Briefs | Man arrested after bodies of 16 found in Yunnan village

Chinese state media say a man has been arrested after 16 people were found dead in six village homes. The bodies of the dead, including women and three children, were found yesterday in Huize county in Yunnan province in the country’s southwest. The official Xinhua News Agency said a suspect was arrested in the provincial capital of Kunming, about 200 kilometers from where the bodies were found. An officer at the Daibu branch of the Huize police confirmed the deaths, but said he had no further details. Xinhua did not identify the suspect. It described the deaths as a killing spree but provided no details. If they were murders, the deaths would be one of the bloodiest mass slayings in China’s recent history.

Thailand suspends seahorse trade to greater China

Thailand, the world’s biggest exporter of seahorses, is suspending trade in the animal because of concern about threats to its wild population. The decision was announced at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. Dr. Amanda Vincent, a seahorse expert at The University of British Columbia, said that Thailand ended its seahorse trade earlier this year until it can make exports “sustainable.” Vincent is director of Project Seahorse, a group working with Thai authorities on seahorse conservation. The group’s partner is the Zoological Society of London. Seahorses are mainly used in dried form for traditional medicine in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Twin pandas to say bye-bye to Atlanta as they head to Chengdu

Panda twins born three years ago at Atlanta’s zoo are set to leave for China later this year. Zoo Atlanta says Mei Lun and Mei Huan are expected to leave for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in November. The zoo says the pair were the first surviving giant panda twins ever born in the U.S. Their mother, Lun Lun, gave birth earlier this month to another set of twins. She and her partner, Yang Yang, have had a total of seven offspring, all conceived by artificial insemination. Like at the other three U.S. zoos that have giant pandas, the bears are on loan from China. As part of the loan agreement, all adult offspring are sent to China when they’re of age.