Tibet bans crossing of nature reserve

Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region has banned visitors from passing through a state nature reserve to access other areas, as an environmental protection measure.

In a circular released Friday, the regional forestry bureau said that any crossing at the Changtang National Nature Reserve (CNNR) will be illegal. It specifically mentions that people should not pass through the CNNR to reach two other state nature reserves, one in Xinjiang and another in Qinghai.

The CNNR covers six counties in Tibet’s Nagqu Prefecture. With an area of 298,000 square km and an average altitude of 5,000 meters, it is China’s biggest and highest reserve. The area is a wildlife paradise, and home to a variety of wildlife species and numerous lakes.

The circular called on tourists, adventure enthusiasts and tourism agencies to comply with the reserve’s laws and regulations to “protect the last pure land on earth.”

Tibet has increased protection efforts at the CNNR. In 2015, the regional government established 73 management stations at the reserve and hired a total of 780 farmers and herdsmen to patrol, manage and protect the reserve at a cost of 300 million yuan (43 million dollars).



£6bn extra a year for the NHS and care

Today, we’ve announced our first election manifesto commitment; we will invest an extra £6bn a year in our NHS & Social Care system.

This new funding will be paid for through an immediate 1p rise on all rates of income tax.

This funding will be ring-fenced to be spent only on the NHS and social care and will provide vital services with the money they desperately need until a longer-term solution can be found.

This is our flagship spending commitment and our first major policy announcement for the election.

Our manifesto will also set out a ‘five-point recovery plan’ for NHS and social care services. 

As he made the announcement, Liberal Democrat Leader, Tim Farron, said:

“Theresa May doesn’t care about the NHS or social care. People are lying on trolleys in hospital corridors and she has done nothing. The truth is you can’t have a strong NHS with a Hard Brexit.”

“The Liberal Democrats will rescue the NHS and social care. We are prepared to be honest with people and say that we will all need to chip in a little more.”

“It is not too late to change Britain’s future. The Conservatives want absolute power, Labour are too weak to stand up to them, so we will. The Liberal Democrats will be the strong opposition Britain needs.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Norman Lamb, added:

“The NHS was once the envy of the world and this pledge is the first step in restoring it to where it should be.”

“A penny on the pound to save the NHS is money well spent in our view.”

“Simply providing more money on its own is not enough and that’s why this is just the first step in our plan to protect health and care services long-term.”

“We also need to do much more to keep people fit and healthy and out of hospital, and that is why this new funding will be targeted to those areas that have the greatest impact on patient care such as social care, general practice, mental health and public health.”

This our five-step plan for the NHS & Social Care:

  1. Introduce a 1% raise in income tax, generating £6bn a year
  2. Ring-fence ALL of this for the NHS and care, investing efficiently and effectively in social care, primary care, mental health and public health
  3. Consolidate all health and care taxes into a single, dedicated Health and Care Tax, showing on people’s payslips exactly what we spend it on
  4. Establish a cross-party health and care convention, consulting and working with patients, the public, NHS staff and care workers, to ensure our systems are sustainable and integrated
  5. Introduce an independent agency to monitor health and care budgets, which would report every three years on how much money the system needs to flourish


Yunnan police bust drug trafficking case

Police in southwest China’s Yunnan Province have busted a drug-trafficking case, with three suspects detained, authorities said Saturday.

More than 57 kg of methamphetamine and two vehicles were confiscated in a raid on Tuesday, according to the public security bureau of Zhenyuan County.

On Tuesday, police intercepted an SUV on a local highway in Zhenyuan and detained a suspect surnamed Xie. Later, another SUV carrying another two suspects was stopped.

Further investigation is under way.



Ancient city ruins discovered in southwest China

The ruins of an ancient city have been discovered in southwest China.

Archaeologists have found the remains of several walls in Yunnan’s Midu County, believed to be part of Baiya City, and dating back to the early years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) more than 1,000 years ago.

Accounts of the old town of Baiya City first appear in a history book written by military official Fan Chuo during the Tang Dynasty. Fan said that Baiya City had an old town and a new town, which were closely connected. A previously discovered “old town” was about two kilometers from the confirmed new town, contradictory to the book, according to historian and archeologist He Jinlong.

“From the location of these newly discovered ruins, much closer to the new town, we are pretty confident that it is the authentic old town,” He said. “As excavation continues, we will know more details.”

Domestic and foreign records about Baiya City are quite limited, and the new discovery will provide valuable evidence for research into the ancient civilization of west Yunnan, He added.



Large number of wild Milu deer sighted in Hunan

A large group of milu Deer have been spotted in central China’s Hunan Province, authorities said.

Staff with Hunan Provincial Forestry Department found 62 wild milu deer during a drone inspection in a state nature reserve near Dongting Lake, the second-largest freshwater lake in China. It is the biggest group of wild milu deer ever seen in the area.

Staff with the department found the deer foraging during a survey on Thursday.

Last year, authorities found 41 of the deer in the reserve.

“The extra deer spotted this year must be the calves,” said Zhang Hong, an official with the administration of the nature reserve.

Milu, also known as Pere David’s deer, is a species endemic to China, but overhunting and loss of habitat led to its near extinction in the early 20th Century.

In 1986, the British government gifted 39 milu deer to Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in east China’s Jiangsu Province, starting a revival of the population in its homeland.