IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Nuclear submarine to be displayed at museum

China's first nuclear-powered submarine was towed to a port of the Chinese Navy Museum in Qingdao, Shandong province, in mid-October, according to the North Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy.

The sub had navigated the world's oceans for more than 40 years. Its radioactive parts will be removed before arriving at the museum.

The decommissioning of the submarine, together with the safe disposal of its nuclear reactors and waste, indicates China is able to not only develop and operate nuclear submarines, but also to properly handle them when they retire, the Navy said.

Newer webcams are safe, maker says

Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology Co, a video surveillance manufacturer, is recalling four kinds of webcams sold in the US after a widespread cyberattack blocked access to websites there, including Twitter and PayPal.

Around 10,000 of the company's webcams will be recalled. Unidentified hackers seized control of gadgets, including the Xiongmai webcams, and directed them to launch an attack that temporarily brought down the websites.

Liu Yuexin, Xiongmai's marketing director, said the recalled webcams were manufactured before April last year and had easy-to-guess default passwords. The main vulnerability in the recent attack was that users had not changed the webcams' default passwords, making them easy to hack, the company said. It reassured the public that there is a low possibility of similar problems when using its upgraded gadgets.

SE Asia welcomes Sino-US cooperation

A report released on Oct 25 by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations and the Center for American Progress said that Southeast Asian nations welcome China-US cooperation, preferring that to rivalry.

It found that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations expects to be in the driver's seat as the two giants collaborate in the region.

Experts from the two institutes jointly conducted field research across six nations in Southeast Asia - Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore - to identify underexplored opportunities for China-US collaboration.

The report said mistrust complicates China-US relations and can obscure areas where cooperation might be possible and beneficial.

China, DPRK to build new bridges

Beijing and Pyongyang held the third meeting of a joint border commission on Oct 25, agreeing to build new bridges over the Tumen River, mainly to transport relief supplies.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the reason behind the move is that the DPRK's heavy vehicles transporting goods purchased from China have been unable to get through after heavy rains brought by Typhoon Lionrock in August devastated hundreds of homes, leaving a large number of people homeless.

The river marks part of the boundary between China, the DPRK and Russia.

Antelope rebound affects grasslands

A rebound in the population of the once-endangered Tibetan antelope has come with some unintended consequences, a conservation official said on Oct 26.

While the species' survival is more assured now, its growing numbers have put pressure on fragile mountain grasslands. The antelope population had declined to about 70,000 in the early 1990s because of poaching, but it has now reached about 250,000 nationwide, including 150,000 in the Tibet autonomous region, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences that was released on Oct 26.

The antelope was downgraded in September from "endangered" to "near threatened", dropping two levels, at the sixth World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Census of pollution sources readied

China is planning its second national census of pollution sources, aiming to present a clear picture of pollution and analyzing its capacity to control it, the central government said on Oct 26. There will be a special leading committee to guide the work of the second census, which is chaired by Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli. Fifteen ministry-level departments will be involved, the statement said. The census will start on Dec 31, 2017, and last for all of 2018. Data analysis and the census report will be completed in 2019.

Shanghai to improve international curriculum

Shanghai's Education Commission says it will improve its supervision of international curriculum in private schools. The commission held a conference recently on the administration of private schools, highlighting problems such as enrolling Chinese students in international programs; teaching Chinese students the international curriculum; and watering down basic courses, such as Chinese, or weakening ideological and moral lessons. The commission emphasized that policies for international schools that recruit expatriate students remain unchanged.

China Fashion Week gets underway in Beijing

The Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017 opened in Beijing on Oct 25. The nine-day event consists of 78 shows and three professional contests in venues including the Beijing Hotel, 751D Park, China Central Place and the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

More than 70 designers and 90 brands from home and abroad will be featured at the event, including Ne Tiger, Ellassay, Aimer, Jefen and Peacebird.

Women's fashion will be the major focus of the event, complemented by menswear and children's clothing. Brands by independent designers will be showcased in 751D Park, while more established brands will be shown at the Beijing Hotel.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/28/2016 page2)