China Exclusive: Mobile Internet keeps Tibet in touch
Tibet, on the "roof of the world," is coming closer to the outside world through the Internet and smart mobile devices.
Most of the younger lamas in the monastery have mobile phones with web capabilities. They study, search for information, network and chat. Messaging app WeChat is very popular among spiritual scholars.
In this year's government work report, Premier Li Keqiang listed information services as one of the prime factors to boost domestic demand. His report promised to speed up 4G mobile network programs, build 100M fiber optic networks in cities and extend broadband connectivity to villages.（108）
From: Xinhua
Experts urge ban on ads for tobacco
Public health and legal experts are urging that a comprehensive ban on tobacco-related advertising and promotion be included in an amended law aimed at curbing smoking, particularly among youths.
Public comment on the law is currently underway online and will continue until March 24, according to the State Council's legislative affairs website.
The framework calls for a comprehensive ban on all forms of tobacco marketing - including direct advertising, promotion and sponsorship. It identifies all of these as strategies used by tobacco companies to increase demand for their products.（94）
From: Xinhua[page]
China deploys 21 satellites in search for missing plane
China has deployed more than ten vessels and 21 satellites to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board, including 154 Chinese.
"More than ten search vessels from China are searching in the related seas. We have deployed 21 satellites, informed 25 countries of the development and asked them for help," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily press briefing on Tuesday.
By Tuesday, 26 countries were searching for the plane, compared with 14 last week. China has updated its embassies in the countries on latest developments.（100）
From: Xinhua
Two Chinese men punished for rumor mongering
Two Chinese men were punished with detention in separate cases on 19th March for starting or spreading website rumors and causing public unease.
Both will face 10-day administrative detention, according to China's Law of Punishment for Public Security and Administration.The information was forwarded by microbloggers and messaging app WeChat users, triggering unease, police said.（92）
From: Xinhua
China tightens road safety checks
The Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday promised increased checks on traffic safety across the country following a string of road accidents in March.
The national inspection will be targeted at driver violations including running red lights, drunk driving and speeding, the ministry said in a statement.
Police will tighten checks on accident-prone vehicles such as coaches, school buses and vehicles loaded with dangerous chemicals, and crack down on refitted vehicles.
On March 1, two tankers loaded with methanol, a poisonous and flammable liquid often used as a fuel, crashed into each other in a highway tunnel in north China's Shanxi Province, with the collision and resulting explosion killing 31 people, and leaving nine others missing.（120）
From: Xinhua[page]
Vice Premier urges rural reform, food safety
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang has called for business reforms and improvements to food and drug safety during a tour of south China's Jiangxi and Fujian provinces from Tuesday to Friday.
China has pledged to keep 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land, an amount considered a "red line" minimum to ensure food security.
Wang also called for detailed poverty alleviation work featuring accurate registration, timely welfare services and sufficient infrastructure.Consumers and business associations should participate in the supervision to help secure a better regulated food and drug market, he added.（100）
From: Xinhua
Jiangsu relaxes one-child policy
East China's Jiangsu Province has relaxed its family planning policy by allowing couples to have a second baby if either parent is an only child, the local legislature said.
An amendment to the Jiangsu Provincial Population and Family Planning Regulations was passed at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress on Friday.
According to the amendment, couples wishing to have a second child have to meet only one condition that the wife should be older than 24 years old.
The results of a survey conducted by the provincial government showed that about 40 percent of the families that are eligible to have a second child as a result of the policy change, are willing to have another baby.（127）
From: Xinhua
Suspects in Kunming terrorist attack arrested
Four suspects in the Kunming knife attack have been arrested for crimes of organizing, leading, taking part in a terrorist attack and intentional homicide, the Yunnan provincial procuratorate announced on Saturday.
A group of knife-wielding assailants attacked civilians at a railway station in Kunming, provincial capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, on the evening of March 1, causing 29 deaths and injuring another 143.
Police shot to death four of the attackers at the station. The other four were captured and detained by police on March 3.（94）
From: Xinhua[page]
China Focus: China moves to encourage development of private healthcare
Chinese authorities unveiled a package of healthcare measures on Wednesday, which consist of relaxing price controls covering non-public hospital services and encouraging the private sector to build health institutions.
The measures are aimed to give private organizations more leeway to charge what they want for medical services to encourage competition. Authorities want more non-governmental capital to enter the healthcare sector as soon as possible to increase the supply of medical services, which will help ease the problem of inadequate health provision available to the country's 1.3-billion population.（98）
From: Xinhua
Senior CPC leader urges fair selection of officials
A senior leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Liu Yunshan on Tuesday urged efforts to ensure the selection of leaders and officials be carried out in a fair and honest manner.
The official selection should follow correct principles which put emphasis on the candidates' ideological integrity, willingness to serve the public, diligent attitude, sense of responsibility and honesty, Liu said. Moreover, officials should be appointed to positions where their abilities can be fully developed.
Liu also called for efforts to address the problems of overstaffing and freeloaders in Party and government agencies as well as promotions of officials with fake personal data.（112）
From: Xinhua
China launches web page to report misconduct
The disciplinary watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Tuesday launched a new section on its website inviting the public to report corruption and misconduct.
The move is aimed at tightening disciplinary inspection ahead of the May Day holiday.
The CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)'s website, www.ccdi.gov.cn, has published 183 cases relating to breaches of the eight-point anti-bureaucracy and formalism guidelines.
According to the CCDI, the public is encouraged to expose officials who use public money for gift cards, travel and dining and accept online consumption cards.（144）
From: Xinhua[page]
Xinjiang chairman vows to stop religious extremism
Nur Bekri, chairman of the government of west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has vowed to stop religious extremism from spreading in the ethnic region. Nur Bekri claimed these were fueled by religious extremism and that the acts of terror were made possible by taking advantage of people's faith.
The chairman cited last month's attack in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming. Evidence pointed the attack being committed by terrorists from Xinjiang.
Nur Bekri vowed to root out religious extremism, and called on officials, particularly ethnic minority officials, to counter extremists' lies and for people of all ethnicities to distinguish normal religious activities from extremist acts. （144）
From: Xinhua
China issues guide for government information disclosure
The Chinese government Tuesday issued a guideline to improve transparency in several key areas such as environmental protection and land use.
China will step up its efforts in tracking and disclosing information concerning environmental protection, said the State Council document published on the central government's official website.
It also urges more concerted actions between government departments to avoid "official rumors," referring to inaccurate and contradictory information released by different departments.（77）
From: Xinhua
China to build national online petitioning system
China will establish a national online system for petitioning by the end of the year, authorities said at a meeting in Huai'an of east China's Jiangsu Province on Friday.
The State Bureau for Letters and Calls (SBLC) said the new network will allow petitioners to submit various complaints via the Internet and government at all levels to share information.
According to the SBLC, the national network will collect complaints delivered by letters, personal visits, hotlines, videos and online formats.
"Through online petitioning, the public can better understand the procedures of dealing with a case and its results, improve their participation and oversight," she said at the meeting.（116）
From: Xinhua[page]
Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway sees 200 mln trips
Data released Sunday by China's railway authorities showed that train trips on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway had topped 200 million.
Trips on the railway surpassed 100 million on February 28, 2013 and reached 200 million by 9:30 a.m. Sunday, said the authorities.
The 1,318-kilometer-long railway links the country's prosperous Pan-Bohai and Yangtze River Delta economic zones, cutting travel time between the two regions to less than five hours.
The railway is designed to handle maximum train speeds of 350 kilometers per hour. High-speed trains on this railway made their debut on June 30, 2011.（109）
From: Xinhua
