ON WIRES: Members of China's Qingdao Acrobatic Troupe perform a pole routine at the 10th Budapest International Circus Festival in Hungary on January 13, where they won a Golden Pierrot award (XINHUA)

Lunar Exploration

China's moon rover Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, completed its first scientific exploration of lunar soil on January 14, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).

The rover used its mechanical arm to carry out the survey, following instructions from the control center, according to a BACC statement.

"Accurate direction of the mechanical arm from a distance of 380,000 km has been realized, a breakthrough for China in achieving long-distance remote control," said Wu Fenglei of the BACC.

China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe, which launched from Earth with Yutu onboard, soft-landed on the moon at Sinus Iridium, or the Bay of Rainbows, on December 14 last year. After landing, the rover separated from the Chang'e-3 lander.

The rover and lander entered a period of dormancy that lasted two weeks, the same as one lunar night, on December 26, 2013, in a move designed to ride out the moon's harsh climactic conditions. They awakened autonomously on January 12.

Tough on Graft

The Communist Party of China's disciplinary watchdog closed graft investigations into eight high-profile officials and handed over their cases to prosecutors in 2013, a senior discipline inspector revealed on January 10.

The officials were Zhou Zhenhong, Liu Tienan, Ni Fake, Wang Suyi, Li Daqiu, Tong Mingqian, Yang Kun and Qi Pingjing, said Huang Shuxian, Deputy Secretary of the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and Minister of Supervision, at a press conference.

Five of the eight officials previously held provincial-level positions, two were senior officials of central government departments while one was senior executive of a state bank.

The cases were only a few among the 31 high-profile officials investigated by the CCDI last year, with the remaining 23 still under investigation, including Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and Li Dongsheng, former Vice Minister of Public Security, Huang added.

Last year, the Party's discipline inspection agencies punished about 182,000 officials nationwide, 13.3 percent more than in 2012, according to Huang.

Among them, about 150,000 were subject to Party discipline punishment and 48,900 were subject to administrative punishment.

Tibetan Education

Tibetans receive 8.4 years of education on average, according to data released by education authorities of Tibet Autonomous Region on January 14.

The data also showed that primary school enrollment rates in the region reached 99.59 percent in 2013.

In 2013, the regional government invested 11 billion yuan ($1.82 billion) in education, benefiting 600,200 enrolled students, according to Ma Shengchang, director of the regional education department.

Ma added that Tibet was the first place in China to provide nine-year compulsory education for free, back in 2007, and it was the first to provide 15-year education for free when it started doing so in 2012.

The regional government also plans to increase the annual budget for the educational subsidy scheme by 70.5 million yuan ($11.65 million) from September.

In the coming semester beginning in fall, children at a kindergarten through to a senior high level will receive 2,900 yuan ($479) each to help cover annual expenses for food, accommodation and educational supplies while they attend boarding school, according to Lu Mingxiu, an official with the Tibet Bureau of Finance.