Briefly

Images taken by orbiter show Martian dust

China's Tianwen-1 orbiter has beamed back high-resolution images of Mars, showing dust storms on the surface of the planet. Released by the China National Space Administration on Thursday, the new pictures, with a resolution of 0.5 meters, were captured by a camera on the probe, which has been operating in orbit for 609 days at a distance of 277 million kilometers from Earth. Track marks left by China's Zhurong Mars rover can be seen in the pictures. In 306 Martian days of service, the rover has traveled 1,784 meters on the planet. Zhurong has also snapped selfies on Mars. Compared with the images taken shortly after it landed on the planet, the new photos show a layer of dust that has accumulated on its surface.

Former senior Yunnan political adviser probed

Huang Yi, a former senior political adviser in Southwest China's Yunnan province, is under investigation by the country's top anti-graft bodies for suspected severe violations of Party discipline and State laws. Huang, former vice-chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is being investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission, a statement released on Thursday said.

Xinhua