China’s top procuratorate has declared war against crimes related to international freight and passenger railway services along the Silk Road Economic Belt.

Smuggling and human trafficking by international trains and crimes endangering railway safety were highlighted in a guideline issued by the railway division of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Tuesday.

China now has express freight services to 28 European cities.

Procuratorial organs will also exert more strength in investigations into cases regarding the erosion of state assets in overseas railway projects, the guideline said.

The Belt and Road Initiative is China-proposed trade and infrastructure plan connecting Asia with Europe and Africa.

China will host the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 14 and 15.

China performs the world’s second largest number of organ transplants, but a shortage of qualified transplant doctors is impeding progress. Now the country has sped up training of doctors, with the help from the international community.

Seven Chinese universities will conduct postgraduate training in organ donation and transplants this year.

The laKeTLOD (Knowledge transfer and leadership in organ donation from Europe to China) is co-founded by the European Commission and Chinese universities. Launched Tuesday at Shanghai Jiaotong University, laKeTLOD expects to enroll 20 postgraduate students in a course on organ donation and transplants this autumn.

Specialists from three universities in France, Italy and Spain will offer training in accordance with European guidelines.

Twenty-two Chinese doctors have already been through a three-month online course and will be in Spain from May 21 for a week of further training. They will then offer courses on what they have learned to 140 healthcare postgraduates over two years in universities in Beijing, Kunming, Nanchang, Nanning, Shanghai and Wuhan.

Marti Manyalich, President of Spain’s Donation and Transplantation Institute (DTI), said at the launch that training is not just about sharing knowledge, but about transferring the course to China, adapted to local needs and delivered in Chinese.

“Seven universities are not enough. We must train more Chinese professionals in the next decades,” said Manyalich.

Spain has more organ donations per capita than any other country. It has been at the forefront of training on the subject for thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide since the 1990s.

China has the largest number of organ donations per year in Asia, and the second number of organ transplants globally after the U.S., but lags far behind on a per capita basis.

“But China is changing,” said Francis Delmonico, representative of the World Health Organization and former president of the Transplantation Society.

Organ donation is a challenge in China due to lack of training and health professionals, said Wang Qian, Dean of International Cooperation Office of China’s Capital Medical University, one of the participants in laKeTLOD.

Currently, 169 Chinese hospitals can perform transplants with the number expected to reach 300 in the next five years.

“We are waiting for the Chinese versions of textbooks and more medical specialists to join the program,” said Chen Xiaosong, who will teach the course at Shanghai Jiaotong University.

China’s Ministry of National Defense (MOD) confirmed late on May 9 that the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Rocket Force recently conducted a missile test with the aim of enhancing the military’s capability to fend off threats to national security.

In a statement, the MOD’s information bureau said that the PLA Rocket Force “conducted a test for a new-type missile in the waters of the Bohai Sea and the result had met the expectations.” The MOD also said the missile test was “part of the PLA’s annual training program.”

But the MOD did not elaborate on which “new-type missile” was tested or for what specific purpose the missile test was conducted.

However, there is wide speculation that the missile test was the PLA’s latest response to the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Attitude Area Defense) system in South Korea.

In the latest MOD press briefing on April 27, the MOD’s spokesperson Senior Colonel Yang Yujun reaffirmed the Chinese military’s opposition against joint deployment of the THAAD by the United States and South Korea.

Yang said that the PLA would continue with its “real battle-oriented exercises” and “tests of new weapons” to safeguard China’s national safety and regional peace and stability.

A tomb dating back around 1,800 years has been discovered in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, authorities said Tuesday.

The tomb, believed to have been built during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220AD), contains various burial artifacts such as pottery, statues and broken coins, according to Fuling District Museum.

It was found earlier this month during the construction of a kindergarten.

Initial investigation shows that the tomb was built for a wealthy person, but archaeologists have not confirmed the owners identity.

China’s top court and procuratorate on Tuesday jointly issued a judicial interpretation, stipulating that those who illegally obtain, sell or provide 500 pieces of data related to personal credit or property information could face a prison term of up to seven years.

The interpretation, by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, was the first document of its kind to ensure data protection for citizens personal information.

The Criminal Law states that those convicted of selling or providing personal information to others could face a maximum sentence of three years if “the circumstances are serious,” while if “the circumstances are especially serious,” violators could face up to seven years in prison.

The interpretation clearly defines situations considered “especially serious,” including illegally obtaining, selling or providing 500 items of data about a person’s location, communication content or their credit or property information; 5,000 items of communication record, accommodation, health or transaction information; or 50,000 items of personal information other than the aforementioned types.

Should violators make more than 50,000 yuan (US$7,239) from their underhand activities or their crimes are linked to the death, serious injury, mental disorder or kidnap of people, their offenses will be considered “especially serious,” according to the new rule.

Under the interpretation, fines for violators shall be between one to five times of their illegal gains.

The move came amid increasing public outcry against rampant online and telecom fraud spreading across China, which has led to significant property losses and social instability.