Zone, have been covered by the school district of the primary school of Chong Wen School.
With the development of cities and the implementation of China's two-child policy, more and more people are attaching importance to the division of school districts.
"In contrast with the relative concentration of residences in cities, the residences of Jining in the future are expected to be located all around the city and the traditional idea about school districts will be broken."
The marketing manager of a real-estate project said that in which school their kids will study in the future has become something of great concern to the people who plan to buy homes in the future.
Since its development in China, crowdfunding has shown a positive image to the public. Regions across China have started improving the environment around them through crowdfunding.
Not long ago, the parents in a residential quarter in Nan'an city launched a reading room for their kids through crowdfunding.
Because they wanted the kids to keep a good reading habit during the summer vacation, dropping cell phones and computers to return to the most original way in recreation and entertainment.
Such a reading room with love not only fostered children's reading habits, but also offered them a good place to go during the summer vacation.
In addition to reading rooms, crowdfunding has also brought some warmth to left-behind children, a grave problem facing China now.
Reportedly, there are more than 3,000 left-behind children in central and western Huangyan, most of whom are living with their elderly grandparents at home. Their parents have to work in other regions to earn money. Therefore, they may only see their parents once a year.
The lack of kinship and correct guidance frequently become an irretrievable pity for the kids during their growth.
It seems that launching reading rooms for kids, building homes for left-behind children, as well as other meaningful things alike can only be managed through crowdfunding.
"As an emerging industry in Internet finance, crowdfunding is gradually extending its advantages to all aspects. It has not only changed our living environment, but also silently changed our ideas."
Han Jianyu, general manager of Xf.cc, said that Xf.cc is engaged in the establishment of a crowdfunding system. A staff member of the company has also raised funds through crowdfunding on WeChat after his family members were attacked by a disease.
What I want to say here is that crowdfunding is not only an industry, but also a positive attitude and an accommodating spirit.
It is boundless. If you need and are brave enough to initiate crowdfunding, everything will become possible.
More intermediate vehicles are on display, buy vehicles at the "bird's nest" on September 9
The 2016 Qilu (Jining) autumn auto show will be held at the"bird's nest" on September 9-12.
As an exhibition area for luxury vehicles, the Hongguan hall made its debut at the 2014 Qilu (Jining) auto show and made a hit. It is expected that the luxury vehicle exhibition hall will remain a highlight at this year's exhibition.
The luxury vehicle exhibition hall, as the connection between western and eastern halls, will not only be high-end and luxurious, but also a spotlight of the exhibition.
As the peak season for car owners to change their cars is forthcoming, more and more vehicle dealers have launched intermediate vehicles to offer plenty of choices for residents in Jining City.
Guangdong's basic endowment insurance system for urban and rural residents is comprised of a primary endowment insurance fund and a personal account endowment insurance fund. The primary endowment insurance fund was jointly paid by governments at all levels.
In the meanwhile, the merchants' advice and suggestions on financial services and businesses were learned on the site, in a bid to improve services to better serve the public.
Carrying 216 passengers, an Airbus A330 double-channel wide-bodied aircraft took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on the noon of August 12.
The Chengdu-based airline will operate its Airbus A330 double-channel wide-bodied aircraft directly from Chengdu to Prague once every Tuesday and Friday.
It is expected that the opening of the regular direct route will further promote the bilateral economic and trade communications between the two regions and facilitate tourists from western China to Central and Eastern Europe.
Dolezal, a consul at the Czech Republic's consulate general in Chengdu, said that it will be more convenient for Sichuan residents to travel to the Czech Republic after the opening of the route. Thanks to that, they will be able to experience the beautiful sceneries in the Czech Republic sooner.
"The route will not only facilitate Sichuan tourists' travel to the Czech Republic, but also make it easier for the Czech people to visit Sichuan."
Dolezal said that the consulate general has already rolled out visa services and set up visa centers in many cities in southwestern China. "We suggest applicants apply for visas two weeks or 15 days in advance."
Excluding France, the Czech Republic has become the second most popular tourism destination in Europe to Chinese tourists in recent years.
Data released by the Czech Tourism Authority showed that the number of Chinese tourist arrivals to the Czech Republic has soared from 80,000 in 2010 to 250,000 in 2014.
Sources from Caracas said that Venezuela and Colombia on August 11 agreed on the reopening of their border one year after the closure of the border.
The decision was made after President Maduro of Venezuela and President Santos of Colombia's meeting.
According to BBC, only pedestrians will be allowed to cross in five places along the border during the first stage.
Maduro said after the meeting that he hoped the reopening of the border will help Venezuela resume its economic and trade communications with Colombia and improve the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Santos stressed that the border will be "gradually" opened. It will be a provisional opening as they learn and adjust their decisions every step of the way.
Colombia and Venezuela also agreed to work towards the full reopening of the border, saying they needed first to reach separate agreements on security, commerce and energy.
On August 19 last year, a group of Colombian paramilitaries shot a Venezuelan military patrol in riots with smugglers and wounded three soldiers and a civilian near the border.
Maduro then announced 60 days of martial law in five municipalities in the state of Tachira, which borders on Colombia, and the close of the border of the two countries.
Afterwards, the two sides held many talks in a bid to resolve the crises. They also recalled their ambassadors for discussions.
On September 21, 2015, the leaders of the two countries held a talk and agreed to gradually reopen their border for the first time, so as to normalize their relations.
We always think of beautiful sceneries, mysterious culture and honest villagers while mentioning ethnic villages. However, the impoverishment, sparseness and desolation behind them cannot be ignored.
The incorrect exploration models during the development of ethnic villages not only haven't changed the destiny of the villages, but also accelerated the disappearance of the villages and their culture.
Culture protection is not a static concept. For instance, Guangxi's Liu Sanjie will become meaningless if it is broken away from villages. No matter how excellent it is, the atmosphere of villages will be lacked when it is staged in other places.
Several Bombs Go off in Hua Hin and Some Other Regions in Thailand; Thai Military: Someone May Intend to Make a Mess
CNR reported in an evening news program that a sense of desolation and even tension shrouded the streets in Thailand on August 12, the country's Mother's Day, when it should be lively and peaceful.
From the evening of August 11 to the morning of August 12 (local time), eight bombs successively went off in Hua Hin, a renowned tourism attraction of Thailand, as well as some provinces in the south of the country.
The bomb in Hua Hin on the evening of August 11 seemed to be just the beginning of a series of bombs in the country.
In the past 24 hours, eight bomb attacks successively took place in five provinces in the south of Thailand, four in Hua Hin, two on Phuket Island, one in Surat Thani and one in Trang.
Two bombs exploded in front of two police stations in Surat Thani, respectively, after 8:00 on the morning of August 12, leaving one dead and many injured.
Another two explosions hit two police stations at roadsides on the famous Patong Beach on Phuket Island at 8:41.
It was the Mother's Day and the birthday of the queen of Thailand. However, many regions of the country were in a horrific atmosphere.
A staff member of Hitour, an overseas self-service tour service agency, has just paid a visit to one of the explosion sites.
The attack may have been small with a small harm according to the explosion site.
Disputes have been raised over the draft of Thailand's new constitution since it was unveiled, with focuses on the clauses on military power.
Supporters believed that the new constitution can heal Thailand's wound and promote the stabilization of the country.
Opponents believed that this is an "unfair referendum". Once the constitution is passed, the military will gain more power.
Especially, the new clauses introduced to the draft will weaken political parties' power but give more power to non-elected senators.
The Guardian said that the attacks seemingly targeting tourism attractions actually happened before the anniversary of the Bangkok blast taking place on August 17, 2015.
International observers said that the country's separatists are the biggest suspects, who were in military actions against Thai military in the three southernmost provinces.
To that end, some Chinese companies have been actively trying to set up laboratories and key labs with colleges and scientific research institutions in recent years.
"Encourage industrial, academic and research institutions to form an alliance can help integrate resources and speed up scientific researches."
After the launch ceremony, the international industry-college-research pharmaceutical alliance and the Wenzhou Medical University-New York University structural biological collaborative research center signed an agreement for the project of "internationally collaborative development of genetically engineered drugs".
US Sees 4th Amusement Park Accident in 5 Days: 3-year-old Boy Falls out of Roller Coaster
The accident took place at noon in Pittsburgh. The boy could still talk with his family members when he was sent to the hospital. Details about his injury are still unclear.
The roller coaster, which was built in 1938, does not include seat belts because it's not a stimulating one. The maximum height of the roller coaster is ten meters.
According to the park's rules, riders don't need to be accompanied by their parents if the amusement facilities are lower than 15 meters.
Pennsylvania is overhauling the 10,200 roller coasters in the state again after the accident.
On August 11, the government of Leting County, Hebei, officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement with JD.com.
This is the second strategic partner who has entered the county to promote rural e-commerce following Alibaba.
The two parties will also jointly make Leting a national demonstrative city for rural e-commerce and facilitate the adjustment, optimization and upgrading of the county's industrial structure.
The e-commerce industry in Leting County is growing rapidly, pushing up the living standard and happiness index of both urban and rural residents remarkably.
Wang Xinliang noted that the elderly-cheating healthcare product companies usually adopt similar ways in cheating. They held lectures, offered presents on site and lured the elderly to buy their products.
"People who listen to the lectures can get 2.5kg eggs for free and those who bring another person to listen to the lectures can get 2.5kg more."
Wang Xinliang said that he has once encountered a case, in which the healthcare product sellers call the elderly either fathers or mothers on lecture sites, which made the elderly feel at home. However, it was actually an emotional marketing trick.
"We felt the treatment effect was good after taking the products. However, they were marked up to RMB 3,000 one week later. Then, we didn't buy them again."
Wang Xinliang said that according to the cases he has encountered in recent two years. The elderly were easy to be cheated. Most of the frauds took place when they buy drugs, healthcare products and wealth management products.
"Some elderly people bought a great number of healthcare products. Some who have high retirement pay didn't follow their kids' advice although they knew they had been cheated. Some even had conflicts with their family members."
According to the report of an economic comment program of CNR-2, online shopping is becoming the daily consumption means of many people. How many online shoppers will give a negative comment when shopping experience falls short of their expectations?
About 56.4% respondents of the survey said consumers' right to give negative comments is an objective reflection of the public monitoring system in the virtual online society, while 79.3% believed that it is necessary to launch relevant measures to protect consumers' right to give negative comments.
However, merchants' pressure should never be released through illegal means, while consumers should make good use of their rights.
If the comments of consumers are pertinent, you should accept such comments and improve your services.
If someone's comments are aimed to weaken your competitiveness on purpose. You can safeguard your rights according to the regulations of the anti-unfair competition law.
If their malicious slanders damage your business reputation and credits, you can lodge a civil litigation or report the case to relevant authorities.
According to relevant regulations in law, if merchants publicize your information to revenge you for your comments, they are actually infringing your reputation and information security rights. However, it will cost a lot of time and efforts for you to file a lawsuit against them.
E-commerce platforms have to give play to their monitoring role when relevant administrative departments are investigating and dealing with such cases.
On the other hand, those who publicize others' personal information should be held responsible through laws and regulations. Also, there should be a regulation on the punishment of online slanders.
MIIT Solicits Public Opinions to Raise Thresholds for New-energy Vehicle Makers and Products
Experts said that the opinion solicitation draft will raise the thresholds for new-energy vehicle makers and products, prevent low-level and repeated construction, standardize industrial orders, improve complete new-energy vehicles' quality and expand the application of advanced and applicable new-energy vehicles.
The implementation scope of new-energy vehicles was adjusted to pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles in the opinion solicitation draft.
In the meanwhile, the opinion solicitation draft has raised the thresholds for new-energy vehicle companies, including raising the requirements on companies' design and development abilities, production capacities, as well as their ability to guarantee after-sales services.
As for enhancement of the monitoring and control of product safety, the opinion solicitation draft also requires relevant departments to conduct full-life-circle and real-time monitoring of the operation status of all new-energy vehicles (including chassis).
Dong Yang said that we currently have 119 complete new-energy vehicle makers and about ten more qualified ones are expected to be launched within the next two years. Therefore, there will be little impact on the landscape of the new-energy vehicle industry.
According to Sputnik, Russia's Kremlin revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Sergei Ivanov from the director of his president office.
Prior to that, Putin had appointed Anton Vayno who previously served as the deputy director of the president office as the new director of the office.
In the news published by Russia's Kremlin, the Russian president also appointed Vayno as a member of the Standing Committee of the Security Council of Russia.
On that day, both the 1st Council and the first Board of Supervisors of the Hengshui Scientific Research Achievement Transformation Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was officially founded at the "Blue Flame Base" in the northern part of the Hengshui New Industrial District.
The Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences focuses on research in fields like energy, chemicals and biochemical engineering, with more than 10 scientific research laboratories (centers).
As one of the 40 important platforms undertaking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei function decentralization and industrial transfer across the province, the center mainly undertakes the industrial transfer and technological transfer related to food processing, textile and apparel, shopping and logistics in Beijing and Tianjin.
The donation ceremony of the 2016 "Charity Program: Wing of Love Assistance to Disabled Persons Initiative" sponsored by the China Foundation for Disabled Persons was held in Beijing on August 12.
He hopes that the implementation of the "Wing of Love" program can bring all walks of life to pay more attention to the living conditions of disabled groups, helping and supporting them to get out of the trouble as early as possible.
The impossibility of the bus driver to communicate with the old lady in language forced him to escort her to the nearby Hongdao Border Police Substation.
At 10 o'clock that evening, the family members of the old lady were informed that she was in the Hongdao Police Substation after they called the police because she did not come back home, and then went to the substation to bring her home.
Through observation, the worker of the bus company found that the old lady dressed properly in clean clothes, and judged that she did not look like an old woman straying outside and coming from a humble background.
Since the worker could not get any valuable clues after one-hour communication, he had to escort the old lay to the nearby Hongdao Border Police Substation and hoped that the police will help the old lady find her family members.
Then, the police talked with the old lady with patience, but she still could not normally communicate with them.
At 10 o'clock that evening, Mr. Yang who lives on Haidian Island called the police and said that his 80-year-old mother got lost in the afternoon and there was no news about her till then.
When responding to the call, the police of the Hongdao Police Substation found that what Mr. Yang described about her mother fit in nicely with the characteristics of this lost old lay, and informed him of coming to the substation to make identification.
Then, Mr. Yang together with his nephew went to the police substation, and found that the old lady there was exactly his mother.
Mr. Yang thanked the police for their finding his mother in time and then brought her home after confirming that she's fit.
According to Mr. Yang, his 80-plus-year-old mother, who hails from Anhui province, told the family members that she wanted to go out for a walk this afternoon, but they did not think about that.
At about 7:00 pm, he hadn't seen his mother coming back home yet, so he requested his relatives and friends to search his mother around his home and the Haidian Island, but it did not work.
He also said that his mother has never taken a bus by herself, and guessed that it might be some good-hearted people helped her go onto the bus. Since she is suffered from minor senile dementia, she did not know where she had gone herself at that time.
After the motor tricycle slowly stopped, the traffic policeman went up to it and found that there were a total of 12 people in the vehicle including the driver.
After the driver got off the vehicle, he repeatedly emphasized that the brake did not work well. The policeman went up to check the brake and found it really did not work well. But the policeman criticized the driver on his behavior and detained the motor tricycle.
After inquiry, the policeman learned that all the 12 people in the vehicle were construction workers. The driver still picked up these workers to work under the condition that he knew the brake did not work well. This behavior was believed to be too dangerous and prone to cause casualty accidents in case of emergency.
The seventh Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set opens at Heihe, Heilongjiang province, on the evening of August 12.
This year's Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set will build a platform for the two countries to promote the alliance of their cultural industry, economy and trade as well as mutual development.
The year 2016 is the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, and also is the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Sino-Russian Strategic and Cooperative Partnership.
Under the vision of China's "Belt and Road" Initiative, the Chinese and Russian governments leverage the Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set as a platform to conduct a wide range of cooperation in all sectors.
As a large Sino-Russian cross-border culture, trade and exchange event, the Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set represents a platform where the Chinese and Russian people share the achievements of economic development and cultural prosperity, and boost their friendship and cooperation.
As an important carrier of the Sino-Russian friendship and cultural exchanges, the Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set has been successfully held for six years since its inception in 2010.
Fan Zhiguo, Vice Mayor of Heihe, told reporters that economy and trade have always been going ahead together with culture in the course of the development of Heihe.
At this year's Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set, we have invited overseas Chinese leaders and businessmen at home and abroad to Heihe for economic and trade matchmaking based on high-level visits and culture, literature and art group visits between the two countries, aiming to drive the development of bilateral economy and trade between China and Russia.
Fan Zhiguo said that the Sino-Russian Cultural Large Set provides us with a stage for culture, economy and trade to add radiance and beauty to each other.
The Chinese side will take advantage of "the cultural industry promotion engineering" and focus on their own strengths to enable "three strides", i.e. building a platform of cultural exchanges with Russia, opening cultural industry projects and integrating regional cultural resources.
The performances for the previous opening ceremonies of the event had been the focus of the 400,000 Chinese and Russian people concerned. This years' opening ceremony officially kicks off at 19:30 that day.
The performance comprises three chapters including The Dream of the Silk Road, The Interconnected Bridge, and The Flower of Friendship, highlighting the theme of "Cultural Trade, Cultural Exchanges, Economic and Trade Cooperation, Prosperity and Development".
The event also features six key activities including high-end exchange, exhibition, artistic performance, popular culture, sports culture and cultural tourism.
According to Taiwan's United Daily News reported on August 12, COSCO bought the largest stake of the Piraeus Port for US$311 million, and planned to increase its holding to 67 percent in the next five years.
Wan Min, Chairman of COSCO Shipping, said, "The purchasing plan of the Piraeus Port is one of the important milestones of the 'Belt and Road' initiative.
The growth and prosperity of this port can promote the economic development of both China and Greece, opening a new era for trade cooperation and cultural exchanges between the East and the West."
The Piraeus Port is the gateway to Asia, Eastern Europe and North Africa, with the passenger throughput of approximately 16.8 million and some 3.6 million 20-foot containers in 2014, the report said.
Pitsiorlas, Chairman of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, Greece's state-owned assets privatization organization, said that it was an important moment to seal the deal.
"The partnership between the two parties in the Piraeus Port is not just economic cooperation, but of strategic significance," he said.
"With this port, Greece is well positioned to be China's gateway to Europe, allowing the two countries to benefit from it."
The Greek government signed an agreement this April to sell the managerial right of the Piraeus Port to COSCO, which became the second important state-owned assets privatization plan Greece has implemented since last year, according to the report.
The state-run COSCO will pay the Greek government annually for the managerial right of the Piraeus Port.
According to related specifications, there are two open excavation sections set at both the south and north ends of Yuhan Tunnel for the southern extension section of Shunhe Viaduct, and time-staggered construction measures are taken for the both open excavation sections to reduce the impact on the traffic, which will be open to traffic in succession.
According to the construction requirements, the traffic organization adopts the "fully enclosed construction" organization scheme during the construction, and the enclosed construction area is closed to the traffic, which will be open to traffic once the conditions are met.
In the period of construction, it is suggested that vehicles running in the east-west direction make a detour to South Second Ring Road, Tuwu Road, North Yuhanxiaoqu Road, Jida Road, Ma'anshan Road, and Jingshi Road, as well as vehicles running in the south-north direction make a detour to Shungeng Road, Yuxing Road, Yingxiongshan Road and other routes.
On the Centralized Registration Service Day set up by the administrations for industry and commerce of Hainan Province, some 300 enterprises got the business license.
During the event, registrars from registration authorities of four levels of administrations for industry and commerce, including the Administration for Industry and Commerce of Hainan Province, the Administration for Industry and Commerce of Haikou City and those of four districts and some townships of Haikou, collectively handled the registration and clear the procedures on the site to ensure efficient service and investment project landing.
It is understood that the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee and the Provincial Government decided to carry out the "Hundred-Days Initiative of Serving Social Investments" across the province from September 1 to the end of the year in order to further implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee on promoting the sound development of social investment.
To better serve and guide social investments, the Administration for Industry and Commerce of Hainan Province has decided that the "Service Day of Centralized Registration for Main Market Players Provided by Province-wide Industrial and Commercial Systems" will be collectively held every 30 days.
Haikou Shopping Basket Group is a wholly state-owned enterprise established by the Haikou Municipal People's Government, opening 147 vegetables convenience stores and vegetables supermarket in Haikou.
On August 12, 2016, the Group completed business addresses record at the site of the activity of Service Day of Centralized Registration for Main Market Players Provided by Province-wide Industrial and Commercial Systems.
In the past, 147 vegetables convenience stores and supermarkets used to need 147 business licenses.
After the administration for industry and commerce implemented the "one address, multiple licenses" policy, I only need to handle one business license and complete the registration of 147 business addresses.
Mr. Zhou from Hainan Aidong Sports Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Mr. Wu from Hainan Dake Cultural Service Co., Ltd. repeatedly sighed.
The two companies, relocating from other locations to the Internet Innovation and Entrepreneurship Industrial Park in Hainan Fuxing City, came to the site to handle the change of registration, and only took half an hour from queue waiting to clearing.
On August 12, the Office of the Work Safety Commission of the State Council confirmed two major work safety accidents, stressing that relevant departments need to quickly arrange personnel to make an accident investigation and seriously find the cause.
According to the notice, all efforts should be made to respond to the accident and rescue the injured once there is a work safety accident.
Meanwhile, relevant departments should quickly arrange personnel to make an accident investigation, seriously find out the cause, determine the accident responsibility, hold those accident unit and people concerned responsible for the responsibilities of the accidents according to law, and disclose the investigation results to the public in time.
Wu Haiming, a Tongliao people who has worked and lived in Mongolia for years and president of the Tongliao Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia, said that more importance had been attached to regional cooperation between China and Mongolia in recent years.
Through this meeting, Tongliao City and Khentii Province have reached a consensus on establishing a friendly relationship between the two regions to enable the economic and trade cooperation between China and Mongolia to be more vigorous.
Rainfall will lead to urban water logging and farmland water logging, so more focus should be on the drainage and defense work of high risk areas such as underpass bridges and low-lying areas!
On August 12, the Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Sinha, Governor of Goa, Paseka, Chief Minister, and Anant, Speaker of Goa, in Goa, India, respectively.
The Chinese side would like to strengthen communication and coordination with India's central government and the government of Goa, and work together for the preparatory work of the presence of the Chinese leaders, ensuring a resounding success of the meeting.
Goa is honored to be the host place of the BRICS Leaders Meeting and is willing to make tremendous efforts for the success of the meeting as well as the presence of the Chinese leaders.
Goa welcomes Chinese enterprises that invest in Goa, strengthening cooperation in high technology, culture, education and other sectors.
South Korean Opposition Party: Government's Adherence to the Deployment of the THAAD System to Trigger Strong Opposition from Citizens
On August 11, Kim Sang khun, who is running for the leader of the Minjoo Party of Korea said if the government persisting in doing this, it would cause a large-scale national boycott.
In recent years, the public security organs across the country have been holding fast to the guiding principle in crackdown on gun-related crimes in line with the deployment of the Ministry of Public Security, and have made a huge success.
The cases of gun-related crimes, however, are still on the upswing, especially the increasingly widespread criminal activities of selling guns online, seriously affecting social public order and the people's sense of security.
Through joint search and joint control, they crack down hard on illegal trafficking of guns and circulation channels, with a focus on the key links and channels of gun circulation.
Once, a boy always wanted to have a date with her and finally got the nod from Miss Dong after his constant efforts.
For the first time, the boy came to her school to pick her up, and directly took out a big bunch of flowers from his car trunk at the sight of Miss Dong.
In Mlandizi Town, Kibaha County, Coastal Province, Tanzania, Wang Shusheng from Hebei, China, is keeping busy. And a steel plant will be put into operation here in October.
"The annual demand for steel bars in Tanzania has reached 1.83 million tons, but the quality of locally produced steel bars cannot fulfill the requirements of large buildings such as high-rise buildings and bridges, so the country imports 70 percent of steel bars,"
This entrepreneur who has been dedicated to the steel industry for years pointed out the truth why Tanzania is a great appeal to him - the vast potential of the local market.
As with Wang Shusheng, an increasing number of Chinese entrepreneurs have turned their attention to Africa to seek opportunities.
At the end of this July, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out at the Coordinator Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit that investment cooperation is being a new powerful impetus for promoting China-Africa cooperation compared to assistance.
Shi Jiyang, President of the China-Africa Development Fund, pointed out that Africa is a new pole of economic growth globally and is the most dynamic region in growth following East Asia and South Asia.
The data from the China-Africa Development Fund shows that the China-Africa trade was worth more than US$200 billion in 2014, and the figure is expected to reach some US$400 billion by 2020.
In 2014, China's direct investment stock in Africa exceeded US$30 billion, a figure that is expected to reach US$100 billion by 2020.
At the China-Africa Media & Think-Tanks Symposium held in Mombasa, Kenya, on August 12, Lemma Senbet, executive director of the African Economic Research Consortium in Kenya, said China has been an important partner for Africa's transformation development.
Wang Shusheng admitted that running a plant here faces a huge challenge of integrating with the local society, but he feels optimistic about the future development prospect.
CBC commentator confuses Michael Phelps with Ryan Lochte for whole race
An Olympics commentator working for Canadian broadcaster CBC suffered embarrassment on Thursday night when he confused Michael Phelps for rival Ryan Lochte.
Elliotte Friedman mixed the pair up for the duration of the 200m individual medley final, which Phelps won to claim his 22nd Olympic gold medal.
As Phelps streaked home for the win, Friedman believed him to be Lochte, Phelps' compatriot and long-term rival at the top of world swimming.
Friedman shouted: "Finally, he's going to do it!"
Ryan Lochte is going to beat Michael Phelps in this event!
Phelps might not even make the podium.
Phelps, however, won while Lochte trailed in fourth.
In the immediate moments after Phelps touched for gold, CBC's broadcast fell silent.
Friedman, admirably, admitted to his error immediately.
I apologise, I got my lanes mixed up.
Phelps with the gold," he said.
The Canadian commentator, whose professionalism has been widely praised after the mistake, owned up to his error once again in the hours after the event and apologised to viewers on Twitter.
I'm sorry everyone.
I blew it.
"No excuses," he wrote.
Phelps, meanwhile, broke a 2,168-year-old record for the most all-time individual Olympic titles with the victory.
The previous record was held by Leonidas of Rhoses, who is believed to have won more Olympic titles at the ancient games than anyone else.
Parking at the happiest place on Earth should be easier the find in the future.
Disneyland has released details of a long-proposed parking structure, a transportation hub and a new pedestrian bridge on the eastern end of the theme park resort.
The project, located east of the resort near the 5 Freeway, includes a 6,800-space parking structure and a transportation hub where buses, shuttles, taxis and other vehicles can drop off park visitors.
A pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard connects the resort to the parking structure and the transportation hub.
The structure, along with the 14-acre Star Wars Land expansion project under construction, is part of a $1-billion investment promised to the city of Anaheim in exchange for a 30-year exemption on an entertainment tax.
Construction of the project, dubbed the Eastern Gateway, will begin next year.
The parking structure will be built on Disney's Pumbaa parking lot, which has about 1,300 spaces.
The transportation hub will replace a commercial property that the theme park purchased in 2014.
The project is expected to open in 2018.
"The Eastern Gateway is part of our substantial investment in Anaheim, which will provide additional guest parking and help to alleviate congestion in the resort district as we continue to expand the Disneyland Resort," Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown said.
Thailand Bomb Blasts At Tourist Hotspots Kill Four
A series of bomb blasts across five of Thailand's southern provinces targeted popular tourist destinations on Thursday and Friday, leaving four people dead and many more injured, after the country voted to approve a military-backed constitution.
Two explosions first hit the seaside resort of Hua Hin on Thursday night, before another blast struck on Friday morning.
The town is located some 200 kilometers south of Bangkok.
The first blast killed one Thai woman and injured 20 people, 10 of them foreigners, police said.
Authorities confirmed that other blasts had targeted the southern cities of Phuket, Trang and Surat Thani.
Two bombs exploded in the town of Patong in Phuket and two more in Phang Nga, another tourist region just north of Phuket.
A total of 11 bomb blasts struck the country over the last 24 hours.
The blasts were not linked to Islamic extremism but acts of local sabotage, Royal Thai Police official Col. Krisana Patanacharoen said on Friday.
"It's too soon to jump to any conclusion," he said.
But what we know for sure is that the incidents are not linked directly to any kinds of terrorism, in fact it's local sabotage and we are trying to identify those responsible behind the scenes.
Investigation officials collect evidence from the crime scene after a small bomb exploded in Hua Hin on August 12, 2016.
A string of bomb attacks targeting Thailand's crucial tourism industry have killed four people, officials said on August 12, sending authorities scrambling to identify a motive and find the perpetrators.
There are no conflicts in the country that may lead to terrorists being in the country.
"That's why we can say that these incidents are not terrorist attacks," he continued.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack and authorities have not accused any particular group, but the explosions occurred in the same week that Thai voters approved a new constitution.
The three southern provinces of Hua Hin, Phuket and Phang Nga all rejected the military-backed referendum, and the Muslim-majority southeastern provinces of Thailand have faced an insurgency that has left more than 6,500 people dead since 2004.
The blasts came on the birthday of Thailand's Queen Sirikit, a public holiday in the country.
Hua Hin hosts the Klai Kangwon royal palace, or "Far From Worries Palace," where the country's monarchy have often stayed.
King Bhumibol Adulayadej is the world's longest-serving monarch.
Signs of Trouble in Ukraine Prompt Question: What's Vladimir Putin Up To?
It's difficult to judge the truth of these claims.
Ukraine denies them, and both the United States and the European Union say Russia has provided no evidence.
An open-source analysis group, the Digital Forensic Research Lab, found some indications of a firefight on Saturday, but little to back up Moscow's grander claims.
Russia has been known to distort or misstate events to serve political ends, particularly within the fog of Ukraine's still-ongoing conflict.
That doesn't mean that Russia's claims are all false.
Ukrainian militias last year sabotaged electricity pylons that power Crimea, and some of them are involved in criminal activity and human rights violations.
An attempted attack in Crimea is not out of the question, though there is little reason to suspect the Ukrainian government would sponsor such a plot.
Whatever happened, images found by open-source analysts suggest that Russia has been escalating its military presence in Crimea since at least Saturday - before the supposed attack occurred.
These show convoys of heavy weapons moving on the peninsula, including missile systems intended for coastal defense.
A disturbingly familiar Russian escalation
Some reports indicate that Russia's troops in Crimea were already scheduled for a new rotation about now, which would help explain the activity, though it would be quite a coincidence that this just happened to fall during some of the highest tensions since the 2014 annexation.
Whatever transpired over the weekend, Mr. Putin has unquestionably escalated in his language toward Ukraine, choosing to use this episode - however real it was - for some larger aim.
Analysts have pointed out disturbing parallels with how Russia behaved just before previous military actions against Ukraine.
In February 2014, similar speeches and military maneuvers provided cover for Crimean volunteer militias to seize the peninsula, then still controlled by Ukraine, only to reveal they were in fact Russian special forces launching a military occupation.
That August, as Russian-backed separatists lost ground in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Putin stationed troops along the border, warning they might be necessary to "protect" ethnic Russian civilians in Ukraine who he said were under attack.
He orchestrated an aid convoy into the region that, according to NATO, was mere cover for a Russian invasion force.
What is Mr. Putin planning in Crimea?
Some have wondered whether Moscow might be plotting another intervention.
Fighting has increased in eastern Ukraine, as it did before the August 2014 incursion.
But that seeming parallel may be the point, meant to create fear of military action - rather than actual action - that will give Mr. Putin leverage with Ukraine and with Western countries.
Mark Galeotti, a New York University professor who studies Russia, pointed out that Crimea would make little sense as a staging ground for military action against eastern Ukraine, which borders mainland Russia but not Crimea, and that the rest of the country is better defended.
"It's highly unlikely that the Russians are truly planning some major offensive," Mr. Galeotti said.
Rather, "We're looking at a classic Russian strategy of building up tension."
International peace talks over Ukraine, once the mechanism by which Mr. Putin forced contact with Western leaders who had shunned him over annexing Crimea, have become increasingly regarded as fruitless and irrelevant.
By dangling the threat of renewed conflict, Mr. Putin gives the talks a new purpose: to coax him back from the brink.
"It's a standard Putin tactic - he wants to try to go there from a position of strength," Mr. Galeotti said of the next peace talks, planned for early September.
"And the only real strength is to say, "I could make things much, much worse if I wanted to." "
Positioning for a bargain with the West
Mr. Putin also said this week that it made little sense to continue negotiations amid the Crimea tensions, forcing the other parties to persuade him to come back to the table - and putting himself at the center of the process.
What does this actually get him?
For one, it allows Russia to continue asserting itself as a global power, even though its economy is smaller than Australia's.
For another, it positions Moscow as having a veto over Ukraine's sovereignty, keeping the country within some degree of Russian control.
It may also serve Mr. Putin's long-held hopes of a grand bargain with the United States that would settle their disputes over Ukraine and Syria - on terms favorable to Moscow, naturally - as well as ending Western sanctions against Russia.
Mr. Putin has repeatedly hinted at this goal since his nation's economy began collapsing in late 2014, due mostly to the declining value of its oil and gas exports.
Since intervening in Syria last fall, he has repeatedly invited Western powers to join him in a grand coalition to fight extremists.
But Russian leaders may believe that they would need to secure such a deal before January, when President Obama will leave office.
Russian officials tend to view Hillary Clinton as the likely successor and as more hostile to Moscow.
Donald J. Trump, while conspicuously friendly toward Russia, is still seen as unpredictable.
But Mr. Obama is seen as "looking for resolutions, not conflicts," Mr. Galeotti said.
So there is a sense that there's a closing window of opportunity to get something done quickly.
In the meantime, should no grand bargain come, Mr. Putin appears happy to keep Russia's weaker neighbor guessing about what's coming next.
An earlier version of this article misstated the year that Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
It was 2014, not 2013.
With Congress Deadlocked, White House Diverts Funds to Fight Zika
The Obama administration on Thursday said it was shifting $81 million away from biomedical research and antipoverty and health care programs to pay for the development of a Zika vaccine, resorting to extraordinary measures because Congress has failed to approve new funding to combat the virus.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, told members of Congress in a letter that without the diverted funds, the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority would run out of money to confront the mosquito-borne illness by the end of the month.
That would force the development of a vaccine to stop at a critical time, as locally acquired cases of Zika infection increase in Miami.
As of last week, 7,350 cases of Zika had been reported in the United States, most in Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ms. Burwell said that 15 infants had been born with Zika-related birth defects.
The virus can cause abnormal brain development and other serious defects in children born to infected mothers.
The local spread of the illness in the continental United States, with the first cases reported late last month, has raised the political stakes surrounding the federal government's response.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday made a campaign stop in Wynwood, the Miami neighborhood that has had a rash of locally transmitted Zika cases, and pressed Congress to return from its five-week break to approve emergency funding to fight the virus.
President Obama and congressional Republicans have been at odds for most of the year over Zika.
In February, Mr. Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency funding.
Republicans balked, demanding a more detailed accounting of where the money would go.
Lawmakers have feuded for months over how much money should be earmarked and how it should be spent.
Last month, Democrats blocked consideration of a Republican measure that would have allocated $1.1 billion to fight Zika but included provisions that would have banned funding for Planned Parenthood to provide contraception related to the virus, which can be sexually transmitted.
The deadlock prompted the White House in April to shift $589 million in Ebola funding to the Zika effort, about two-thirds of it designated for domestic use.
On Thursday, Ms. Burwell said that her department had used most of that money, and that it would be gone by the end of August.
"The failure to pass a Zika emergency supplemental has forced the administration to choose between delaying critical vaccine development work and raiding other worthy government programs to temporarily avoid these delays," Ms. Burwell wrote.
Democrats seized on the announcement to berate Republicans for failing to provide additional money for Zika.
At a news conference, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader, called on Representative Paul D. Ryan, the House speaker, to bring Congress back to advance such a measure.
"Every possible option is being exhausted, and now we're going into the National Institutes of Health, which is supposed to be a priority," Ms. Pelosi said.
Aides to Mr. Ryan said that shifting the funds was a long-overdue step that the Obama administration had delayed to squeeze maximum political advantage out of the Zika issue.
The National Institutes of Health announced last week that it had begun clinical trials of a Zika vaccine on 80 human subjects, and hoped to begin a second phase in "Zika-endemic countries" in early 2017.
But without more funding now, officials said Thursday, the research would halt in its tracks.
Ms. Burwell said she would transfer to the Zika efforts $34 million in N.I.H. funds that had been designated to find treatments for other diseases, including cancer and diabetes.
Another $47 million will be transferred to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which supports the development of drugs and vaccines to respond to public health emergencies.
That money will come out of a variety of accounts, including $19 million from a program that supplies heating oil subsidies for low-income families and $4 million from substance abuse programs such as those for opioid addiction.
Even then, Ms. Burwell said, the additional money will last only through next month, at which point agencies would have to "severely curtail many of their critical efforts" against Zika without action from Congress.
In the last four months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent $60 million to help states protect pregnant women, $25 million to strengthen their Zika preparedness and response plans, and $16 million to help them create data-collection systems to quickly detect microcephaly and other Zika-related syndromes.
Thai Leader Links Attacks on Tourist Sites to Constitution Change
The head of the Thai junta urged his countrymen on Friday to have patience while investigators determine who was behind a wave of deadly bombings in Thailand this week.
Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the junta chief and prime minister, hinted that the perpetrators were "bad people" opposed to a new Constitution that was approved by voters on Sunday in a nationwide referendum.
"There are still bad people, and they have been acting since before the referendum," he said in an address to the nation.
The bombings in five provinces on Thursday and Friday, including in Phuket and Hua Hin, areas popular with tourists, killed four people and injured dozens.
The authorities said arson attacks elsewhere in the country appeared to be related.
Analysts said the bombings did not appear to be aimed at killing many people, but rather at damaging the tourism industry, one of the few bright spots in Thailand's economy.
At least nine foreign visitors were injured in Hua Hin.
"Whatever the motives are, the explosions and arson attacks undermine the junta's claim that the post-referendum situation would be stable," said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
These attacks create effects that discredit the authorities, terrorize the public and harm the tourism-based economy.
Photo Thai rescue workers treated a victim injured by a bomb that exploded in Hua Hin on Friday.
The police said they did not believe that the bombings were tied to international terrorism or to a long-running Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand.
They have portrayed the attacks as "local sabotage," not terrorism.
The timing and location of the attacks carried strong political symbolism.
The bombings occurred as people prepared to celebrate the birthday of Queen Sirikit on Friday, which is considered Mother's Day in Thailand.
Four bombs struck the royal residential town of Hua Hin, about 125 miles from Bangkok, where most injuries occurred.
The military-drafted Constitution will diminish the influence of political parties and give greater power to the military even after it returns the government to civilian control.
The junta helped ensure its victory by preventing opponents from campaigning against it.
Murray Hiebert, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, noted the military's suspicion that the attacks were carried out by people disgruntled over the vote.
The bombings were "clearly coordinated but obviously intended to create fear and anxiety rather than massive damage and deaths and injuries," he said.
Last year, a bombing at the popular Erewan shrine in Bangkok killed 20 people, most of them tourists from China.
Thai officials attributed the bombing to Uighur militants angry over the return of more than 100 Uighurs to China.
General Prayuth, who has led the junta since a 2014 coup ousted a civilian government, said this week's bombings "hurt the hearts" of Thai people.
"Why now, when the country is getting better, the economy is getting better, and tourism is getting better?" he said.
We have to ask why, and who did it.
Golden Reaction: What Simone Manuel's Historic Moment Looked Like
Just coming into this race tonight, I kind of tried to take the weight of the black community off my shoulders, which is something I carry with me just being in this position.
But I do hope that it kind of goes away.
I'm super glad with the fact I can be an inspiration to others and hopefully diversify the sport.
But at the same time I would like there to be a day where there are more of us and it's not Simone, the black swimmer, because the title black swimmer makes it seem like I'm not supposed to be able to win a gold medal or I'm not supposed to be able to break records.
That's not true because I work just as hard as anybody else and I love the sport and I want to win just like everybody else.
The Fight to Protect L.G.B.T. Students in Colombia
Two years ago, 16-year-old Sergio Urrego jumped to his death from a shopping center in Bogotá, leaving as his suicide note a Facebook post quoting Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Cruel World."
His death was the genesis of a controversy that roiled Colombia this week, as the effort to expand L.G.B.T. rights was drawn into a broader political fight that has polarized the nation.
After his death, Mr. Urrego's mother, Alba Reyes, sued school officials, faulting them for ostracizing her only son after discovering that he and a classmate had an intimate relationship.
A year later, Colombia's highest court issued a sweeping ruling in her favor, calling on schools nationwide to develop clearer policies to prevent discrimination.
The decision was part of a string of legal victories for Colombia's gay rights movement, which earlier this year celebrated a decision that legalized same-sex marriage.
This week, though, their fight for equality hit an obstacle as Gina Parody, the minister of education - who is openly gay - became the flashpoint of a scandal over the implementation of the ruling.
The fracas started when sexually explicit content from a pornographic magazine began circulating on social media, peddled by people who claimed it was part of a guidance manual issued by the education ministry.
Ms. Parody quickly debunked that.
While the ministry offered guidance to schools on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity in an effort to help them heed the ruling, it has not sought to impose standardized rules.
"What we want is for schools to have the tools to resolve conflicts," Ms. Parody said in an interview on Thursday.
The dispute opened a new front in a national debate over the future of a country torn over peace negotiations between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, a guerrilla group.
A coalition of politicians opposed to the government and leaders of the Catholic Church mobilized with extraordinary speed, accusing the government of President Juan Manuel Santos of promoting same-sex unions and gender fluidity.
To complicate matters, the government delegation negotiating with the FARC in Havana recently reached an accord on gender and L.G.B.T. equality that calls on the government to adopt more inclusive policies.
Critics of the government - and the peace talks - pounced on Ms. Parody, a 42-year-old rising star in Colombian politics.
They displayed crude posters at rallies and some threatened violence against her and her partner, Cecilia Álvarez-Correa Glen, the former commerce minister.
Ms. Parody remained admirably stoic throughout the bruising week as she sought to set the record straight and recast the debate on constructive terms.
"Part of what has kept me standing and clear-headed is knowing that there are kids out there who are in the process of coming out of the closet," she said.
This is a tough stage and a very lonely time.
She also drew a connection between the peace process and the debate over L.G.B.T. students.
As Colombians continue to weigh the merits of a deal with the FARC, which would mark an seismic turning point for the country, they must consider the roots of the conflict, she said.
"Is a peaceful country one that promotes inclusion or exclusion; is it one in which everyone has equal opportunities?" she said.
While she takes no pleasure in having been the target of insults and harassment this week, she is glad that in today's Colombia, gay students can look up to her and consider that they, too, can aspire to serve as a minister one day.
"To me, it's critical that they can be at ease and that they realize that they can reach their full potential," Ms. Parody said.
We can't wait for a new suicide to start changing.
Keeping the Vote Cybersafe - The New York Times
In "U.S. Seeking Ways to Keep Hackers Out of Ballot Box" (news article, Aug.
4), Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the Obama administration is discussing giving extra protections to the nation's electoral system.
This change may be necessary and should be considered immediately.
The diverse nature of the cyberthreat, and the recent revelation that outside actors, possibly nation-states, have an increased interest in influencing our elections, make it imperative that the federal government give additional attention to securing our electoral system and possibly deem it part of our nation's critical infrastructure.
Without delay, Mr. Johnson should communicate with the thousands of jurisdictions in the country that help carry out elections and offer the Department of Homeland Security's assistance, expertise and guidance.
While the diverse and varied nature of our voting infrastructure confounds efforts to secure it, this tells us that the process should begin as soon as possible.
The writer, Democrat of Mississippi, is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
The UK government recently announced suddenly the suspension of the project of Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station in the UK in partnership with China and France, attracting a wide spread attention at home and abroad.
A UK government spokesman recently said that the deferral of the project does not mean the UK has chilled its enthusiasm for China, as China and the UK are still cooperating in a wide range of sectors and the UK will continue to seek to maintain the strong partnership with China.
Some experts pointed out that China's nuclear power leads the world in technical level, safety performance, operating experience and all other aspects, as well as has relatively low costs.
Therefore, although "Nuclear Power Going Global" will experience trials and tribulations in a given period, the trend of mutually beneficial cooperation between the parties will not be changed in the context of huge win-win potential.
But these words clearly do not hold true for what the UK did in the project of Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station.
Once the project is completed, it will meet 7 percent of the UK's power demands and help reduce 9 million tons of carbon dioxide annually in the operation period of 60 years.
Analysts generally believe that complicated factors in the UK such as exposed economic risks, increasing disputes among domestic politics, cumbersome subsequent procedures after Brexit, and increasing future uncertainties all impede its nuclear power projects.
"Currently, since property prices in the UK are falling and outflow of capital starts occurring, keeping domestic economy and market system stable has been the top priority of the UK's new government.
Meanwhile, after the approval of Brexit vote, the UK also needs to face a number of Brexit procedures in the coming days and straighten out its relationship with EU countries like France again.
Xu Mingqi said that though the UK's new government shows apparent eagerness to "differentiate from" the previous government, it does not deny the positive significance of nuclear power projects.
Over the past two decades, however, the UK has seen the stagnation of the development of its nuclear power, and a majority of its existing 15 nuclear power stations have reached their design lifetime.
According to the prediction of the UK's Energy White Paper, there will be only one nuclear power station still in service in the UK by 2025, leading to major gaps in electric power supply.
For this reason, the parties express their common concerns about the suspension of this project benefiting the public welfare by the UK government.
In the view of Scuoler, where it is in the interests of the both countries, China can play a key role in helping the UK reconstructing infrastructures.
Liu Xiaoming said that we look forward to successfully starting and implementing the project as early as possible, providing the UK with safe, reliable and sustainable energy.
According to insiders, projects of nuclear power stations are instrumental in the reduction of electricity cost for the British public, while at the same time driving local economy and employment.
So, if the UK's new government makes a final decision from the prospective of maximizing its people's welfare, nuclear power projects will not see a gloomy outlook.
The UK side can address energy demand gap, and the sides of both China and France can find the market for their own advantageous technologies and products in the field of nuclear power, benefiting more people."
In spite of the increasing uncertainty of the Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station project, there is no doubt about China's high-level and sophisticated experience in nuclear power technology.
Taking China's "Hualong 1" that will enter the British nuclear power market as scheduled as an example, it incorporates the advantages of other advanced nuclear power technologies and drew previous experience in design.
For instance, China has designed the "passive residual heat removal system at the secondary side of vapor generator" based on problems reflected in Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident, which can remove the heat from reactor cores in time, avoiding the meltdown of reactor cores.
Liu Xiaoming said that China has been keeping a good track record and safety level during the development of nuclear power for more than 30 years, and international institutions set a high value on the achievements it has made in nuclear power development and regulatory.
It is now an important historic moment for the relationship between China and the UK, so mutual respect and trust are more valuable than ever.
The Chinese side hoped that the UK government continues to support the Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station project, and makes a decision as early as possible to ensure the successful implementation of the project.
In the opinion of He Weiwen, Co-chair of the Sino-America-Europe Economic Strategy Research Center, the China Association of International Trade (CAIT), since there is limited time for the British side to make the decision, the both parties need more substantive communications and dialogues.
"Following the change of president of Argentina, the China-Argentina nuclear power station project was also laid aside temporarily, but it has now been clearly scheduled to begin construction in the first quarter of next year."
Since the onset of this summer, the temperature in our city is at an all-time high, so swimming has been a go-to choice for many citizens to enjoy the cool and relieve summer heat, particularly in the swimming pool in the Guijiang River which attracts a great number of citizens to come.
According to the staff of the swimming pool, a myriad of citizens or people together with their child come here in succession from 4pm every day, and then the wading pool and middle pool are always jam-packed with people.
This beautiful and broad-waters swimming pool in the river is very popular with many swimmers.
The 9th China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week will officially enter the extended period from August 8 and host 70 activities throughout the year.
In the previous opening period, government officials, presidents from colleges and universities, experts and scholars alike from China and 10 ASEAN countries conducted effective exchanges in plans for educational development.
In addition, it is worth noting that the 2nd "China-ASEAN Education Ministers Round Table" brings together all the education ministers from the 11 countries for a second time six years later since the inception of China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week.
This year marks the "China-ASEAN Education Exchange Year" and also is the 25th anniversary of the dialogue relationship established between China and ASEAN.
In recent years, China and ASEAN countries has been increasingly deepening exchanges and cooperation in all domains, and constantly launched highlights in educational cooperation.
It is understood that, during the education exchange Week held by the two parties for years in a row, nearly 800 cooperation agreements were signed, continuously enabling win-win cooperation in people-to-people exchange.
In this exchange year, as flagship programs of the Education Year, the 9th China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week and the 2nd China-ASEAN Education Ministers Round Table were of particular concern.
And, "China-ASEAN Qingzhen Vocational Education Center" and "China-ASEAN Rail Transit Education and Training Alliance" were inaugurated as well.
The "China-ASEAN Education Exchange Year" that has been held for years running provides a goal of closer regional education cooperation for building the "China-ASEAN Community of Shared Future".
"The China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week plays an irreplaceable role in deepening human-oriented exchange between the two parties and erecting the "Bridge of Soul, Bridge of Friendship, Bridge of Understanding."
Today, the attention paid by people to tumors is increasing rapidly, which in a large part might be linked to cancer incidence at a high level in recent years.
According to reports about cancer in 2012, there were about 3.37 million new cancer cases and some 2.11 million death cases in China every year.
Cancer has been the No.1 cause of death in China, with the death toll accounting for one quarter of the global death toll due to cancer.
Due to its uncontrolled growth and proliferation, caner can affect nearly every part of human body.
Generally speaking, any part of human body might suffer from cancer, and some kinds of cancers will also be transferred to other part of the body.
Cancer is a genetic disease, but studies found that only a small number of cancers are genetic.
Many factors can affect the occurrence and development of cancers, among which environmental factors are on top of the list and can be changed.
Environmental factors include smoking, infectious factors, radiation, pollution as well as foods, nutrition, and physical activities, etc.
After Mr. Li was sent to the hospital, the doctor told his family members that he was in a serious situation because he was in a hyperosmolar coma caused by severe dehydration as a result of diarrhea, and he might die if sent here a few minutes later.
According to statistics, the symptom of diarrhea might be found in some 20% of diabetics, particularly previously untreated patients or those whose blood glucose has not been controlled properly.
For some diabetics, chronic diarrhea might even the primary disease symptom, which is so deceptive and then leads to missed diagnosis and misdiagnose.
Diarrhea in the wake of dyspepsia can lead to anorexia and nausea, and taking digestives can help the illness take a turn for a better way; for bacterial diarrhea, the disease generally comes in suddenly and several times a day, accompanying with the feeling of abdominal pain, but it can get recovery after a short-term treatment.
And for diabetic diarrhea, it is mostly expressed in refractory diarrhea without obvious abdominal pain and with assayed excrements that do not accompany infection in most cases, but the number of diarrhea is significantly increased, up to 20-plus times a day.
Additionally, when some hypoglycemic drugs such as melbine (DMBG) or α-glucosidase inhibitor are taken at very onset, patients might happen to side effects like abdominal distension, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
This is because stress hyperglycemia together with hypoglycemia condition might occur after diarrhea in case of inflammation.
Moreover, human body is in a stress situation due to diarrhea, releasing multiple hormones. While its confrontation with diarrhea, human body will also suffer from much blood glucose that outflows, which might cause ketoacidosis in severe cases.
Therefore, in addition to etiological treatment in hospital, diabetics should also pay attention to the following aspects after diarrhea.
Diabetics suffering from acute diarrhea must prevent dehydration first, so it is necessary to drink more water, which naturally helps them with more urination, allowing for draining unnecessary blood glucose as well as acetone bodies.
However, it is best not to have drinks containing caffeine because caffeine can stimulate gastrointestinal motility and then aggravate diarrhea.
For diabetics, blood glucose regulation will be out of balance in case of acute diarrhea, so they must closely observe the changes of blood glucose. It is best to measure blood glucose every 3 to 4 hours.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved field tests of genetically altered mosquitoes to be conducted in Florida in the southeast of the United States.
This kind of genetically altered mosquito can help control the transmission of mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as Zika, Dengue fever and Chikungunya fever.
According to a preliminary environmental assessment report released by the FDA in March, this kind of mosquito will not significantly affect the environment.
The report also noted that, however, this did not mean this kind of mosquito can be used for commercial purpose.
Oxitec also must follow other regulations specified by the federal, state and local governments, and work together with its local partner Florida Keys Mosquito Control District to determine the time of conducting field tests.
Tests conducted in Brazil, Panama and Cayman Islands showed that this kind of mosquito can reduce the number of mosquitoes in test areas by more than 90%.
There are also controversies about utilizing transgenic technology to "eliminate mosquitoes with mosquitoes", among which some experts believed that this will bring unknown influence to environment.
In addition, Anhui province has established the Major Medicines Monitoring Directory Warning Management System, periodically publishing monitoring directories of high-price, large-consumption and non-treatment adjuvant drugs and making them public.
On August 4, players competed for four items including 400-meter steeplechase, fixed target shooting with 95-1 automatic rifle, and squat thrust in the ground track field.
The demonstration of and competition in military skills aimed to test comprehensive capacities of armed forces, with competition teams including mobility group, ships and boats group, and logistics group.
The ships and boats group participated in professional driving, gunman and seaman affair, and electromechanical competitions; the logistics group competed for items including logistic supply, equipment dismantling and troubleshooting.
The report predicts that the work types in which two-thirds of students at school will be engaged in the future have not appeared yet now, but those majoring in virtual reality design, robot engineering and visual communication alike will occupy a position in the future job market.
The International Sports Press Association (AIPS) presented an award to senior sports journalists who have covered more than 10 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 8, acknowledging their contributions to the coverage of Olympic Games and sports.
The AIPS awarded a total of more than 100 sports journalists, among which the Italian journalist Giuliano Bevilacqua covers 25 Olympic Games (including summer and winter versions) in all, No.1 in the number of reports.
This was the third consecutive time for the AIPS to award veteran Olympic reporters during the Olympic Games, following the 2012 London Games and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
"Chinese influence" is increasingly with each passing day, exemplified by the greeting with Chinese "Ni Hao (hello)"that was popular during the London Olympic Games and cupping therapy "endorsed" by Michael Phelps during the Rio Olympics.
The prevalence of "Chinese style" during Olympic Games reflects China's increasingly improved comprehensive strength and international influence.
At 15:20 p.m. on August 11, Hubei Dangyang Madian Coal Gangue Power Generation Co., Ltd. had a pipe bursting accident, in which 21 people were confirmed dead and 5 people were injured, including 3 seriously injured.
A python succeeded in capturing a gazelle, but its throat was impaled by the gazelle's horn as it attempted to swallow the prey.
This is an extremely rare picture took by the 62-year-old photographer Christo Brunette.
On the afternoon of August 10, a man with a suction cup and climbing gear climbed up the exterior wall of Trump Building in New York, the US, attracting tons of spectators in this bustling block.
At this year's Shanghai Bookfair, the focus of numerous important books is on themes such as the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, the 95th anniversary of the communist party of China, supply-side reform and the Belt and Road. So, will these theme publications be both critically acclaimed and hot-selling?
Li Yuantao, Vice President of Shanghai Century Publishing Group, believed that the goal of a book is to gain either social benefit or economic benefits, but with the combination of the two at its best.
Presenters of the more than 5,000 books are all famous experts and scholars in each subject area, heads of each major publishing agency or influential mainstream media across the country.
Along with a unified showcase and exhibition in the "Social Sciences Boutique Pavilion", the recommended content of these books will also be present on the WeChat platform of "Cloud Venue of Shanghai Bookfair".
Meanwhile, the bookstore performance evaluation scheme launched by relevant department and the exposure draft of the "Thirteenth Five-Year" plan developed by the book publishing industry will be discussed, providing support for the sustainable development of the industry.
In the past ten years, the Shanghai Bookfair has been the first to view reading activities and books as "co-stars" and make every effort to promote the life idea that "reading is a lifestyle".
This year's Shanghai Bookfair will highlight the topicality, popularity and innovation through a focus on "value" and "quality" when organizing reading activities.
Among the reading activities, the 6th Shanghai International Literary Week is one of the highlights, with a significantly increasing number of guests and activities compared with previous versions.
Fortunately, a good-hearted passerby found that. Then, he continuously shouted at the truck driver, and drove his car to overtake the truck and forced it to stop, helping the man be off the hook.
The good-hearted passerby is called Yang Dong (assumed name), and his automobile data recorder shot the breathtaking scene.
The video data showed that, at about 18:14 on the day of the incident, Yang Dong driving his car passed by the incident road section, and a middle-aged man on a bike came out of the roadside of the rear of the truck all of a sudden.
When the truck driver was getting ready to turn the truck to the left and directly ran down the man who was quickly pulled under the bottom of the truck.
However, at that time the truck driver looked at Yang Dong with a blank expression, and did not know what he meant, but got ready to continue to drive forward.
In such emergency, Yang Dong promptly pulled down his car window, shouting loudly at the truck driver, "There is someone under your truck, stop it right now!"
Just then, he drove his car fast to overtake the truck and got in the way to stop it.
Afterwards, the man crawled out from under the truck and stood up. After preliminary checkup, he just suffered from broken skin on his knees and there were no open wounds on other areas of his body.
The next day, he uploaded the driving video onto the Internet to remind drivers that they should pay attention to the condition under their car during driving, and many netizens gave a thumbs-up to his practice.
It is said that Steve is a graphic designer who is the very image of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, from whom the biggest difference is that he has intact ears.
Previously, Steve and people around him did not notice this aspect, but his fellows mentioned it after Steve grew his beards one month ago.
One of Steve's friends sent a link to him and encouraged him to apply for partaking in the competition of the man who is like Vincent van Gogh most.
Now, Steve has made it to Top 30 in the competition, and if he wins the game, he will get an €5,000 (RMB 37,000) prize and a bronze head statue for the winner.
Steve is very happy with his look exactly like Vincent van Gogh, and said that if he could win the competition, he will leverage the prize to hold a party with the theme about Vincent van Gogh to thank his friends for their support and love.
On that day, Chinese swimmer Li Guangyuan missed out on a medal in the men's 200m backstroke final in the Rio 2016 Olympics, coming sixth with 1 minute 55.89 seconds.
According to Sweden's Dagens Nyheter, identity theft has been one of the fastest-growing crimes in Sweden society.
Identity theft is a crime form of illegally obtaining other persons' identity information and leveraging it to pose as them for profit.
The survey data from Sifo shows that one quarter of the respondents said that they disclosed their personal information in email, SMS or other social media over the past 12 months.
The president of My Safety, a Sweden insurance company, pointed out that one reason of the high frequency of criminal cases of identity theft was that people are incautious when using personal information, allowing criminals to take advantage of loopholes.
It is reported that the Swedish police have invested massive resources in the fight against identity theft crimes at the beginning of this summer.
Only if the stolen identity is used for fraudulent activities, such as shopping in the name of another person online, it can constitute a criminal act.
There is a flourishing new housing rental market in cities across Sweden, Svenska Dagbladet recently reported.
The latest data showed that the waiting time for the availability of new rental housing was extended instead of shortened in almost a year.
In particular, the waiting time for the availability of housing in the center and outskirts of the capital Stockholm was extended for up to two years.
At present, the average waiting time for signing a new housing contract in Stockholm is a minimum of 16.5 years, while that in the outskirts of Stockholm is also more than 13 years.
According to head of marketing at Swedish Housing Authority, supply falls to meet the demand in Stockholm's first-hand housing rental market, the waiting time increases too fast, and the waiting time for the availability has hit an all-time high.
It is reported that although tens of thousands of first-hand houses have been delivered in Stockholm this year, the demands for first-hand housing rental are still on steady increase.
According to the data, the availability of first-hand houses (only including old houses, but excluding new house rental) in the first half of this year was only 2,006 units, and the number of people waiting for a first-hand contract has exceeded 540,000.
Svenska Dagbladet estimates that if the present pace is kept, it might take 130 years to get a rental house after application.
According to the data over the past 12 months, housing crisis is not just a phenomenon found in one city - the capital Stockholm, but in Goteborg and Malmo regions the waiting time for the availability of first-hand housing rental has also been extended in varying degrees.
Lavaux is a well-known wine region in Switzerland, where the grape planting can be traced back to as early as the 11th century.
In 2007, the World Heritage Convention listed the Lavaux terrace vineyard as a world cultural heritage.
Cai Zelin, an athlete from Qujing, China, will compete for the men's 20 kilometers heel-and-toe walking race at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Qujing is followed closely by Dali, Kunming and Zhaotong, each of which has 3 participating athletes. In addition, Honghe and Yuxi each have one athlete to participate.
Boy hurt on Pennsylvania roller coaster, week's third amusement park injury
A boy was injured when he fell from a roller coaster on Thursday and he was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital, emergency services and park officials said, in the third accident this week involving children hurt on U.S. amusement park rides.
The child, whose identity were not released, was flown to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh about 50 miles (80 km) west of Idlewild and SoakZone theme park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, a spokeswoman for Westmoreland County Emergency Services said.
The 3-year-old boy, who was on the ride with his brother, was conscious while being treated on site, park spokesman Jeff Croushore said in an email
Croushore said the ride, known as Rollo Coaster, would be closed pending an investigation.
Idlewild requires children to be at least 3 feet (91 cm) tall to ride the roller coaster, and those shorter than 4 feet (122 cm) must be accompanied by an adult.
The ride was built in 1938, according to the park's website, and the state department of agriculture said it passed inspection in August.
A hospital spokesman declined to comment on the boy's condition.
A 10-year-old boy died on Sunday from a neck injury sustained while riding the world's tallest water slide in Kansas City, Kansas.
On Monday, three girls aged 6, 10 and 16 were hospitalized after they fell more than 30 feet (9 meters) from a Ferris wheel when the basket they were in overturned at a county fair in Greeneville, Tennessee, local media reported.
Japanese PM Abe will not visit war-dead shrine on WW2 anniversary: Jiji
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not visit a controversial shrine for war dead in Tokyo on the anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two defeat, Jiji news agency has reported.
However, Abe plans to send a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine to mark the anniversary on Monday, Jiji reported on Thursday.
The shrine honors 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals and is seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime militarism.
Abe has not visited the shrine in person since December 2013, which he said he did to show respect for those who died for their country.
Japan's new defense minister, Tomomi Inada, has declined to say whether she would visit the shrine because it was a matter of conscience.
Inada, a close ally of Abe and a supporter of revamping Japan's pacifist constitution, had made regular visits to Yasukuni in the past.
Masahiro Imamura, the minister for reconstruction of disaster-stricken areas, visited the shrine on Thursday and said he prayed for Japan's peace and prosperity, Kyodo news agency reported.
Ties between China and Japan, Asia's two largest economies, have been strained of late after a growing number of Chinese coastguard and other government ships sailed near disputed islets in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Two suspects held in possible Rio Olympics plot: police
Police arrested two people on Thursday suspected of supporting Islamic State in planning a possible attack during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Police had arrested 12 people before Thursday's operation, all suspected of collaboration with Islamic State militants.
Brazil's federal police said three others have been interrogated and later released.
The two arrested on Thursday were Brazilians, but police did not provide names or other details.
Although Brazil has no history of conflict with known militant groups, the government has said the Games made the country a more likely target, particularly because of participation by countries fighting Islamic State.
Its militants control parts of Iraq and Syria and a U.S.-led coalition has conducted air strikes against them.
The group has supporters worldwide who have carried out shootings and bombings of civilians.
New suspect in French priest killing formally charged
A man under arrest since Monday as part of the investigation into the killing of a French priest last month has been placed under formal investigation, a police source told Reuters on Friday.
The 21-year old suspect is under investigation for collaboration with terrorists and was planning attacks on people, the source said.
The man had been in telephone contact with Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, who interrupted a church service in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, on July 26, and slit the throat of 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel.
Both were shot dead by police.
The suspect had traveled from his home town near Toulouse to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and spent the night there in the days before the attack, the source said.
The young man, who has no criminal record, has acknowledged having spent the night there but told investigators that he had left the next day because he did not had a good relationship with Kermiche and Petitjean, the source said.
Investigators are trying to establish whether Kermiche and Petitjean had accomplices in France and whether they had links with Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attack.
A cousin of Petitjean was also placed in preventive detention at the end of last month.
Dorus de Vries undergoes medical ahead of Celtic move
Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Dorus de Vries has arrived in Glasgow as he looks to complete a move to Celtic.
De Vries was pictured entering Ross Hall Hospital ahead of a medical after the Hoops agreed terms with the Sky Bet Championship club.
Parkhead boss Brendan Rodgers is on the look-out for an experienced stopper to challenge current number one Craig Gordon.
But Rodgers has trust in 35-year-old de Vries having worked with the Dutchman during their spell together at Swansea.
He made 51 appearances for the Swans as they won promotion to the Premier League under Rodgers in 2011.
He quit the Welsh outfit that summer to join Wolves and has been at the City Ground since 2013.
He also has experience of playing in Scotland after spending a season with Dunfermline after signing back in 2006.
His East End Park stay ended in disappointment, however, as the Pars suffered the double agony of being relegated from the top-flight before losing out to Celtic in the final of the Scottish Cup.
The keeper has just one year left on his Forest contract and it has been reported Celtic will only have to pay a nominal fee to land his signature.
During Rio 2016 Olympic Games, security issue has been what people care about all the time, and people underwent another bomb fright before a men's basketball game this morning.
The Rio Olympics organizing committee confirms that the police working together with the military have detonated a suspicious knapsack found in the basketball stadium under control before the basketball game between Spain and Nigeria kicked off.
A security guard told Reuters that this suspicious knapsack was found after the end of the basketball game between Brazil and Croatia.
The police found the suspicious knapsack in a garbage can in a bathroom, according to the statement from a spokesman of the organizing committee.
Afterwards, the knapsack was carried away by a robot which then detonated it under the guidance of the police and military.
The statement also mentioned, "There is a tablet, a pair of socks and a jacket in the knapsack."
As the game between Spain and Nigeria kicked off, there were no spectators in the stadium, who were allowed to enter it after the security had been confirmed by the police.
The Spain's NBA superstar Pau Gasol said that the players got confused about the then condition for a time, "We heard the explosion, but did not know what happened on earth.
At the beginning, we just heard the explosion and then looked around, but found everything was OK."
There was also a suspicious bomb threat in the previous men's road cycling race at the Rio Olympics, but fortunately, the bomb-disposal squad controlled and detonated a suspicious package near the finishing line.
In scorching and sweltering summer, an increasing number of skin problems will be found in infants, which is closely linked to sweating more.
Temperature rise means the beginning of nightmare of many parents as their little baby starts suffering from itchy skin, accompanied with symptoms such as red rash and red spot, thus causing them to constantly scratch the skin and cry all the time at night.
Tan Xiaohua, a paediatrician from The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, observed that the proportion of little patients with skin diseases who seek for outpatient service will be increased every summer, and skin problems such as mosquito bites, eczema, reddish sudamen and diaper rash are more prominent.
In spite of various causes of formation, the symptoms are all much of a muchness, reflected in skin with red rashes and red spot as well as itchy skin.
As a matter of fact, the causes of these skin diseases are also quite similar, that is, little kids are not that "clean" due to too much sweat and saliva that but is not removed in time, so that the "covered" skin happens to diseases.
Podiatrist Tan Xiaohua noted that little kids have much more delicate skin as well as more heat production and sweat than adults.
Plus, the sweat gland of little kids is in the development, and the sweat gland and dermal gland of some children have not been balanced yet, leading to the inability to sweat.
"Some parents have a good habit by carrying a small towel with them and immediately wiping away the sweat on their kid once found."
"And for children often with wet clothes and sweat, skin rash will often be found on their body."
If the summer is too hot, babies will sweat too much, so parents can increase showering frequency for them and then put dry clothes on them.
For example, a shower for babies is taken every day at ordinary times, and now it can be increased to twice a day. However, flushing is just OK in the second bath, without the use of any bath supplies.
In addition, to prevent skin diseases in summer, anti-miliaria potion containing some herb ingredients like honeysuckle can be dripped into the bath water for babies, which can help disperse pore and perspire.
The above are essentials for parents to protect their kid's skin. For different skin diseases, parents can also adopt the following different treatment methods.
But keep in mind that if red rashes are accompanied with patches or repeatedly attack, it is recommended to see a doctor to check the possibility of other diseases.
"Keep any students from being deprived of education due to family financial difficulties" is our party and government's solemn promise.
The state places great emphasis on the efforts of funding the needy students by establishing a sound finance-aid system for college students covering multiple measures such as scholarship, loan, part-time jobs, allowance and tuition exemption
If students have questions, they can call the school in which they study first; if it doesn't work, they can dial the hotline set by relevant municipality or province and even the Ministry of Education.
She announced a flash marriage with the actor who worked with her ever on August 8, arousing great attention of society. Meanwhile, pictures of her smoking in the past were made public again, and even a startling inside story that she smokes a minimum of 40 cigarettes every day was disclosed.
Now, since Eikura Nana has just been married, many netizens believe that although she is now a grown woman who is not held liable for smoking, she had better quite smoking as soon as possible, or this will have a negative influence on her pregnancy in the future.
On August 12, the reporter learned from the Beijing Warning Center that Miyun District, Fangshan District and Pinggu District issued rainstorm red and orange warning signals in succession that day.
According to the Propaganda Department of the Miyun District Committee, Miyun District currently has shut down 34 tourism scenic spots and a submersible bridge in Daling Village, Beizhuang Town, has been destroyed.
At 10 am, August 12, Miyun District issued a rainstorm red warning signal and a geological disaster orange warning signal. And the rainstorm red warning signal was lifted at 2:30 pm.
It is estimated that there is still a thundershower or shower in Miyun District from the late afternoon to night that day, and mountainous areas and shallow mountainous areas will be at high risks of small and medium-sized river floods, mountain torrents, geological disaster and other secondary disasters arising from heavy rainfall.
Recently, Miyun District has dispatched 8,100 persons to be involved in the front line of flood prevention at district, town and village levels, and has evacuated 2,742 villagers across 164 villages to temporary shelters. The folk customs villages across the district stopped receiving tourists.
Additionally, the Pinggu District observatory issued an upgraded rainstorm orange warning signal at 12:50, August 12, and the Fangshan District observatory issued an upgraded rainstorm orange warning signal at 2:20 pm that day.
It is estimated that Fangshan District will still see a sustained rainfall and there will be geological disaster risks in mountainous areas and shallow mountainous areas.
And according to the Beijing Warning Center, an average precipitation measured by the rainfall monitoring stations across the city reached 20mm, with 13.7mm for urban area, from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm on August 12.
It is learned that at the time of the steam pipe break accident, more than 20 persons were working on thermal energy debugging on site.
Up to 3:30 am on the morning of August 12, the wounded persons were still in the ICU of Dangyang People's Hospital for emergency treatment.
Mr. Feng, a family member of the wounded person Luo Wen, said that 90% of his body has been scalded except hair and feet.
When Mr. Feng saw Luo Wen, he was unconscious due to serious injuries and doctors were saving his life.
It is understood that the five injured workers all suffer from scalding, some of whom are accompanied with injuries such as fracture.
Upon receipt of the accident report, the State Administration of Work Safety immediately dispatched a working group to rush to the scene of the accident, guiding and assisting local forces to make great efforts to carry out on-site rescue and accident handling.
Major leaders of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and the Provincial Government, together with leaders from the Hubei Provincial Safety Production Supervision Authority, also arrived on the scene to direct rescue operations after the accident.
According to the official, more than 17,700 people have been formally under arrest, over 11,500 people have been released, and more than 5,600 other people have been in custody.
It is learned that Turkey's rebel group attempted to launch a military coup on the evening of July 16 (local time).
The Turkish Government accused the opposition faction missionary Gulen of plotting an abortive coup attempt and requested the US to extradite him to Turkey.
Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said later that his government has made a second request for extradition of Gulen to the US.
From the evening of August 11 to the morning of August 12, there were 2 explosions on Phuket Island, 1 in Surat Thani and 1 in the south of Trang other than 4 in Hua Hin, Agence France Presse said.
It was previously reported that the first bomb exploded at local time 10 pm, August 11, but no one was injured.
The explosion of the second bomb killed one Thai woman and hurt several foreigners and Thai people.
"Among the wounded persons there are 3 seriously injured persons and 7 foreigners including 4 women and 3 men," said local police.
After the accident, the Thai police evacuated the public and visitors near the explosion sites and sent the wounded persons to local hospitals.
At present, the Thai police are investigating the motivation behind the explosion cases and what kind of bomb has been used.
As a renowned seashore tourism city in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand, Hua Hin attracts tons of domestic and foreign visitors every year.
Located about 200 kilometers away from the south of Bangkok, the city is a summer resort for the Thai royal household, where there are a number of beautiful beaches, national parks, historic sites and ruins of royal household.
On August 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the risk for visitors, who go to Brazil to watch the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and Rio Paralympic Games, to suffer from Zika virus infection or transmission is not high.
If athletes and travelers have to go to Brazil, preventive measures can be taken to avoid two ways of Zika virus transmission: mosquito bites and sexual transmission.
As of August 10, 66 countries and regions have reported the evidence of the mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission since 2015.
Some countries or regions reported the decreased number of Zika virus infection cases, but the outbreak of Zika has not shown a declining trend in general according to the evidences obtained at the present stage.
The WHO stated that although there have been Zika virus cases imported from overseas to the Chinese mainland, no local cases of human infected by mosquitoes have been found.
On August 12, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that although he abused Philip Goldberg, U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, he would not make an apology to Goldberg.
On August 12, the U.S. embassy in the Philippines said in a statement that the US side has noticed the reports about the criticism on Goldberg and these remarks were "inappropriate and unacceptable".
During the election campaign of president of the Philippines this April, Goldberg criticized Duterte on the issue of human rights, and the two continued to accuse each other with sharp speech conflicts later on.
On August 12 Beijing Time, the Spanish men's basketball team saw a glimmer of hope of reaching the next phase after a tough 96-87 victory over Nigeria.
Oguchi got 24 points, including 7 of 12 three-pointers and all the 3 free throws made but no scores from the field, Akognon contributed 12 points and 5 rebounds, and Ibekwe scored 11 points and 5 rebounds.
As a traditional European team, Spain was severely weakened by the absence of its star player Marc Gasol, which had it on the ropes and even made it hard to advance from the group.
Facing the weakest competitor Nigeria in the group, Spain also played very hard and scraped through the game at the eleventh hour.
Within the last 1 minute 20 seconds in this quarter, Nigeria failed to score again, and Rodriguez hit a three-pointer to help Spain take a 25-11 lead into the first-quarter break after 5 straight points.
When there were 3'54'' to go in the second quarter, Gasol made a driving layup to help Spain hold the lead at 40-27.
When there were 6'09'' left in this quarter, Llull hit two free throws for a 61-48 Spain lead, a two-digit advantage once again.
After Oguchi's three-pointer for Nigeria, Spain scored 4 straight points to extend its lead to 14.
However, within the last 4 minutes 49 seconds in this quarter, Spain stopped scoring. On the contrary, Nigeria ended this quarter with a wave of 13-0 including points in the paint and outside shots for a 66-65 lead, the first in the whole game.
In this wave of attacks, Nigeria hit two three-pointers and a foul outside the three-pointer line.
When the game came to the last 3'49'', Nigeria closed to 79-81 after Aminu added a layup.
After Oguchi's another three-pointer helped Nigeria reduce the score disparity to 1, Reyes and Gasol who scored 6 straight points with free throws gave Spain an 89-82 lead as there were 1'15'' to go.
On the evening of August 12 Beijing Time, Beijing Guoan lost 1-2 to Chongqing Lifan at home in the 22nd round of the Chinese Super League.
After a short-term adjustment courtside, Yu Dabao returned to the pitch, but his trouble hasn't been cleared up. So, he was substituted by Song Boxuan in the 76th minute due to his inability to hold on later in the game.
What is more, Yu Dabao could not move by himself and was stretchered off. After a 10-minute treatment courtside, he was directly sent into an emergency ambulance.
As far as the "national football squad" is concerned, the possible injury of Yu Dabao will certainly affect China's competition for the Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers that will kick off half a month later.
In a postponed Chinese Super League game held in this midweek, in which Guoan was held to a 0-0 draw by Evergrande away from home, Yu Dabao's neck has been injured after a fierce fight for a ball against José Paulo Bezerra Maciel Júnior, both of whom fell over at that time.
Also in that game, Yu Hanchao's serious injury made people more anxious. According to a conservative estimation, he needs a four-month recovery period, that is, he will at least miss the first half of the games for the top 12 Chinese football teams.
If Yu Dabao's injury is serious, the front-field staffing of China's national football squad will be greatly affected.
However, engineers from University of California, Berkeley, have advanced this concept and developed a tiny wireless sensor that can be used to monitor the health condition inside human body.
The researchers introduced their invention on the Neuron published on August 3.
On top of that, these battery-free sensors can be used to stimulate nerve and muscle.
This will probably offer a way to treat disorders such as epilepsy or activate human immune system.
This device has been implanted into the muscle and peripheral nerve of rats, and uses ultrasound as energy source, which is also used to read collected data.
This sensor has been compressed to 1 mm3, called "Neural Dust" which includes a piezo-electric crystal.
The author of this paper explained that the crystal converts the vibration of ultrasound emitted outside the human body into electricity to drive a tiny transistor, which is directly attached to a nerve or muscle fibers, inside the device.
Voltage peak in fibers causes changes of current circuit and crystal vibration, so that ultrasonic receiver (which currently is still the source that sends ultrasonic vibration) can detect echo.
Now that ultrasonic technology is very common in hospitals and ultrasonic vibration can penetrate most parts of human body, it seems to be a natural choice.
Michael Maharbiz is an associate professor of electronic engineering and computer science at University of California, Berkeley.
As the co-corresponding author of the paper, he said in a statement, "I believe that the long-term prospect of neural dust is not restricted to nerve and brain, but much broader."
Maharbiz, together with his colleagues and Jose Carmena, a neuroscientist at University of California, Berkeley, led the research.
"It was utterly impossible to adopt internal telemetry technology in the past, because a tiny object cannot be put into a very deep place," explained he.
"Now, however, I can take a tiny object and put it near nerve, organ, digestive tract or muscle, which then can read data."
To test their device, Maharbiz and Caarmena utilized six 540ns ultrasonic pulse sent per 100ms to drive sensor.
But the researchers feel quite confident that they can also work in the brain and central nervous system.
"The neural dust project is created with a vision of describing next generation brain-machine exchange and interaction and making it a feasible clinic technology."
"If a paralyzed patient hopes to control a computer or a robot arm, you can implant this electrode into his/her brain, where it can continuously work for a lifetime."
Since the two lenses work simultaneously, they can distinguish obvious front and rear landscapes, producing a more shallow depth of field.
In the wake of Kumamoto earthquake, not only local Japanese territory was damaged, but the world's core industrial chain of digital cameras was also broken.
Following the Kumamoto earthquake, Sony's plant in Japan suffered from heavy losses, causing the world's digital camera industry to be now in a situation of either short supply or rise in price.
Almost all the sensors developed by Sony are used for cameras. The absence of sensor supply means no cameras to be produced.
Recently there was news that Sony has currently raised approximately US$3.6 billion in the form of issuance of stocks and bonds for the R&D and production of stack CMOS.
The supply of sensors is nearly made possible by Sony, regardless of digital cameras or mobile intelligent devices (I can't image what would the scientific academia looks like if there was no Sony).
Compared to sources about new recording format revealed, I would rather prefer to see Sony can recover its normal supply of sensors, because today's camera prices are extremely high.
Macy's to close 100 stores
Department store giant Macy's said on Thursday that it plans to close 100 stores, a dramatic step that is aimed at helping the chain get ahead of a potentially crippling problem: America, it says, has too many stores for the online shopping era.
Macy's regularly prunes its store portfolio, often moving to close several dozen underperforming stores right after the annual holiday rush.
But in dropping a summertime announcement that it will close 15 per cent of its 728 locations, the chain appears to be adopting a more aggressive posture than many of its retail industry counterparts about girding its fleet for the reality of a fast-changing shopping environment.
Pedestrians and shoppers pass in front of a Macy's store in New York.
The retail giant has said it plans to close 100 stores.
Macy's has plenty of reasons to scramble to make a change: Many of its stores are located in small, regional malls, the kind whose foot traffic has been especially hard-hit by the rise of e-commerce.
And the department store category has generally struggled as shoppers increasingly turn to off-price retailers such as T.J. Maxx and fast-fashion players such as H&M to buy their clothes.
These factors, along with short-term hitches such as decreased spending by international tourists and unseasonable weather, have left Macy's in a rough patch that has stretched for more than a year.
On Thursday, the company said it saw a 2.6 per cent drop in comparable sales in the most recent quarter, a weak performance that was nonetheless an improvement over the dismal 6.1 per cent year-over-year decline it recorded in the previous quarter.
The retailer's revenue was $US5.87 billion ($A7.64 billion), down 3.9 per cent from the same period last year.
Macy's said the store closures would probably cost it about $US1 billion in annual sales.
And at one time, such a large batch of store closures might have been viewed as a retailer's concession of defeat.
Yet the company's stock soared 17 per cent on Thursday, a sign that investors view the move as a proactive measure that portends a stronger future for Macy's.
In some ways, it should not come as a surprise that Macy's is slashing stores.
Terry Lundgren, the retailer's chief executive, has said before that the chain simply had too many stores.
Executives have been saying for some time that they are embracing a strategy that puts particular emphasis on roughly 150 of their top-performing stores, trying to wring more sales out of those already-productive locations.
Jeff Gennette, the Macy's executive who has been appointed to replace Lundgren in 2017, said in a statement that nearly all of the stores the company plans to close are ones at which sales volume and profitability have been sliding.
"We recognise that these locations do not yield an adequate return on investment and often do not represent a customer shopping experience that reflects our aspirations for the Macy's brand," Gennette said.
The company said it would offer a list of the stores that will close at a later date.
Macy's said it is still finalising which stores it would shutter, and thus has not yet determined exactly how many jobs will be slashed.
The retailer will not pull out entirely of any of the top markets where it currently operates stores, but will look to close stores that are in weak locations.
The move is likely unwelcome news to mall operators, who count on big tenants like Macy's to attract and retain other smaller stores in their shopping centres.
Is your water bottle harbouring dangerous bacteria?
According to new research, drinking from refillable water bottle can be "many times worse than licking your dog's toy" in terms of the amount of bacteria it will bring you into contact with.
The website Treadmill Reviews commissioned EmLab P&K to test 12 water bottles of four different types - screw-top, slide-top, squeeze-top, and straw-top.
Each water bottle had been used by an athlete for a week without being washed.
Your refillable water bottle could be as dirty as a dog toy.
"Based on the 12 water bottles we tested, we found that reusable drinking containers may be crawling with an alarming number of viable bacteria cells: more than 300,000 colony-forming units per square centimeter (CFU/sq cm)," Treadmill Reviews said.
Slide-top were found to have the highest germ content, with more than 900,000 colony-forming units per square centimetre (CFU/sq) cm on average.
The bottles harboured gram-positive cocci, which can lead to skin infections, pneumonia, or blood poisoning.
Squeeze-top bottles were next-worse with 162,000 CFU/sq cm, and screw-top containers hosted just under 160,000 CFU/sq cm.
"Drinking from these bottles can still be worse than eating a meal from your pet's dish," the site added.
A far better picture emerged from tests on straw-top bottles, which were found to contain a fraction of the bacteria of other bottles - just 25 CFU/sq cm.
This may be because water drips to the bottom of the straw rather than sticking around to attract moisture-loving germs.
The germs that were present in the straw-top bottles were described as "mostly harmless."
"Based on our test results, we suggest opting for a straw-top bottle, both for the low prevalence of bacteria and the lack of harmful germs," the site said.
We also know that when it comes to water bottles and bacteria, stainless steel is a better choice than plastic.
Additionally, water bottles without crevices and tough-to-clean spots are less likely to host germs.
The site advises readers to wash water bottles after each use, ideally with a weak bleach solution.
Religion must either modernise or face obsolescence
In the United States the Democratic Party recently nominated Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate.
If the results of the latest polls hold true at election time, America will swear in its first female president in January.
The previous week, across the pond, British Prime Minister Theresa May was negotiating the terms of Britain's exit from Europe with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Women living in Western society have been raised to believe they can be competent and successful in any professional role through education, ambition and hard work.
And young girls today can point at several living role models operating at the highest levels of leadership.
So is the long and hard battle for women's equality finally over?
Hillary Clinton is poised to become president of the United States, but in the religious sphere women's leadership is still a contentious issue.
Well, not entirely.
In the religious sphere women's leadership remains a contentious issue.
Last week Pope Francis announced a new commission to consider whether women should be made deacons in the Catholic Church.
The Anglican Church consecrated Libby Lane as its first female bishop in January 2015, but this was only after a failed attempt in 2012.
While the Jewish Reform movement has been ordaining female rabbis since the early 1970s, and the Conservative movement since the early 1980s, in Orthodox Judaism the notion of female rabbis is still hotly contested.
In November 2015, the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America - in its third attempt to stem the growing tide of support for Orthodox women's rabbinical ordination - published a stern proclamation declaring the illegitimacy of female rabbis.
Not without irony, as Hillary Clinton wrapped up the democratic presidential nomination a group of leading American Orthodox rabbis opposed to women's ordination launched a series of "hearings" on this disputed subject.
Why is there such disparity between the secular realm and the sacred?
Orthodox Judaism, like most religions, seeks stability in what it considers enduring traditional values.
This finds expression in resisting the pressure to conform to a changing society.
Those who oppose women's ordination do so on the basis that it is not "traditional."
But the obsession with maintaining tradition in this way is not without a cost.
And the cost of such single-mindedness can paradoxically be the undermining of tradition itself by depriving the traditional community of the oxygen it needs to remain vibrant.
In The Guns of August, a military history of the First World War, Barbara Tuchman highlights the danger of prioritising tradition in what has become known as the "tragedy of the red trousers."
In the lead up to WWI, as warfare shifted from fighting at close quarters to heavier artillery fired from greater distance, it become advantageous to conceal soldiers for as long as possible.
The British and German armies reacted to this change by exchanging their bright coloured uniforms for drab greys and browns.
The French soldiers, however, still wore the same red caps and trousers, marking them out as easy targets.
The suggestion of the French war minister Adolphe Messimy that his armies do likewise was met with ridicule and resistance.
The red trousers represented army pride and prestige and military traditionalists were not prepared to give it up.
At a parliamentary hearing, a former war minister, Eugene Etienne, spoke for France.
"Eliminate the red trousers?" he cried.
Never!
"That blind and imbecile attachment to the most visible of all colours," wrote Messimy afterwards, "was to have cruel consequences."
Faith leaders grappling with women's inclusion in religious leadership roles are in danger of the same pitfall.
By focusing exclusively on "what is traditional" for their religion rather than asking the crucial question: "What change is necessary for religion to thrive?" they risk alienating 50 per cent of their flock.
They also deprive the entire community of the talent, skills and enthusiasm that women would otherwise contribute.
Insisting that men continue to wear the trousers when it comes to religion might be traditional, but, as the pantalon rouge debacle illustrates, it may not be worth the price.
Dina Brawer is founder of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, in the UK and an Orthodox rabbinical student at Yeshivat Maharat in New York.
Charlton Athletic fan 'can only get season ticket if he signs behavioural contract' and agrees not to badmouth club on social media
Whilst we recognise that everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion, it is not helpful when inflammatory comments are posted on such websites.
The fan, who works in administration, was then told he would have to pick the ticket up in person from former police Chief Inspector Cliff Eager, who joined the club last month after a 35-year career in the police force.
The letter continued: "I need to advise you that the granting of your season ticket will be 'conditioned' and subject to you signing an 'Agreed Behavioural Contract' (ABC) which will request that you refrain from posting derogatory or inflammatory comments regarding the Club or people representing the club in the future on any social media websites, or carrying out any other form of behaviour that could be deemed to be on an anti-social nature."
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the fan described how he called the club after paying for his season ticket, which never showed up and two days later the letter arrived in the post.
Yesterday, he went to the meeting with the club and said: "They told me I had been tweeting excessively and causing other people to tweet as well - which is ridiculous.'
A cycling holiday down the Dalmatian coast
What do you mean, luxury?
I rode my butt off back there," says Colleen, a former US naval commander who has just completed a 25-mile bike ride along the spine of some rugged Croatian island and left nothing out there but a bucketful of sweat and a salvo of salty naval expletives hurled at the hostile hills.
Some cyclists sing hymns or recite nursery rhymes as a climbing aid.
Colleen's friend Patty recommends The Little Engine That Could.
Others count revolutions or just suffer in silence, wondering what it takes to enter the trance-like state of which hardened cyclists speak.
Colleen swears, with more venom than variety.
Cycling a few yards ahead of her is like being pursued by Hugh Grant in the opening sequence of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Her mission and mine is a week-long "luxury" boat and bike tour of Croatia's north Dalmatian coast and islands, organised by Freedom Treks.
Cycling at the height of summer in such a steeply pitched place as Croatia might not fit everyone's idea of luxury, but north Dalmatia is said to be an easier ride than south, our saddles are soft and when we filled in our booking forms in carefree and confident manner all those months ago there was a box we failed to tick that could have secured us the assistance of a battery-powered e-bike.
The luxury part of the deal is our floating home for the week, the brand new Melody.
At the end of the ride we can dump our bikes on the quay for our guides Ivan and Ivana to stow, and jump off the back of the boat into clear blue water without having to mix it with sea urchins, sharp rocks and other people on the hanky sized strips of pebbles that Croatians call a beach.
In late June the sea is a perfect temperature, all agree: cool enough to refresh, but not cold.
The Melody is stocked with masks and snorkels and a couple of kayaks should anyone feel energetic after a hard morning in the saddle.
Instead, most of us retreat to our air-conditioned cabins where Helena, the ship's masseuse - I'm not joking - will have made our beds, restocked our minibars and left a new box of chocs on the table.
Ivan says stretching is important after cycling, and we practise stretching out for the afternoon on our beds or a cushioned lounger on the top deck with Antonio the barman ever ready to administer one of his cocktails.
The Melody, at 42m long with 15 cabins and a crew of half a dozen shipmates, is no bulging superyacht but a stylish little cruiser.
She turns heads in a small island port among the fishing boats and flotilla holiday yachts, and we are proud to belong to her.
Colleen and Patty belong to a meetup.com group of friends from Washington DC: the Over 45 Sport and Socials, they call themselves.
Last year's barge and bike holiday in the Netherlands was such a success they decided to try something more adventurous and here they are in Croatia.
A rival chapel of their church is doing a boat and bike holiday in Provence, and every afternoon the ether thickens with a ping pong rally of competitive Facebook postings.
The adventure element of the holiday can be overstated, because our schedule is nothing if not regimented.
"Breakfast and dinner are at eight o'clock," Ivan announced to the new intake at the welcome briefing as we set sail from the beautiful old port of Trogir, near Split.
One ring of the ship's bell declares the buffet open and another at the end of the meal calls for silence and listen carefully to the next briefing.
"Good moaning!" is a cultural reference perhaps lost on all but the British contingent.
Who cares - the banter is well rehearsed and the jokes come thin and fast, while Ivana hands out sketch maps of the day's excursion and we all pretend to be horrified by the wiggles, contour shading and a profile with ups and downs on it, although anything else would be a surprise on a Croatian bike ride that starts and finishes at sea level.
"It's like a heart monitor," says Ivan.
Completely flat is not recommended.
Ivan delivers his briefing in parallel text, switching fluently between English and German.
Some weeks he has a dozen different nationalities to contend with, but we are an easy group - Swiss, German, American and British - which divides easily at mealtimes into two English speaking tables, one German.
On the road we are all friends.
Cycling breeds camaraderie, and the only competition is with the terrain, which is to say ourselves.
I can't remember a more harmonious and relaxed group dynamic.
We soon tune in to Ivan's wave length.
A stiff climb is an incline, not to be confused with an undulation, which is a good thing.
Hairpins are serpentines and straightforward means straight on: simple but not always easy.
Cycling instructions are always the same: "Single file, keep your distance, and it's not a race.
We meet on the quay at nine.
OK, five past - you're on holiday, I forgot.
Take lots of water.
From Trogir our cruise takes us northwards for two days through the Kornati archipelago, where we ride most of the length of Dugi Otok - Croatian for "long island" - and have our slumbers interrupted for a walk in the Telašćica Nature Park, to admire its high cliffs and a salt lake fed by sea water through an underground channel.
It is said to have rejuvenating power for all who swim in it.
If we paddle, will our legs feel younger and stronger?
At the small island of Molat we turn south again, hopping between mainland and nearby islands in seemingly haphazard fashion.
Most of our rides are on empty little roads through open country with big sea views and mixed veg: olive groves, vineyards, prickly herbal scrub; Mediterranean scents in the air and myriad butterflies on the wing.
While we roll along there is always a breeze but shade is at a premium when Ivan calls a halt, and small pools of it are the reward for early arrivals.
The Sport and Socials do a lot of group cycling at weekends and they know the etiquette, sending warnings up and down the line and leaving gaps so that motorists can overtake more safely.
"You were nearly a hood ornament there," one cyclist tells another, after a truck driver thought better of overtaking on a blind corner and hit the brakes hard.
Fortunately they worked.
Ivan divides us into three groups for the occasional short stretches of cycling on main roads, with Ivana at the very back to encourage and "scoop up," as Ivan puts it.
And if a main road must be crossed we all assemble, dismount and walk our bikes to the safety of the other side, as instructed and not before.
"Do you think Ivan realises he is not speaking to a group of children?" a Swiss cyclist asks, as we stand beside the road waiting for the signal to cross.
Our afternoons are not all devoted to idleness.
A city tour at Zadar reveals remains of a Roman forum and a sea organ which plays music like the moan of a caged sea monster, through pipes set in the stone fabric of the promenade and open to the water.
Zadar's famous sunset is perfectly timed between main course and pudding, and after dark we return to the sea organ and watch the play of wave-powered lights in a glass pavement - a dance floor, in fact.
When Melody sets sail for the lively resort of Biograd in the early morning, the organ's song is no more than a whisper.
Day five is entirely free of cycling.
A boat trip up the Krka river estuary to visit its waterfalls; an afternoon tour of Sibenik with its domed cathedral, a masterpiece of the Dalmatian Renaissance; and a twilight stroll on the peaceful island of Zlarin in search of its local speciality, coral - make for an interesting day.
Lourdes prepares for pilgrims in shadow of attacks
People gather during the annual Catholic pilgrimage at the sanctuary of Notre Dame de Lourdes.
French security forces are on high alert as thousands of Catholics converge on the shrine of Lourdes for an annual pilgrimage unfolding in the shadow of a string of terror attacks.
Each year, tens of thousands flock to the sanctuary in the foothills of the Pyrenees for the Feast of the Assumption on August 15, marking the ascent of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.
This year's pilgrimage comes as Catholics reel from the killing of an elderly French priest on July 26 by two Islamist extremists, who stormed his church in northern France during Mass and slit his throat.
Jacques Hamel's murder came under two weeks after a Tunisian -- said by investigators to have become radicalised by online jihadist videos -- ploughed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in the Riviera city of Nice, killing 85 people.
Many in France are now leery about attending public gatherings after three large-scale attacks in 18 months.
With tourist arrivals in the country plummeting, authorities had worried that the number of visitors to this year's pilgrimage would be sharply down.
But fears of mass cancellations have failed to materialise -- and some organisers say there has even been a last-minute surge.
Around 25,000 faithful are expected, including mass groups from Italy and Belgium and a delegation of around 200 members of the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity.
Many pilgrims say they will not be cowed.
"We're not going to stop living," Christian, a 66-year-old visitor, told AFP, describing prayer as the "only weapon" in the face of violence.
"It's important to show that life goes on," said Matthieu Guignard, one of the coordinators.
It's not because a few fanatics try to sow fear that we should abandon our faith, our beliefs, our way of living.
Several major events have been cancelled in France since the Nice attack over security concerns, including a huge flea market in the northern city of Lille and the European road cycling championships that had been set to take place in Nice in September.
"For the past week, my fear was that my phone would be ringing with cancellations," Fabien Lejeusne, the priest in charge of the official pilgrimage said last weekend.
Instead, the attacks appeared to mobilise the faithful, he said, reporting a last-minute bookings spurt.
The head of the local hotel workers' union, Christian Gelis, confirmed signs of "increased interest" in the pilgrimage in the wake of the attacks.
Security has been dramatically tightened around the sanctuary built around the shrine, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in a grotto to Bernadette Soubirous, a poor shepherd girl, in 1858.
Around 250 police and two dozen soldiers, including bomb disposal experts and officers with sniffer dogs, have been deployed to protect the area.
Pilgrims filing through security barriers have their bags searched at the entrance to the site, where the number of access points has been reduced from a dozen to three.
Catherine Simcox, who made a pilgrimage from the north east of England to Lourdes earlier this month described the heightened security.
"By Thursday morning, there were armed guards inside the sanctuaries and then the gates became single file entry (with metal barriers) with bags being searched on the way in," she told The Local.
"This total freaked my three kids out who are used to Lourdes & it was hard to not scare them when they asked why it was happening," she said.
It didn't spoil my experience, but it saddened me that it was necessary and I understood that some people were reassured by the measures.
The route of Friday's opening procession has also been curtailed -- instead of starting in the town of Lourdes and proceeding to the sanctuary, it will start and end at the shrine.
Other measures taken including shutting down the airspace above Lourdes to flights, closing off the streets around the sanctuary to traffic and replacing rubbish bins with transparent plastic bags.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is to inspect security arrangements on Saturday.
Lourdes attracts around six million people a year, making it one of the biggest sites of Catholic pilgrimage in the world.
Many visitors bring sick or disabled relatives, who come to bathe in a spring in the cave where Bernadette said she saw Mary, believing the water to have healing properties.
Thierry Castillo, another of the organisers, described this year's gathering as "a bit unusual" given "the threat that seems to have taken root in France."
But "it won't affect the quality and depth of what they experience," he assured.
Francoise, a 58-year-old volunteer who was assisting sick pilgrims, admitted she found the presence of soldiers in fatigues "a little overwhelming."
But if it reassures everyone, it's good.
Two injured in Zaragoza shopping centre shooting
Two people have been seriously injured after a man opened fire at a shopping centre in Zaragoza in northeastern Spain.
The incident occurred at 11am on Friday in the busy Aragonia commercial centre in Zaragoza.
Initial reports suggest that the gunman may have shot a woman, believed to be his ex-partner.
The gunman fled after firing the shots and is being hunted by police.
Turkey seeks missing diplomats following coup attempt
Turkey is seeking at least 32 diplomats who failed to return to Turkey in a recall of personnel following a July 15 coup attempt.
Foreign Minister Mevut Cavusoglu said Friday that 208 members of Turkey's ministry staff were recalled to Ankara from posts around the world in an inquiry regarding the coup attempt, and 32 remain missing "without permission."
About 18,000 civil servants, military leaders and academics have been arrested or suspended from their positions in Turkey, the government believing their loyalties lie with U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it accuses of masterminding the attempt to overthrow the government.
Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, is on Turkey's most-wanted list.
Cavosoglu said a U.S. Department of Justice team will visit Turkey later this month to discuss his possible extradition.
The issue has become a problem for the United States in its dealings with Turkey, a NATO member.
The United States has objected to the strong-arm tactics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the coup, and Turkey has responded by attempting to develop closer ties with Russia.
Cavosoglu said two Turkish military attaches in Greece fled to Italy, an attaché in Kuwait attempted to escape to Saudi Arabia but was sent back and two generals in Afghanistan were caught in Dubai and sent to Turkey.
He added two civil servants in Bangladesh fled to New York, and one in Russia went to Japan.
The Ankara newspaper Daily Hurryiet, citing military sources, added Turkey's military attaché in Jordan was also missing.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a U.S. official familiar with the situation, reported that a Turkish military officer stationed at a Virginia NATO command center requested asylum in the United States.
There are those who have escaped.
There have been escapees among our diplomats as well," Cavosoglu told broadcaster NTV in an interview.
As of yesterday, time has run out for those initially called back.
We will carry out the legal operations for those who have not returned.
Olympic officials try to clean green-tinged diving pool
Olympic divers planning to practice Friday arrived to a closed pool as officials took more time to clean the green-tinged water before holding the first individual event of the Rio Games.
The water suddenly changed color Tuesday, midway through the synchronized diving events.
Officials insisted the water was safe for competing, even after a larger, adjacent pool used for water polo and synchronized swimming also turned a lighter shade of green.
The diving well was shut down when athletes arrived for morning warmups, though it did finally open at 1 p.m. local time - just 2 1/2 hours before the start of the women's 3-meter event.
The water color appeared to be closer to normal but was still shaded green.
American diver Abby Johnston, who is competing on the springboard, said she showed up for her warmup, only to learn the pool was shut down without any notice.
She wrote on Twitter that "#FixTheSwamp" should start trending.
British diver Tom Daley, who won bronze in the synchro platform event, also commented on the state of the pool in a Twitter post.
Hopefully that means we haven't been diving in anything too bad the last couple of days!
Mario Andrada, chief spokesman for the local organizing committee, stressed that the pool was safe for competition, clearing the way for the 3-meter preliminaries.
He conceded that some athletes were bothered by the water, but said that was a result of efforts to clean the pool.
"We reiterate what we have been saying all along - the water does not offer any threat to the health of the athletes," he said.
In the first day of this water situation, one or two athletes complained about their eyes being itchy.
This was a result that the first reaction when we saw the water turning green was to use one of the chemicals - chlorine - that is very common in swimming pools.
We reduced immediately the quantity.
We retested the water and it was totally within the parameters.
Simon Langford, chief spokesman for the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, said the pool was closed to allow additional cleaning.
He said the decision was supported by world governing body FINA.
"The reason is that the water must be still so the pool can return to its blue color as soon as possible," Langford said in a statement.
Andrada said officials were caught off guard by the pool's deteriorating condition.
"Chemistry is not an exact science," he said.
Some things, as you can see, went longer than expected.
Rain the past couple of days made it even tougher to get the water color back to normal.
"The rain doesn't help," Andrada said.
He added that athletes had access to dry-land training in the morning, but conceded that "was not ideal."
He explained that the changing color of the pool was the result of increased alkaline levels, much like aquarium water can turn green when not monitored properly.
When we went to fix the green, there was a discussion about the best chemicals.
We can't use too much chemicals in the water because athletes are training in it," Andrada said.
We certainly could have done better in the beginning to prevent the water from turning green.
Once it turned green, we again made another bit of a mistake.
AP Sports Writers Jay Cohen and Steve Wade in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
During the summer holidays, the "Rural Study" in Guolang Villiage, Ligao Town, Liujiang County, will be open to primary and secondary school students in the village, allowing them to enrich their knowledge though reading books and newspapers in the "study", so it is very popular among students and their parents.
After arriving at the scene at about 7 pm that evening, the reporter saw that a dozen of police cars with alarm lamp on were parking nearby, the road to the plant had been blocked, and there were nearly a hundred onlookers everywhere surrounding the road.
According to local information, 21 people have been killed and 5 have been injured including 3 severely injured in the accident of the thermoelectric project of Hubei Dangyang Madian Gangue Power Generation Co., Ltd. as of 8 pm on August 11.
Hubei province's leaders Li Hongzhong, Wang Xiaodong and Fu Dehui have rushed to the scene from Wuhan to make an on-site investigation of the accident, studying and deciding response to the accident and the aftermath work.
The preliminary investigation shows that high pressure steam piping breaking during the commissioning of the thermoelectric project of Dangyang Madian Gangue Power Generation Co., Ltd. under construction, which resulted in steam leakage, is the main reason for the accident.
According to a doctor-in-charge from the Dangyang People's Hospital, there were several severely injured persons in the ICU. When he introduced the treatment to a family member in a low voice, the family member looked stone-faced.
According to a nurse-in-charge coming out from the ICU, two persons in the ICU might be in danger. Some of the injured suffered from visceral injuries as well as respiratory and heartbeat problems
An injured person, who had before worked at Huaqiang Chemicals for 9 years, was transferred to the new plant just more than 1 month ago. His uncle said that he was rushed to the ICU of Dangyang People's Hospital for emergency treatment due to severe injuries in the wake of the accident.
Since urban residents vary in the eating preference, the system also compares the different types of catering in travel destinations.
Last but not least, keep social supervision and tip-off channels open, improve the acceptance rate, dispose cases in accordance with the laws and rules, and effectively report handling results in time, earnestly protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the numerous netizens.
58-year-old Aunt Chen who lives in Beili, South Qianpu Area, Xiamen, came out of the community hospital with medicines and happily told the reporter, "It's really more convenient to see a doctor than before!"
After grading treatment was launched, it has been much more convenient for residents to go to community hospitals for checkup and making a prescription.
Provided that it is necessary to prove the literacy of the party involved, he/she shall tender his/her academic certificate, degree certificate or certificate issued by the school or relevant certification authority or apply for a notarization according to the law.
Provided that it is necessary to prove the death of the party involved is normal or is abnormal after the treatment of medical and health organization, the Medical Certificate of Death shall be issued by the medical and health organization.
Thanks to U.S. stock market gains and yen devaluation overnight, Tokyo stocks opened higher on August 12, and Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.10%.
In the afternoon trading session, two major Tokyo stock indexes extended their gains, driven by a weaker yen and generally rising of other major indexes in Asia.
Seen from industry, the gains of stocks such as electrical industry, natural gas industry, aquaculture, and agriculture and forestry in the Tokyo stock market were at the very top, while stocks like banking obviously declined.
The places in both men's and women's singles finals were occupied by the Chinese players again. The powerful dominance of the Chinese team stirred up various cheerful jokes about the girly girl Fukuhara Ai online.
On the evening of August 12 Beijing Time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the report on the consultation with China in Clause 4, providing analysis and evaluation of China's economic and financial situation.
"China is continuing to switch to sustainable growth and have gained ground on many fields, but it also faces many challenges," said in the Chinese press release published on IMF's official website.
According to IMF's report, despite the decline in economic growth, China's contribution to the global economy in 2015 still accounted for up to one third. China's economic transformation is of benefit to the global economy.
IMF's executive directors commended China for its steadfast determination to enable a more balanced and sustainable economic growth, and noticed that China's economic growth is increasingly driven by services and consumption.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China, China's service industry accounted for 54.1% of its GDP in the first half, and the contribution rate of consumption to economic growth reached 73.4%.
In enterprise debt, IMF's report suggests that comprehensive measures can be taken to address enterprise debt issues.
"Enterprises in industries with excess capacity have a larger pressure of debt repayment. De-capacity and de-leveraging today means to promote the gradual removing of debt risks," said Xu Gao.
Express: Wang Shun wins the bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley at Rio 2016 Olympics
On August 12 Beijing Time, Chinese swimmer Wang Shun claimed the bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley final at Rio 2016 Olympics.
Shanghai, Taipei to hold forum despite cross-Strait communication suspension
Shanghai and Taipei will hold their annual city forum from Aug. 22-23 in Taipei, Shanghai municipal authorities announced Friday, despite current suspension of cross-Strait communication mechanisms.
Senior municipal official Sha Hailin, on behalf of Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong, will lead a delegation to attend the forum, the Shanghai government announced via its official microblog account on Sina Weibo.
The forum has been held by the two cities in rotation since 2010.
The 2016 forum will focus on exchanges in fields such as health care, smart cities, culture and transportation in a bid to "deepen exchanges and cooperation in various aspects" between the two cities, according to the Shanghai government.
The Taiwan side has failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which endorses the one-China principle, since new leader Tsai Ing-wen assumed office in May, leading to the suspension of communication and consultation mechanisms.
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office on the mainland, said Friday that the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations can be maintained as long as the Taiwan side adheres to the political foundation of the 1992 Consensus.
"We hold an active and open attitude toward exchanges between cities of both sides," Ma said, stressing that the nature of cross-Strait relations and city exchanges should be interpreted correctly.
Ugandan president meets Chinese FM, anticipates closer cooperation
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday thanked China for its long-term support for Uganda's development and wished for closer cooperation while meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
China is an old friend of Uganda and Africa, who has sided with Africa during the continent's liberation from colonialism and later supported Africa's economic and social development, Museveni said.
The president cited the Tanzania-Zambia Railway built in the 1970s as an evidence of China's generous support even when China was by then not so prosperous itself.
China has carried out multifaceted cooperation with Uganda, ranging from infrastructure and business investment to cultural exchanges, Museveni said, adding that such kind of cooperation is more conducive to Uganda's long-term development than simply providing aids.
He hopes China can, through various ways, join in Uganda's infrastructural development and construction of industrial parks.
He also welcomes more Chinese to invest and travel in Uganda.
Wang Yi hailed the progress Uganda has made in industrialization and agricultural modernization, adding that China will continue to play the role of Uganda's most reliable and ideal cooperation partner.
China stands ready to try its best in helping Uganda pursue economic and social development, Wang said, noting that Sino-Ugandan cooperation is sincere and without any political strings attached as it is based on high-level political trust and time-tested friendship.
He said China would strengthen its cooperation with Uganda on construction of infrastructure and industrial parks, and support the east African nation to develop its energy and agriculture sectors.