Student design bureaus: a breeding ground for engineering personnel

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

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The Polytechnic University held an intensive educational course "Student Design Bureaus as a Tool for Preparing Highly Motivated and Conscious Engineers" for employees of industrial partner companies. Participants discussed how design bureaus help students master real engineering tasks.

The goal of the intensive course is to introduce representatives of enterprises to the capabilities of SKB, demonstrate examples of successful projects and discuss prospects for joint work on developing the country's engineering potential. Organizers are representatives of SKB "System Engineering". The project became the winner in April 2025 competition of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the direction of "Student Design Leadership"Several design bureaus and engineering teams of the Polytechnic University are participating in its implementation.

"To achieve technological leadership by 2030, we must involve young people in solving real engineering problems today, at the training stage. Student design bureaus allow not only to develop skills, but also to form the right professional motivation and awareness in students," noted Oleg Rozhdestvensky, head of the SPbPU Office of Technological Leadership, on the basis of which the project is being implemented.

Head of SKB "System Engineering", Director of the Higher School of Power Engineering Alena Aleshina emphasized that SPbPU SKB is built as a multi-level ecosystem: school KBs – youth KBs – student KBs – employer. This allows us to identify talented children at early stages, support their training and involve them in project activities.

The participants of the intensive course discussed the development trajectories of student design bureaus at universities, their goals and objectives, as well as the role of an industrial partner in this system. Special attention was paid to how to establish cooperation between an enterprise and SKB SPbPU, how student projects help solve specific problems under the guidance of curators representing companies, and ensure an influx of qualified personnel. The experts also shared examples of successfully implemented projects.

The presentation session presented the areas of work of SKB "System Engineering", starting with school design bureaus and ending with the best practices of interaction between industry and the university.

The project to create a network of school design bureaus is a joint initiative of the Government of St. Petersburg and the Advanced Engineering School "Digital Engineering" of SPbPU (PISH CI). Director of the Center for Continuing Professional Education of PISH CI Sergey Salkutsan said that SHKB is a network of engineering creativity clubs based in schools. Students in grades 8–11, under the guidance of instructors, master engineering skills, work with modern software and solve real problems of industrial companies. The goal is early career guidance for schoolchildren, development of practical competencies and training of future qualified personnel for the industry.

In the X-Lab Engineering Creativity Laboratory, students learn to combine knowledge from different disciplines when solving practical problems. Senior research fellow at PISh CI Mikhail Zhmailo spoke about the project workshop, which is part of the educational program and combines design, engineering, digital manufacturing, project management, and teamwork.

Head of the engineering team Polytech Voltage Machine, engineer of the Higher School of Transport IMMiT SPbPU Vsevolod Gaiduk introduced the intensive participants to the team that develops robotic platforms for high cross-country ability and ground electric transport. Polytechnicians create solutions for people with disabilities and for firefighting.

Arseniy Klyuev, Senior Lecturer at the Higher School of Power Engineering, spoke in more detail about the SKB Power Machines — Polytech. This is a unique educational cluster focused on training personnel for the Power Machines company. The end-to-end training trajectory begins with the school's engineering classes and continues through youth and student design bureaus, bachelor's and master's programs. Senior students are involved in real engineering projects implemented in the interests of the company under the guidance of curators — specialists with experience in implementing R&D from the university and employees of the enterprise. The success of the project is ensured by coordination between the university and the company, effective infrastructure, a motivation system and corporate culture.

Director of the Higher School of High-Voltage Power Engineering Viktor Belko showed the structure of the Electrical Machines department within the SKB Power Machines — Polytech. For example, the Electrical Insulation Laboratory trains personnel in the context of growing demand for domestic technologies. The main goal is to involve students in research activities from their first years to accumulate practical experience in the field of electrical insulation and electrical machines, which cannot be fully ensured within the framework of traditional educational standards. The center, based on successful experience in fulfilling contracts in the field of electrical engineering and an established research base, interacts with industrial partners and forms flexible teams of students under the supervision of specialists from the university and companies.

Of particular interest was the practical case of interaction between the Power Machines company and students, starting from the second year, in terms of participation in the educational program. Leading project manager Alexandra Grigorieva presented the areas of work and the results of interaction with SPbPU within the framework of the Power Machines Trajectory, which formed the basis for the advanced training of junior students for further participation in the Power Machines – Polytech SKB. Students gain the opportunity to receive a scholarship, master a working profession and find employment.

The seminar participants visited the laboratories and workspaces of the SKB "System Engineering" teams and saw the students' developments. Including a racing car and a solar car of the Polytech North Capital Motorsport engineering racing team, the results of the work of X-Lab and SKB "Unmanned Aviation Systems", as well as a fire robot of the Polytech Voltage Machine team.

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Chinese envoy regrets abuse of UN Security Council resolutions on Houthi attacks in Red Sea

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 (Xinhua) — Yemen's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity must be respected, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang said on Tuesday after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“China is deeply concerned about this development,” he said, referring to the recent escalation of tensions in the Red Sea in connection with a new round of fighting between Israel and the Houthis in Yemen.

“We call on the Houthis to respect the navigation rights of commercial vessels of all countries in the Red Sea in accordance with international law, to stop attacks on commercial vessels and to ensure the security of the Red Sea waterways,” he stressed.

"All parties concerned should exercise calm and restraint and refrain from actions that could further escalate tensions," Geng Shuang said, adding that the tensions in the Red Sea are an important manifestation of the conflict spilling over from the Gaza Strip.

A settlement of the problems in the Red Sea and Yemen cannot be achieved without easing tensions and de-escalating the overall situation in the region, the diplomat said.

The international community must act immediately to achieve an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and fully restore humanitarian access, he said.

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2787 by 12 votes in favor, with no votes against and three abstentions (Algeria, China and Russia). The resolution extends until January 15, 2026, the requirement set out in Resolution 2722 for the UN Secretary-General to report monthly to the Security Council on Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea.

Since the adoption of Resolution 2722 in January 2024, some countries have taken military action against Yemen, seriously undermining the Yemeni peace process and escalating tensions in the Red Sea, the negative consequences of which continue to this day, Geng Shuang said.

Resolution 2722 condemns Houthi attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea, demands an immediate end to all such attacks and “takes note of the right of Member States, in accordance with international law, to protect their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine the rights and freedom of navigation.” –0–

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Rosneft implements natural solutions in production

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Specialists from the environmental protection service of the Novokuibyshevsk Petrochemical Company (part of Rosneft) are implementing a unique environmental project. For the first time, the company's wastewater treatment facilities will use water hyacinths (eichornia) to bio-purify wastewater.

The phytofiltration technology at the wastewater post-treatment unit is used by several Rosneft enterprises in the Samara region. The pioneer of implementation was the Kuibyshev Oil Refinery, where not only water hyacinths, but also pancratium and calamus help to achieve a high degree of wastewater disinfection. Eichhornia seedlings have proven themselves well at the treatment facilities of the Syzran and Novokuibyshevsk Oil Refineries.

Eichhornia is not just a beautiful ornamental plant. Its powerful root system works as a highly effective natural filter. The roots absorb any bacteriological contaminants, suspended matter, phosphorus, nitrogen and other chemical compounds from the water, providing a high degree of disinfection and bringing the quality of purified water closer to natural reservoirs. It is important that the plant is effective precisely in the warm period of the year, when bacteria are most active and the risk of contamination increases.

During the flowering period, the Eichhornia produces blue inflorescences, turning the water surface into a flower garden. The use of plants in the process of additional wastewater treatment is an example of the implementation of environmental solutions with proven economic and environmental efficiency.

Department of Information and AdvertisingPJSC NK RosneftJuly 16, 2025

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11 killed, four injured in road accident in Afghanistan

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

KABUL, July 16 (Xinhua) — At least 11 people were killed and four others injured in a highway accident in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, provincial police said in a statement on Wednesday.

The tragedy occurred in the Kariz area of Washir district, along the highway connecting Herat with the capital Kabul. A passenger bus collided head-on with another vehicle, killing 11 passengers on the spot and injuring four others.

A preliminary investigation has shown that the cause of the accident was careless driving. All the victims were taken to nearby medical centers, where medical personnel described their condition as critical. –0–

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Foreign inflow to China continued to rise in first half of 2025

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) — The number of round-trip border crossings by foreign nationals through China's checkpoints totaled 38.05 million from January to June 2025, up 30.2 percent year on year, data from the National Immigration Administration (NIA) showed Wednesday.

According to the agency, during the reporting period, the number of foreigners who traveled to China under the visa-free regime increased to 13.64 million people, an increase of 53.9 percent year-on-year. In January-June of this year, their share in the total number of incoming trips by foreigners was 71.2 percent.

The total number of border crossings through Chinese checkpoints in the first six months of this year reached 333 million people, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data released at a departmental press conference.

In particular, during the specified period, residents of mainland China crossed the state border in both directions 159 million times, which is 15.9 percent more year-on-year. Meanwhile, the number of entries and exits through the country's checkpoints among residents of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as Taiwan Island, amounted to 136 million person-times, an increase of 12.2 percent year-on-year.

Border control agencies across the country are steadily increasing efforts to expand openness and improve service efficiency, the SUI noted.

As part of its visa-free policy adjustments, China recently added Indonesia to the list of 240-hour visa-free transit countries, bringing the total number of eligible countries to 55. The policy allows citizens of these countries to transit through China visa-free for a stay of up to 240 hours.

A new regional visa-free policy was also introduced, allowing tourist groups from ASEAN countries to enter Xishuangbanna (Yunnan Province, southwest China) visa-free.

In addition, China expanded its visa-free agreements by signing new mutual visa waiver agreements with Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Azerbaijan, and introducing unilateral visa-free regimes for nine more countries, namely Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. -0-

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Wang Yi: China will continue to support Iran in safeguarding state sovereignty and national dignity

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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

TIANJIN, July 16 (Xinhua) — China will continue to support Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty and dignity, opposing power politics and bullying, upholding its legitimate rights and interests through political negotiations, and further improving and developing relations with its neighbors based on the principle of good-neighborliness and friendship, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

Wang Yi, also a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who arrived in China to attend a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). -0-

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China has seen an increase in the employment rate of people with disabilities in the past 3 years

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) — China has made steady progress in expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities, with the nationwide employment rate for such people increasing by 4.8 percentage points over the past three years, official data showed at a press conference on Wednesday.

The achievements were made under the country's first three-year action plan to promote the employment of people with disabilities from 2022 to 2024. During this period, nearly 1.65 million new jobs for people with disabilities were created in both urban and rural areas, Li Dongmei, deputy chairwoman of the All-China Federation of Disabled Persons (ACFD), said at a press conference.

Also during the reporting period, nearly 1.43 million people with disabilities received verified vocational training, which significantly increased their work readiness and skill level, Li Dongmei noted.

Steady progress has also been made in higher education. For five years in a row, all disabled graduates who completed their studies at colleges in the country have been included in the employment support databases. Notably, the employment rate among those who want to work has exceeded 85 percent for five years in a row.

To build on this momentum, the General Office of the State Council of China has released a new three-year action plan (2025-2027), jointly developed by the VFI and 30 government departments. The plan outlines 10 targeted actions aimed at further improving the employment conditions of people with disabilities.

According to Ren Zhanbin, Director of the Department of Education and Employment at VFI, a more targeted and individual approach will be applied at the new stage.

“We aim to not only expand employment opportunities, but also ensure that these jobs match the abilities and needs of people with disabilities and guarantee longer-term stability,” Ren Zhanbin said.

According to the plan, relevant government agencies and local authorities will continue to improve public services, strengthen employment support, and help 85 million people with disabilities gain access to more and better job opportunities. -0-

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Croatian Foreign Minister to Visit China

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) — Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman will visit China from July 20 to 22 at the invitation of Wang Yi, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister. -0-

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Special Report: Kazakhstan Supercomputer Is the Largest Computing Cluster in Central Asia

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –

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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News

ALMATY, July 16 (Xinhua) — Kazakhstan's first national supercomputer was officially launched in Astana in July 2025, an ambitious project that aims to make the country a regional leader in high technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital sovereignty.

The idea of creating a supercomputer was born in early 2024. On February 12, the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, the Samruk-Kazyna National Fund and the Emirati company Presight AI signed a strategic cooperation agreement.

The project was initiated as part of the digital agenda of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

According to the agreement, the project is being implemented in two stages. The first stage involved the integration of new computing capacities into the existing digital infrastructure of Kazakhstan, including the e-government platform eGov.

The second phase involves the construction of a Tier III data center and the deployment of a supercomputer cluster based on the latest NVIDIA H200 graphics processors.

In terms of technical characteristics, the Kazakh supercomputer is the largest in the region: it is capable of providing performance of up to 2 exaflops using the FP8 calculation method. This allows processing colossal amounts of information, providing a computing base for scientific research, AI development, modeling and data processing in real time.

On May 19, 2025, the supercomputer cluster arrived in Kazakhstan and was placed in a data center with the participation of Presight AI.

The official launch of the system took place on July 9, 2025, as part of a ceremonial event at the Alemcloud National Supercomputer Center in Astana. The event was attended by President K.-Zh. Tokayev, who emphasized that the supercomputer will allow Kazakhstan to achieve significant progress in the development of digital technologies.

Access to high-performance computing will be given to startups developing neural network solutions, universities, research centers, as well as public and private companies.

“The power of a supercomputer is like the entire world population, 8 billion people, doing mathematical calculations every second, but it would take them more than 4 days to do what a supercomputer does in a second,” said Zhaslan Madiyev, Minister of Digitalization and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, on the day the system was launched.

The project pursues strategic goals. Firstly, it strengthens the country's digital sovereignty by reducing dependence on foreign cloud solution providers.

Secondly, it creates conditions for the development of the domestic IT ecosystem: universities, research centers, public and private companies gain access to powerful computing resources.

Thirdly, this is an important step towards the formation of a full-fledged infrastructure for the development and implementation of AI-based solutions – from city management systems to working with large language models.

Thus, the launch of the national supercomputer has become not just a technological achievement, but also an important element of Kazakhstan’s new digital strategy. The country is demonstrating its readiness to take an active position on the high-tech map of Eurasia by investing in the infrastructure that determines the future. –0–

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Rosneft Improves Associated Petroleum Gas Purification Technologies

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Employees of Orenburgneft, Rosneft's key production asset in the Volga region, have patented a technology for reducing the content of hydrogen sulfide and mercaptans in associated petroleum gas (APG). The innovation has been implemented at the Vakhitovsky group of fields of the enterprise, which has increased the volume of rational use of APG from 20 to 80 thousand m3 per day. The economic effect from the implementation of the innovation will amount to more than 1 billion rubles within five years.

The essence of the innovation is to purify the gas flow in the pipeline by feeding a liquid reagent-neutralizer, which removes sulfur compounds from the APG without using additional equipment. Then the primarily purified product is sent to the Zagorskaya complex gas treatment plant for subsequent processing.

The company's specialists were the first to propose the idea of cleaning gas directly in the pipeline, which itself acts as a reactor, and proved its effectiveness. The technology does not require capital expenditures, construction of new facilities or additional equipment.

The introduction of the innovation made it possible to process additional volumes of sulfur-containing associated petroleum gas, increase the production of a wide fraction of light hydrocarbons and dry stripped gas, and supply additional volumes of treated gas to main gas pipelines.

Reference:

JSC Orenburgneft develops oil and gas fields in the Orenburg and Samara regions. Cumulative production is more than 470 million tons of oil.

The Vakhitovsky group of fields is located in the Orenburg region and covers an area of over 283 square kilometers. It includes the Vostochno-Kapitonovskoye, Mamalayevskoye, Tarashchanskoye, Khutorskoye, Donetsko-Syrtovskoye and Vakhitovsky fields. The total volume of current recoverable oil and gas reserves exceeds 39 million tons.

Department of Information and AdvertisingPJSC NK RosneftJuly 16, 2025

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