An economic development zone in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, has established an offshore overseas talent base in San Diego, the United States.

The move brings Chengdu’s number of overseas offshore talent bases to 13, the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone said Tuesday.

The talent base will work with the influential Sino-America Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Professional Association and U.S. diagnostic company GIMDX to recruit top global talent.

Chengdu is attempting to compete with larger cities closer to the coast, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, by offering more generous terms and a better environment.

In 2016, the hi-tech zone planned to invest 5 billion yuan (730 million U.S. dollars) to establish offshore overseas talent bases as well as create mass entrepreneurship spaces and offshore incubators, in a bid to attract talent and enhance competitiveness in science and technology.

It also seeks to strengthen cooperation with global innovation hubs such as Silicon Valley in the Unites States, Tel Aviv in Israel and Sophia Antipolis in France.

So far, the zone has attracted five Nobel Laureates, hundreds of top employees worldwide as well 115 Fortune Global 500 companies.

In 2016, the zone’s gross industrial output was nearly 390 billion yuan, only behind Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park and Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park.

A Chinese aircraft manufacturer has been certified to mass produce the country’s home-grown regional jetliner ARJ21-700.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) said it obtained the production license from the General Administration of Civil Aviation on Sunday.

The company plans to deliver five ARJ21-700 jetliners by the end of this year.

COMAC has received orders for 413 ARJ21-700 from 19 clients.

Its first aircraft, with 90 economy seats, was delivered to Chengdu Airlines in late 2015. It has so far transported 15,000 passengers, the company said.

China has in recent years sped up efforts to build its commercial aircraft. Besides ARJ21-700, COMAC has also made much larger jet C919, a narrow-body jumbo designed to rival Airbus’ updated A320 and Boeing’s new generation B737.

It has also set up a joint venture with a Russian state company to build wide-body passenger jets.

Inspectors sent by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection have found widespread environmental violations by imported waste processing firms, the Ministry said Monday.

On Wednesday last week, 191 irregularities involving 66 companies nationwide were found. On Thursday, out of 93 firms inspected, 67 firms were suspected of 169 breaches.

The inspectors have advised local authorities on sanctions against the firms.

The ministry launched a month-long campaign against pollution by a number of small companies processing imported waste at the beginning of July, sending 420 inspectors in 60 teams to localities.

Inspectors will focus on whether enterprises have passed environmental evaluations, violated rules of pollutant discharge, or illegally transferred waste imports, among other aspects.

Local officials will be summoned for talks if they act slowly in dealing with problems, according to the ministry.

China is stepping up the fight against pollution and environmental degradation caused by decades of fast growth.

A reform plan to improve management of solid waste imports was adopted in April.

The summer heat wave is forecast to continue this week and expand over more of the country, and people are being warned to protect themselves.

On Monday, the National Meteorological Center issued a new yellow alert－the lowest level in a three-tier warning system for heat. The alert, initially issued on Friday, means temperatures over 35 C can be expected for three more days.

North China, Northwest China, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and areas immediately south of the Yangtze River have seen temperatures above 35 C.

Record highs were set on Sunday in 11 counties in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu and other provinces, with the highest being 47.8 C in Turpan, a city in Xinjiang.

The area hit by the heat wave in northern China will continue to expand in the coming 10 days, and southern China will see very hot weather that lasts for four to nine days, said Sun Jun, chief weather forecaster at the meteorological center.

Some areas, like Beijing, may get some relief this weekend, with temperatures forecast to drop below 35 C.

The heat wave in the south is a result of subtropical ridge, a belt of atmospheric high pressure characterized by mostly calm and warm winds from tropical regions, while the hot weather in the north is mainly due to another warm high pressure formed on the continent, said Sun said.

While the heat wave is making conditions uncomfortable, it is not particularly severe compared with other years, like 2013, Sun said.

Still, the heat can increase the risk of life-threatening heatstroke, said Gu Chengdong, deputy director of the emergency department at China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing. Heatstroke can happen when the body temperature hits 40 C, at which point cells can be damaged and the nervous system can be harmed. Fatal organ failure can follow, Gu said.

Gu suggests reducing time outdoors, especially during the hottest time of the day, usually from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has instructed education and health authorities to push forward the country’s medical education reform and improve professional training to build a “healthy China.”

In a written instruction consigned to a national conference on medical education reform held in Beijing Monday, Li urged the Ministry of Education, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to step up innovation and further coordinate medical practice with education.

They should take into account China’s conditions while learning from other countries, put traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine on equal footing, and train a large number of qualified medical professionals to provide better health services, Li said.

Vice Premier Liu Yandong, who was present at Monday’s conference, also urged medical and education authorities to meet the needs of the people, improve the structure of medical education, improve its quality, in order to train the talent needed for the “healthy China” scheme.