BABY TIGERS: A trio of tiger cubs cuddle at a zoo in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, on May 1. The 1-month-old triplets met the public for the first time since their birth (ZHANG WENKUI)

Mental Health Law

A mental health law that requires consent from mentally ill patients before they receive inpatient treatment took effect in China on May 1.

The law was adopted by the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress last October after three readings.

The law says mentally ill people, with the exception of those with a severe mental illness or who have the potential to harm themselves or others, should only receive inpatient treatment on a purely voluntary basis.

It also requires medical institutions to respect patient rights to demand discharges.

The law has attracted a great deal of attention since its draft was first submitted for discussion, as reports of people being wrongly institutionalized have increased.

According to the law, there should be no infringement upon the dignity, personal safety or property of mentally ill people.

Institutions and individuals must protect the privacy of mentally ill people by preventing leaks of private information, such as their names, addresses and employment status, unless the sharing of such data is necessary for institutions and individuals in order to exercise their lawful duties.

Terrorists Captured

Eleven suspected terrorist fugitives linked to a deadly attack on April 23 in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been captured, local police sources said on April 29.

A violent clash occurred between the terrorists and authorities in a town at Kashgar's Bachu County, some 1,200 km southwest of Urumqi, leaving 21 people dead.

Eight suspects were captured on the day of the clash.

According to the Xinjiang police, the terrorist group, headed by Qasim Muhammat, was founded in September 2012.

They had planned to "do something big" in densely populated public areas in Kashgar in the summer, the police said.

The group members were spotted making explosives on April 23 by local police and community workers, which led to the deadly clash.

Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei said on April 29 that the police have tracked down a batch of homemade explosives, lethal weapons, and flags of "East Turkistan" terrorists after the April 23 clash.

H7N9 Update

From April 24 to May 1, a total of 19 new cases of H7N9 bird flu were confirmed on the Chinese mainland, bringing the total number of human infections to 127, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Among the 19 cases, 16 were founded in eastern provinces of Jiangsu (3 cases), Zhejiang (4), Jiangxi (5), Fujian (3) and Shandong (1), while three were found in central provinces of Hunan (2) and Henan (1), according to the commission.

The virus had killed 26 people in the mainland, while 26 infected people had recovered as of May 1, the commission said.

Consumer Rights

A draft amendment to China's consumer rights law was published by the top legislature on April 28 in order to solicit public opinion.

The draft provides clarification regarding the protection of personal information and suggests heavier punishments for commercial fraud.

The draft also includes regulations pertaining to online shopping, as China's booming e-commerce market is not sufficiently covered by the current version of the consumer rights law.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress deliberated the draft amendment during a bimonthly session last month, marking the first time changes have been considered since the law was implemented in 1994.

Anti-Piracy Efforts

Since October 2012, governments at different levels in China have legally purchased 3.06 million sets of software worth 1.94 billion yuan ($313 million), according to a report published by the National Copyright Administration of China on April 26.

The Chinese Government began paying due attention to the issue in 2001, when an inter-ministerial meeting mechanism was set up, since adopting a series of efforts to correct wrongdoing at central and local levels, the report says.

So far, 17,782 large companies in China have been confirmed to be using genuine software in their offices.

To help increase awareness of copyright protection, 1,494 training courses have been held across the country, covering a total of 84,100 office workers.

Historical Findings

Archaeologists have unearthed more than 30 pits believed to have been used by Neolithic humans as trash dumps 5,000 to 6,000 years ago in north China's Hebei Province.

The pits, various in size, shape and depth, were unearthed nearby an ancient village relic site within the Jialu Village territory in Hebei's Zhaoxian County, according to Han Jinqiu, Director of the Prehistory Archaeological Research Department of the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Institute.

Archaeologists found that the pits were not located at the center of the New Stone Age ancient village but nearby, said Han.

A well, a shallow gutter and large quantities of pottery and stone fragments with distinct Neolithic features were also unearthed at the site.

The New Stone Age, or Neolithic Era, was the last period of the Stone Age. Marked by carefully polished stone artifacts, ancient China's Neolithic Era started about 12,000 years ago.

Waste Treatment

Beijing is speeding up the construction of garbage treatment facilities, hoping to bring the city's daily household waste handling capacity to 24,000 tons by the end of 2015.

In the meantime, the city will increase the proportion of waste treated through incineration or biochemical means to more than 70 percent, in a bid to leave less than 30 percent of such waste in landfills, according to a three-year plan recently released by the municipal government.

It is estimated that Beijing's more than 20 million residents produce about 17,700 tons of household garbage every day, 50 percent of which ends up in landfills.

By 2015, Beijing will have overhauled 253 informal landfills, according to the plan.

Also, Beijing will further strengthen waste control regulations in rural-urban fringe zones and build up a specialized team of garbage collectors in rural areas.