Have we found the Holy Grail of genetic engineering?

Since its introduction four decades ago, genetic engineering has been a source of high hopes for health, agriculture, and industry.

One step forward, one step back for global carbon emission cuts

The divergence of policies and priorities of the world's two largest economies in combating climate change stood in stark contrast on Monday. In Beijing, where improving air quality has become a major policy priority, China's top economic planner unveiled plans for a national carbon market - likely the world's largest - where enterprises can trade their emissions credits. It is another bold step the country is taking to deliver on its Paris Agreement promises.

UN Security Council vote was more than an insult

Rather than blame the rest of the United Nations Security Council members for opposing its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Washington should reflect on the significance of it having to use its veto instead of pettily calling it, as US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley did, "an insult" that "won't be forgotten".

Tough environmental protection task

Environmental protection volunteers exposed two illegal hazardous waste dumps in the suburbs of Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province, on Monday. Thousands of cubic tons of carbon blocks and waste residue from the electrolyzing of aluminum have been buried under a thin layer of earth or piled up in the open air in two valleys near a village of 2,700 residents.

Woman should not be pinned to her past as the poor girl in the photo

SU MINGJUAN, who became an overnight sensation when she was a young girl because of a photo showing her studying in a cold and shabby classroom in her hometown in a poverty-stricken county in East China's Anhui province, was elected deputy secretary of the Anhui provincial committee of the Communist Youth League on Friday, provoking much comment. Guangming Daily commented on Tuesday:

Bursting bubbles bring billionaires grief

ON MONDAY NIGHT, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced its decision to adjust the list of stock indexes, and le.com, a domestic video website that has been mired in a debt crisis for months, was expelled from its startup board. China Youth Daily comments:

Beijing accelerates development of self-driving vehicles

BEIJING HAS RELEASED a guideline for road tests of self-driving cars, which shows the authorities' support for technological innovation through systematic innovation. The Beijing News comments:

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Anti-graft agenda on the right track

Corruption is a cancer to which no society is immune. It raised the death toll of Iran's recent earthquake, owing to substandard housing construction 10 years ago. It has afflicted the United States Navy, which is now investigating more than 60 admirals and hundreds more officers for fraud and bribery. And it has brought down countless governments.

Trump's tax cut bill more of a political game

The year 2017 is coming to an end amid a couple of economic shocks. With the Conference Committee of the US Congress passing the bill for the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 on Dec 15, worries are mounting across the world on its possible ramifications, including global tax competition, capital flows into the United States, possible shift of manufacturing investment back to the US, and the rise of the dollar against other currencies, especially the renminbi.

China in Australia and the accounts of soft power

"Now is the winter of our discontent", laments the cold wind wafting south to Australia. This follows Australian media having expressed outrage at possible inducements to politicians, by some Chinese Australians, inducement being a form of coercion for political scientist Joseph Nye Jr.

US' national security strategy is still a work in progress

While highlighting the areas of cooperation with China, US President Donald Trump also identified it as a strategic competitor when he unveiled his national security strategy on Monday.