File photo of South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has succeeded in collecting samples of combustible ice in the South China Sea, a major breakthrough that may lead to a global energy revolution, Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming said Thursday.

This is China’s first success in mining flammable ice at sea, after nearly two decades of research and exploration, the minister said at a trial mining site in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea Thursday.

China found flammable ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, in the South China Sea in 2007.

International scientific circles have predicted that natural gas hydrate is the best replacement for oil and natural gas.

Braille test papers will be provided in the national English test for college students, after a girl sued the top education body.

The examination authority of the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday that the Braille test papers will be available in the CET-4, or College English Test Band 4, which is scheduled next month.

The move came after a high-profile lawsuit brought against the authorities by a visually impaired girl. The plaintiff is a senior year student at Changchun University in Northeast China’s Jilin Province.

Last September, the girl sent an application to the local education authority asking for the provision of Braille test papers in the CET-4, a test she wants to take to apply for a master’s degree program for psychology. Her request was not approved.

In March, she sent another request to the local education authority to provide Braille test papers and also asked the MOE to disclose accommodation policies for students with limited vision, but did not receive replies.

On May 10, Luo brought a lawsuit against the MOE, demanding the ministry to disclose policies that help visiually impaired students appearing for CET-4 test.

An insider from the examination authority of the MOE said measures have been taken to help disabled students in recent years. For example, in December 2016, 18 visually impaired students were allowed to use large-character papers in CET-4 and CET-6.

According to a law revised in 2008, national exams should provide Braille test papers, electronic test papers and professional aids to people who are visually impaired. Regulations that took effect on May 1 also state that a disabled person has the right to apply for reasonable accommodation in national exams, and exam centers as well as schools should provide support as requested.

In 2014, Braille test papers became available for the gaokao, or national college entrance examination, opening up more majors to people with limited vision. The next year, eight students sat for the test.

Police in Chongqing municipality and Sichuan and Guangdong provinces are warning parents to prevent their children from playing Blue Whale, the so-called suicide game.

According to the Chongqing Public Security Bureau, a small number of juveniles have been discovered participating in the game, which operates via social media groups.

The police and the cyberspace administration will crack down on any organizing, instigating or luring people to play the game, a source at the bureau said on Wednesday, asking not to be identified.

Severe penalties will be meted out to those who cause grave consequences, this person said.

The Nanjiang county public security bureau in Sichuan said on Tuesday that it had detained a suspect surnamed Liu, who is suspected of inviting his social media friends to play Blue Whale.

A whistleblower reported last week that the game was being promoted in a QQ circle of friends. About three hours later, police detained Liu, the bureau said.

It asked the public to report anyone promoting the game.

Mazhang district’s public security bureau in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, said on Tuesday that it had detained a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of spreading extremism.

A student identified only as Xue is accused of downloading photos showing how to make a whale pattern on one’s arm with a knife, and uploading the photos to his QQ circle of friends. He is also accused of starting a rumor that 11 friends in the circle had finished the game. He wanted to arouse friends’ interest and keep them in the circle, authorities said.

The suicide game, named for the way whales beach themselves and die, was invented by Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old psychology student from Russia. Budeikin started spreading the game in 2013 and was arrested in Russia in October.

The player signs up via a social media group and must agree to follow a series of instructions set by an “administrator” over the course of 50 days.

The administrator assigns tasks the player must accomplish to progress. These range from getting up at 4:20 a.m. every day, watching horror films for an entire day and carving the whale pattern on the arm with a knife.

The final “challenge” is committing suicide on the 50th day.

Players of the game are generally age 10 to 14. The game is believed to be responsible for more than 130 suicides in Russia and has spread to the United States, Italy, Eastern Europe and parts of China’s Anhui and Yunnan provinces, according to Chinese police.

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced Wednesday that 1,274 missing children had been found over the past year following the launch of an app in May 2016.

During the period, 1,317 updates on missing children were posted on the app, and the children found include 40 who had been abducted, 750 who had run away from home, 192 who had been lost, 75 who died by drowning, as well as 29 who were murdered, according to the MPS.

The app helps to ensure efficient sharing of information and collaboration between police in different regions, and encourages witnesses to report the whereabouts of missing or trafficked children, the MPS said.

Users near the site where a child disappeared receive push notifications, including photos and descriptions. The scope of these push notifications will be expanded over time.

An updated version of the platform that went live on Wednesday has expanded its reach through cooperation with seven other media platforms, such as an emergency broadcasting center under China National Radio, a news app from Tencent and Yidao Yongche.

So far, the MPS app has formed a cooperative partnership with 40 new media and mobile applications, including Taobao, Baidu and QQ.

Chinese metal scientists announced they had developed a plow using a new steel alloy.

Plow was initially used in China over 2,000 years ago, centuries earlier than in Europe. However, Chinese farmers nowadays would rather pay over the odds for imported plows because of their better quality and durability.

The situation may soon change, thanks to the new research.

Yan Desheng, of the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the new metal was developed on the basis of boron steel, with micro-alloying elements and fine carbide added, so as to increase its hardness while keeping its high ductility.

The new material had been used to make over 1,000 farming tools, such as moldboard plows and rotary blades.

These tools have been used in farms in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Jiangsu for tests and evaluation since 2012, Yan told Xinhua earlier this week.

“The new material has at least doubled the durability of plows compared with the traditional home-made ones, at only half the price of imported ones,” he said.

The edge of the plow has a better ground-breaking angle and has helped reduce abrasion and fuel consumption, according to a technician with a Hulun Buir-based farm in Inner Mongolia, which has tried the tools.