2016-08-08 Special English

This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.

China has urged authorities at various levels to report natural disasters in a timely and accurate manner, and those who try to conceal the truth will be punished.

The Civil Affairs Ministry says authorities must be aware that any lies will be exposed on the Internet and through new media, as the public now actively participate in disaster relief and in the supervision of officials.

The ministry says once major natural disasters occur, local civil affairs authorities should quickly assess the situation and release all relevant information. The disasters it referred to include floods, mudslides and landslides.

It notes that the authorities should not wait to be forced to release relevant information or do so under pressure from the public nor be late and inaccurate in the information released.

Last month, the mayor of Xingtai City in north China's Hebei Province apologized for inadequate response to a disaster, as well as late, inaccurate reporting of floods that killed at least 25 people in the city.

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Chinese tourists on the country's blacklist for uncivilized behavior will face restrictions when they take flights, join travel groups or take overseas trips.

Under a newly revised draft of travel regulations, tourism authorities at provincial and national levels can maintain the records and share the information with travel agencies and other industry organizations.

The records can also be shared with other government agencies including public security, customs, inspection and quarantine, border protection, transportation and finance.

Punishments can be imposed by travel agencies and related organizations based on the record.

Several incidents involving Chinese tourists have had a negative impact in China and overseas. The China National Tourism Administration introduced a rule last year to deal with the problem by keeping records of the violators. Nineteen people have been recorded on the blacklist so far.

The bad behavior includes violating order on public transportation, damaging public facilities, ignoring social customs at tourism destinations, as well as involvement in gambling or prostitution.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

China's on-demand mobility firm Didi has announced that it will take over Uber's China business, in a deal that could value the merged China operation at 35 billion U.S. dollars.

Uber will take a stake worth almost 6 percent in Didi. The Chinese company did not disclose the stake it will take in Uber.

Uber China's on-demand mobility service will continue to operate independently.

The deal follows China's legalization of on-demand mobility services.

The two companies have been locked in a bitter battle for customers in China, marked by huge customer discounts since last year.

Uber is one of very few foreign tech firms that have been able to compete with their Chinese rivals head-on in China. While Didi holds a majority share in China's on-demand mobility services, Uber has managed to establish a foothold, and has made inroads into lower-tier cities this year to further challenge Didi's dominance.

The competition has seen the two companies locked in a discount war in an attempt to poach passengers away from each other's platforms.

While Uber has generated over 1 billion dollars in profit from its top 30 cities worldwide, the company has not yet turned a profit in any Chinese city, even though it provides more trips in China than any other country.

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