Briefly

GANSU

6 nabbed for drug trafficking by mail

Police have caught six suspected drug traffickers and seized about 2.75 kilograms of heroin in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture, Gansu province, local authorities said. In mid-November, police in Linxia county received a tip that drug dealers planned to traffic drugs from Yunnan province to Gansu by parcel post. The police set up a task force to investigate the case and apprehended a suspect surnamed Ma near a courier service outlet in the prefecture on Sunday, seizing eight blocks of heroin in four packages on the spot. The five other suspects were arrested later.

Dunhuang grottoes restoration underway

Repair work is proceeding smoothly at the grottoes in Dunhuang, including the Mogao Grottoes UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dunhuang Academy said on Thursday. The academy has launched nearly 30 projects this year to restore the city's dilapidated grotto caves as well as the murals and sculptures they contain. More than 10 caves of the Mogao Grottoes are being comprehensively repaired, and around 30 are under regular maintenance, said Guo Qinglin, director of the academy's protection and research institute. The Mogao Grottoes are home to a vast collection of Buddhist artworks. Starting in the fourth century, more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of murals in 735 caves were carved by worshippers.

HEBEI

Large desalination project starts running

A desalination project capable of producing 10,000 metric tons of fresh water from seawater each day started working in Tangshan, Hebei province, on Wednesday. The thermal-membrane hybrid seawater desalination project, operated by Shougang Jingtang United Iron& Steel, has been hailed as an industrial breakthrough in China's steel sector, which is a big consumer of water. The company said fresh water produced by the facility will be used in the steel plant's smelting process.

BEIJING

Dark matter explorer extends its service

China's Dark Matter Particle Explorer, nicknamed "Wukong" or "Monkey King", will extend its mission in space by another year, as it is still functioning well after five years of service. The satellite was launched in December 2015 as China's first dark matter probe satellite and was originally designed to work for three years, but its operators decided to extend its service life by two years at the end of 2018.

Xinhua