SNOWLAND SHOW: Visitors pose for a picture at the Tibet Impression photography exhibition on its opening day on June 26 in New York City. Nearly 100 selected photos display Tibet's natural and cultural landscapes (WANG LEI)

Xinjiang Riots

A total of 24 people have been killed by rioters in a violent terrorist attack in a remote township in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinhua News Agnecy reported.

The attack occurred at 5:50 a.m. on June 26 in Lukqun Township, Shanshan County in Turpan Prefecture. Rioters killed 24 people, including two police officers. Among the victims, 16 were Uygurs.

The rioters attacked the township's police stations, a local government building and a construction site. They also set fire to police cars. Twenty-one police officers and civilians were injured.

The police shot and killed 11 rioters at the scene and captured another four who were injured.

Police authorities are investigating the incident.

Cross-Straits Pact

Negotiators from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan signed a service trade agreement on June 21.

The agreement was inked by the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Straits Exchange Foundation in Taiwan, which are authorized by the mainland and Taiwan, respectively, to handle cross-Straits affairs.

According to the agreement, the mainland will open 80 service sectors to Taiwan, while Taiwan will open 64 sectors to the mainland.

The sectors include those related to commerce, telecommunications, construction, distribution, environment, health, tourism, entertainment, culture, sports, transportation and finance.

Under the deal, the threshold for market access will be lowered for service providers from both sides and more favorable policies will be formulated to boost cross-Straits cooperation in the service industry.

The agreement will further normalize and liberalize service trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, as well as promote the opening up of mutual markets in the service sector, the ARATS and SEF said in a joint press release.

Copyright Protection

China's National Copyright Administration said on June 25 that it will add Apple's App Store, Amazon and Taobao, the country's largest C2C online marketplace, to its copyright supervision plan in this year's campaign against online piracy.

These online platforms will be required to report on their measures for protecting copyrights and handling complaints filed by title holders, according to a statement issued by the administration.

The administration will also extend its supervision to music videos for the first time and make an initial list of 24 major video portals to be supervised.

A four-month campaign against online copyright infringement and piracy was launched in late June.

Statistics from the administration show that from 2005 to 2012, authorities across the country investigated 4,051 cases of online copyright infringement and piracy. Of the total, 299 cases were transferred to judicial authorities for handling.