China's J-20 stealth fighter makes public air show debut

ZHUHAI, China (AP) — China's J-20 stealth fighter made its public debut at an air show on Tuesday, in the latest sign of the growing sophistication of the country's military technology.

The fifth-generation warplane, which outwardly resembles the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor in service with the U.S. military, performed a series of maneuvers under overcast skies at Airshow China in the southern city of Zhuhai. The long-range J-20, armed with air-to-air missiles, performed its first test flight in 2011 and has been the object of feverish attention by the nation's aviation buffs. At least six prototypes have been produced, according to an annual report on the Chinese military issued by the Pentagon this year.The Pentagon says a second Chinese stealth fighter under development, the FC-31, is intended for export as a competitor to the U.S. F-35. The FC-31 first flew in 2012 and debuted at Zhuhai in 2014. China is the only country apart from the U.S. to have two concurrent stealth aircraft development programs. While the planes' stealth capabilities remain a secret, the Pentagon said that China views the technology as key to its transformation from a "predominantly territorial air force to one capable of conducting both offensive and defensive operations." Air force leaders "believe stealth aircraft provide an offensive operational advantage that denies an adversary the time to mobilize and to conduct defensive operations," said the report, which estimated the two Chinese planes could enter service as early as 2018 and would "significantly improve China's existing fleet of fourth-generation aircraft ... to support regional air superiority and strike operations."

Among other recently developed Chinese aircraft appearing at the weeklong air show is the Y-20 large transport aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of around 200 tons. The plane is being introduced into the People's Liberation Army to carry out aerial command-and-control operations and parachute drops. Also featured is the CH-5 unmanned aerial vehicle, China's largest combat drone, which made its first flight last year and appears to be based on the U.S. MQ-9 reaper.

Black bag waste collections

Residents in Bridgend county borough will only be able to throw away two black bin bags of household rubbish a fortnight under council changes.Bridgend council wants to limit kerbside rubbish collections to save money and hit Welsh government targets.There are currently no restrictions on the number of black bags each household can put out.A council spokeswoman said it was exploring use of different colour bags to show if the rules had been broken.The changes, which will also include the start of a nappy and sanitary item disposal service, will be introduced in April 2017. Councillors will discuss the changes during a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday when the new seven year contract for waste collection will be awarded.

Home visits

A report by the council in March said it was predicted to fall short of the Welsh government 58% target for recycling - meaning it could be fined at £200 per tonne.The two bag restriction would mean it reaches 64% by 2019-2020, it predicted.Under the new system the council may issue a roll of specifically branded bags to each household, at the cost of about £147,300 a year.Residents who break the rules could have their waste left at the kerbside, their addresses could be recorded and they may be visited at home.

Nuclear power plants using howngrown Hualong One technology set to begin operation in 2020

We have drawn on global experience over the years, and have integrated advanced design concepts including AP1000 and EPR to ensure the safety of the Hualong One nuclear project. The reactors can even withstand a tsunami of the strength that triggered Japan’s Fukushima disaster,” said Xue Junfeng, vice chief engineer of China's Hualong One reactors. Two nuclear facilities using Hualong One technology, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design, are under construction at the site of the Fuqing nuclear plant in eastern China’s Fujian province. The construction is on schedule, with the plant slated to begin operation by 2020.

The reactors are made in accordance with the world’s top safety standards. They are able to withstand a level 17 typhoon, a magnitude 9 earthquake and the force of a collision with a commercial airplane. The reactors can also activate a series of protective measures when external power is cut off, according to Chen Guocai, vice chief manager of Fujian Fuqing Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., affiliated with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The Hualong One reactors are fully compliant with all safety standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency, making them suitable to be sold outside of China. More than 20 countries, including Britain, Argentina, Egypt and Pakistan, have signed agreements with China to adopt Hualong One technology.

The Hualong One reactor was jointly designed by two nuclear power giants, China General Nuclear Power Group and CNNC. It passed inspection by a national expert panel in August 2014. In November 2014, the National Energy Administration approved the use of Hualong One technology to build two reactors in Fujian province. The State Council approved the construction in April 2015.

Indian army kills four more AJK villagers

MUZAFFARABAD/SIALKOT - At least four more AJK villagers were martyred including a woman and six seriously wounded yesterday morning as Indian army continued to hit border villages in Nakyal sector, officials said. The Indian army started bombing AJK border villages along different sectors of the Line of Control, using artillery and mortar guns without any provocation. It expanded shelling to several villages, which continued till late night, resulting in the killing four people and critical injuries to six others. Kotli Deputy Commissioner Adnan Khurshid said the Indian army resorted to heavy artillery shelling at the border villages. He said the villagers had started fleeing their homes to take shelter at safer places, adding a camp would be set up for displaced persons if firing continued. “The shelling is so intense that you cannot even imagine. There has been no let up in the shelling since morning,” said Javed Budhanvi, a former AJK minister. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the Indian army yesterday resorted to unprovoked firing in Kel, Jandrot and Nakyal sectors. The ISPR statement added that Pakistani troops “befittingly responded and targetted Indian posts”.Jandrot is located in Kotli district while Kel lies in the upper belt of Neelum valley, northeast of Muzaffarabad.Meanwhile, the Indian Border Security Force continued unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Sialkot Working Boundary on the 11th day, but using light and heavy machine guns instead of resorting to mortar shelling.According to the senior officials of the Punjab Rangers, the Indian BSF resorted to unprovoked firing with light and heavy machines guns at the Sialkot border villages, instead of using heavy mortar guns.The unprovoked firing intensified the already existing tension in the Sialkot border villages of Bajwat, Chaprar, Harpal, Bajra Garhi, Sucheetgrah , Charwah and Shakargarh sectors due to the 11-day-long spell of the ceasefire violations.The people living in Indian shelling-hit Sialkot border villages have already shifted to safer places in Sialkot city and its surroundings.

Hundreds of cattle, including buffaloes, cows, bulls, goats and donkeys, have been killed during the last 11 days in the BSF firing in border villages along the Sialkot Working Boundary.

The special teams of the livestock and veterinary health departments are busy providing medical aid to the cattle injured by the shelling.

Narowal District Livestock Officer Dr Saima Iram Syed said 25 small and big cattle heads were killed and more than 70 others injured seriously by the Indian mortar shelling.

Almost all the houses, school buildings, cattle sheds and other buildings in the border villages were also badly damaged in the BSF firing.

Meanwhile, all the government and private schools remained closed for the 11th consecutive day in the said border villages.

Pakistan among three highly cooperative with China advancing connectivity plan

 : Pakistan, Russia and Kazakhstan are regarded as "highly" cooperative countries in advancing China’s connectivity plan, through road, raid, and air and sea links. The three countries occupy prominent position in a list of 64 countries and regions cooperating with China in it's Belt and Road Initiative. In an official report released here, the Chinese government particularly eulogized the performance of Pakistan towards the Belt and Road initiative, in the background of China-Pakistan economic corridor.The Belt and Road Initiative Data-Report 2016 analyzed five aspects of cooperation between China and the 64 countries - policy communication, connectivity, trade, finance and public support - and assigned an index number based on the comprehensive findings.

The report was written by the Belt and Road Initiative Big Data Center at the State Information Center. Based on more than 300 billion pieces of information collected by major statistical organizations and internet channels in all 64 countries and regions, the report makes a comprehensive assessment of the initiative's development. "The report provides a new vision and a new angle to demonstrate development of the Belt and Road Initiative to the public," said Tian Jinchen, director of the Department of Western Region Development of the National Development and Reform Commission.

But China's cooperation with 32 countries, or half the overall number, "needs to be enhanced," according to the report. It said there's huge space for deepening cooperation between China and countries along the route in the next stage. The report said international capacity cooperation between China and places along the initiative routes draws wide global attention, especially in five industries - automobiles, construction materials, iron and steel, railways and information technology.

Overdoses skyrocket as kids eat opioids "like candy"

The number of young children and teens hospitalized for overdosing on opioid painkillers have spiked nearly threefold in recent years, a new study finds.

Among children under 10, most of the painkiller poisonings were accidental, with children “eating them like candy,” said lead researcher Julie Gaither, a postdoctoral fellow in biostatistics at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. Among teens, most were accidental overdoses, although some were suicide attempts.

In both age groups, the increase in cases involving painkillers like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin was dramatic.

Among children aged 1 to 4 years, the number of poisonings went up 205 percent from 1997 to 2012. For teens 15 to 19, the increase was 176 percent. Overall, the study showed a 165 percent increase in poisonings from opioid painkillers among those 19 and younger.In addition, poisonings involving the use of heroin among teens increased 161 percent, while poisonings involving methadone went up 950 percent.

“The opioid crisis affects everyone, and we need to pay better attention to the impact it’s had on children,” Gaither said. “Our study shows they have suffered hard from this epidemic.”

The rates at which narcotic painkillers have been prescribed have increased dramatically, Gaither said, “so we now have opioids in millions of American homes, and children and teens are exposed to them more frequently.”

In August 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of OxyContin for children aged 11 to 16, Gaither added. Pediatric cancer patients would be among those who benefit from the FDA approval, doctors said.

Among some teens, these medications are being misused and abused, often for nonmedical reasons -- “to get high, just like they would use any recreational drug,” she said.

To curb this trend, Gaither suggests that parents limit access to these drugs, and to throw out any leftover pills. Gaither pointed out that as access to narcotic painkiller prescriptions has become more restricted more recently and the costs of these drugs have increased, teens are turning to heroin, which is cheaper and more readily available.

Among teens, a better understanding of what’s driving them to use these drugs is important, as is better access to treatment for depression and addiction, she said.

“One million Americans 12 and older have a substance abuse disorder, so more available treatment is needed,” Gaither said.To see how much overdoses from prescription narcotic painkillers has risen, Gaither and her colleagues analyzed data from children’s hospitals from 1997 through 2012 that was taken at three-year intervals.

The researchers identified more than 13,000 records of children and teens hospitalized for opioid painkiller poisoning. They also found records of heroin poisoning among teens. In all, just over 1 percent of the children died during hospitalization, the study authors found.

Gaither’s team also discovered that boys accounted for 35 percent of the hospitalizations in 1997, but by 2012 that had grown to 47 percent. Most of the children hospitalized were white (74 percent) and covered by private insurance (49 percent).

When the researchers looked at why these poisonings occurred, they found that 16 cases were attributed to suicide or self-inflicted injury among children younger than 10 from 1997 to 2012.

Among children aged 10 to 14, the incidence of poisonings from suicide or self-inflicted injury rose 37 percent, while the incidence of accidental poisoning increased 82 percent. Among teens 15 to 19, poisonings from suicide or self-inflicted injury increased 140 percent, while accidental poisoning increased 300 percent, the researchers found.

The report was published online Oct. 31 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.Dr. Barbara Pena is research director of the emergency department at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. She said, “The only reason opioid poisoning is increasing among children is because opioid prescriptions are increasing among adults.”

Any medicine that’s left out is “toddler-friendly -- they’re going to put it in their mouth,” she said. Parents who are taking a narcotic painkiller should store it where toddlers and teens can’t get to it, “especially if you have a depressed adolescent.”

Teens, however, can get their own prescriptions for narcotic painkillers, Pena said. “Once you mix an adolescent who’s on opioids with depression, you’re mixing two potentially dangerous things,” she said.

Pena said doctors don’t necessarily have to prescribe narcotic painkillers as a first-line therapy. Non-narcotic painkillers may work as well, and parents should question their doctor why a narcotic painkiller is being prescribed and whether a non-narcotic medication would do the job.

“Some kids have chronic pain from conditions such as lupus or sickle cell disease, but to give a kid with back pain opioids is ridiculous,” Pena said. “Give them some warm packs and Toradol [a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug], which has been show to work just as well as opioids without the dependency and without the risk,” she added.