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China Daily Europe | Updated: 2018-08-24 07:55

 IN BRIEF (Page 2)

A young woman is delighted by a teddy bear dog on the street in Chongqing municipality. The dog, Niuniu, likes dancing in a princess outfit and can walk on its hind legs, bringing much fun to her owner's family. Yang Xinyu / For China Daily

China's first financial court begins operating

The Shanghai Financial Court, which specializes in finance-related lawsuits and is the first of its kind in China, began operating on Aug 20. The new institution is meant to provide a better business environment for investors from home and abroad, officials said. The intermediate-level court focuses on civil and administrative disputes over financial issues, including loans, insurance, securities and cases against financial authorities, senior officials from Shanghai High People's Court said at a news briefing on Aug 21. For the court to handle cases, the minimum amounts at issue are 100 million yuan ($14.7 million; 12.7 million euros; £11.4 million) if both parties are in Shanghai, and 50 million yuan if one party is not based in the city. Cases that do not meet the minimum are handled by district courts. Criminal cases are not accepted by the financial court, which is located in the city's downtown Huangpu district.

Regulation will be enhanced for livestreams

Authorities will enhance the regulation of livestream services, the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said in a notice on Aug 20 that clarified the responsibilities of livestream service providers, network service providers and application stores. Livestream service providers should complete the Internet Content Provider filing, gain certificates for news services, online shows and livestreams, and report to local police within 30 days after a show is broadcast.

Province reports swine fever outbreak

An outbreak of African swine fever has been discovered at a farm in the city of Lianyungang, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Aug 19. The farm in the city's Haizhou district reported 615 infected pigs, with 88 that died since registration of pig deaths began on Aug 15, the ministry said. Local authorities have initiated an emergency response mechanism to block, cull and disinfect affected pig populations.

Cooperation to reduce child mortality rate

Cooperation with China is expected to significantly help reduce the child mortality rate in Africa, according to an African Union Commission official. Although the death rate of children under age 5 has fallen by more than half, Africa still has the world's highest mortality rate among children, says Margaret Agama-Anyetei, head of the AUC's Division of Health, Nutrition and Population. But China and Africa can deepen their cooperation in improving the health of African mothers and newborns in various areas, she says. Cooperation to end preventable deaths of newborns and mothers was discussed at the China-Africa Cooperation in Maternal and Newborn Health session of the High-Level Meeting on China-Africa Health Cooperation last week in Beijing. The session was co-hosted by the National Health Commission, the United Nations Children's Fund and the AUC.

University to launch course on e-games

A university in Wuhan, Hubei province, plans to join the growing number of Chinese colleges offering a course on electronic games, as the nation looks to fill the talent gap in the rapidly developing industry. Huazhong University of Science and Technology's course - introduction to game studies - will be available starting in September next year and will interpret games from an academic perspective, says Xiong Shuo, a lecturer at the university's School of Journalism and Information Communication. "Many young people are very interested in games but don't understand what a game is," Xiong says. "The course won't train students to play games, but will introduce issues related to video game research and development, technology, industry and psychology."

Ex-smokers face risk of weight gain, diabetes

Quitting smoking may cause you to gain weight and initially lead to a higher risk of diabetes, even though it will reduce the chances of death from cardiovascular disease and other causes, according to a new study. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Harvard University found that those whose weight increased by more than 15 kilograms after quitting smoking had a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes than smokers. The risk peaked five to seven years after quitting and then gradually decreased. Those who did not gain weight after quitting did not experience an increase in the risk of diabetes. However, regardless of weight change, cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality of former smokers declined rapidly after they gave up smoking, and remained at about 70 percent of smokers' mortality. Previous studies have shown that tobacco products can cause cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease and reduce life expectancy. Although the risk of these diseases can be reduced by quitting, weight gain has been a common health problem. The new study, released by the New England Journal of Medicine, involved nearly 300,000 people in the United States who had quit smoking for more than two years. They were surveyed every two years to collect data, including their smoking status, weight changes and disease incidence.

Policy to ease funding for small companies

Chinese monetary policy will be more flexible and effective in channeling funds into the real economy, especially for small and micro-sized enterprises, in order to stabilize economic growth, central bank officials said at a news conference on Aug 21. Monetary policy will strike a better balance between stable growth and risk management, and encourage financial institutions to inject funds into targeted areas, said Zhu Hexin, the newly appointed vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank. Zhu pledged to keep liquidity at a reasonable and ample level, but without strong policy stimulus. The tightened regulatory framework will not constrain credit growth for financial institutions, and their adequate capital reserves should satisfy financing needs and the real economy, he said. This year, the central bank has so far injected about 2.4 trillion yuan ($351 billion; 302 billion euros; £272 billion) into the financial sector through three reserve requirement ratio cuts and an open market operation.

Guideline backs rights of doctors

China is working to secure sufficient rest and higher salaries for its medical workers, according to a new guideline issued by the country's top health regulator. The measures are aimed at protecting the rights of medical workers and to create an environment that facilitates their work. The guidelines were jointly issued by the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Aug 16, ahead of the first Chinese Medical Workers' Day, which fell on Aug 19. Hospitals should create work arrangements in accordance with the country's Labor Law, as well as conforming to regulations on paid leave and working hours, to assure health workers of sufficient rest hours while meeting healthcare demands and safety standards, the guideline says. Medical workers are also entitled to additional wages if they work overtime or skip paid leave because of heavy workloads, it says.

Govt departments using social platforms more

Government departments in China are providing an increasing number of public services through mobile devices, especially with WeChat and other social media, a report on the country's cyberspace development said on Aug 20. The report produced by the China Internet Network Information Center said that, as of the end of June, about 42 percent of netizens had accessed municipal public services, such as weather reports, and searched for social insurance and tax information via WeChat and Alipay. The percentage continues to rise, it said. For example, the proportion of those using WeChat to access services saw a 20 percent increase since December, it said. By June 30, more than 137,000 government departments had registered their micro blogs on Sina Weibo; of those, more than 89,000 were administrations, including public security bureaus and medical care authorities, it said. Unlike the burgeoning mobile platforms, the number of government websites has shrunk - to fewer than 20,000 by the end of June, from more than 66,000 in December 2015.

Center to boost health sciences

A research center with doctors from one of China's top hospitals and scientists from the country's top research organ was set up in Beijing on Aug 20 to enhance medical and health sciences. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Hospital signed an agreement to establish the Health Sciences Research Center, which aims to be a national-level platform for life sciences and health research and an exemplary institution of transnational medicine.

26 suspects accused of tomb robbery

A total of 26 suspects were detained and more than 600 cultural relics were retrieved as part of a major tomb robbery case involving stolen items dating to the seventh century. The suspects are believed to have been involved in the illegal excavation of tombs in Dulan county, Qinghai province, the Ministry of Public Security said on Aug 19.

Greater Bay Area backs TCM going global

Traditional Chinese medicine experts from Guangdong province and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions have joined forces to set up a landmark integrated TCM center in the region, resolving to spur innovation and advancement in treating autoimmune diseases. The joint venture - the Chinese Medicine Innovation Center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area - is spearheaded by the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, with support from Hong Kong Baptist University and the University of Macau. The three institutions will pool their resources and talent, hoping to unearth TCM treatments for autoimmune diseases - a condition in which a person's immune system gets confused and begins attacking healthy body cells.

 IN BRIEF (Page 2)

College freshmen receive military training before the new semester begins at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on Aug 21. More than 4,600 students are receiving the training, which lasts until Sept 1. All students are required to participate in the training during their first year of university life in China. Yuan Jingzhi / For China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 08/24/2018 page2)

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