The country’s first basketball team established to help autistic children boost their interpersonal skills and become more integrated with society was founded in Shanghai on World Autism Awareness Day on Sunday.

Twelve children ages 8 to 12 formed the first group of players on the team, and monthly training will be organized for them by the Shanghai-based Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, which set up the team.

All the players are boys and Wang Yi, vice-president of the hospital, explained the ratio of boys and girls suffering from autism spectrum disorder is roughly 4 to 1 and boys may be more inclined to sports activities, so their parents signed them up for the team.

China has more than 10 million children who have autism.

Their symptoms include differences and disabilities in areas including social communication skills, motor skills and sometimes intellectual skills as well as usual responses to sensory input, such as unusual sensitivity to sound and light, said Wang, one of the country’s leading experts in this field.

She said sports such as basketball, jogging and swimming, are widely acknowledged ways to help autistic children relieve negative emotions and boost their communication skills and self-confidence.

Liu Siyuan, a physical education teacher at a kindergarten in Shanghai, was appointed coach of the team because of his patience and kindness to children.

“I found that they’re interested in shooting hoops, but they can only stay focused for about 15 minutes.

“I hope the 12 children can form two small groups and play a game, with the assistance of volunteers, after exercising for some time,” Liu said after an hour’s training on Sunday.

The basketball team invites eligible autistic children around the country to join in.

An investigation was opened on Sunday on several police officers over allegations of negligence following public outcry from a debt conflict in the city of Liaocheng in east China’s Shandong Province.

Yu Huan was given life sentence for killing a man who sexually assaulted Yu’s mother in the debt conflict last year.

On April 14, 2016, in a bid to have Yu’s mother pay a debt, one of the debt collectors started sexually assaulting Yu’s mother. Yu then called the police over the incident, but they left without resolving the issue. Yu then stabbed the debt collector and was later charged with murder.

However, local news reports revealed last month that the police had been very lax and careless when they arrived at the scene. It sparked a huge controversy over the perception of police negligence and whether Yu’s act should be justified as “self-defense.”

China’s top prosecutor dispatched a task force to review all the evidence, and a separate probe into how the police handled the case showed malpractice, revealing a serious dereliction of duty since they didn’t take effective measures to protect the mother.

Five people were killed and three others were injured after a blast set a factory warehouse in east China’s Anhui province on fire on Sunday evening.

The blast was heard at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday in the Wanhua oil company in the Anqing city, according to the city’s publicity authorities. The fire was put out three hours later. Rescuers managed to save three people, leaving five others trapped at the scene.

The five people were found on the early morning of Monday and all confirmed dead. Among the three rescued, two are receiving treatment in hospital while the third, with minor injury, was discharged.

Monitor close to the factory didn’t find serious air pollution after the accident, while measures have been taken to handle the water pollution resulted by the blast.

Cause of the blast is being investigated.

The central leadership has named new Party chiefs in four provinces in the latest reshuffle of provincial leadership ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China later this year.

The changes of the top officials in Heilongjiang, Hainan, Gansu and Shandong provinces, decided by the CPC Central Committee, were announced on Saturday.

Zhang Qingwei, 55, former governor of Hebei province, was appointed Party chief of Heilongjiang. Zhang was formerly an aerospace engineer.

Liu Cigui, 61, was named Party chief of Hainan. Liu, the former head of the State Oceanic Administration, has been governor of Hainan since February 2015.

Lin Duo, 61, former governor of Gansu, was appointed Party chief of the province. He was the former Party chief of Beijing’s Xicheng district from October 2006 to July 2010 and later worked in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces.

Liu Jiayi, who holds a doctorate in economics, was named Party chief of Shandong province. The 60-year-old has been head of the National Audit Office since March 2008.

The former Party chiefs of these four provinces－Wang Xiankui, Heilongjiang; Luo Baoming, Hainan; Wang Sanyun, Gansu; and Jiang Yikang, Shandong－have reached or are nearing 65, the standard retirement age for ministerial-level officials.

Also on Saturday, Xu Qin, 55, former Party chief and mayor of the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, was appointed deputy Party chief of Hebei. Wang Weizhong, former Party chief of Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, was named Shenzhen’s Party chief on Sunday. A new Shenzhen mayor is yet to be announced.

Shen Xiaoming, former deputy minster of education, was named deputy Party chief of Hainan.

Xu and Shen are widely expected to be nominated governors of Hebei and Hainan. Government leaders must be approved by local provicial legislatures.

Xu, who holds a doctor’s degree in business administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, worked from 2003 to 2010 at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner.

He became mayor of Shenzhen in June 2010 and Party chief of the city in December 2016.

Xu’s appointment as a senior official in Hebei is believed to be beneficial to the development of the Xiongan New Area－whose creation in Heibei has national significance－as Xu has rich experience at Shenzhen, the country’s first special economic zone.

Shen, 54, formerly a pediatrician, worked in Shanghai for 28 years before he joined the Ministry of Education in 2016.

China’s Ministry of Education has issued a document encouraging schools and kindergartens to install surveillance cameras in kitchens and pantries to monitor the entire process of food production and to improve food safety.

As the weather gets warmer, the possibilities of food poisoning and infectious diseases increase, said the document, adding that schools should be more careful in purchasing ingredients and processing food.

The food must have clear labels, stating the production date and producer, and expired food must not be used, according to the document.

Principals will be held accountable in any food safety incidents, said the document.

The document also requires schools to keep an eye on the health of their students by having daily body check-ups. The schools need to launch educational campaigns on food safety and disease prevention and control among students.