Servicemen and women with the People’s Liberation Army are being issued personal identification tags to improve personnel management as well as battlefield logistics and medical support.

Thirteen units across the Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force have been given the tags, which consist of two parts－a metal tag engraved with the bearer’s name, rank, blood type and military member code and an auxiliary metal tag with a quick-response code and a built-in microchip with their health information.

Troops have also been issued wristwatches that can measure the wearer’s heart rate and send distress signals, according to PLA Daily, the military’s official newspaper.

Officers and medical professionals with the units were given a cellphonelike device that can receive signals from soldiers, scan a tag bearer’s QR code and record emergency and medical situations.

Development of the tags and auxiliary instruments began in November 2013, and the first products were tried out by a brigade of the 27th Group Army, the paper reported, adding that the equipment has proved effective in battlefield medical efforts during combat exercises.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed official from the Central Military Commission’s Logistic Support Department as saying that users from the 13 units will test the devices’ reliability and usage. Users are also told to check whether the tags and wristwatch can work well with other logistics and medical equipment, and whether their electronic frequencies are compatible with those of weapons, the official said.

The official also said the introduction of identification tags will help improve the database of military members’ personal information and logistic and medical services during combat or emergencies.

However, a PLA officer who did not want to be named told China Daily that he has found some problems with the wristwatch, such as its buttons being too big. He urged the military to solve the problems.

Zhou Yuan, a commentator for PLA Daily, has called for tests on whether enemies can be prevented from using the devices and whether the devices’ signals will expose bearers’ location to an enemy.

Currently, militaries in more than 30 nations including the United States, Russia, Germany and Japan use such identification tags.

Starting next month, square dancers in Beijing could risk legal repercussions if they are deemed to be disturbing the peace, Chinanews.com reported.

Beijing’s newly revised regulation on the national fitness program stipulates that fitness activities should not disturb the public order, and violators will be subject to penalties or even criminal prosecution at the hands of public security departments.

With public square dancing becoming increasingly popular among Chinese citizens, and especially among senior citizens, disputes between dancers and residents have been on the rise, as the dancing is usually accompanied by loud music.

Places including Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the cities of Xi’an and Nachong have already formulated regulations controlling fitness activities in public places. These regulations, however, do not designate specific departments to oversee square dancing.

Beijing’s new regulation demonstrates the government’s commitment to solving the problems caused by square dancing, and is a good example of resolving disputes through law, the report noted.

A fatal blaze at a foot massage parlor in eastern China was caused by an electrical fault in a steam room, China’s top work safety watchdog said on Wednesday.

Flames engulfed Zuxintang Foot Massage in Tiantai, Zhejiang province, at 5:26 pm on Feb 5, killing 18 people and injuring 18 others.

A preliminary investigation showed the fire started after the steam room’s heating system malfunctioned, causing rising temperatures that ignited some flammable objects, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.

“It was an accident caused by human error,” Su Jie, a spokeswoman for the watchdog, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The management of the parlor－which occupied the first and second floors of a six-story building in a downtown community－and the relevant local government department should take the blame, Su said.

However, she added that an investigation into the case is ongoing.

Police in Tiantai detained four people in connection with the incident on Feb 7, local media reported.

At the news conference on Wednesday, the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety also provided an update on its investigation into an explosion at Zubao Coal Mine in Lianyuan, Hunan province, on Feb 14 that killed six people and left four others missing.

Yang Fu, deputy director of the agency, said the authorities are looking into whether the mine covered up the death of a miner in the accident, which happened when 29 people were underground.

He said rescuers are trying to find the missing workers and that local authorities have formed a work group to investigate the cause of the blast.

“Investigators have found traces of a coal dust explosion in the shaft after entering the mine several times,” Yang said, adding that the watchdog will punish those responsible if any cover-up is discovered. Police have detained a manager at the mine, surnamed Liu, who is suspected of covering up the miner’s death, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Three officials are also under investigation, including two vice-mayors of Lianyuan and the local production safety chief, according to the report.

China will send anti-corruption inspectors to centrally-administrated universities, discipline authority of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced Wednesday.

The new inspections will scrutinize Party committees of 29 universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University and Nanjing University, according to a statement released after a Wednesday meeting before the launch of the 12th round of inspections.

Inspection teams will re-examine the work of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as well as provinces of Jilin, Yunnan and Shaanxi.

The new round of inspections will also cover the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, China Railway Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.

Attending the meeting, Wang Qishan, who heads an inspection leadership group of the CPC Central Committee, called for better problem-finding inspections.

The meeting urged inspectors to not only listen to what the Party officials say, but also watch what they do during inspections, and stressed that judgements should be made on the basis of people’s comments on the work of Party committees.

Inspections should focus on rules implementation and discipline in elections and official selection to ensure a clean political environment, the statement said.

More flexible measures should be introduced in the inspection mechanism to expose and prevent corruption within discipline authorities, it added.

China’s top legislature Wednesday started its bimonthly session, with lawmakers deliberating revisions to several laws and preparing for the annual session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) in March.

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the opening meeting.

Legislators considered a report on the work of the NPC Standing Committee, which will be submitted to the March session.

They reviewed a draft agenda of the annual session, a draft list of candidates for the session presidium and secretary-general, as well as a list of observers.

They reviewed a report on the qualifications of some NPC deputies and discussed appointments and dismissals.

Lawmakers also deliberated revisions to the law on the Red Cross Society, the law on corporate income tax and the Unfair Competition Law.

Law on Red Cross Society

The draft revisions to the Law on the Red Cross Society aimed to further boost transparency and credibility of the country’s Red Cross societies.

According to the new draft, which was brought for a third reading, Red Cross societies in China and their staff are required to give feedback to donors on the use of their donations in line with the law.

Those in charge and staff members directly responsible who fail to do so could face civil and criminal charges, it said.

Meanwhile, a previous clause giving Red Cross societies the power to “rectify” illegal activities carried out by their subordinate societies and staff members was deleted from the new draft.

China’s Red Cross has in recent years grappled with trust issues.

Revision work for the Law on the Red Cross Society began in 2015.

The first reading of the draft revision suggested independent third-party agencies should audit donations, while the second draft expanded the Red Cross societies’ duties in the donation of stem cells and organs.

The third reading, however, specified that Red Cross societies could “participate in and promote” blood, body and organ donations, and could participate in and carry out “work related to” stem cell donations.

It also said leading supervisors at all Red Cross societies must be chosen through a “democratic process.”

The new draft has addressed public concerns and included pertinent revisions to the existing law, Zhang Mingqi, a vice director of the Law Committee of the NPC, told lawmakers Wednesday morning.

It will better safeguard and regulate Red Cross societies in performing their duties in accordance with the law, and boost its credibility, he said.

At a panel discussion, Shen Yueyue, vice chair of the NPC Standing Committee, said that the revised law is expected to boost the credibility of the country’s Red Cross societies and ensure their role in the humanitarian field could be fully played.

Unfair competition law

Lawmakers started to review a draft amendment to the Unfair Competition Law, as the country strives to build a socialist market economy.

The draft revision, the first since the law came into force in 1993, was given a first reading at the bimonthly session.

As the market economy has evolved and new business models have emerged, some of the law’s existing clauses do not properly address unfair competition, Zhang Mao, head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told lawmakers.

The draft under consideration expands the scope of unfair competition to cover commercial bribery, false commercial propaganda, tie-in sales without buyer consent, and deceitful prize allocation, according to the draft.

It stipulated that operators can not use the names, branding or titles of established entities.

Bribery or influence to affect the outcome of a deal is banned, according to the draft.

The draft in particular stipulates that malicious activity on the Internet used to coerce buyers or disturb other businesses is also banned.

The banned activity includes misleading, cheating or forcing users to “modify, close or unload” products or services, the draft said.

It also includes products or services that are maliciously designed to not be compatible with other products or services, it noted.

The draft also stated that any activity that seriously disturbs competition order but is not currently covered by laws or regulations should be reported to the State Council, according to the draft.

The State Council will establish a coordination task force tasked with studying major policies against unfair competition.

Violators could face fines up to 3 million yuan (about 436,170 U.S. dollars) or have their business licenses revoked, it said, adding that they could also face criminal charges or have their violations recorded in a credit record system.

A draft amendment to the law on corporate income tax was also submitted to legislators for reading on Wednesday.

The draft is expected to address the common complaint that businesses making large donations do not get enough tax concessions.

The government has waived corporate income tax on donations made by companies from their profits, but this only applies to companies that donate 12 percent of their profits or less.

The new draft stipulates that if a company’s donation exceeds the 12 percent in one year, the balance can be deducted from the taxable income over the following three years.