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HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong will ban evening dining at restaurants and close fitness centres, the city’s leader said Tuesday, as part of new measures aimed at stemming a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the rules aim to reduce the “number of people on the streets”, echoing moves taken by authorities when cases spiked earlier this year. Dining out will be banned after 6 pm, beauty and massage […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech has secured half a billion dollars in extra funding to produce its Covid-19 vaccine, it said Monday, as the country races to roll out a jab for general use. Beijing has largely brought the virus under control, with only 281 active cases still receiving treatment, according to official figures. But it has promised to make its vaccines available as a “global public good” as it seeks […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Twenty-three miners have been confirmed dead after an accident at a coal mine in southern China, state media reported, with only one person rescued. A carbon monoxide leak on Friday evening at the Diaoshuidong mine in the city of Chongqing left 18 miners confirmed dead the next day as rescue efforts continued. But state media said Sunday that the toll had risen to 23 with only one survivor. The accident occurred […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — US and Chinese companies dominated the global arms market in 2019, while the Middle East made its first appearance among the 25 biggest weapons manufacturers, a report by the SIPRI research institute said Monday. The US arms industry accounted for 61 percent of sales by the world’s “Top 25” manufacturers last year, ahead of China’s 15.7 percent, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Total sales by the “Top 25” […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Friday over the death of former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, state television reported, calling him a “remarkable French statesman”. The former president died on Wednesday from Covid-19 aged 94, at his family’s estate. Xi expressed “deep condolences” to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, state media said, adding that the former president had “loved Chinese culture”. Giscard “actively encouraged friendly exchanges and cooperation […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — China will consider joining a free trade pact once championed by the US but abandoned by Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping said Friday, as Beijing increasingly seeks to influence the global rules of commerce. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is an updated version of a giant deal originally backed by former US president Barack Obama as an effort to counter China’s rising might in Asia. Trump […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China landed a probe on the Moon on Tuesday, said Beijing’s space agency, which aims to bring back to Earth the first lunar samples in four decades. China has poured billions into its military-run space program, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022 and of eventually sending humans to the Moon. The latest mission’s goal is to collect lunar rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese court jailed 53 people on Monday after convicting them on charges including bribery and negligence over a massive chemical factory explosion in eastern China last year that killed 78 people. The blast in Jiangsu province in March 2019 was one of the worst industrial accidents in the country in recent years, and led to the closure of the plant. Executives and employees of Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical company received sentences […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden on his US election victory, state media reported. In his telegram, Xi said both countries should “stick to no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect, (and) the spirit of win-win cooperation” in order to promote the “noble cause” of world peace and development. Xi’s message came more than two weeks after several other major countries had congratulated Biden. US-China relations have hit historic […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan began construction on a fleet of indigenous submarines on Tuesday, the latest move by the out-gunned island to bolster its defences against increasingly bellicose threats from Beijing. Democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by communist China, which views the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. Beijing has piled on military, economic and diplomatic pressure […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Tuesday launched an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks — the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades. A Long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Center on the southern island province of Hainan at 4:30 am (2030 GMT Monday), the official Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Staff at Shanghai’s biggest international airport are facing mass testing after a small outbreak of Covid-19 in the city was linked to several cargo handlers, with plans underway to vaccinate high-risk workers. Life in China — where the virus first emerged late last year — has largely returned to normal following strict testing and harsh lockdowns, but there has been a series of sporadic local outbreaks over recent months. Shanghai has […]
