IN BRIEF

Cultural year starts in Greece

Cultural links between two of the world's most ancient civilizations have been reinforced with the launching of the China-Greece Cultural Exchanges and Cultural Industry Cooperation Year, attended by visiting senior Chinese officials and Greek dignitaries in Athens on Thursday.

Forecast for GDP: 6.6% rise for 2017

China's GDP growth is expected to reach 6.6 percent this year, dipping 0.1 percentage point year-on-year, and it will stay within a stable and reasonable growth range, according to a forecast released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Friday in Beijing.

Bamboo slips oldest decimal calculator, Guinness certifies

Bamboo slips more than 2,300 years old were recognized on Sunday by Guinness World Records as the world's earliest decimal calculation tool.

Setting the scene for movie cooperation

Many Chinese can still clearly remember the plots of movies made in the former Yugoslavia, such as Walter defends Sarajevo and The Bridge.

A success built on steel and Chinese investment

For 20 years, Svetlana Radosavljevic has monitored the manufacture of steel and iron from a glass-walled control room in an old production center at Zelezara Smederevo, Serbia's biggest mill.

High school to be mandatory for all children nationwide

The country is to extend the current nine-year compulsory education to encompass high school students nationwide by 2020, according to a guideline recently released by the Ministry of Education and other three ministries.

Ministries respond to major public concerns

Departments and ministries under the State Council, China's Cabinet, have responded to a series of public concerns in the past week, including rental housing, social relief and aid, social insurance, industrial heritage lists and teacher information management systems.

Policy digest

China decides to further reduce tax

Pilot jury program may be extended

A pilot program for jurors in Chinese courtrooms may continue for an additional year.

Highlights

DailyStandardization Law

Tackling a rising tide of disabled drug mules

Police have opened a new front in the war on drugs by targeting traffickers who recruit the disabled and other vulnerable people as couriers, or "mules".