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07.06.2024, 19:57 27051

Record 13.42 mln Chinese students take fiercely competitive college exam

Images | Xinhua/Ren Chao

On Friday, a total of 13.42 million young people across China began participating in this year's college entrance test, known as the gaokao. This number is a record high since matriculation resumed in China in 1977, and marks an increase of 510,000 students compared to last year, the Ministry of Education revealed, Xinhua reports.

Chinese society, renowned for valuing young people's education, is enthusiastically mobilized to give a helping hand to gaokao candidates.

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06.06.2024, 12:37 33171

Two trams crash in Siberia’s Kemerovo, dozens injured

A total of 67 people were injured when two trams collided in the southwestern Siberian city of Kemerovo, Acting Governor Ilya Seredyuk wrote on Telegram, TASS reports.

According to information from the Kuzbass Disaster Medicine Center, a total of 67 people have been injured as of 10:40 a.m. local time (3:40 a.m. GMT). Two of them are in intensive care, one is on the operating table. Doctors are fighting for their lives," he wrote. "Ten people are receiving out-patient treatment."

Earlier, City Mayor Dmitry Anisimov said a total of 40 people were taken to hospital after the accident. Another 10 sought medical assistance on their own.

Initial reports said around 30 people were injured in the accident, which occurred at around 7:30 a.m. (local time, 12.30 a.m. GMT), the press service of the regional office of the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement. A criminal investigation was launched on charges of rendering services that do not meet safety standards.

The city’s electric transport company said no fire or deaths were reported as a result of the incident. The two trams were moving in the same direction at the time of the accident.

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06.06.2024, 11:34 33391

4 killed, 20 injured in Czech train accident

At least four people were killed and 23 others injured after a passenger train collided with a freight train on Wednesday evening in the Czech Republic, Xinhua reports with reference to the Czech Television.

The accident happened at around 11 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) in the northeastern Czech city of Pardubice, when a passenger train traveling from the Czech capital of Prague to the eastern Slovak city of Kosice collided head-on with a freight train.

According to local rescuers, more than 300 people were traveling in the passenger train. Photos from the scene showed the first carriage of the train was derailed and partially overturned.

Both train drivers survived the accident, and the collision might have occurred "due to an error" by the passenger train driver, the report said.

The collision of two trains in Pardubice is a great misfortune. We are all thinking of the victims and the injured. My sincere condolences to all the bereaved," Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on X, formerly Twitter.

The Czech Television reported later that all passengers had been rescued from the passenger train.

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05.06.2024, 18:26 33676

Chinese scientists create bio-inspired 3D e-ski

A team of Chinese scientists has created the world's first bio-inspired electronic skin with a 3D structure that mimics three mechanical signals found in human skin, Xinhua reports.

With its intricate 3D distribution, sensory receptors in human skin adeptly perceive external forces and strain. By mimicking this spatial distribution, researchers from Tsinghua University developed an e-skin that replicates the structure of human skin, featuring its own "epidermis," "dermis" and "subcutaneous tissue."

This e-skin is capable of achieving simultaneous decoding and perception of three mechanical signals -- pressure, friction and strain -- at the physical level, according to the study published in the journal Science recently.

A patch of the e-skin, comparable in size to the tip of an index finger, is equipped with 240 metal sensors, each ranging from two to three hundred micrometers in size," said Zhang Yihui, the corresponding author of the study.

Their spatial arrangement closely mimics the distribution of tactile receptor cells within human skin," Zhang added.

The sensors amass signals that are meticulously processed and subsequently refined through deep learning algorithms, allowing the biomimetic skin to discern the texture and contours of objects with remarkable precision.

It exhibits a remarkable pressure position perception resolution of about 0.1 millimeters, rivaling the sensitivity of genuine human skin, according to the study.

The e-skin holds the potential to be integrated into the fingertips of medical robots for precise early-stage diagnostics and interventions. It can also be used as a band-aid to offer real-time monitoring of vital health metrics, including blood oxygen saturation and heart rate, according to Zhang.

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05.06.2024, 13:11 33961

Kyrgyzstan intends to increase exports of domestic products to Japan

Bishkek, June 5, 2024. /Kabar/. Deputy Minister of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic Sanzhar Bolotov held talks with Japanese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tsuji Kiyoto, Kabar reports.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic, in his welcoming speech, Sanzhar Bolotov expressed confidence that the visit of Tsuji Kiyoto will give a positive impetus to the development of cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Japan.

He emphasized the positive growth rate of mutual trade between the countries, while he also drew the attention of those present to the low volumes of supplies of Kyrgyz products to the Japanese market. Taking into account the existing potential, the deputy head of the Ministry of Energy and Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic proposed to direct efforts to increase the export of Kyrgyz organic products to Japan.

Afterwards, the Kyrgyz side spoke about the activities of the Kyrgyz Export center under the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic, which was established to develop the export potential and competitiveness of domestic producers.

In turn, the Secretary of State of Japan outlined significant progress in the development of Kyrgyz-Japanese relations, which was facilitated by the visit of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov to Japan in November 2023.

He emphasized the importance of cooperation in the field of information and communication technologies and the memorandum of understanding signed during the visit of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic between the High Technology Park of the Kyrgyz Republic and the "Knowledge Capital" association. Tsuji Kiyoto expressed confidence that successful interaction between IT companies will lay the foundation for concluding an Agreement on the Protection and Promotion of Investments, which is an important document for attracting investors.

Finally, the parties discussed the need to develop a contractual legal framework for comprehensive economic cooperation, including work on concluding a draft agreement on the avoidance of double taxation.

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03.06.2024, 08:46 42306

1 killed, 26 injured in U.S. state of Ohio shooting

An overnight shooting left one dead and at least 26 others injured in Akron in the U.S. state of Ohio, local media reported, Xinhua reports.

The shooting, which happened after midnight, killed a 27-year-old man, and injured 26 others, who were sent to an area hospital later.

Police have recovered a gun and dozens of bullet casings at the scene.

No suspect has been arrested so far and the cause of the shooting remains unclear, police said.

Over 180 mass shootings have occurred in the United States in 2024 so far, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as an incident in which four or more victims are shot or killed.

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31.05.2024, 08:26 50836

Chinese scientists bring human eye-like perception to machines

A group of Chinese scientists have pioneered the creation of the world's first brain-inspired complementary vision chip, endowing machines with a human-like visual perception capability, Xinhua reports.

The AI-driven visual perception is laying the groundwork for a transformative tech revolution, particularly in the realm of unmanned systems like autonomous driving.

However, achieving efficient, accurate, and resilient visual perception in environments that are dynamic, varied, and inherently unpredictable continues to be a formidable challenge.

The researchers from Tsinghua University drew inspiration from the principles of the human visual system and have crafted a vision-sensing technology that breaks down visual information into fundamental, primitive-based visual representations.

By integrating these primitives, the technology emulates the features of the human visual system, establishing two complementary visual perception pathways: cognition-oriented and action-oriented, respectively, according to the study published as a cover story in the journal Nature on Thursday.

Building on this foundation, the team has engineered the "Tianmouc" vision chip, which is capable of high-speed visual information acquisition at a rate of 10,000 frames per second with 10-bit precision.

This breakthrough innovation also boasts a 90 percent reduction in bandwidth and operates with low power consumption, according to the study.

Utilizing the chip, the researchers designed high-performance software and algorithms and validated the system on a vehicle-mounted platform operating in diverse open environments.

The system has exhibited low-latency, high-performance real-time perception capabilities, highlighting its immense potential for deployment in the field of intelligent unmanned systems.

The Tianmouc chip paves a new path for pivotal applications such as autonomous driving and embodied intelligence, said Zhao Rong, one of the paper's corresponding authors.

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29.05.2024, 13:37 56596

Over 2,000 feared buried after massive landslide in Papua New Guinea: IOM

More than 2,000 people are feared dead in a landslide in Papua New Guinea, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday, Anadolu reports.

According to the country’s National Disaster Centre, over 2,000 people are buried under the rubble after the massive landslide, triggered by heavy rains - marking one of the deadliest disasters in the country’s recent history," International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.

Thousands of people have lost their homes and belongings in "the blink of an eye," said Serhan Aktoprak, IOM chief of mission in Papua New Guinea, adding: "The scale of this disaster is truly heartbreaking."

The landslide occurred at around 3:00 a.m. (1700 GMT) local time on Monday, burying homes, infrastructure and farmland under up to eight meters of soil and debris, according to IOM.

The agency stressed that recovery efforts are continuing, but only six bodies have been recovered so far.

Citing provincial authorities, it said that over 7,840 people have been affected by the disaster so far, including those confirmed dead or missing and 1,650 displaced people.

Underscoring the vulnerability of the population, the agency said that many of the displaced had previously sought refuge in the area to escape tribal conflict.

The challenges we face in the aftermath of this tragedy are immense," Aktoprak said, adding: "The area remains extremely dangerous due to ongoing land movement, and access is hindered by blocked roads, damaged infrastructure, and adverse weather conditions." 

IOM warned that with many bodies still to be recovered from beneath the rubble, there is concern that underground water flowing down the mountain will contaminate local drinking water sources, posing serious health risks.

It added that most of the area’s sources of clean drinking water have become "inaccessible" due to the landslide.  

Also, a bridge connecting Enga province to neighboring Western Highlands province collapsed Tuesday morning, further hampering the delivery of supplies and assistance to affected communities.

It noted that immediate UN assistance has been requested by the country and the emergency response will target the most pressing humanitarian needs, including the distribution of food, provision of shelter, emergency water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance, as well as logistical support and protection measures.

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