Sep122017
The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on a security convoy in Egypt today that left at least 18 dead and others injured. We express our profound condolences to the families and friends of the victims and our wishes for a speedy recovery for those hurt in the attack.
We will continue to stand with Egypt as it confronts the threat from terrorism.
Sep122017
Today we remember the victims of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, and honor the heroes who valiantly saved many lives that day, even sacrificing their own. Their courage on that day remains an example of the character of the American people in the face of evil. Though our country was wounded that day, today we remind the world that terrorism will never defeat the United States.
This date also marks a solemn tragedy where four Americans, including two of our State Department colleagues, were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Their loss will always weigh heavy in our hearts.
Our hearts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones to terrorism. We remain committed to stopping those extremists who plot, enable, and carry out attacks on the innocent.
Sep122017
An international research team led by Chinese astronomers revealed an evidence of dynamical dark energy.
The discovery, recently published on Nature Astronomy, with a News & Views article written by a world expert on cosmology, found that the nature of dark energy may not be the cosmological constant introduced by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, which is crucial for the study of dark energy.
The new study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship.
Revealing the nature of dark energy is one of key goals of modern sciences. The physical property of dark energy is represented by its Equation of State (EoS), which is the ratio of pressure and energy density of dark energy.
In the traditional Lambda-Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) model, dark energy is essentially the cosmological constant, i.e., the vacuum energy, with a constant EoS of -1. In this model, dark energy has no dynamical features.
In 2016, a team within the SDSS-III (BOSS) collaboration led by Prof. Gong-Bo Zhao of National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) performed a successful measurement of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) at multiple cosmic epochs with a high precision.
Based on this measurement and a method developed by Zhao for dark energy studies, the Zhao team found an evidence of dynamical dark energy at a significance level of 3.5 sigma. This suggests that the nature of dark energy may not be the vacuum energy, but some kind of dynamical field, especially for the quintom model whose EoS varies with time and crosses the -1 boundary during evolution, according to NAOC.
“As the Zhao team reported in this work, a dynamical dark energy model is able to naturally reconcile tensions between local and primordial measurements of cosmological parameters in the LCDM model,” Prof. Xinmin Zhang at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) told Xinhua.
“Which makes a crucial step towards understanding the nature of dark energy,” he added.
The dynamics of dark energy needs to be confirmed by next-generation astronomical surveys. The team points to the upcoming Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, which aims to begin creating a 3D cosmic map in 2018.
In the next five to ten years, the world largest galaxy surveys will provide observables which may be key to unveil the mystery of dark energy, according to a news release of NAOC.
Sep122017
A former banker, who is one of Shanghai’s most-wanted fugitives, has turned himself in.
Chen Fujin, 72, former director of the Minhang branch of the Bank of Communications, used a fake passport to fly to the United States on March 13, 1996.
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Chen Fujin is met at Pudong airport on his return to Shanghai. [Photo/Shanghai Daily] |
His wife escaped with him, according to prosecutors of Minhang District.
On October 18, 1997, he was put on Interpol’s “red notice” wanted list of Chinese economic fugitives who had fled overseas. He was also wanted as part of China’s “Sky Net” anti-graft campaign, started in April 2015, to repatriate fugitive officials.
Details about what Chen’s corruption involved were not disclosed.
Sun Jing, director of the Minhang District People’s Procuratorate, said officials approached Chen and his relatives via WeChat and persuaded him to return to Shanghai, which he did last Thursday.
“I am willing to receive any punishment,” Chen said on a local TV broadcast.
He was arrested on his arrival, prosecutors said.
Shanghai prosecutors said that they have now detained nearly 20 suspects, or about half of those who are being sought in the Sky Net campaign.
Sep122017
More than 100 scholars and history researchers from China, Japan and South Korea called for peace and mutual understanding in Nanjing, which became China’s first International City of Peace on Saturday.
Ye Nanke, head of the Nanjing Academy of Social Sciences, said Nanjing has set up international peace schools, peace communities and peace research institutes to educate the next generation and bring peace to the public.
“Nanjing plays a key role in peace education and international communications because of its history,” he said. “In the future, the city will establish more peace museums, squares, hospitals and schools.”
Ye made the comments at China’s Concept and Practice of the Right to Peace Seminar, which was held in Nanjing on Monday.
Starting on Dec 13, 1937, some 300,000 Chinese people were killed by Japanese troops in a six-week rampage－one of the most brutal massacres in modern history.
International Cities of Peace, a global nonprofit association dedicated to connecting, promoting and encouraging peace worldwide, approved the city’s application on Aug 31.
Cui Yuying, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office and deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said at the seminar that China adheres to peaceful development as it tries to promote common development globally.
“China has always been peace-loving, and peace is one of the core values of Chinese civilization,” she said. “Over the years, China has made a significant contribution to the maintenance of peace, both for the Chinese people and the peoples of the world.”
Chang Jian, deputy director of the Human Rights Research Center at Nankai University in Tianjin, said the right to peace means the right to enjoy a peaceful life.
“To enjoy peaceful lives, people should not be threatened by organized violence. Many methods should be adopted to eliminate violence and its causes,” he said.
“Researchers should look at how violent methods used to eliminate violence can be controlled and what alternatives can be used instead,” he said.
Chen Xiaolyu, director of the European Union Research Center at Nanjing University, said that long-term peace can only be acquired when the interests of all parties are respected without the influence of military forces.
“China doesn’t want to realize its goals by forcing other countries,” he said. “We say that China is a peace-loving country, and that is not empty flattery. Plenty of evidence can be provided to prove that.
“China will be an important force in safeguarding world peace. Its development will benefit not only the Chinese but also the peoples of the world.”
