Beijing

Female fighter pilots complete solo flights

Five female Air Force pilots Wednesday completed their first successful solo flights using the domestically manufactured J-10 fighter jet, the Air Force of the People's Liberation Army said.

The PLA Air Force recruited its first female fighter pilots in 2005. More than 500 women have enlisted since 1951, although most have been relegated to piloting cargo transport planes and engaging in navigation, communication and flight testing.

China's life expectancy to hit 77 by 2020

China's average life expectancy will increase to 77 years by 2020 from 74.83 years in 2010, according to an official forecast released on Friday.

Targets for improving life expectancy, as well as nine other key indicators of the country's public health, including maternal and child mortality rates, were set in a strategic report issued by the Ministry of Health.

The report said national healthcare input should amount to 6.5 to 7 percent of the gross domestic product by 2020. The ratio stood at 4.98 percent in 2010, based on a 2 trillion yuan ($314 billion) annual healthcare budget.

The report also highlighted efforts to narrow the healthcare gap between different regions by introducing dedicated action plans for poverty-stricken areas.

China to deploy more guards at schools

The Ministry of Education will deploy more security guards in primary and middle schools as well as kindergartens to maintain better schoolyard security, the Beijing Times reported on Friday.

By 2013, the education facilities will have at least one guard, the report quoted Minister of Education Yuan Guiren as saying. Yuan made the announcement at a meeting about security issues at the opening of the new semester.

The minister also said there will be safety education before school holidays and after new semesters begin.

Yuan called for standardized safety around schools, where patrolling and cutting out safety irregularities will be introduced, and school buses.

China's schoolyard security worsened in 2010 after a series of attacks on kindergartners and primary-school students. Since then, the authorities have beefed up safety efforts.

Official denies new TV series restrictions

An official with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television denied rumors that the administration will introduce new restrictions on TV series, according to a report from the Beijing Times on Wednesday.

Wang Weiping, the official, said at a symposium on TV dramas that the rumors on restrictions, which largely spread online, were idle speculation.

Director Zheng Xiaolong said that any theme could be made into a good drama series as long as it is thoughtfully developed.

China to enforce blacklist for unsafe drugs

Regulations that call for the blacklisting of manufacturers of unsafe medication will go into effect in October as part of nationwide efforts to enhance medical safety.

According to rules issued Wednesday by the State Food and Drug Administration, information regarding the manufacturers and those found responsible for severe violations of relevant laws will be included in a blacklist that will be posted on government websites for public supervision.

The regulations also call for the revocation of licenses granted to companies on the blacklist, as well as a 10-year suspension of their operations.

Hong Kong

Chinese activists return from Diaoyu Islands

Seven of the 14 Chinese nationals who were illegally detained by Japanese police when going to the Diaoyu Islands on Wednesday arrived in Hong Kong by plane at around 7:50 pm local time on Friday. The other group of seven boarded a Japan Coast Guard plane to fly to Ishigaki Island, where their vessel was detained, in order to return by boat, according to local media reports.

Nanning

Typhoon Kai-Tak wreaks havoc along coast

An oil spill triggered by typhoon Kai-Tak in the South China city of Beihai has been cleaned up, according to a local official.

Typhoon Kai-Tak, the 13th tropical storm of the year, has left one dead and two missing in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region so far, and about 110,000 residents there remain threatened.

An oil ship anchored near Beihai, a coastal city in Guangxi, drifted and collided into the bank, resulting in five tons of oil being spilled at about 1 am.

The local government sent a work team to clean up the spill and cordon off the contaminated area to prevent the pool from expanding.

Newswatch

2 dead, 10 missing after rain storms

Two are reported dead and 10 others are missing after rain storms in Southwest China's Sichuan province, local authorities said on Saturday.

The heavy rains from 8 am Friday to 8 am Saturday had triggered landslides, mud-rock flow and floods and damaged water conservancy, power and telecommunication facilities, said an official of the provincial flood and drought relief headquarters.

More rains are predicted in parts of Sichuan the next five days, according to the provincial observatory.

Xinhua

(China Daily 08/19/2012 page2)