SCIENTIST GETS TOP PHYSICS AWARD

SCIENTIST GETS TOP PHYSICS AWARD

Physicist Xue Qikun has won the 2020 Fritz London Memorial Prize， along with Frank Steglich from Germany and Valerii Vinokur from the U.S.， the prize committee announced. Xue is the first Chinese scientist to receive the international award that recognizes scientists who have made outstanding contributions in the field of lowtemperature physics.

The 57-year-old， who heads the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences， won the honor for pioneering contributions to the experimental discovery of quantum anomalous Hall effect. The Hall effect， discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879， is the production of a voltage difference across an electrical conductor. Xues contribution will help accelerate the development of low power-consuming electronics.

Xue is also vice president of the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. His research team won Chinas State Natural Science Award in 2019 for quantum discovery. He became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005.

The prize， awarded every three years， is recognized as the highest honor in its fi eld. Since its establishment in 1957， more than 50 physicists have received it.

Supporting Physical Bookstores

Beijing Youth Daily March 2

The Beijing Municipal Government plans to allocate 100 million yuan （$14.3 million） to support physical bookstores in the city. The fund will mainly be used to reduce their rent from March to June.

Affected by the novel coronavirus epidemic， a large number of bookstores are finding it difficult to reopen due to lack of customers. According to a report， during the Spring Festival in 2020， over 99 percent of physical bookstores did not have a regular income. In this situation， they need to devise new strategy to survive. At the same time， assistance from the government can help them signifi cantly in overcoming diffi culties.

For bookstores， rent is the largest expenditure when they remain closed. That is also the focus of the supportive policy announced by the government. It is hoped that the subsidy will boost bookstores confi -dence after the epidemic.

In recent years， brick-and-motar bookstores have been hit hard by e-commerce and e-reading tools. Besides helping the operation of bookstores， support from the government can also encourage the public to buy and read more books.

Global Cooperation

Guangming Daily February 28

Following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease （COVID-19）， concerns and assistance from the international society have relieved the pressure caused by material shortages and helped scientific research on the epidemic to some extent. Over 170 countries and 40 international organizations have supported China in various ways， demonstrating their sincerity to participate in global health governance.

Global health governance targets public health events that threaten peoples lives and health， economic and social development， and even national security. Cross-border virus spreading is diffi cult to control and is an unconventional security issue.

China has always attached great importance to global cooperation in this area. In the early stage of the outbreak， it identified the pathogen and shared the genetic sequence of the virus with the World Health Organization and other countries， laying the foundation for the development of vaccines and research and development of drugs. It is open and transparent in information communication and international cooperation. The decisive measures adopted inside China also contributed to global health security.

Today， even some developed countries have disadvantages in equipment， technologies and personnel. They should enhance their understanding of global health governance. When COVID-19 was announced as a public health emergency of international concern， it was hoped that countries would act in a coordinated and concerted manner rather than create fear and blockades.

From this perspective， the COVID-19 outbreak provides an important chance for proactive global health governance， although it is an unprecedented challenge. Seeing the increased number of cases， countries and regions should realize the urgent need to strengthen global cooperation and improve capacity for emergency management and risk prevention. Fighting shoulder to shoulder is the best option.

A Clean Cyberspace

People.cn March 1

A regulation on network information management released by the Cyberspace Administration of China went into effect on March 1. The regulation is aimed at meeting peoples demand for a better cyberenvironment and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.

The regulation prohibits content and service providers， users and platforms from engaging in cyberbullying and other illegal activities. The regulation signifi es that Chinas capability of network governance in accordance with the law has reached a new level.

The regulation requires content providers on the Internet to avoid producing， copying or publishing gossip and scandals. The specifi c scope of illegal information is clarifi ed. Producers are encouraged to release positive content. Platforms should improve their systems of user registration， account management， information review and rumor handling.

The regulation also clarifi es the legal responsibilities of producers， platforms and users of the content and services on the Internet. Corresponding measures will be taken if they do not follow the regulation.

APPEAL AGAINST CAS DECISION

Chinese Olympic and world swimming champion Sun Yang was handed an eight-year ban as the Court of Arbitration for Sport （CAS） upheld the World Anti-Doping Agencys（WADA） appeal on February 28.

Sun won two gold medals at the London Summer Olympics in 2012. Born in 1991 in Zhejiang Province， east China， he is the world record holder in the mens 1，500-meter freestyle and the Olympic record holder in the mens 400-meter freestyle.

Sun was found guilty of refusing to cooperate with sample collectors during a controversial visit to his home by the international testing company IDTM on September 4， 2018. He had argued that the doping control offi cer and her assistants lacked suffi cient authorization and credentials.

Immediately after he received the news， S un said he would appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal against the decision.

“Although the situation could be worse than what we are now and it could be a pandemic level， there are countries within this situation which have shown that it （COVID-19） can be contained. We should not give up until the last attempt.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus， Director General of World Health Organization （WHO）， at a WHO daily briefi ng in Geneva， Switzerland， on March 5

“In the short term， we still cant pin too much hope on drugs and vaccines but need to continue the current prevention and control measures to curb COVID-19. With the solidarity of various forces in China， the epidemic will be brought under control.”

Zhang Wenhong， Director of the Infectious Disease Department of the Huashan Hospital in Shanghai， to China Newsweek on February 28

“The epidemic has indeed affected the global flow of people but today all countries are interconnected and the lockdown is only a temporary measure to cope with the emergency. The epidemic has also promoted global cooperation in an unprecedented way.”

Zhang Yiwu， a professor at Peking University， in an article in the Global Times on February 29

“The main problem of the Chinese economy currently lies not in demand but in supply… The most important thing is to facilitate the flow of people and improve logistics for enterprises to resume work and production as soon as possible.”

Liu Shangxi， President of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences， to China News Service on March 2