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This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. Here is the news.

China has stressed treatment and disease prevention for the giant panda following the death of two giant pandas in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Funds have been allocated to treat sick pandas and prevent the disease from spreading.

The state forestry administration has urged effective measures been taken to save the sick animals and guard against the spread of the disease.

Two 8-year-old giant pandas in a wildlife breeding center in Shaanxi died recently after being infected with CDV, a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animals including dogs, primates and large cats.

Two other pandas in the center are ill, with one in critical condition, while four others have shown symptoms of fever and been quarantined for further diagnosis.

More than 30 experts from across China have come to the center to help.
Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects the spinal cord and the brain. Infected animals show symptoms including high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The disease is highly contagious, with a high fatality rate. It spreads through body fluids and contaminated food and water.

Prior to the epidemic, the center was home to 25 giant pandas. After the outbreak, it sent its healthy pandas to several other nature reserves in the province.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

The hottest topic at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the U.S, is the "Internet of Things", which means connecting everyday items to networked devices and smartphones for greater control and management of people's everyday lives.

But, is that only about "things" like cars, home security systems and kitchen appliances? The answer is "definitely not"; and at the core of the issue is human.

Samsung Electronics CEO B.K. Yoon said that the "Internet of Things" may be high tech but needs to be human-centric to succeed.

He says new technologies shouldn't require consumers to adapt new lifestyles or habits; but, instead, it is something that will be naturally integrated into the everyday lives of consumers.

Analysts predict that smart home is expected to be a key component of the "Internet of Things", and the "Internet of Things" market can run into billions of dollars globally by 2020.

A U.S. survey found that 13 percent of broadband households own at least one smart home device.

Walking in the 2-million-square-feet exhibit space and passing by the 3,600 exhibitor booths, visitors will find that everything goes "smart". However, it is human, the consumers, that judge what is smart or not.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

With Motorola's acquisition by Lenovo complete, the phone maker will reenter the Chinese market with three of its latest mobile devices, after an absence of more than two years.

Motorola will hold a launch event on January 26 in China.

The company said they are looking forward to their reunion with the Chinese market after a long absence and they appreciate customer's patience.

Lenovo executive vice president Liu Jun said the three smartphones include the most excellent new generation products in history of the brand.

Lenovo Group, the world's biggest personal computer maker, has fully acquired Motorola's mobile business in October last year.

In the almost 3 billion U.S. dollar deal, Lenovo took over the Motorola brand and Motorola's portfolio of innovative smartphones, as well as the future Motorola product roadmap.

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

Scientists from New Zealand and Australia have observed DNA moving between animal cells, in a breakthrough discovery that can lead to better understanding of a range of human diseases and new gene therapies.

The research team has claimed the finding to be the first in the world to demonstrate DNA movement between cells in an animal tumor.

The study laid important groundwork for understanding human diseases other than cancer, since defective DNA was known to account for around 200 diseases and was implicated in many more.

It can also usher in a new field where synthetic DNA is custom-designed to replace defective genes.

In mouse models of breast cancer and melanoma that had their DNA removed, replacement DNA was acquired from surrounding normal mouse tissue. After adopting this new DNA, the cancer cells went on to form tumors that spread to other parts of the body.

The results overturn the dogma that genes of higher organisms are usually constrained within cells except during reproduction. It may be that gene transfer between different cells is actually quite a common biological occurrence.

Tests showed the DNA had been obtained from non-tumor cells and the next challenge will be to find out how this was possible.