Homie Weekly | News Update For This Week (Aug 20, 2021)

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COVID-19

1. Beijing plans strict virus control as Winter Games approach

As Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics approaches, Beijing authorities highlighted the strict epidemic prevention and control measures needed to ensure the Games can be held safely and as scheduled.

Experts noted it is highly likely that Olympics-related personnel will receive a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine, as the Delta strain is causing an increase in breakthrough infections.

"As we enter the Beijing Winter Olympics moment, strict epidemic prevention and control are the important premise for successfully hosting the Winter Olympics," Cai Qi, Party chief of Beijing and also president of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, said during his inspection of the competition venues on Monday.

Beijing 2022 is scheduled to take place from February 4 to February 20, 2022. Cai said the aim is for the Games to run "simply, safely and wonderfully."

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231683.shtml

2. China approves emergency use of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 3-17

A COVID-19 vaccine developed and produced by Sinopharm's institute in Wuhan has been approved for emergency use on children aged between 3 and 17 by China's state authority, the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a subsidiary of Sinopharm, announced via its official WeChat account on Wednesday.

The vaccine has completed Phase I and II clinical trials, CNBG said, showing a high neutralizing antibody level among the age group.

Some 96.1 percent of recipients who received two doses of the vaccine have produced antibodies against coronavirus, and the result was not significantly different in adults. No serious adverse effect has been observed after inoculations.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231842.shtml

Society

3. Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu arrested on suspicion of rape

Kris Wu, one of China's most popular pop stars, has been arrested on suspicion of rape.

The people's procuratorate in Beijing's Chaoyang district posted a statement on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, on Monday evening that it has approved the arrest of a suspect surnamed Wu on suspicion of rape after a review of the case in line with the law.

Chinese media outlets quickly confirmed the suspect is the 30-year-old Chinese-Canadian singer and actor Kris Wu.

Wu's case triggered huge public attention in June when a woman named Du Meizhu posted statements online alleging Wu had lured young women and girls under the age of 18 to have sex by claiming he recruited actresses. Du said she was one of the victims.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231619.shtml

4. Chinese social media platforms delete actor’s accounts of for hurting the nation after controversial photos of Yasukuni Shrine

Chinese social media platforms have deleted the accounts of actor Zhang Zhehan on Sunday amid outrage among the public after he was caught posing at Japan's notorious Yasukuni Shrine.

As public figures with a lot of fans, being knowledgeable of history  should be a basic professional ethical standard that they must stick to, Twitter-like Sina Weibo said in a statement after deciding to delete Zhang's account and the account of his studio.

Zhang made an apology online over his ignorance but it did not stop the boycott and termination of his business partnerships.

The banning of the actor's accounts on different social media platforms came after China Association of Performing Arts (CAPA) on Sunday called for a boycott of Zhang.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231473.shtml

5. Beijing reserved more than 10,000 job positions, relieving possible wave of unemployment after overhaul of after-school tutoring industry

Beijing vows to provide job-seeking services for talents from after-school tutoring industry, which will last three to six months to help relieve possible wave of unemployment. The city's authorities said that they have reserved over 10,000 positions for workers from the industry.

The city's job service center on Wednesday held its first online targeted job fair for talents from the after-school training industry, which will end on August 31. At least 3,807 job positions from 260 companies have been provided on its website.

Beijing authorities on Tuesday issued the city's specific control measures for after-school tutoring agencies to minimize pressure on students. The city vowed that by the end of 2021, the heavy homework burden, off-campus tutoring, and high family expenditures on education will be effectively reduced. Authorities expect to see significant results within two years.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231844.shtml

6. China plans to issue digital driver's license nationwide by 2022

China will roll out digital driver's licenses across the country by 2022, a public security official said on Wednesday.

Li Guozhong, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security, told a press conference that over 1.95 million people have obtained digital driver's licenses since a pilot program was launched in the cities of Tianjin, Chengdu and Suzhou on June 1.

The ministry planned to expand the pilot program to more regions in the second half of this year, with more efforts put into improving the information system and supporting institutions, said Li.

Drivers can apply for a digital license through an official mobile app, Li said.

Digital licenses can be used on various occasions, including handling traffic violations and road accidents, filing insurance claims and renting vehicles, and have the same legal effect as paper licenses, Li added.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202108/18/WS611cc692a310efa1bd6699f6.html

Technology

7. Baidu unveils 1st fully autonomous robocar prototype

Chinese internet search giant Baidu Inc. unveiled on Wednesday its first L5 self-driving robocar prototype with no steering wheel, and an upgraded autonomous driving service platform named Luobo Kuaipao, in a bid to speed up the commercialization of autonomous driving technology.

Autonomous driving is categorized from L1 to L5 – the higher the level, the more intelligent the technology. L5 represents fully autonomous driving.

Baidu has opened its fully driverless robotaxi service to the public in Beijing, where users can hail a robotaxi without a safety driver behind the steering wheel. It also plans to expand its passenger robotaxis to 30 cities across the nation within the next two to three years.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-08-18/Baidu-unveils-1st-fully-autonomous-robocar-prototype-12PNjBNq1JS/index.html

8. China's CO2 satellite yields first global carbon dataset

Chinese scientists are contributing their wisdom to global and national efforts to slow down climate change, as they have recently compiled China's first global carbon flux dataset based on high-quality data collected by the country's first carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring satellite.

The breakthrough means that China has become the third country with the ability to quantitatively monitor the global carbon budget from space. The satellite, commonly known as TanSat, has proven it can perform the task as brilliantly as those from Japan and the US.

Data from the TanSat and products such as the dataset will be shared freely with the world through theChina Group on Earth Observations TanSat Data Service Archive.

A series of satellites for CO2 monitoring are expected to be built during China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) amid the country's efforts to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and go carbon neutral before 2060.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231634.shtml

Climate

9. More than 1.41 million people affected in torrential rainfall in C. China’s Hubei

A total of 1,411,200 people have been affected by torrential rainfall in Central China's Hubei Province since August 8, according to a statement Hubei emergency management authorities issued on Sunday.

As of 4:00 pm on Sunday, 13 cities and 50 counties in Hubei, including the capital city Wuhan and Suizhou, have been hit by the rain, said the statement.

More than 35,000 people have been placed in emergency shelters, and 51,900 have been relocated in the past week, it said.

The disaster has affected 116,000 hectares of crops, of which 17,250 hectares were lost. Nearly 1,000 houses collapsed and 14,300 houses were damaged to varying degrees.

The statement noted that the rainfall in the province has now eased, and the flood situation of rivers and lakes is stabilizing.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231548.shtml

Environment

10. Nearly 500 Yangtze finless porpoises detected in China's Poyang lake

Nearly 500 Yangtze finless porpoises have been detected in Poyang Lake in East China's Jiangxi province, according to the results of a recent survey released by the provincial forestry department.

The endangered species, known as the "giant panda of the water," is a barometer of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River basin.

"The 10-year fishing ban that has taken effect in all key waters of the Yangtze helps the country's longest waterway recover from dwindling aquatic resources and degrading biodiversity," said an official with the Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau.

In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to protect its ecology and biodiversity. In 2017, it was estimated that a total of 1,012 finless porpoises were living in Chinese waters.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202108/18/WS611c7a5ca310efa1bd6698f1.html

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