Armory blast kills 17 At least 17 soldiers were killed in an accidental explosion at a weapon storage facility in Central China’s Hunan Province on June 17. The blast ripped through* the building in Hengyang City at 4:45 p.m. as the soldiers were stacking* explosives inside. The cause of the blast is under investigation. A Hengyang City policewoman said no civilians were injured. Cultural heritage list unveiled Cantonese opera, egg tarts, pineapple buns*, milk tea and Dragon Boat Festival have made it onto the list of Hong Kong’s first intangible cultural heritage* inventory* which was made public on June 17. The inventory, which lists 480 items, is the culmination of seven years’ work by government-appointed researchers and also includes such traditions as umbrella making, Hakka folk songs, the making of snake wine and kung fu. 3 at CCTV detained Three employees of China Central Television, including a young anchor and a producer, were reportedly detained in connection with a corruption probe* of two of the network’s senior producers. Caixin.com reported on June 17 that Wang Shijie, a producer of a financial and economic news channel at CCTV, and two female employees at the network were “taken away” by authorities. On June 1, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate* announced authorities were investigating Guo Zhenxi, director of CCTV’s finance and economics channel, and Tian Liwu, a producer for the channel. Vendors, activists face off at dog meat festival Animal lovers provoked angry backlash* from residents of Yulin, Guangxi, after protesting a controversial festival on Saturday in which locals celebrated the summer solstice* by eating dog meat. Activists have flocked for weeks to Yulin, in the southwestern region of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to protest the local custom of eating dog — particularly on the summer solstice, which fell on Saturday, in an event dubbed the “dog meat festival.” The dog meat festival sales decreased under pressure from animal welfare groups.(SD-Agencies) | 