China's 2 visa application service centres in Britain suspended

China suspends operations of its 2 visa application service centres in Britain

China's two visa-application centres in England said on Tuesday they would temporarily close as a new variant of the coronavirus spreads rapidly in Britain.

The new variant of the virus, which has quickly become the dominant variant in cases of COVID-19 in parts of southern England, has led to several countries cutting travel ties with Britain.

The visa centre in London, which is under the tightest of England's four-tier COVID-19 restrictions, said it will suspend operations of from Dec. 22. China's embassy in London also announced the centre would suspend operations, "in accordance with the relevant pandemic prevention advice."

Meanwhile, the visa centre in the northern English city of Manchester, which is under the second-toughest Tier 3 restrictions, said it would be closed from Dec. 29 until further notice "due to the serious local pandemic situation."

There is also a Chinese visa centre in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, which has been operating under reduced hours since November. All of mainland Scotland will move into the toughest restrictions from Dec. 26.

China barred non-Chinese travellers from Britain last month, including those with valid visas and residence permits, because of rising coronavirus cases.

伦敦和曼彻斯特中国签证申请服务中心暂停对外营业

中国在英国的两个签证申请中心周二(12月22日)表示，由于一种变异新冠病毒在英国迅速蔓延，它们将暂时关闭。

该病毒的新变种已迅速成为英格兰南部部分地区新冠感染病例的主要变种，导致几个国家切断了与英国的旅游联系。

据中国驻英国大使馆网站周二消息，为配合当地疫情防控，伦敦中国签证申请服务中心将于2020年12月22日起暂停对外营业，恢复时间另行通知。

与此同时，位于英国北部城市曼彻斯特的签证中心表示，“由于当地严重的流感疫情”，该中心将从12月29日起关闭，直到另行通知。该中心正实施第二严厉的三级签证限制。

苏格兰首府爱丁堡也有一个中国签证中心，自11月以来一直在减少工作时间。从12月26日起，整个苏格兰大陆将实施最严厉的限制措施。

由于新冠病毒病例不断增加，中国上月禁止来自英国的非中国游客前往中国，包括持有有效签证和居留许可的人。

Apple plans self-driving car 'in 2024 with new battery technology'

Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter revealed.

The iPhone maker’s automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have proceeded unevenly since 2014 when it first started to design its own vehicle from scratch. At one point, Apple drew back the effort to focus on software and reassessed its goals. Doug Field, an Apple veteran who had worked at Tesla Inc, returned to oversee the project in 2018 and laid off 190 people from the team in 2019.

Since then, Apple has progressed enough that it now aims to build a vehicle for consumers, two people familiar with the effort said, asking not to be named because Apple’s plans are not public. Apple’s goal of building a personal vehicle for the mass market contrasts with rivals such as Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, which has built robo-taxis to carry passengers for a driverless ride-hailing service.

Central to Apple’s strategy is a new battery design that could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range, according to a third person who has seen Apple’s battery design.

It remains unclear who would assemble an Apple-branded car, but sources have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles. And there is still a chance Apple will decide to reduce the scope of its efforts to an autonomous driving system that would be integrated with a car made by a traditional automaker, rather than the iPhone maker selling an Apple-branded car, one of the people added.

As for the car’s battery, Apple plans to use a unique “monocell” design that bulks up the individual cells in the battery and frees up space inside the battery pack by eliminating pouches and modules that hold battery materials, one of the people said.

Apple’s design means that more active material can be packed inside the battery, giving the car a potentially longer range.

Apple is also examining a chemistry for the battery called LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, the person said, which is inherently less likely to overheat and is thus safer than other types of lithium-ion batteries.

苹果要出汽车了?

近日，苹果公司正在推进自动驾驶汽车技术的研发，计划在2024年生产乘用车，而其中可能将包括苹果自己研发的突破性电池。

在2014年，苹果开始首次设计汽车，并将其称为“泰坦计划”(Project Titan)。

然而，在泰坦计划实施一段时间后，进展并不顺利。

于是，苹果曾一度想放弃汽车的研发，专注于手机软件。

2018年，曾任特斯拉工程部高级副总裁的道格•菲尔德(Doug Field)重返苹果公司，接手了汽车项目，才让泰坦计划得以继续。

在经过几年的苦心专研下，苹果的汽车计划终于取得了很好的进展。

近日，就有两名知情人士透露到：

目前，苹果正在计划打造一款面向大众市场的汽车，而汽车的战略核心就是苹果全新的电池设计，这个设计可以从根本上降低电池的成本，并增加车辆的续航里程。

并且，为了帮助自动驾驶汽车获得道路的三维视图，苹果可能还会为汽车配备激光雷达传感器。

不过，因为疫情，知情人士也表示，苹果汽车的生产或将推迟到2025年或更晚。

Coronavirus might be re-released years into the future after long-term survival in freezing temperatures in the Antarctic

After ravaging the world for almost a year, the coronavirus has finally made it to the Antarctic, which was considered “the world’s safest place.” A Chinese virologist warns that the continent’s freezing temperatures are suitable for the long-term survival of the coronavirus that could be re-released to the rest of the world years into the future. 

The Chilean army announced that 36 people with the General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme base on the Antarctic have tested positive for coronavirus, media reported on Tuesday. Of the 36 infected, 26 are members of the Chilean military, while the others are maintenance workers, said media reports.

There are 150 scientific stations from 30 countries on the continent. Previous media reports called the remote Antarctic “the world’s safest place.”

A Chinese immunologist who requested anonymity said that the fact that the virus has been found in the Antarctic is “high-impact,” as temperatures there are extremely low and suitable for the virus’ survival. It is also likely that the virus will be frozen under the ice and released years later and to attack humans. 

It’s also possible that the virus will travel to other parts of the world on icebergs, said the immunologist. 

Considering the new variation of the coronavirus in the UK can infect mice, which the immunologist said used to be immune to such infections, the coronavirus in the Antarctic is also likely to infect penguins, which should be given nucleic acid tests for further research. 

Another source who is familiar with scientific work being conducted in the South Pole said that more scientists are conducting research in far south and if the virus jumps to scientists there, it will reset the bottom of coronavirus. 

The immunologist believes Chile should do a thorough disinfection of the base, and take environmental samples to make sure the disinfection was effective. Ultraviolet light is also a sterilizing option, as is burning any item that might possibly be contaminated, said the immunologist. 

The other anonymous source said disinfecting the base is possible, but it’s not likely possible to disinfect the outside. 

新冠疫情抵达南极？专家：封在冰中的病毒多年后或“重启”，企鹅应做核酸

2020年岁末，新冠疫情抵达曾被誉为“世界上最安全的地方”——南极，自此新冠病毒已席卷世界七大洲。因为南极气温低，病毒很可能生存下来，未来随时释放出来祸害人类。

南极“远离任何居民，几乎没有任何外部接触，是世界上最安全的地方”。但新冠疫情最终还是抵达了南极大陆，据智利《第三版时报》22日报道，智利的南极基地暴发疫情，36人感染新冠病毒。这次疫情是该国海军舰艇访问基地的结果，该舰后来有多名船员感染新冠肺炎。智利军方随后发表声明称，感染人员出现症状之后已撤离南极基地，现在基地已彻底消毒。

一位要求匿名的免疫学专家表示，疫情出现在南极影响极大，南极气温低，病毒生存能力强，病毒被冰封在南极冰原下，可能很多年后会重新释放出来祸害人类，甚至随着融化的冰山漂流到世界其他地区。另一名熟悉南极科考工作的人士认为，现在有越来越多的科考队员涉足南极，即便若干年后世界复归平静，南极科考队员也有可能遭遇冰雪中的病毒，“重启新冠病毒开关”。免疫学专家认为，智利应该对基地进行彻底消杀，再进行环境采样确定消杀效果，确定没有任何的病毒残留。熟悉南极科考工作的人士认为，如果仅仅是站区可以消毒，但若涉及野外工作，是不可能消毒的。最新研究显示，本来新冠病毒不感染小鼠，但英国出现的变异毒株却能感染小鼠，那么智利带至南极的新冠病毒是否会影响企鹅？该免疫学专家认为，不能排除这种可能，应该对附近企鹅进行核酸检测，做进一步研究。

这样的担忧并非杞人忧天。世卫组织在21日的发布会上宣布，南非发现一种“独立于英国变异毒株”的变异新冠病毒。美国西雅图弗雷德•哈钦森癌症研究中心的生物学家杰西•布鲁姆表示，“这是真正的警报，我们必须予以关注”。但他认为，不必担心病毒会出现灾难性的突变，使所有的抗体和免疫系统突然失效。“病毒需要数年的突变积累，才有可能达到使现有疫苗失效的程度”。

AD

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY

IST 国际学校2021-2023年度奖学金计划

现在开始报名申请！

2020 LATEST EDITIONS

Editor's Picks

更多精彩，请访问我们的网站www.businesstianjin.com或关注我们的微信公众号：business_tianjin