Bidding Farewell Volunteers for the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games pose for a photo together on August 25. The Games closed on August 28. More than 3,700 athletes from 204 countries and regions took part in the Games. Nanjing 2014 was just the second summer Youth Olympic Games, following the inaugural event in Singapore in 2010. (CHEN CHENG)

Against Corruption

China's top prosecuting body on August 26 announced new measures to stem judicial corruption in granting parole or commutation of prison terms.

Under the regulation released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, prosecutors will launch "full-scale investigation and verification" over a criminal's qualifications if their sentence is reduced by a significant margin or they are placed on long-term parole.

Prosecutors will particularly target those found guilty of corruption and mafia-style or terrorist crimes, among other serious criminal offences. People who have committed serious economic crimes such as fraud, or other crimes with "severe social impacts" are also subject to the examination.

Prosecutors will also focus on suspicious sentence commutations. They will check carefully if a prisoner only serves a short prison term before getting a commutation, or if they are given frequent commutations or parole.

New Desktop Version

China's homegrown operating system (OS) is expected to release a desktop version in October, according to a senior IT scientist on August 24.

Ni Guangnan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that the OS will be first seen on desktop devices and later expanded to smartphones and other mobile devices.

Ni heads an OS development alliance established in March. There are still problems in the program, including a lack of research funds and too many developers pulling in different directions.

"China has more than a dozen mobile OS developers with no independent intellectual property rights because their research is based on Android," said Ni, adding future development should be led by the government.

He said the end of Windows XP and the government ban on the procurement of Windows 8 have opened the door to domestic OS developers.

Permits Trading

China's State Council has published a guideline to promote the purchase and trading of emissions permits in regions piloting the scheme.

The pilot regions must establish mechanisms for the purchase and trading of emissions rights by 2017 to lay a foundation for the scheme to be rolled out nationwide, said a statement posted on the government's website on August 25.

The pilots began in 2007 in 11 regions including Tianjin, Hebei and Inner Mongolia.

The regions can apply the permits to the pollutants that affect them the most, and revenues from authorizing emissions rights should be turned in to local governments to fight pollution.

Trading of emissions rights must be done in a voluntary, fair and environment-oriented way and trading prices will be decided by the buyer and the seller, the statement said.

Emissions rights, or permits, represent the right to emit a specific volume of the specified pollutant. Firms that need to discharge more must buy permits from those which need fewer permits. In effect, the buyer is paying for polluting more than permitted, while the seller is being rewarded for fewer emissions.

LOOK THIS WAY Visitors take pictures of an alpaca at a pet exhibition held in Shanghai on August 23 (FANG ZHE)

Unsafe Imported Food

Chinese authorities found 424 batches of substandard food imports in July, the country's top quality supervisor announced on August 27.

Poor quality, excessive additives and microbial contamination were the main problems discovered in these imports, which came from 35 countries and regions, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The rejected food products fell under 19 categories, with most classified as biscuits and candies, beverages and seasonings, said AQSIQ spokeswoman Li Jing.

Besides food, the AQSIQ also found four shipments of substandard cosmetic products imported from three countries and regions.

All substandard products were either sent back or destroyed, Li said.

Specific Support

China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Finance will join forces to develop specific areas of the nation's cultural industry.

China should strengthen efforts in financial support, establishing projects and attracting a broader audience of overseas visitors to help promote key historic and cultural spots in China, a guideline issued by both ministries said on August 26.

Qi Shuyu, a scholar with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the country has 4,295 cultural relics under protection, 47 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and 1,219 national heritage sites.

Research Progress

Chinese scientists have made progress in brain-computer interface research after a successful experiment on an epilepsy patient.

After implanting an electrode connected to a robotic hand into the brain of a 28-year-old woman, the hand performed the three actions of the "rock-paper-scissors" game immediately.

This shows China's progress in creating a brain-machine interface, bringing new hope to patients who suffer from limb motor dysfunction, said Zhang Jianmin, head of the Neurology Department at the Second Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University.

The Chinese team began their research in 2006 and in 2012 achieved actions such as grasping and pinching with a robotic limb in an experiment on a monkey.

Researchers will work to improve the accuracy of the action of robotic limbs, said Zhang.

Joint Green Efforts

Beijing and neighboring Hebei Province will jointly plant 100,000 mu (66.7 square km) of forest in 2015, in a step to guarantee the capital city's water security and improve local eco-systems, authorities said on August 25.

According to the program, the forests will cover areas along Beijing's Miyun Reservoir, the city's major source of drinking water, and the upper reaches of Guanting Reservoir on the Beijing-Hebei border.

The project, initiated in 2009, will also cover eight counties under Hebei's cities of Zhangjiakou and Chengde, Beijing's main barrier against sandstorms from northwest China and an important water source, said Yuan Shibao, an official with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.

The joint project is expected to produce 500,000 mu of forests by the end of 2014, with further plans to reach 1 million mu.