IN BRIEF

Beijing

HK, Macao people to get preference

The Chinese mainland is considering a series of new preferential policies for Hong Kong and Macao residents who live, study and work in the Chinese mainland, according to an official with the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council on Wednesday. The central government has listed some 50 concerns of the residents, ranging from social insurance applications and education access to job opportunities and tourism services, the official said.

Poor to be offered cataract surgery

China plans to offer free treatment to impoverished cataract patients, according to a plan published on Wednesday. The poverty alleviation and health authorities are building a long-term program to cover all cataract patients living in poverty by 2020. The plan specifies requirements for hospitals and patients and includes monitoring the quality of cataract surgeries. Cataracts are the primary cause of blindness in China, and increasing numbers of young people suffer from them.

Sichuan

25 confirmed dead after flash flood

Twenty-five people have been confirmed dead after the body of the last missing person was recovered on Wednesday. The deaths were the result of a flash flood that hit Gengdi village in Puge county early on Tuesday morning. More than 200 people participated in the search for survivors. The flood destroyed 71 houses.

Museum hatches largest insect

The Insect Museum of West China said on Tuesday that it has successfully hatched the largest insect in the world. The artificially bred stick insect, Phryganistria chinensis, is 64 centimeters long, according to the museum. The previous record holder, the insect's mother, measured 62.4 cm. Zhao Li, the museum's curator, found the mother during a field inspection in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in 2014. Zhao took it back to the museum, where it laid six eggs, including the record holder - which is now a specimen at the museum.