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This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. Here is the news.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi overtook tech giant Samsung Electronics to become China's top-selling smartphone brand in the second quarter this year.
Xiaomi sold 15 million smartphones in China during the second quarter, more than a three-fold surge from last year. It surpassed Samsung, which had the leading position in China for more than two years, as well as local brands such as Lenovo and Huawei.
During the period between April and June this year, Samsung's sales in China decreased to around 13 million phones from more than 15 million last year. Lenovo trailed Samsung by a margin of 2 million phones.
Xiaomi is little known in Europe or North America because it sells nearly all of its smartphones on the Chinese mainland. But the strong growth in China alone was enough to vault Xiaomi to a top five position among the world's smartphone makers.
Analysts say Xiaomi's rise was due to its competitive low prices and the focus on its own mobile software known as MIUI.
Samsung and Apple were the only non-Chinese vendors among the top 10 smartphone brands in China.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
China's quarantine authority has strengthened inspections at customs to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from entering the country.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said it will implement stricter inspections on inbound airlines from regions affected by the Ebola outbreak, and step up sanitary measures on incoming vehicles and goods.
China will also suspend imports of some special goods and animal products, while raising awareness among travelers bound for the affected regions.
Ebola spreads through body fluid and is difficult to treat.
Four western African countries have reported around 730 deaths from Ebola with more than 1,300 people infected so far this year.
You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
Punishments ranging from warnings to sackings were handed to education officials, teachers and even parents involved in a huge case of phantom exam taking.
Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly hiring college students from Wuhan city in central China to sit the national college entrance exam for others.
The national exam, Gaokao, is the sole entrance criteria for most colleges in China and is seen by many as a fair path upward in society. The exam is held in early June; and despite tightened supervision, cheating is routinely spotted every year.
Nine educational officials and school principals in northern China's Henan Province were held "directly responsible for leadership failures" and were removed from their posts.
Thirteen school staff members were demoted or dismissed from public posts for facilitating the deal.
The students concerned are barred from any form of national exam for three years, and their gaokao score this year was rendered zero. The phantom exam takers also received a 3-year exam ban and were expelled from their respective universities.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Subsidies worth 410 million yuan, or more than 66 million U.S. dollars, will be available for special needs education in China this year. That's around 650 percent more than in last year.
The money will be used to build classrooms, update teaching equipment and provide medical services for special needs schools and ordinary schools that have disabled students.
Subsidies for each student in special schools are around 4,000 yuan this year and will rise to 6,000 yuan by the end of 2016.
China's Ministry of Education encourages local education authorities to promote free education for disabled high school students. It says that a proper special education system is of great significance to the well-being of disabled people.
You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
Talk about a special delivery: A man in Wuhan city in central China has delivered his baby at home by following instructions from doctors over the phone.
The husband, surnamed Yang, says his wife suddenly went into labor a week before the baby was due.
Yang heard his wife yelling from the bathroom that "the baby is born!" He rushed and called emergency medical services.
Yang says both he and his wife were very nervous, and he had no choice but to go with it.
Clamping a mobile phone between ear and shoulder, Yang followed the doctors' instructions, step-by-step.
A team of doctors and nurses from a local hospital arrived after the baby was born. Both mother and child were safe and sound.
Speaking of his heroics, Yang says he attended all the prenatal care training classes with his wife; and his quick wits had prepared him to keep calm and follow doctor's directions.
