This is NEWS plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.

Here is the news.

China's health watchdog has vowed to expand the scope of air quality monitoring, and invest more in researching the health impact of smog.

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission says key research projects include precautionary technology for smog, smog-related diseases, and health risks for vulnerable populations.

Meanwhile, Beijing and its neighboring cities of Tianjin and Shijiazhuang are required to publicize their analysis results on air pollution sources by the end of June. More cities and regions will follow suit.

Experts hope these measures will strengthen efforts for air pollution prevention and control.

The commission has vowed to cooperate with environmental protection, weather and other departments in tackling smog.

More efforts will be made to promote education and consultation on the issue to guide the public to step up health protection.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

China's central departments have been ordered to make public catalogues of their administrative approval items in a bid to make government power more transparent.

According to a circular issued by the State Council, all central government departments should publish their remaining administrative approval items on their official websites so they can be viewed by the public.

The move came amid the country's drive to slash red tape.

The central government has cut or delegated to lower governments nearly 400 administrative approval items since the new leadership took office last March.

But how many items remain in central authorities is unknown.

The State Council, China's cabinet, says it will combine the catalogues into a collective publication, and take stock of the total items kept for central departments after heavy slashing.

You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.

The World Health Organization says more effort is needed in China to fight discrimination against hepatitis B virus carriers.

While praising China's efforts in reducing hepatitis B infections, Dr. Shin Young-soo, WTO's Western Pacific regional director, has urged China to promote education about the virus.

Doctor Shin says China's hepatitis B vaccine program is highly successful. Less than 1 percent of Chinese children under the age of five have chronic hepatitis B, down from over 9 percent in 1992 when the vaccine was introduced.

Hepatitis B is life threatening. The virus can cause infection, and increases the risk of death from chronic liver disease and liver cancer.

There are 93 million carriers of hepatitis B in China. Each year, 280,000 people in the country die from diseases related to the virus.

Dr. Shin describes vaccination as the safest and most effective way to tackle the virus.

A dose of hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours after birth was critically important to protect newborns from infection.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

Needles used in Chinese traditional acupuncture have been internationally standardized.

Standards have been set for the texture, diameter, length, hardness and elasticity of the disposable needle.

It is the first standard set by the International Standardization Organization for the traditional medicine.

Acupuncture treats patients by manipulating thin and solid needles that are inserted into acupuncture points in the skin.

It was listed as an intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2010.

You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English, I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. You can access our program by logging onto NEWSPlusRadio.cn. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected]. That's [email protected]. Now the news continues.

China and Russia will jointly launch the fastest mobile data network in the world.

Russia's major telecommunications company, MegaFon and Chinese telecommunications giant, Huawei made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in Spain.

Huawei is involved in providing the infrastructure for the network and has supplied MegaFon with the latest technology and the necessary equipment.

This network uses the latest LTE Advanced category 6 technology and a new concept 4G+, which has been designed specifically to promote MegaFon's mobile internet. This internet allows users to connect at a speed of 300 megabytes per second.

At the moment there are no hand held devices which are able to operate at such fast speed. This speed would allow users to download a two-hour long film in less than a minute.

The Russian company played its role in the development of the network by providing wireless connections and sponsorship in the recently closed Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Both Huawei and MegaFon checked and analyzed how this new network functioned in order to modernize it, and adapt it for use in Moscow and other regions of Russia.

The new network is now functioning in the "Garden Ring" in Moscow, but MegaFon intends to expand it into other major Russian cities.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

We now turn to the United States: For those who shivered through January, this may be hard to believe: Nationwide, the average temperature for the month was about normal because a warm West offset a cool East.

January in the Lower 48 states was the 53rd coldest of 120 years of record-keeping.

The average temperature was 30.3 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 0.9 degrees Celsius. That was only one-tenth of a degree below normal for January.

While Alabama had its fourth coldest January on record, California and Alaska had their third warmest.

Nationwide, it was the fifth driest January on record in the U.S.