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This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan has hailed China&`&s ever-strengthening anti-tobacco efforts, saying she expects to see more progress in the right direction.
The World Health Organization director-general said "China has done well" tightening tobacco controls. She made the remarks on the sidelines of the Ninth Global Conference on Health Promotion which was held in Shanghai.
At least 16 Chinese cities have passed tobacco control rules. Shanghai, a leader of the campaign, is set to ban smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces and on public transport from March next year.
Chan believes China "is moving at the right direction, doing well, but needs to do more".
She encouraged mayors to introduce regulatory or fiscal measures, including increased taxes, a ban on tobacco advertisements on television and in the print media, as well as the cessation of tobacco sponsorship in sports events.
Chan said tobacco kills six million people every year. These are avoidable deaths. It&`&s a tragedy that people don&`&t prevent smoking from causing death and devastation on health.
During the four-day long conference, more than 100 mayors from cities across the globe pledged to integrate health in their key policies.
Meanwhile Chan has stressed that public health should be given priority in China&`&s development strategy.
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Acknowledging Zika is "here to stay", the United Nations health agency has lifted a 9-month-old emergency declaration and prepared for a longer-term response to the mosquito-borne virus that can result in severe neurological defects in newborns whose mothers were infected.
The World Health Organization was quick to note that the move does not mean the agency is downgrading the threat of the virus that has spread across Latin America, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Almost 30 countries have reported birth defects linked to Zika, with more than 2,100 cases of nervous-system malformations reported in Brazil alone.
The officials also emphasized that the now-lifted "Public Health Emergency of International Concern" was declared in February, when Zika clusters were appearing and a sharp increase in research was needed - with the looming Rio Olympics in mind.
The World Health Organization said the emergency measures had led the world to an "urgent and coordinated response". But the virus has continued to spread. The agency acknowledged "many aspects of the disease and associated consequences still remain to be understood, but this can best be done through sustained research.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Parents of children whose mouths were taped shut by a Russian teacher at a private school in Shanghai are demanding the tuition fees they paid be refunded.
K & H International School&`&s branch in Changning District earlier issued a statement apologizing for the incident on Nov 15. During the incident, the female teacher used double-sided adhesive tape to seal the mouths of a number of children who were being disruptive.
The district education department subsequently ordered the branch to cease all activities.
The school said that an apology had been issued to all parents, and the teacher involved had been dismissed.
In another development, a Spanish man who was working as an English language teacher at another training institute in Shanghai has been detained for drug trafficking offences.
The 28-year-old, identified only as Anthony, flew from Spain to China on Oct 14 with 277 grams of marijuana in his stomach, in 24 separate packages.
He later visited a hospital in the city&`&s downtown area, complaining of severe stomachache, after he was unable to excrete the drugs naturally.
Hospital officials alerted the police and the man was prepped for surgery, but he passed the drugs naturally later.
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Foreign residents are now entitled to borrow and return books without charge at any public library in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China&`&s Sichuan Province, the first such arrangement of its kind in the country.
From November, after passport registration, foreign residents can freely use the unified loan and return system, which links all 21 public libraries in Chengdu. They can also have free access to the libraries&`& remote digital resources.
The unified loan and return system in Chengdu was rolled out in 2014 and gives local residents free access to all public library resources at all branches.
It is the first time an entire public library system has covered foreign residents.
Previously, foreign residents could only return books to the library branch where the books were loaned out.
Deputy Chief Librarian in Chengdu, Xiao Ping, said the city has seen a growing number of foreigners in recent years; and as public libraries, they should provide services for all residents of the city, including foreign residents.
More than 14,000 foreigners were living in Chengdu as of October this year.
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Many seniors are trapped in the dilemma of staying with their family or receiving professional care, but now, a new solution means they can go to a day-care nursing home.
Seniors in Harbin, the capital of Northeast China&`&s Heilongjiang province, can take a shuttle bus to a day-care nursing home in the morning and commute back home in the evening to be with their family for the rest of the day. Just like others go to work, the nursing homes open every working day between 8 am and 5 pm.
The nursing homes provide professional care, along with fitness training, as well as calligraphy and music sessions specially designed for senior citizens.
There were almost 2 million seniors aged 60 or older in the city last year. Most seniors live at home, with less than 10 percent choose to go to a nursing home. Loneliness and a lack of care are the major problems facing the stay-at-home seniors.
Reports found that almost half of the people in the city who have retired parents support the idea of their parents going to a day-care nursing home.
The fees for the nursing homes vary according to the physical condition of senior applicants, but the costs generally stand at around 2,000 yuan, roughly 290 U.S. dollars a month.
An industry insider said the city still needs quite a number more of the nursing homes to meet the demand.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That&`&s mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues.
A Spanish language learning program for Chinese speakers in Argentina has marked its 10th anniversary.
As an initiative of the University Language Center in the capital Buenos Aires, the program was established to promote closer cultural ties between the Argentine and Chinese people.
The Director General of the language center Roberto Villarruel told Chinese reporters that he saw the potential for the Spanish language to grow in China.
The director general said he visited China a decade ago and since then, the program has drawn Chinese students who have completed their university degrees in Argentina and have stayed on to work in the country.
He said he has learned about the new needs and demands of students in China, along with the expansion of ties between the two countries.
The center also helps to train staff working for top Chinese firms operating in Argentina, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and tech-giant Huawei.
Currently, 50 Chinese students are studying in the program. With an annual average enrollment of 70 to 80 students, the program has trained more than 1,000 students so far.
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China has published a collection of rare ancient medical books that were once thought lost in China until they were discovered overseas.
The collection incorporates 430 ancient traditional Chinese medical books into 400 volumes.
At the launch event recently, the editor-in-chief of the collection said that since the 1990&`&s, he and his team had traveled to many countries including Japan, Germany, France and Britain, to collect the books.
China has developed unique medicine theories and practices, and a great deal of books and works have been published on the subject, some of which ended up in other countries while others have been lost.
The publication is a milestone in traditional Chinese medicine study and has been welcomed by researchers in the field.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
It may have sounded like a great idea: Forget passwords, and instead lock your phone or computer with your fingerprint. It&`&s a convenient form of security - though it&`&s also perhaps not as safe as you might think.
In their rush to do away with problematic passwords, Apple, Microsoft and other tech companies are nudging consumers to use their own fingerprints, faces and eyes as digital keys. Smartphones and other devices increasingly feature scanners that can verify your identity via these "biometric" signatures in order to unlock a gadget, sign into web accounts and authorize electronic payments.
But there are drawbacks: Hackers can still steal your fingerprint - or its digital representation. Police may have broader legal powers to make you unlock your phone. And so-called "biometric" systems are so convenient they could lull users into a false sense of security.
A computer science professor at Michigan State University in the United States said people may expect too much from biometrics. Professor Anil Jain has helped police unlock a smartphone by using a digitally enhanced ink copy of the owner&`&s fingerprints. He said that no security systems are perfect.
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Toys that teach aren&`&t a new thing, but a growing number are calling for kids to build with blocks, circuits or everyday items before reaching for a tablet screen.
Play is how children learn about the world around them, whether it&`&s a toddler throwing a ball or teenagers playing video games. It&`&s about seeing how things work and what happens when they do something. And over the years, toys have become more high tech to keep screen-obsessed children engaged with such play.
But there&`&s growing worry among parents and educators that toys are moving too far in that direction. Educational toys that have a math and science leaning marketed under the umbrella of STEM - are now trying to get back to basics: less screen time, more hands-on activities.
Pramod Sharma, CEO of one such toy company, Osmo, said that when children use their hands, their outcomes are much higher, and it&`&s very different than if they&`&re just staring to screen watching TV.
With Osmo, children learn everything from spelling to coding not by touching a screen, but by snapping together magnetic blocks. A screen is still part of it; an image is beamed onto an iPad through its camera. But the idea is to have children learn first with their hands, and then see their creation move to the screen.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
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