IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Athletes ready to shine anew in Rio

Chinese Olympians are gearing up for athletic breakthroughs as well as a clean campaign at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month. The country announced on July 18 that it will send 416 athletes, including 35 Olympic champions - its largest athletic delegation ever for an overseas Olympics - and it pledged to compete with full efforts against doping. The delegation is made up of 160 men and 256 women. They will compete in 210 events of 26 sports at the Games, which open on Aug 5 in Brazil.

HIV/AIDS patients hit by identity scam

More than 350 HIV/AIDS patients from across China had received scam calls as of July 18, and said their personal information has been leaked, according to BHL China League. The patients come from all 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, and they told their stories to BHL China League, an online interactive platform for HIV/AIDS patients based in Beijing. The actual number of patients affected by the privacy leak who are getting scam calls may be much higher than what BHL China League has heard about, according to Bai Hua, chief of the league.

Ministry touts cigarette crackdown

The police have busted counterfeit and smuggled cigarette rackets nationwide worth 766 million yuan ($114.5 million; 103.4 million euros), the Ministry of Public Security announced on July 17. In total, 541 suspects have been detained, 900,000 cartons of fake or smuggled cigarettes seized and 1,078 metric tons of raw materials confiscated, the ministry said.

Sixth Yangtze River bridge opens in Yichang

Zhixi Yangtze River Bridge, stretching across China's longest river, opened for traffic on July 18 in Yichang, Hubei province. The 838-meter suspension bridge is the second of its kind in the world to be made with composite steel and concrete beams without a supporting pier. The 2.8 billion yuan ($418.5 million; 378.1 million euro) project, which has six lanes, is the sixth bridge over the Yangtze in Yichang.

Artificial sun kindles chances of Mars mission

China's space scientists have developed the country's largest sun simulator, which is expected to boost its effort to operate rovers on other planets. With a diameter of 5 meters, the device is capable of providing illumination stronger than natural sunlight and will be used to test the reliability of China's space probes and planetary rovers, according to the instrument's developer, Beijing Institute of Environmental Features. Artificial suns are widely used in tests and measurement of solar batteries, radiation-resistance tests of spacecraft materials and heat balance tests for spaceships, according to the institute.

Taiwan bus blaze kills all 26 on board

Twenty-six people, including 23 tourists and a tour guide from the Chinese mainland and two people from Taiwan - the driver and a tour guide - were killed when the tour bus crashed into a barrier on a highway and caught fire near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on July 19. Premier Li Keqiang has ordered the appropriate mainland authorities to look into the accident as soon as possible and to properly deal with follow-up matters, according to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Telecoms extend 4G services to Nansha

China's top mobile telecom carriers have launched 4G services on the Nansha Islands. China Telecom, the country's third-largest carrier by subscribers, has expanded its signal to seven reefs, giving islanders faster internet and enabling them to make video calls and shop online. Its larger competitor, China Mobile, has expanded its 4G signal to cover Yongshu Reef and Zhubi Reef after successfully launching a service in the nearby Xisha Islands.

Plans in motion to create immigration bureau

China plans to set up its first immigration office under the Ministry of Public Security this year. The office will be created by merging and expanding the ministry's border control and entry-exit administration bureaus, according to a Bloomberg report that cited inside sources. It is not clear yet whether there will also be an intergovernmental organization to deal with immigration affairs, insiders said.

Regulator probes Baidu over gambling links

Search engine Baidu is being investigated for allegedly advertising gambling websites, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on July 19. Reports this week said Baidu returned search results that included links to gambling websites in its commercial section. The administration called on the company and other search engines to observe new regulations on search services, saying it is their social obligation to stop the spread of illegal content.

Rules aim at stopping academic fraud

Researchers at higher education institutes who commit "academic misconduct" will receive punishments ranging from notices of criticism circulated on campus to being fired, according to new regulations from the Ministry of Education on July 19. Under the rules, which the ministry said are designed to ensure the healthy development of academia, universities are to create integrity records for researchers and incorporate academic honesty into evaluation systems.

Mural discovered in Ordos tomb

Archaeologists have found a mural in a tomb that they believe was painted nearly 2,000 years ago, sources said on July 18. The tomb is in a cluster in the desert near Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, where experts also unearthed two skulls in a decayed sarcophagus as well as pottery and bronze utensils, said Gao Xingchao, a researcher at the Ordos city museum. The mural covers more than 30 square meters.

AlphaGo rises to world No 1 spot

AlphaGo overtook Chinese player Ke Jie to become world's first nonhuman No 1 player, according to GoRating on July 18. The program was designed by Google DeepMind, a British artificial intelligence company, which also plans to apply its technology to improve human well-being, including in healthcare services.

Chinese injured in ax attack on German train

Four Hong Kong citizens were injured, two seriously, in an ax attack on July 18 on a regional train near Wuerzburg in the southern German state of Bavaria, the Chinese Consulate General in Munich has confirmed. The four victims are from one family: a father of 62, mother of 58, a daughter in her 20s and a son of 17. Accompanying the family was the daughter's 31-year-old boyfriend who was severely injured, as was the father.

Hi-tech warship delivered to Algerian navy

China has delivered a stealth corvette to the Algerian navy, marking a new high in the nation's export of military ships. The C28A-class guided missile corvette was commissioned by the navy at a port of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group in Shanghai. It is the third of its kind in the African country's navy. The corvette represents the highest technological level of China's export warships, China Ship News reported, quoting shipbuilding sources as saying it has the best combat capability and is very competitive on the international market.

China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 07/22/2016 page2)