■ CHINA
Next space mission planned
China plans to launch its third manned space mission as well as 15 rockets and 17 satellites this year, state media said yesterday. Shenzhou 7, the country's third manned space mission, is a priority for this year, Huang Qiang (黃強), secretary-general of the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. The trip is to carry three astronauts into space and will feature China's first space walk.
■ CHINA
Experts list addiction genes
Scientists have identified about 400 genes that appear to make some people more easily addicted to drugs, opening the way for more effective therapies and addiction control. Experts believe genetic factors account for up to 60 percent of a person's vulnerability to drug addiction, with environmental factors accounting for the remainder. The researchers focused on four addictive substances -- cocaine, opiates, alcohol and nicotine -- and mapped out five main routes, or "molecular pathways," that lead to addiction, they wrote in the journal PLoS Computational Biology.
■ JAPAN
Tokyo taxis go smoke-free
Tokyo's two largest taxi associations implemented a smoking ban on Monday that made nearly all of the cabs operating in the country's capital smoke-free. The ban was implemented by the Tokyo Taxi Association, whose member companies operate 34,000 cabs, and the Tokyo Independent Taxi Association, which has some 17,500 owner-operated taxis, association officials said. The two associations account for around 95 percent of Tokyo's taxis, Transport Ministry official Yoshinori Takahashi said. The 3,000 or so unaffiliated taxis in the city are also expected to go smoke-free, media reports said. The move brings the number of Japan's 47 prefectures with taxi smoking bans to 15, Takahashi said.
■ PAKISTAN
Voter rolls safer in Canada
A list of some 80 million eligible voters in Pakistan's upcoming presidential election is being stored on computers in Canada for safekeeping, the company stashing the data said on Monday. The computers are nestled in a nondescript block along the busy Trans-Canada highway in Montreal, said Hayee Bokhari, president of Cronomagic, which was contracted by the Election Commission of Pakistan to create an online database. "Infrastructure in Pakistan is not secure enough because electricity over there is a big thing," said Bokhari, who was born in Pakistan. "For them to make it run 24-7 without interruption, that was only possible either in the United States, in Canada or in Europe."
■ CHINA
Confiscation data released
Authorities confiscated nearly 149 million magazines, video disks and other publications last year for being pornographic, pirated or otherwise unauthorized, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday. About 136 million of the confiscated items were pirated, while close to 4 million were pornographic and nearly 3.4 million were smuggled, Xinhua reported, citing the National Office for Cleaning Up Pornography and Fighting Illegal Publications. It said that a recent campaign to fight "harmful" information online had led to the closure of 44,000 pornographic Web sites run from within the country's borders and 14,000 such sites run by people abroad.
■ ISRAEL
Negotiator delayed
Israeli authorities held up the chief Palestinian negotiator for an hour at a West Bank crossing on Monday, a delay he claimed was politically charged. Negotiator Ahmed Qureia, also known as Abu Ala, said Israel tried to subject him to unspecified security procedures he resisted, a statement from his office said. "We construe such acts as targeting the political positions of Abu Ala and the negotiations," Qureia's office said in a statement. Qureia was crossing into the West Bank from Jordan, for a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli negotiating team.
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