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China to rein in extravagance of government offices
Chinese government agencies are now set to come under more budget scrutiny.
The State Council is now ordering government agencies above the county level to integrate their overseas visits,public vehicles and maintenance, and official receptions into their budgets.
The costs connected to the so-called "three public expenditures" have long been seen as major sources of corruption here in China.
The central government says any agency caught overspending will be punished.
China to extend maternity leave for nation's working mothers
The central authorities are now set to extend the maternity leave for Chinese working mothers from 90 days to 98 days.
The State Council has issued a new draft regulation for public opinion on the matter.
The proposal also includes 2 to 6-weeks of maternity leave for women who have a miscarriage.
It also obliges employers to cover the medical costs of childbirth and miscarriage.
1,400 suspects under arrest in China's latest anti-mafia campaign
Chinese police are now reporting that they've arrested nearly 14-hundred suspects in the latest campaign against organized crime.
Since September, the Ministry of Public Security says 20 mafia-style organizations and over 120 gangs have been broken up.
Most of the gangs have been caught dominating street markets, loan-sharking and running underground casinos.
Law enforcement here in China is said to have broken up over 2-thousand organized criminal gangs over the past five years, capturing over 4-thosuand guns and freezing assets worth over 10 billion yuan.
China to phase out college majors with bleak employment outlook
The Ministry of Education now says college majors with a bleak employment outlook are going to be phased out here in China.
The new guideline states that if a college major's employment rate stands below 60 percent for two consecutive years, its enrollment quota will be reduced until the courses are phased out completely.
Official figures show there will be around 6.8 million new college graduates next year here in China.
In order to tackle the employment pressure, the Ministry of Education is also suggesting universities and research institutes keep new graduates on campus by hiring them as research assistants.
China's microblog user population tops 300 million
China now has more than 300 million registered microblog users.
The new revelation comes amid the huge upswing in the number of microblog users here in China the last couple of years, following the launch of Sina's popular weibo service.
At the same time, internet regulators also say they're facing new challenges in how to regulate microblogging.
China has the world's largest number of Internet users, with some 480-million people said to be online.
U.S. warns of threats of doing business with Iran's banks; adds new sanctions
The US government has now issued new sanctions against Iran.
11 individuals and organizations connected to the Iranian government are now facing new sanctions.
At the same time, the White House has now issued a warning to other governments or organizations that do business with Iran's banking sector.
However, the Obama has stopped short of imposing sanctions on the Iranian banking sector.
The new US sanctions come over increasing concern about Iran's nuclear work, which the IAEA now says has included attempts to create nuclear weapons.
No deal for US 'super-committee'
After months of talks, the congressional effort to rein in the U.S. debt has ended in failure.
Republican and Democratic negotiators on the so-called Super Committee now say they can't bridge their deep divides over taxes and spending cuts.
White House spokesperson Jay Carney says US President Barack Obama has put forth a new "comprehensive plan."
Failure to reach a deal on deficit reduction will trigger $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next decade, beginning in 2013.
Egypt's cabinet offers resignation
Egypt's entire cabinet has offered to resign after three days of protests against the country's military rulers.
More than 20 people have been killed and nearly 1,800 injured in three continued days of violence in the Egyptian capital.
Egyptian activist groups have been demanding the military council hand power over to a civilian government.
"We are on the verge of a significant breakthrough": UNAIDS
The annual UNAIDS report is now suggesting that even if the AIDS epidemic isn't over, the end may be in sight if countries invest smartly.
The UNAIDS report has revealed that AIDS-related deaths are at their lowest level since a peak in 2005.
At the same time, the number of people testing HIV-positive worldwide is at its lowest level since 1997.
The organization says both the declines are being fuelled by a major expansion in access to treatment.
US pepper spray police chief suspended
The campus police chief at the University of California, Davis, has been put on administrative leave after a crackdown on protesters.
It comes following the release of a video showing campus police pepper spraying demonstrators.
Two other campus police officers who are accused of doing the actual spraying have already been put on administrative leave.
This comes following a similar incident at UC Berkeley where police hit protesters with batons.
The chancellor of UC Davis has set a 30-day deadline for a school task force to probe the incident.
美國胡椒噴霧警官受懷疑
在加州大學戴維斯分校的校園警察在鎮壓抗議者后已經開始休行政假。
這是鑒于一段展示警察對校園示威者噴射胡椒噴霧的錄像。
另外兩個被指控實際使用胡椒噴霧的校園警察已經開始行政休假。
這與加州柏克萊大學警察用警棍打示威者的事件類似。
加州大學戴維斯分校校長已經為校工作小組來調查這個事件的期限訂為30天。
詞語解釋：
1． Pepper n. 胡椒
2． Campus n. 校園
3． Spray v. 噴射
