Clean up the InternetChina will step up its efforts to remove pornographic and other harmful information from the Internet by bolstering management of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) market, said Chen Jiachun, Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Bureau under the Ministry of Information Industry.

He said local telecommunications administrative departments have been urged to identify Internet servers that do not have appropriate business licenses.

Administrative departments are also being urged to step up monitoring of licensed ISPs. Those who ignore regulations will be asked to suspend activities until their situation is rectified or may even have their license revoked.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security said at a recent press conference that nearly 80 percent of juvenile delinquents have been lured into crime by "evil content" on the Internet.

Labor Day safety

China's State Council, the cabinet, issued a circular recently encouraging government departments and businesses to pay close attention to safety during the week-long Labor Day holiday.

The circular called for increased safety checks of traffic hotspots and tourist sites. It also told local authorities to tighten supervision of the coalmine industry during the holiday, improve fire control and enhance food safety to prevent food poisoning.

It said safety supervision departments should be on high alert during the holiday and be ready to cope with any emergency and warned against delaying reporting or trying to cover up accidents during the holiday.

A record 120 million trips were made and 44 people were killed across the country in seven major road accidents during the seven-day holiday in China last year.

Online marriage database

China is preparing to make its citizens' marital status details available online to prevent bigamies, sources with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on April 23.

A nationwide network of online databases will be completed by 2010, said a document issued by the ministry. In 2005, the ministry instructed provincial marriage registration offices to begin collecting citizen's marriage registration information and inputting it into a computerized database.

Chinese couples used to have to get an "introductory letter" from their employers to the local marriage registration office but this formality was dropped in 2003.

The simplification of marriage procedures led to an increase in bigamies with the number of couples providing false registration information on the rise.

The ministry has ordered branches at county level and higher to provide computer facilities for the registration.

Dishonest costs

A leading Chinese science official warned researchers nationwide to be careful to avoid "dishonest conduct"--such as plagiarism and fabrication of proofs--because the country is mulling methods to crack down on unethical practice.

Speaking at an academic conference, Deng Nan, Vice Chairwoman of the China Association for Science and Technology, urged science associations at all levels to enhance supervision of academic morality and treat whistleblowers properly.

"We will establish an honesty profile for each academic. Dishonest acts will be recorded, made public, condemned and punished," Deng said. But she did not reveal details of the plan at the conference.

Conserving plants

Chinese scientists are fighting an uphill battle to conserve biodiversity in the Three Gorges area, and reduce hazards to the local ecosystem, scientists said at the Third World Botanic Gardens Congress in Wuhan, central China, on April 20.

There are more than 200 rare and endangered species in the Three Gorges area. Myricaria laxiflora, unique to the area, is a plant which helps conserve soil on river banks and dams. But it will be submerged when the water level in the Three Gorges reservoir reaches 175 meters.

Scientists at the Wuhan Botanic Garden (WBG) with the Chinese Academy of Sciences have transplanted the species to the botanic garden and reproduced more than 30,000 individual plants.

WBG scientists also set up seed banks, and froze the gene, farina and other parts of the species for long-term preservation.