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

A man who was executed 18 years ago for raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has been found not guilty by the local Higher People's Court.

The higher court has apologized for the mistake made in sentencing Hugjiltu in 1996, and gave 30,000 yuan, roughly 4,500 US dollars, in compensation to his family, and pledged further compensation.

Hugjiltu, who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to death and executed in 1996.

However, an alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder after he was arrested in 2005.

Miao Li, the lawyer representing Hugjiltu's family, said that she had been sure that the case was wrongly judged and that by reviewing files, she found no evidence supporting the claim that Hugjiltu raped and murdered the woman.

The lawyer said that the process will begin to ask for State compensation once his client is announced innocent. She added that the family will also initiate the process of finding out the identity of the policemen, prosecutors and judges who were involved in the case.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

China's tourism authorities have urged travel agencies to monitor tour groups and explore the use of personal credit reports to identify possible offenders in advance.

The move comes after four Chinese passengers pouring hot water on a Thai flight attendant and triggered public outrage online.

The National Tourism Administration released a statement asking all provincial tourism authorities and travel agencies to help regulate tourist behavior.

The statement says that the incident disrupted the flight schedule by forcing the plane to return to Bangkok; and the people involved were dealt with according to the law.

The administration also asked the provincial tourism authorities to record the incident in the personal credit reports of the four passengers.

Tourism experts say that stopping such behavior requires the help of travel agencies as well as tourists themselves. They urged tour guides to alert tourists about their behavior and the consequences of breaking local laws and rules during the trips to other countries.

Teachers at Shanghai Jiaotong University have called for an urgent introduction of personal credit reporting systems in the tourism industry; and the reports will to be shared with certain departments, including visa application centers.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

The growth of ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft has so far not been hindered by limits from government regulators and campaigns by taxi cab competitors. A bigger threat to the new industry's impressive start could come from customers though, if enough people stop using the services over fears that drivers aren't safe.

Not safe as in the drivers might get into an accident, but safe as in they won't attack passengers.

Uber operates in more than 250 cities in 50 countries, and was recently valued at 40 billion US dollars based on 1.2 billion dollars that investors poured into the company in its latest funding round. Lyft, meanwhile, operates in 70 markets in the United States, up from 30 at the start of the year.

So far, controversies have not seemed to impact the popularity of ride-hailing apps. They boast several advantages over taxis, including no-cash payments and an app that shows how far away a car is and whether the driver received positive reviews from prior riders. Uber ranks in 39th place in the Apple iTunes store among the most popular free apps, ahead of Gmail and the music streaming service Pandora. Lyft, which is much smaller, is not in the top 100.

But just last week, California prosecutors sued both, saying they misrepresent and exaggerate the rigor of their background checks. Police in India questioned an Uber executive about the company's background checks after a driver was accused of raping a passenger. And Uber removed a driver in Chicago after a customer reported that she was sexually assaulted during a ride in the city last month. The company said it is cooperating with police in what it called "an appalling and unacceptable incident".

You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

Swiss researchers have suspended the testing of one of the leading Ebola vaccine candidates after some volunteers reported unexpected side effects.

The researchers at the Hospital of Geneva University say the trial has been suspended "as a precautionary measure". The study involving 59 people began in November.

Four cases of mild joint pain in the hands and feet were reported in people who received the shot 10 to 15 days earlier. Officials have stopped giving the vaccine to obtain more data and liaise with others who are testing the vaccine in the United States, Canada, Germany and Gabon.

The vaccine was developed by the Canadian government and is licensed to two U.S. companies.

The trial is scheduled to resume next month in Geneva.