BEAUTY COMPETITION: A candidate appears on stage for the Chinese national finals of Miss Tourism Cultural World, held in Changsha, Hunan Province, on December 8 (CHEN JIANLI)

Live Court Broadcasts

On December 11, China launched a website for the live broadcasting of court trials, so as to allow the public to better supervise proceedings.

The website, sponsored by chinacourt.org, a portal website for courts administered by the Supreme People's Court, will act as a platform for local courts at all levels to air live trials online, according to a statement from the chinacourt website.

The public can view the broadcasts via the website. The site will also provide notices in advance of broadcasts and video clips of previous trials, the statement said.

The website is expected to increase the public's knowledge about the country's judicial work, help better regulate court practices, enhance judicial justice and serve the public's rights to know, to participate in and to supervise the judiciary system, the sponsor said.

Champion City

Shanghai overtook Hong Kong for the first time to become China's most competitive city this year, mainly due to the establishment of its pilot free trade zone, according to a ranking by the China Institute of City Competitiveness on December 10.

With a score of 16,163.08, Shanghai topped the list, which measures the comprehensive competitiveness of a city based on their economy, social stability, as well as environmental and cultural conditions.

Shanghai was still closely followed by Hong Kong, however, the champion for the past 11 years. They scored 16,099.80 this year.

Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou took the next three spots respectively.

Rare DNA Discovery

Chinese doctors reported the discovery of an abnormal karyotype in human chromosome 5 on December 10. This is the first recorded case ever, and it was observed in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Baoji's Mmaternal and Child Care Service Center diagnosed a girl with dwarfism, as she lacks a chromosome, and the long arm of chromosome 5 in her DNA had a kink.

Tang Kai, director of the center's genetics and heredity diseases lab, said the abnormality was first of its kind ever seen.

Clinical manifestations of the girl's disease are growth retardation and insufficient development of gonads.

The case was reported to the State Key Lab of Medical Genetics, and entered the Database of the China Human Chromosome Abnormality Catalogue.

New Aquanauts

China has recruited six aquanaut cadets, including two women, as a reserve force for its future submersible missions, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) announced on December 10.

The newly recruited cadets, who are between the ages of 23 and 28, were selected from candidates across the country in a public recruitment campaign that kicked off on July 2.

The cadets are China's second cohort of aquanaut cadets. They will begin a two-year training program in 2014 and graduate as aquanauts if they pass their examination in 2016, according to the SOA.