The Higher People's Court of Hubei Province ruled on Wednesday to reject the appeal and uphold the original verdict against Li Tie, former head coach of China’s national men’s football team, according to CCTV News.
Li was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a first-instance verdict issued by the Intermediate People’s Court of Xianning, in central China’s Hubei Province, in December 2024. He was convicted on multiple charges, including offering and accepting bribes.
According to the indictment, from 2019 to 2021, Li, leveraging his position as the head coach of the national team, assisted relevant organizations and individuals in matters such as player selection for the national team, match outcomes, and signing contracts with clubs. He illegally received more than 50.89 million yuan ($7 million) in total during this period, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
He was also charged with multiple bribery offenses committed from 2015 to 2019 when he worked for local football clubs, according to the report.
The main point of contention in both trials was the issue of identity classification, which formed the core of Li’s appeal. Li and his defense team argued that he was not a state functionary, and therefore should not be subject to charges applicable to state functionaries. Under Chinese law, bribery involving state functionaries carries a sentence of more than 10 years to life imprisonment, while bribery involving non-state functionaries carries a sentence of 5 to 15 years, according to CCTV News.
Following the second-instance verdict, if Li still does not accept the ruling, he may, in accordance with legal procedures, apply for a retrial with the Supreme People’s Court within six months of the judgment taking effect, CCTV News reported.
The former Everton player, 47, was placed under investigation in November 2022 and stood trial in March in 2024.
The Chinese Embassy in Canada voiced firm opposition to the latest so-called cybersecurity advisory issued by the Canadian government which cited "cyber threats" from China, stressing that China firmly rejects such smears and slander.
In a statement issued on Wednesday local time, the embassy said despite China's repeated solemn representations, the Canadian side has once again smeared and slandered China over so-called "cyber threat" activities. China firmly opposes and rejects this.
The Canadian government issued a cyber security advisory on Tuesday local time, saying that it "has observed increasing levels of China threat actor activity, including activity associated to Salt Typhoon, targeting network edge routers across critical infrastructure sectors."
China is one of the primary victims of cyberattacks. We have always firmly opposed and cracked down on all forms of cyberattacks in accordance with the law, and we are committed to safeguarding cybersecurity, the embassy said.
We urge Canada to immediately stop politicizing and stigmatizing cybersecurity issues, and to cease making groundless accusations and attacks against China, the embassy noted.
By the end of 2024, the US fabricated a so-called "hacker group associated with the Chinese government" - the "Salt Typhoon," promoting the narrative of "Chinese cyber threats."
However, professionals in the field of cyberspace told the Global Times that the so-called "Salt Typhoon" not only lacks any substantial evidence but also exposes the fact that US intelligence agencies are conducting large-scale surveillance and espionage against their own citizens.
In response to the US' sanctions against relevant Chinese company and citizen involved with so-called Salt Typhoon's cyberattack, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in January that China opposes the accusations without any convincing evidence and their abuse of sanctions against China. In fact, the US has conducted large-scale and systemic cyberattacks on China for years. We have made very clear our concerns and opposition on this for many times.
China’s Hainan University unveiled domestically developed core technologies and a series of products for implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCI), including globally leading BCI-specific chips, at the 5th China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) held from April 13 to Friday. With core technologies breaking dependence on imports, this also marks that China has achieved full-chain technological autonomy and control in the field of BCI, the Hainan University School of Biomedical Engineering announced on Friday via its official WeChat account.
The breakthrough will inject “Chinese chip” power into brain science research and medical applications. These technologies and products also include neural signal acquisition systems, neural signal modulation systems, and neuron positioning systems, according to the Hainan University School of Biomedical Engineering.
The team from the university has nearly 20 years of experience in the research and development of BCI chips and systems. They have developed several core chips for invasive BCI, with some of them achieving full-link coverage for the acquisition, regulation, and transmission of BCI signals, with performance comparable to leading international products. It has received high recognition from several research institutions and enterprises in the industry, according to the university.
The team leader said specialized chips are fundamental to the BCI system, and that the team has been dedicated to developing and refining these chips through independent innovation. The performance of these chips has reached an internationally advanced level, and the team aims to eliminate China’s reliance on imported invasive BCI chips and also support the growth of the Chinese BCI industry, said the team leader, according to the Hainan University School of Biomedical Engineering.
According to a report by a Hainan local media, a bionic manipulator showcased at the booth of Hainan University at the expo may in the future help some patients with partial paralysis. The device has already been tested in animal experiments, and it may take some time for the project to be implemented. Currently, they are in the process of applying for a patent, according to the report.
The Intermediate People's Court in Xinyu city, East China's Jiangxi Province on Tuesday publicly pronounced the first-instance verdict in the bribery case of Mao Qi, former Party chief of Wannian county in Shangrao. Mao was found guilty of accepting bribes and was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison, along with a fine of 1 million yuan ($137,000). His illicit gains were ordered to be confiscated and turned over to the state treasury.
Between 2012 and 2024, Mao took advantage of his positions as the director of the office of the talent work leading group of the Shangrao Municipal Committee, deputy secretary of the Wannian County Party Committee and county head, and secretary of the Wannian County Party Committee, to seek benefits for others, including project contracting, fund allocation, promotions, and bank loans. By abusing his authority and leveraging the influence of his positions, he accepted bribes totaling more than 11.5 million yuan, either directly or through others.
Based on the facts and circumstances of Mao's crimes, the Intermediate People's Court in Xinyu city rendered the above judgment in accordance with the law.
At the invitation of the Pakistani military, the PLA Army will send a unit to Pakistan to participate in the Pakistan Army Team Spirit (PATS)-2025 international military skills competition. The main subjects include night time reconnaissance and infiltration, ambush and counter-ambush, combat swimming, etc. It aims to test and improve combat capability of participating troops and strengthen exchanges and mutual trust among militaries of all participating countries.
At dawn on Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a white vessel quietly departed from a harbor in Dalian, a coastal city in northeastern China. Neither a cruise ship nor a fishing boat, it was a specialized sea burial ship, carrying mourners and floral tributes for solemn ceremonies.
For 28 years, Captain Chen Qi has witnessed a profound shift in China's approach to sea burials -- in 1997, he facilitated ceremonies for only a dozen families; today, his team lays more than 7,000 souls to rest in the vast embrace of the ocean and conducts over 400 ceremonies annually.
ONCE-TABOO SAILS
Upon reaching the designated sea burial site, Chen sounded the ship's whistle three times in funeral tribute. The deceased's family members then carefully lowered biodegradable burial urns into the water.
"For sailors, sounding the whistle three times means a crew member has fallen into the water," Chen said. He has adopted this to symbolize the deceased coming to the sea, signaling that it is time for a final farewell.
His career began unexpectedly in 1997, when Dalian, in Liaoning Province, first introduced sea burials. At the time, the practice was considered taboo by many sailors, as traditional ground burials were still the prevailing custom.
Chen had been the captain of a sightseeing boat when he helped a friend with a sea burial using his vessel. "When word spread, some tourists refused to board, so I converted this vessel to be used exclusively for sea burials."
In the early days, mourners gathered at a coastal park before boarding the ship together. But some of the park's other visitors considered the practice to be bad luck and complained to city administration, forcing Chen to change his assembly location and move between shorelines, ports and docks to avoid conflict over the years.
GROWING SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE
In recent years, rising environmental awareness has changed public attitudes and increased the public's acceptance of sea burials. Today, it is not only local families who seek out Chen's services; people from inland cities as far away as Xi'an -- more than a thousand kilometers from Dalian -- have consulted with Chen or his team.
"Some even plan funerals when they are alive, opting for a sea burial in the hope that their soul will flow freely in the vast ocean. Wherever there is water, their descendants will be able to remember them," Chen said.
Chang Chunsheng, who is from Tieling City in Liaoning, said, "My father loved the ocean. Resting there fulfills his final wish."
This growing acceptance of sea burials reflects both changing public views and government support. In 2012, Liaoning pioneered to provide free sea burials and related subsidies. In 2017, local authorities officially permitted Chen to make regular voyages from Pier 6 of the Port of Dalian.
By March 2025, about 17,000 deceased individuals from Dalian chose to be buried at sea since 2012, saving 50,000 square meters of land that would otherwise have been used for ground burials.
Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs reveals that the number of sea burials across the country has been steadily increasing. Over the past five years, nearly 200,000 deceased individuals have been laid to rest in the ocean.
PASSING ON THE TORCH
Chen's team is also growing, expanding from a single, family-owned vessel to three vessels with a staff of around 30, including crew members and funeral presiders.
Chen has witnessed countless personal journeys over the past 28 years. He remembers mourners who clutched thick music manuscripts as they said goodbye to a deceased composer, and adult siblings who mourned their late father as they carried bowls of pork vermicelli, a traditional dish in northeastern China, in the hope that he could enjoy his favorite dish in the afterlife.
For years, his son Chen Jin, now 39, has been working alongside with Chen Qi. Chen Jin took over the sea burial business following his father's retirement, and has launched an online memorial platform where families can share photos, messages and virtual tributes, with plans to develop more personalized post-burial ceremonies.
He also performs proxy ceremonies with his father, delivering flowers and letters at sea for those who are unable to mourn their loved ones in person. Chen Jin believes his career has a profound purpose: "Our duty is not only to honor the deceased, but also to comfort the living, leaving them with love and memories through a dignified farewell."
Following joint military exercises around Taiwan island a day earlier, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command on Wednesday continued its operations, organizing the "Strait Thunder-2025A" exercises in the central and southern areas of the Taiwan Straits. An expert on the Taiwan question said the sustained exercises by the PLA not only impose military pressure on "Taiwan independence" forces but, more importantly, expose and weaken the political tactics of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, who seek to manipulate cross-Straits confrontation and hold the interests of the Taiwan people hostage.
The "Strait Thunder-2025A" exercises caught the DPP authorities off guard, Zheng Jian, a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Zheng noted that compared with earlier speculations from Taiwan commentators, this round of exercises was more powerful in deterrence. "The PLA's evolving drill patterns - marked by increased unpredictability - have left the 'Taiwan independence' forces unable to anticipate its actions, subjecting them to growing psychological pressure," Zheng said.
According to Taiwan media reports, the exercises had an immediate effect in imposing de facto blockade around Taiwan island. Taiwan's CTI News reported that a liquefied natural gas carrier was unable to leave port after the drills began, blocked by the exercise area. "This demonstrates that the designated zones for maritime and aerial operations were carefully planned and precisely executed," Zheng said
The PLA Eastern Theater Command further announced on Wednesday that its ground forces had carried out live-fire drills in the East China Sea, targeting simulated key infrastructure such as ports and energy facilities. The command said the exercise aimed to control energy routes, cut supply channels, and block covert passages, vowing to resolutely sever the "green terror and Taiwan independence path."
Although the DPP authorities and "Taiwan independence" forces tried to maintain a calm front, claiming that everything is under control, however, Zheng noted that their reactions this time exposed clear vulnerabilities.
"The current drill has already placed the Taiwan island in a quasi-blockade situation," Zheng said. "While Taiwan's so-called 'defense authority' downplays the exercise, local media reports and public comments reflect genuine anxiety and unease."
Zheng said that the "Taiwan independence" forces are unable to assess the drills' scale, scope, and duration. "This uncertainty itself is a major blow to them," he said.
More fundamentally, the sustained PLA exercises strike at the core of the DPP authorities' governance model. Zheng said that Lai Ching-te has been promoting "green dictatorship " on the island, suppressing opponents and fueling social division, while deliberately provoking cross-Straits tensions and creating an atmosphere of anti-mainland hostility to cover up his own governance failures.
"Such political manipulation only forces the people of Taiwan to bear greater risks and costs," Zheng said. "Although the current drills are military in nature, they also serve as a real warning. They tellthe people of Taiwan - the DPP authorities, for their own political interests, are willing to put the entire island in danger," said Zheng.
When asked about China's response to Ukraine saying it is ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire with Russia proposed by the US, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that China has noted the relevant reports. Mao added that from the first day of the outbreak of the crisis, China has been advocating dialogue and negotiation to seek a political solution.
Mao stated, "We have always been striving for peace and promoting peace talks. We look forward to all parties involved finding, through dialogue and negotiation, a sustainable and lasting peace plan that address each other's concerns."
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, called for operational asteroid defense services and deeper international cooperation to protect the Earth, advocating for a global planetary defense community, when addressing the 776th session of the Xiangshan Science Conference, themed "Key Scientific and Engineering Challenges in Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Defense," which convened on Thursday and will continue through Friday at the Xiangshan Hotel in Beijing.
Organized by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL), the conference gathered over 50 leading Chinese space scientists and researchers. Discussions focused on four core topics: asteroid defense science, detection, tracking, and impact technology.
Wu, who is also the director general of the DSEL, co-chaired the event alongside Wang Chi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the National Space Science Center, and Yu Dengyun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the state-owned space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Global Times learned from the event organizer the DSEL on Thursday.
Wu warned that a major asteroid impact could devastate human civilization, even leading to extinction, calling it a critical threat to Earth's future. He emphasized that China's pursuit of near-Earth asteroid (NEA) defense missions carries profound scientific significance, engineering value, and humanistic importance.
Currently, several major spacefaring countries around the world are developing programs related to near-Earth asteroid defense. For example, the US' Near-Earth Asteroid Defense Demonstration and Validation Mission, known as the "Double Asteroid Redirection Test" (DART) mission, successfully conducted a kinetic impact on Dimorphos, the moon of the asteroid Didymos, in September 2022, effectively altering its orbital period around Didymos.
The European Space Agency's Hera mission will further conduct detailed investigations of the target impacted by the DART mission. As a responsible spacefaring country, China also places great importance on the threat posed by near-Earth asteroids to Earth and human safety. Previously, China has publicly disclosed plans related to near-Earth asteroid defense missions and is accelerating their planning and implementation.
At the opening ceremony and main forum of the first International Conference on Deep Space Exploration (Tiandu), held in April 2023, experts from China's deep space exploration field provided the public with a detailed introduction to China's near-Earth asteroid defense plan.
They also openly solicited global proposals for the overall plan and related strategies for the first mission, with the goal of achieving a kinetic impact on an asteroid for the first time by 2030. At the second International Conference on Deep Space Exploration (Tiandu) held in 2024, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) released the plan and vision for international cooperation regarding China's first near-Earth asteroid defense mission. According to this vision, China's initial near-Earth asteroid defense mission will adopt a "fly-along + impact + fly-along" approach. While the impactor performs a kinetic strike on the target asteroid, a probe will observe the entire impact process and post-impact, continue to assess the impact's effects and conduct scientific exploration. This single mission aims to achieve both "kinetic impact plus space-based assessment."
China's first NEA defense mission is expected to observe an asteroid closely before impacting it to alter its orbit around 2030, Xinhua News Agency reported on September 5, 2024, citing Tang Yuhua, deputy chief designer of Chang'e-7 Mission as saying.
"The blueprint for the country's asteroid defense involves two spacecraft - an impactor and an observer - launched into space with one rocket," Tang said, according to Xinhua.
The observer will first orbit the asteroid to gather data, then remotely guide the impactor to strike. After the kinetic impact, the observer will further have an accompanying flight with the very asteroid that changes its orbit, according to Tang. Tackle challenges
At the conference, Wu highlighted the major challenges in precision impact, effective deflection, accurate measurement, and reliable communication. Key scientific challenges include understanding the dynamics and evolutionary characteristics of asteroid orbits, the mechanisms and effects of impact hazards, and the response mechanisms for in-orbit mitigation. Technologically, advancements are needed in detection, tracking, and impact capabilities under conditions involving multiple spatial variables, significant ground-space time delays, and complex data transmission environments.
Wu proposed building a coordinated space-ground monitoring network for asteroid tracking, early warnings, and risk assessment, alongside developing tailored spacecraft technologies for impact mitigation.
He called for a defense system integrating prevention and response, backed by in-orbit tests to refine mitigation strategies.
Wu's appeal aligns with growing global concerns over asteroid threats and planetary defense readiness. This focus intensified following NASA's recent update on asteroid "2024 YR4," first detected on December 27, 2024, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile. NASA's latest calculations lowered the impact probability of the 40-90 meter-wide asteroid striking Earth on December 22, 2032, to 0.004 percent, dismissing any immediate danger.
The Xiangshan Science Conference was initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology (formerly the State Science and Technology Commission). Under the joint support of the ministry and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), it was officially established in April 1993.
Health authorities in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, refuted viral rumors on Friday about an alleged 'XK5 virus' infection in the city. The rumors, which spread widely on social media platforms including Douyin, claimed that the virus caused four fatalities in "Liaoning Third Hospital," infected thousands of people, and forced a group of doctors into isolation.
In a WeChat statement, officials from the Dalian health commission clarified that no such virus has been detected domestically or internationally. They described the disinformation as "old rumors repackaged," noting that similar misleading information has circulated online in the past.
A Global Times reporter found no record of a "Liaoning Third Hospital." While a similarly named "Liaoning No.3 People's Hospital" does exist, it is actually a mental health center focusing on psychiatric treatment.
The commission urged the public not to be misled by false information or spread unverified claims. Officials emphasized that official statements are the most reliable source for infectious disease updates and urged the public to stay vigilant against misinformation.
